Page 9 of Bound to the Orc Guardian

A whinny of pain rings out, then hoof beats.

“Yeah, you better run!” Dash says.

“Enough. The human is mine.” The ogre taunts me with a leering grin and lifts his battleaxe high. “She looks strong enough to use at least once.”

“You’ll touch her again over my dead body.”

I spin under his next strike, continuing the circular movement so that my sword whistles through the air and buries in his shoulder.

Black blood pours from the wound as he takes a fumbling step backward, almost crashing into the human, who stands with her back pressed to the standing stone.

“Come away now, ogre, or don’t come at all!” the kelpie screeches, thundering out of the trees, with a snap of triangular teeth.

The ogre grunts and leaps away from me, throwing his massive body across the kelpie’s back. It wheels and races into the trees.

“We should follow,” Dash says.

“No.” My eyes find the human.

She’s young, at least a decade younger than me, if not more. She’s short and heavily curved, with breasts and buttocks flaring outward from a slim waist. Her warm golden skin is set off by long brown hair with a touch of red to it. Pouty full lips and big, deep-brown eyes pull me in.

My time in Moon Blade Village means I’ve gotten used to humans, but none of the other women affect me like this. I take a step toward her, needing to touch, to know in my bones she’s all right. “My moon bound bride.”

The phrase slips from my lips before I can stop it. The shock of saying it jolts me back to reality. She can’t be mine. Bruna was my mate. So this sky gift must be for one of my clan mates, one of the ones in their twenties fully ready for a lovely young thing in the first flush of true passion.

Yet even as I think of what man might claim her, I scowl and stride forward.

Her necklace flashes bright, and magic tingles through the air.

Theneverythingtingles in the air as my pants and shirt disappear.

Her eyes go wide as they dip toward my cock, and she licks those plump lips.

It stirs to life, growing heavy with blood, betraying my attraction to her. Which only makes me more irritated, because how am I supposed to explain any of this to the man the goddess has matched her to?

“Where are my clothes?”

Her eyes snap back up to mine, and a liquid flow of syllables pours from her, the unknown words reduced to sounds without meaning, turning her sweet soprano voice into music. The beauty of it makes my erection swell even further. I suppress a groan. She’s like a plump peach that’s just reached peak ripeness, and I want to take a bite.

I grit my teeth and gesture up and down my body. “Clothes?”

She shakes her head and shrugs, both hands held up, empty palms raised.

I crouch to wipe my sword clean on the moss, then sheath it. Thank the goddess, I still have my sword belt and boots. Then I walk over to Dash, grateful he didn’t lose my pack in his fight.

I pull out one of the leather sheets I brought with me. Calling my magic to me, I run my hands over the leather, letting my power whisper through it and mold it to my desire. It takes a while. I’m not the strongest of leather workers, which is one reason I became a warrior instead of pursuing leather work as my occupation. The other reason is Bruna. After losing her, I vowed to protect my people with all that I am so that no other has to live with the loss I carry.

When I’m done, the leather’s a pair of pants. I toe off my boots and get dressed—or half dressed as it were. I can do without a shirt until I get back to the supplies I left in the dragon meadow.

The human witch speaks, and I glance over to find her watching me.

“What’s she saying?” Dash asks.

“I have no idea. The crystal imbued with the power of the speaking stone disappeared with my pants.” Because of course it did.

“We’re a long way from the speaking stone,” he says.

“Too far,” I agree. The standing stone that allows all the fae from the various realms of Faerie to speak to each other is on the far side of the Umbriall Plains and well over a week away. “When we get back to the dragons, they can help. One of them holds the power of the speaking stone.”

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