Page 64 of Bound to the Orc Renegade

A shiver of revulsion runs through me. “Yeah, those scaly horse fae talked about eating me.”

Krivoth growls low in his throat, his dark eyes catching mine. “I would kill them again for you, if I could.”

Warmth blooms in my chest. It should be kinda creepy, a guy saying he’ll kill for me, but it’s not.

A small stream runs along the side of the meadow, and Krivoth gets out our waterskins and heads for it. Even though he doesn’t want any help, he’s limping, which means his leg’s still bothering him. It would take a human a week to heal as much as he did in a night. But I’m used to the way almost all games have some kind of miraculous healing, so it’s also not completely shocking to realize a magical Wild Fae heals faster than expected.

Mist strolls back into the forest, promising to hunt, and the sprites spiral back down around me.

“We missed you.” The leader hovers in front of my face, pointing at me, her tiny face frowning. “You’reourAlmost Elf. We told everyone so, even those pixies.”

“Pixies? There are pixies?” My head swivels. I’m going to meet another kind of fae? “Where?”

“Bah. Not here. We made them leave.”

“Not out during the day, you mean,” Krivoth says. “Pixies are nocturnal. They’re the tiny blue lights you see in the forest at night.”

“Oh, I thought those were fireflies!”

“Yes, they are bugs!” the sprite says, her wings flapping furiously, making purple and pink rainbows dance all around her. “You should have nothing to do with them.”

I bite my lip to keep from laughing. She’s such a tiny thing to be so possessive! And of me! Then there’s the irony of her with her butterfly wings calling someone else a bug. I lose the battle, a giggle bursting from me.

The sprites laugh with me, making a high tinkling sound like a chorus of tiny bells.

“We will have more fun! We will make more Faerie Fruit!”

They all scream “Yes!” and dart toward a clump of bushes near Krivoth.

Oh. My. God. I can’t even! Faerie Fruit now? No. All the no. It’s not just that it’ll interfere with our quest—I also don’t want anything as artificial as its magical whammy to overshadow what Krivoth and I shared last night.

“No, wait!” My hand reaches after them in an unconscious motion right as my crystal warms on my chest. Oh, god! I can’t use my powers on the tiny things! I could hurt them!

I snap my hand straight up. Magic roars from the ground beneath me, pouring out in a pulse of power that’s a pull instead of a push.

The huge branch sticking out from the tree behind me lashes like it’s caught in a tornado. There’s a loud crack.

My heart pounds furiously as icy adrenaline floods my body. The world slips into slow motion. The branch races toward me, purple leaves blotting out the sky. I start to move, but my legs are stuck in molasses. I barely make it a couple of inches.

The branch is totally going to squash me!

Hard muscle hits my side, scooping me up and carrying me forward. We spin in the air, plowing into the ground with Krivoth on the bottom, his strong arms forming a cage over my upper back and waist as the smaller side branches of the main one slap down on top of us.

I lie sprawled on him, stunned by what almost happened. Stunned by whatdidhappen.

He’s saved me. Again.

We’re covered by a blanket of purple leaves, but the branches are thin enough that I can push up onto my forearms to see his face. “Are you okay? Is your leg okay?”

“It’s nothing as long as you’re all right.” His fingers feather over my cheek, then his thumb drags across my lower lip in that way I love.

My breath hitches as a tingle goes through me. “Looks like I’m on top again.”

“I’m never going to complain.” His smile is downright wicked for a moment, then dips into a frown. “What happened?”

“I, uh…” Warmth floods my cheeks with mortification. “I was about to pull the sprites back to me with my power, but they’re so small I thought it would hurt them. So I jerked my hand away from them and ended up pulling the branch instead.”

Instead of being upset, he gives me a happy grin. “You’ve got a new power!”

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