Page 70 of Bound to the Orc Warlord

“Let’s begin the meeting,” I bark, my voice harsh.

My bride turns troubled eyes upon me, and I attempt to smooth my expression as I escort her to a seat at the table.

Mother, Rovann, Olivia, and Krivoth take the remaining places, and the others stand around us.

I spread a map of Alarria’s main continent across the table, the others placing hands to hold the corners down.

“The new standing stone is here.” I set a silver token on the location. “The flying stone.”

“How accurate is that?” Rovann asks. As clan ranger, he’s in charge of maintaining our maps and sharing the information with the other clans. His magic also gives him a special connection to the land I can never hope to match.

“As accurate as Midnight and I can make it.”

“Well, if Midnight agrees, that’s good enough for me.”

I shoot him a glare, then get on with it. “The sluagh had already attacked Ashley by the time I arrived.” I place a red token beside the silver.

“How’d you escape?” Krivoth’s fascinated gaze locks on to my bride.

“A dragon saved me the first time. And then Dravarr saved me the next.” She sets a hand on my forearm, and I love the way it makes Krivoth’s brows pinch.

I drag my finger along our route. “The ogres attacked here.” I drop an orange token on the spot.

Mother leans forward. “Do you know if they were working with the sluagh?”

“I’m not sure. But since the ogres attacked Rovann and Olivia using deathsleep only a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t rule it out.” I drop another red token farther along our path. “Which brings me to the most recent attack. Two sluagh using deathsleep tried to get her again right at the edge of unicorn territory.”

“One of them was the same creep from the first attack,” Ashley said. “Only this time, the asshole brought a friend.”

“They attacked us in a coordinated fashion, one striking at me on the ground while the other assaulted her in midair.”

“It’s amazing that you’re alive,” Rovann says.

“All because Ashley found a way to subdue the sluagh.”

The warriors around the table stir in surprise.

“I killed many of the individual birds of the flock with my sword, and as usual it did nothing to hurt the sluagh. It continued to attack and feed on my soul.” I place a hand on her shoulder. “It took someone with a kinder heart to find a solution.”

She gives a little laugh. “I don’t know that it was kindness. One of them flapped into my face, and I just reacted.” Her handmakes a grabbing motion. “I snatched it out of the air, and the rest stopped attacking.”

“These trapped sluagh are in the bags at the cleaning stone, along with the subdued sluagh. But we need a more permanent solution.”

“If they’re subdued, isn’t that good enough?” Olivia asks, her expression troubled. She’s had a little time to get used to the realities of this world, but violence doesn’t sit easily with her.

Or with my bride.

“We don’t know,” I grit out, hating the truth of it. “A trapped bird might die from being separated, and then the rest of that sluagh would be free to attack.”

“And these things areevil.” Ashley shudders. “I don’t say that lightly, but when the fae call them ‘soul eaters,’ they really mean it. I felt like I was disappearing, one peck at a time.”

“So how can we use this new knowledge?” Mother asks, as practical as I am.

“We need an easier way to trap them than snatching them out of the air by hand.”

“So like a butterfly net,” Olivia says.

“Yes!” Ashley grins. “One where you can close the opening would be perfect.”

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