Page 5 of Tryggred By the Orc

AndthenBaldrburst into the room, his eyes wide and panicked, his scent reeking of alarm.Suggesting, damn it, that the scent-bond was still exerting a considerable draw upon him, enough that he’d been able to senseAlma’sawakening, from wherever he’d been.Butwait, he’d likely been withDrafli— and yes, there, the scent faint but coming closer, wasDraflihimself.

Eben’sheart jolted in his chest, and his sweaty, shaky hand abruptly dropped his quill, smearing ink all overAlma’schart.Curseit, curse it — and thoughEbenfrantically fought to mop it up, he didn’t missAlma’sgenuine-seeming pleasure upon seeingBaldr, orBaldr’sever-increasing scent of alarm as he also glanced toward the door.TowardwhereDrafliwas now striding into the room, his head held high, his clawed hands hanging with dangerous casualness at his sides.

Ebenonly distantly noticed his own ink-stained hands clutching at the workbench, his heartbeat hammering louder in his ears.WhatwouldDraflido now?Wouldhe pull out a dagger, threatenAlmaagain, kill her before they’d even seen him move?Or, perhaps he would finally punish his mate for having succumbed to the call of the scent-bond, against whatever self-control he’d clearly found for the past day?

Butin a jerky movement,Baldrspun and rushed straight towardDrafli, relief reeling through his scent.Andrather than refusing, or pushing his mate away,Drafliinstantly drew himcloser.Sinkinga possessive hand intoBaldr’shair, guiding his head into his own shoulder, even as his eyes dangerously narrowed, glowering towardAlmain the bed.

Almablanched, clutching her blanket to her chin, the scent of her fear sharpening in the air — and wait, wait,DrafliandBaldrwere both movingtowardher.Towardher, rather than away.Andwhat the hell were they doing, wasBaldr… makingintroductions?!

Butno one in the room seemed to notice, or shareEben’srapidly rising panic.Efterarhad already turned away to another patient, while besideEben,Salviwas actually attempting to talk to him, speaking wordsEbencouldn’t even slightly hear through the shrieking in his ears, and the scent ofDrafli’sever-rising rage in his nostrils.Ascent that was far too similar to the night before, to that moment when he’d held that dagger overAlma’sthroat —

Eben’sbody was already lurching, staggering over toward them, when suddenlyDraflispun around and stalked toward the door, his eyes blazing, his hands in fists.LeavingBaldrto trail unhappily after him, his scent reeking of misery and pain, whileAlmahad already curled up beneath her fur, and the sounds of her soft, sniffling sobs began scraping through the room.

“Youall right, brother?”Salvi’sdistant voice cut in, as his elbow nudged intoEben’sside. “Notfeeling ill yourself, are you?”

Eben’sbreath exhaled in a harsh, shaky sigh, and he rapidly shook his head, and forced his focus back to his work.Butit was a miserable way to spend a morning, breathing in the scents of a helpless human’s anguish, while casting constant worried glances toward the door.Andeven whenAlmafell asleep again,Ebencould still scarcely concentrate, making multiple foolish errors mixing his tonics, untilSalvifinally dragged him off for a meal with him and hisKa-esh mateTristan.AndwhileEbenconsidered them both good friends, and made a concerted attempt to chat and smile through his misery, he returned to work feeling even more bleary and exhausted than before.

Butat least there had been no further sign ofDrafliorBaldr, andAlmawas awake again, sitting up in her bed, and even weakly smiling atEfterar’smateKesst, who was clearly plying her with all his considerable charm.ButAlma’seyes were still puffy and swollen, her scent laced with misery and unease that echoedEben’sown — especially whenKesstshot a sly, assessing glance across the room toward the workbench.Toward—Eben?

“Haveyou met any of our orcs yet?”KesstaskedAlma, his voice deceptively light. “Ifyou’re feeling up to it, maybe one of them could give you a tour?Howabout you,Eben?”

What?Wait, wasKesstimplying thatEben—likedAlma?Likethat?Enoughto personally take her on a damnedtour, where a murderousDraflimight emerge at any moment?!Andcurse it,Eben’shands were suddenly spasming again, sloshing his jar of blood thinner all over the workbench — to whichKessttriumphantly smirked, whileAlmaflushed, scenting of both flattery and chagrin.AndbesideEben,Salvicursed under his breath as he snatchedEben’spriceless notebook to safety, and then tossed a rag into his hot face.

Ebenwiped up the mess as well as he could, though his cheeks wouldn’t stop burning, and he couldn’t even hear the rest of their conversation through the ringing in his ears.Butfinally, it seemed thatKessthad offered to takeAlmaon the mountain tour himself, and soon they were leaving the room together,Alma’ssteps still slow and halting, whileKesstcheerfully chattered away beside her.

Ebenhelplessly watched them go, his miserable alarm jolting higher — surely evenDrafliwouldn’t attempt to killAlmain the corridor, with multiple witnesses? — untilSalvibumped him with his shoulder, his familiar scent tasting of both amusementand exasperation. “Whatthe hell’s going on with you today, brother?” he asked under his breath. “Youaren’t actually interested in her, are you?”

InEben’sexhausted state, he couldn’t stop his incredulous glare back, becauseSalvishould know better by now, shouldn’t he? “Ach, no,” he replied, too sharp. “Iam only… tired,Iken.”

Hereflexively shifted on his feet as he spoke, wincing at the distant pain still nagging in his sore back and arse — andSalviinstantly followed the movement, comprehension flaring across his eyes. “Ach, nowIfollow,” he said cheerfully. “Tookthings too far in thedýflissaagain last night, then?Mayhapyou should haveEfterartake a look at it?”

He’dangled a meaningful glance across the room towardEfterar, who was blearily working over a sleepingBautulpatient, butEbengrimaced, shaking his head. “Ach, no,” he said again. “Itwas foolish.Ishall heal.”

Salvi’ssidelong glance was a little too knowing this time, but he shrugged, and dipped his quill in the ink. “IheardOthanwas asking about you yesterday,” he said, as he began writing in his notebook. “He’sa decent fellow, ach?Wouldtreat you like you’re made of gold.”

Ebengrimaced again, frowning down at his own notebook, as yet more misery plunged in his belly.Becausethat wasn’t at all what he wanted, was it?Hedidn’t want some bigger, stronger orc doting upon him, condescending to him, as ifEbenwas some kind of weak, fragile, stupid little pet… right?Ordid he, and the memories of the laughingSkaiorc were surging again, with his cool commands, his dragging, petting claws.Ican show you the way…

Andcurse it, what the hell was wrong withEben?Whywas he still so caught on this?He’dsurely observed more than enoughSkaibehaviour by now, to the point where he’d nearly witnessedaSkaimurdering an innocent victim.Heneeded to pull himself together, and distance himself from this entire situation, and…

Andjust then,Almarushed back into the room.Herhead ducked low, her hands over her mouth, the bitter scents of her terror and pain swarming sudden and sickening through the air.AndEbencouldn’t move, couldn’t think, as he watched her stagger toward her bed on shaky legs, before hurling her weakened body beneath her fur, and bursting into sobs.

“Thatvile prickDrafli,”Kesstsnarled from where he’d stalked in behind her, his eyes flashing onEfterar’sconfused face. “Hewas openly fuckingBaldrin the baths, when heknewwe were going that way!AndthenDraflilostit on her, flailing and growling and spitting at her, whileAlmabegged and wept andapologizedto him!Promisedhim she’d leave the mountain forever, so he’d never have to look at her again!”

Damnit.Damnit.Eben’sstomach twisted and plunged, the bile roiling in his throat — so it hadn’t been murder, but perhaps it very nearly had been.Perhapsit soon still would be.Andwhat was he supposed to do, he should have told someone, he should have found help, confessed it all to someone stronger and wiser, who would know how to keep her safe.Nevertrust aSkai, never, never, never…

Itwas too close, too certain, too strong to bear, andEbencroaked an incoherent excuse toSalvi, and then rushed for the door.Notlooking as he dodged into the corridor, his head ducked low, his breaths gasping and shallow, so thin he didn’t even scent the orc striding around the corner —

Untilhe crashed straight into him.

Theimpact sentEbenreeling backwards, almost colliding with the wall behind him, as shock and humiliation flooded through his chest.Andhe couldn’t even make his prickling eyes focus on the orc, the orc whose strong hands were grasping his shoulders, holding him still…

“Ach,Ka-esh!” the orc exclaimed, in a smooth, alarmingly familiar voice. “Watchwhere you’re headed, ach?”

No.No, no, no.ButEben’sblinking, burning eyes were squinting hard now, fighting to see in the too-bright light of the nearby lamp.Andfinding a handsome, horribly familiar face…

Itwas him.Thelaughing orc from the corridor.TheSkai.

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