Page 108 of Sohut's Protection

She could feel her cheeks warm but she didn’t move.

It wasn’t the worst place to have her legs.

“They know I’ve been…protecting you.” He paused, waiting for her to say something before he continued. “It’s not…normal for me to take this long to bring in a bounty.”

Suddenly, the gravity of his words hit her full on.

He was talking about the orc aliens.

“You think they sent that thing after you?” Her gaze drifted to the dead animal not far from them.

“I don’t think it. I know it.”

Her throat suddenly felt dry. “They don’t know you found me. What if you’d failed to catch me…”

“I never fail.”

Cleo digested his words.

“So, you’re saying they sent that…thing to kill you?”

Sohut didn’t answer but the look in his eyes told her the affirmative.

“Shit…what does that even mean? They hired you.”

“It means they know I’m not bringing you in. They don’t want me helping you to get out of this place.”

There was a pause as she considered his words and then everything came falling down.

The hope she had for a future with him, the promise of something more than living like a fugitive…it was all falling to pieces.

“They know where you live…if you bring me there, they’ll come after me…they’ll come after you.”

Sohut didn’t hesitate.

It was as if he’d considered all this before.

“I am prepared for that.”

No.

The last thing she wanted was to bring trouble to him and his brother.

“I can go farther into the jungle with Wawa,” she blurted, her heart rate picking up. “I can leave. And you can go back to those orcs, tell them you didn’t find me. Tell them I died?”

“No.” It was said so quickly and with so much conviction that something deep inside her ached.

“You expect me to leave you here after I found you, gnora?”

“Gnora?”

His eyes lit up a little as she repeated the word, but he didn’t indulge her with the meaning.

“I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming home with me.”

Home.

A word that made an unexpected pang hurt the muscles in her belly.

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