Page 80 of Bound to the Orc Guardian

Yet that voice…

“I’m yours, Sturrm.” The woman walks forward, empty hands extendedoutward.

I refuse to drop my guard. It could be a trick. I cannot speak, but a growl reverberates from deep in my chest, harsh and guttural. It should warn her off, yet she refuses to flee.

“You saved me. You did it. I’m safe because of you.” She takes another step, her copper-brown eyes warm and full of life. “It’s me, Selena. Your moon bound bride.”

Bride? Mine?

I shake my head. Such soft concepts have no place in my world.

Yet even as I try to deny them, a crack fractures the icy control wrapped around my heart.

“Please come back to me,” she says.

Something warm slips from the crack, straining toward her. The sword tip wavers in front of the center of her chest as she stops a hair’s breadth from it.

“I love you, Sturrm.”

Her words pound into me with the force of a blow. The icy shroud coating my soul shatters, and I throw my sword from me in horror at how close the blade came to her heart.

Myheart.

She is my heart, out walking in the world.

The berserker rage drains from me, unlocking my muscles, and the great toll it’s taken rushes through my body. I drop to my knees, the edges of my vision going dark, but not before I make one last effort to force a word from between numb lips.

The word that means life, joy, and everything good in the world.

The only word that matters.

“Selena.”

I blink open bleary eyes and scrape a hand over my face. Goddess, what happened? I haven’t felt like this in years, wrung out and hollow. In fact, I’ve only felt like this once before, after I failed Bruna.

Cold clenches my heart. Selena!

With a soft rustle of cloth, Selena’s beautiful face comes into view, beaming down at me with the most glorious smile.

Relief rushes through me. She’s alive!

“You’re awake. I have to let the others know.”

“No, wait.” I push upright, and the golden-honey wood of the inside of a heart tree makes up the ceiling and walls around me as my bedroom comes into view. We’re in my cottage in Moon Blade Village. The walls are unadorned but for the lovely whorl of the wood, but the furs on the bed are mine, and my favorite guitar rests on a stand in the corner, the smaller travel guitar beside it.

I focus on Selena, reaching out to snag her arm and pull her back to me. She’s wearing orc clothing, brown leather pants and boots, and a bright-blue linen tunic that sets off her golden-tan skin. Everything’s been made to fit her human height and delicious curves, and she’s more beautiful than ever, because she looks like she belongs here.

“What happened?” I ask. “How did I get to the village?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“The ogre standing over you with his axe.” My lip lifts in a silent snarl. How dare he? “I fought him. I won.”

“You sure did. That guy was mincemeat by the time you were done.” Pride shines from her as she sits on the edge of the bed, facing me. “You saved me, Sturrm.”

I shake my head slowly. Not because I disbelieve her, but because I can’t quite process the thought.

Murmuring voices rise in excitement, coming from the main room.

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