Page 18 of Bound to the Orc Renegade

I stood there, throwing my hands up like an action hero, but doingnothing. Even catchphrases didn’t work. I yelled, “shazam,” “cowabunga,” “finish him,” and even “hulk smash,” but nothing worked.

“A montage is when a person learns a new skill but really sped up. You see all these quick clips of them making progress, and after a few minutes, they’ve leveled up and are experts.”

“I thought you said your world didn’t have magic.” He scowls. “Because that sounds impossible.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” It doesn’t even work like that in gaming. You have to put in the long hours to learn the skills and get the in-game loot and equipment you need to complete each level. I’ve simply never had to do it with my real body before.

It’s also irritating that my magic swirls inside me, a restless thing eager to act, if only I knew how.

Mist leaps to the ground, having climbed headfirst down the tree trunk. “Perhaps moving targets were too ambitious for your first try.”

I roll up to standing, hope flickering in my chest. “You’re right! I should start simpler!” Just like games always start with easy obstacles.

She grabs one of the many pinecones now littering the ground and sets it in a clear spot before backing away. “Now, use your mind powers on that.”

My eyes narrow as my gaze locks on. That pinecone becomes all of the pinecones I failed to fling away today. My magic surges inside me, battering against the walls of the place that holds it like an ocean whipped into waves by a storm.

That pinecone is history!

I fling my hands up, pouring all of my will into the thought. Magic surges through me in an electric tingle. It blasts from my hands, hits the ground, and—

A giant punches me in the chest, flinging me backward into a hard body. Krivoth catches me as we go down in another tangle of limbs.

I lie stunned on top of him, the feel of him below me already familiar. Oh, god, how many times is it that I’ve knocked him over in only one day? Mortification heats my cheeks. I messed up again.

When I scooch over onto my side, I expect a scowl but get a grin as he says, “That was good.”

“I knocked us over!”

“You used your magic and proved it’s powerful.”

“Yeah.” Happiness washes over me. “You’re right.”

“Do it again.”

“Knock us over?” I tease.

“If need be.” He brushes a lock of hair out of my face. “I don’t mind.”

His fingertips are calloused from wielding a sword, and the slightly rough skin slides over mine in delicious sensation. These are the hands of a real man, a man of action, and this touch sends tingles racing through me until I break out in goose bumps.

My breath hitches, and I have to swallow so I can say, “I don’t mind either.”

It’s a lie. I more than “don’t mind.”

I effing love it.

CHAPTER TEN

Krivoth

It is the sweetest of tortures to catch my bride with my body, as the force of her power sends us tumbling to the ground over and over again. Each time, Taylor lingers on top of me for longer. Each time, it’s ever more difficult to let her go.

If not for the cat, who knows what might happen?

“All right.” Mist walks up and stands over us. “That’s enough. I’m bored and hungry.”

At her words, my stomach complains more loudly even than my erection, muttering a diatribe of grumbling want. Caught up in all the excitement, we skipped lunch. Orcs don’t typically miss meals, but I have enough mass on my body to go without, and warrior training involved purposeful periods of such to inure me to the discomfort.

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