Page 20 of My Fated Orc Hero

“Oh, I’m sorry. I see.”

“Don’t be. More trouble than they are worth, I swear. All they care about is tusk size,”

“Oh, well that is shallow,” she says. And I believe she means it.

"Well, I do like your tusks ya know. I can’t speak for lady orc sensibilities, but to me you're like a big, green, muscly teddy bear. With attractive tusks of course."

A teddy bear?

I would fight any lady orc who spoke to me so, but she does not know any better.

But more to the point, with every word out of her mouth I just want to scoop her up and hold her to my chest. I long to embrace her. And they way her flesh felt beneath my hands. Her soft pale skin. The silkiness of her hair. And that intoxicating musky human scent. It is taking all of my power to not ravish her on the spot. But she is my guest, and I will not risk alarming her or making her feel uncomfortable in any way. Fact is, from themoment I saw her I knew I would fight any creature to the death, if necessary, before I would see the slightest harm come to her.

I grunt, trying to hide how her words affect me. "I am not a teddy bear. I am a fierce battle-hardened orc warrior."

Yet I know my tone betrays me. I must be strong.

"Of course you are," she says, patting my arm. Her touch again sends a jolt of pleasure through me.

This is not helping.

But wait, beyond that.

This can't be happening.

She's human. I'm an orc.

It's ridiculous. Impossible.

And yet...

Before I can shut myself up it’s out of my mouth...

“The murals really showed different beasts of lore engaged...with human females?”

“If by engaged, you mean, like having sex ... then yes, absolutely.”

If anyone had told me I would he talking of such things with a human female ... let alone harboring a fugitive human ...

“I see,” is all I say. What can I say?

"Sorry if that is blunt," she mumbles, suddenly shy. "But ya know, not sure how else to say it. They were definitely going at it.”

The image flashes unbidden through my mind - Zoe and I, tangled together like the figures I imagine in the murals – going at it. A sudden rocket of heat shoots to my cock and I feel my manhood swell. I shift uncomfortably, hoping she doesn't notice my growing ... interest.

As I sputter for a response, another stray thought hits me like a thunderbolt. Elowen's ‘failed’ mate summoning spell ... could it be? What if it hadn’t failed at all, but had simply gone a little awry?

You’re not thinking straight.

I shake my head, trying to clear it. Even if by some miracle the spell worked, there's no way a human – this human – could be my mate. It's unfathomable. Dangerous. Completely against everything I've ever believed about humans.

And yet... I recall something odd about that night. Hadn't there been a strange gust of wind, and that flicker of light that seemed to come from nowhere? At the time, I'd dismissed it as nothing, but what if...

No. It's impossible. I will not entertain these thoughts any more...

And yet, I can't deny the pull I feel towards her.

God, but the pull!

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