Page 4 of The Orc's Stolen Bride

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. Hang on, your step daddy is trying to get off the couch again.”

The phone dropped onto a hard surface and Kari could hear muffled noises. Robert, her stepfather, had been on disability for the past ten years and her mother spent a good part of her time making sure that he didn’t do anything to strain his weak back. Kari liked her stepfather but she wasn’t quite as convinced about the seriousness of his condition. Of course, she'd never been one to fuss over a man. Probably another reason why Bill hadn’t invited her to move with him, she thought cynically.

“OK, I’m back. So what’s the problem, honey?”

“I don’t know, exactly. Last night-”

“Robert! Hold on again, Kari.”

Closing her eyes, Kari wondered why she was even bothering. Her dad had died when she was young and her mother had waited until Kari graduated from high school to remarry. All the energy she had previously devoted to providing a home for her daughter had turned to her new husband after Kari left for college. It wasn’t that she was jealous exactly, and lord knows she had been anxious to shake the dust of small town South Carolina off her feet, but sometimes it was hard to deal with.

“I’m back, honey, but I’m afraid I have to run. Can’t be late to the bank. Call me tonight and tell me all about it. Bye now.”

Her mother hung up before Kari could respond. And that was the other issue in their relationship. Her mother had worked as a teller in the Pageland bank for the past twenty years, despite at least three bank mergers that Kari could remember. As far as Kari could tell, she would be happy to remain in that position until it came time to retire. Kari’s dreams and ambitions had never made sense to her and left them with little to talk about.

Tears caused the sunlit water to blur before a wave of dizziness swept over her. Clasping the railing, she fought against an odd pulling sensation. Her stomach churned and the dizziness increased. Was she getting sick on top of everything else? The tugging increased and she clutched the hard metal with desperate fingers. A final hard yank released her grip and she felt the oddest falling sensation just before the world went dark.

Oh, my god, I’m going blind, she thought, just as she dropped into an enormous quantity of ice cold water. Shocked, she only had time to yelp before the water closed over her head. Kicking frantically, she resurfaced, spitting out the water that had filled her open mouth. Fighting the paralyzing effect of the freezing water, she fought to keep her head above water. As her eyes adjusted, she realized that she wasn't blind but had somehow ended up in a lake. At night.

Unable to find any reasonable explanation for what had just happened, she focused on survival. She had to get out of this water before she froze. Her kicking feet were already starting to slow.

She had a brief impression of mountains rising dark and jagged against a vast sky filled with stars. They surrounded the lake with a stark beauty but she was much more interested in a small beach, gleaming softly white in the moonlight. Fortunately, it wasn’t far and she was a good swimmer. Ignoring the increasing numbness of her arms and legs, she swam steadily toward the beach. One flailing leg finally hit the rocky bottom and she forced herself upright. The night air felt almost warm in comparison to the icy waters but the breeze hitting her skin made her realize that she was completely naked.

What happened to my clothes?

Their absence added just one more layer of strangeness to the entire weird occurrence. Muttering to herself like the crazy person she had undoubtedly become, she stepped carefully through the rocks to the beach and out of the water before looking up.

Three men stood facing her; make that three enormous, muscular men. She was five foot three in her bare feet and each of them was easily a foot taller. All of them had long dark hair with braids woven into it, and skin that looked oddly dark even in the moonlight, but there was something odd about their faces. It took her a long, shocked moment to realize that all three of them had... tusks?

They can't be real, she told herself frantically. The two at the back were dressed like some odd cross between Vikings and fur trappers, complete with - good lord, were they wearing swords? Cosplay - it had to be some type of cosplay, even if their clothing and equipment looked worn and familiar.

The man directly in front of her made an odd growling noise and stepped forward, placing himself between her and the other two men. All he was wearing was a pair of snug leather pants, leaving every inch of his remarkably well developed chest on display. She'd never seen a man like that kind of body in real life before. Unable to help herself, her gaze dropped lower, to the sizeable bulge between his legs that seemed to jerk as she watched. Instinctively, she stepped back and then shivered as the water washed across her feet. There was no escape in that direction.

Determined not to show any fear, she straightened her shoulders and looked up into his face. As their eyes met, every hair on her body stood on end as a surge of electricity swept over her. She felt as if she were falling into those strange dark eyes and her body started to sway toward him as another wave of dizziness hit her. Through the ringing of her ears, she heard him speak but couldn’t understand the words. Shaking off the strange feeling, she lifted her chin and noticed that he had moved even closer. Even knowing that she had no chance of stopping him, she held up a hand.

“Stop right there. Where the hell am I?”

There was no mistaking his stunned expression before he opened his mouth and responded. The ringing in her ears had stopped but she still couldn’t understand him. What's more, she was almost positive that it bore no resemblance to any language she'd ever heard before.

Maybe it's like Klingon, she thought hopefully, or given their outfits, one of Tolkien's languages. But surely they must realize she didn't know it?

At least he had stopped moving towards her and other than his size, wasn’t acting in a threatening manner. Cautiously she stepped to the left slightly, trying to increase the distance between them.

The growling noise came again as he mirrored her movements. Belatedly, she realized that he was keeping his body between her and the other two men. Did that mean they were a threat? Or was he being chivalrous given her naked state?

Not chivalrous enough to look away. Even though he wasn’t touching her, he skin tingled as his gaze swept down over her body. Her nipples tightened from more than the cold, but she did her best to ignore them as she lifted her chin and glared at him.

"Why won't you speak English? I can't understand whatever it is you're saying."

Despite her determination not to show any fear, a startled squeak escaped as something came flying through the air. The man caught it on one hand without even glancing in that direction, then stepped closer. He was close enough now that she could feel the heat emanating from his body and the warmth reminded her of just how cold she was. Her body started shaking and he reached out and pulled her to him.

No!

Determined to fight, if she could just get her shaking limbs to obey, she swung a wild arm in his direction. He gently grasped her wrist and raised it in order to lower something over her arm. Too startled to react, she stood there as he pulled a roughly woven linen shirt down around her. It was enormous and smelled wonderful, with a musky scent that was oddly comforting, and the coarse linen was surprisingly warm against her cold skin.

Once on, the shirt reached to her knees and the arms hung down almost as far. Chuckling, he reached down and started rolling up the arms. She stood there helplessly as he dressed her like a child. Despite the warmth of the shirt, her trembling increased as reaction started to take its toll. He gave her a concerned look and pulled her into his arms. God, he smelled even better than his shirt and the heat coming off his body felt incredible. This time she didn’t even try to fight. For a long moment she allowed herself to nestle against all of that hot skin, silky smooth over hard muscles.

As soon as her trembling stopped, she forced herself to pull away. He let her go, although she felt the reluctance in his hands. She had no illusions that she could have escaped his arms unless he let her. She refused to give in to the terror threatening to overwhelm her; she needed to focus on making a plan and getting out of here. Fighting to find something familiar, she realized that her mind had at least subconsciously identified the combination of mountain lake and fur dressed men with Switzerland.

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