Page 4 of The Orc's Wife

I flinched. I couldn’t help it.

Urzulah laughed, looking at Urgan with a smug expression, and stepped away from me.

“She reeks of fear and weakness. But don’t worry, general. I think your shaky human mate will soon be gone. And when you’re free of her, come find me. I might take you yet if you beg me enough.”

Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to say. Orc swearwords, which I knew perfectly, gathered on my tongue, ready to be spoken. I clenched my jaw. Forcibly, I reigned in the urge to hurl insults at that arrogant, hateful creature. I knew that if I gave her any excuse, she’d challenge me. Urgan would fight for me and hurt or kill her…

And then, the Imperator would have good reason to have him killed openly. The coup Urgan was planning would fail before it even began.

I knew Urgan was holding back for the same reasons. He couldn’t give the Imperator any excuses to banish us or attack Urgan openly.

But when my mate squeezed my hand and pulled me past Urzulah without a word in my defense, it still hurt.

Chapter 2

Urgan

Una was shaking, not even pretending to be unaffected anymore. Urgan almost dragged her after him, up the steps, through the palace doors, and down into the palace’s bowels. Una followed, holding his hand in an icy grip.

When they were two levels under the ground, in a corridor lit by torches in sconces on the walls, Urgan finally slowed down and peered at her face. She was regaining her colors and looking around curiously.

“This level wasn’t here when the palace had been built by humans,” Urgan said calmly, as if he had no other pressing matters to discuss. “There was only one shallow dungeon. But our ancestors lived in caves. We are drawn to the underground. So, we dug down, careful not to weaken the upper palace’s structure… And we built the lower palace. There are two more levels below this one. My rooms are on this level.”

Una nodded, managing a weak smile. She still wasn’t speaking, and Urgan nodded, pleased. She remembered his instructions from before.

He quickly reached the metal door to his private quarters. He had had this door built to order when the rooms became his. It would take much more than a few orcs to breach it when it was locked from the inside.

Una had let go of his hand and was standing in the corridor, hunched, hugging herself. She was chewing on her lower lip. Urgan frowned. Before, she had exuded the haughty, unruffled air so perfectly he had almost forgotten how fragile she could be. How new all this was to her.

He stepped closer and put his clawed finger under her chin, tilting her head back. She looked up at him, her eyes wide open and vulnerable.

“I’ll protect you,” Urgan said, his voice guttural and fierce. She had no idea how much he meant it. “You’ll have time enough to get your bearing. And as soon as you settle in, you’ll feel better and stronger.”

Una’s features relaxed, and she stepped closer to him, her body pressing into his, her head resting under his heart. Urgan pulled her even closer, locking her in a cage of his arms. Desire stirred in his loins, and he gave her a promising growl.

“Now,” he said, stepping away from her with a grin, “I am told you humans have this marriage tradition.”

He opened the door with his key and swept Una off her feet, carrying her into his quarters.

“Welcome to my lair.”

Urgan closed the door with a metallic clang.

“And I know that when groom carry his bride into his home, they mate,” Una said, running her hand down his jaw.

She was still in his arms, looking at him with that hungry yet vulnerable look, and Urgan’s cock hardened with an almost embarrassing eagerness. He was nearing forty years of age, and yet he was behaving like a boy.

It was all the more hateful that he had to refuse her – and himself.

“Not yet, my mate,” he said, releasing her so she could stand by his side. “I need to see if this room is safe. And then… I must make my report.”

He didn’t say anything else in case there really was a hole drilled here somewhere, in one of his walls, with a spying ear on the other side. Seeing her disappointment, he chuckled and smacked her perky bottom.

“But when I’m back, we’ll mate. Now… Look around. This is your home now.”

Una wandered off, looking at his sparse furniture, the stone walls, his bed covered with furs… And he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her delicious figure. Her dress was torn and stained after their eventful journey, and her almost white hair, tangled and matted, fell down her back in a coarse mane.

But Urgan bared his teeth in a proud grin. Despite her unkempt looks, she was beautiful, self-assured, and tantalizingly his. His to protect and cherish.

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