Page 58 of Lost to the Orcs

“You will regret thinking you could have my mates.” I state matter-of-factly, ignoring her comments about my looks.

“They wereminelong before they knew you existed. I bore them sons!” She hisses, lunging for me, sword high.

“You abandoned them!” I dodge out of the way. Hissing because she’d nicked me. She earns a tally. Thirty. She just needs thirty cuts. Why she earned one for a nick I’m not sure. But I have to finish this before she gets 29 more.

She swings pretty wildly. Dangerously. I’m glad we’re in this circle because this could have turned out to be deadly if not for the restriction. The sword is too heavy for her. That had been my biggest concern. An Orc’s dagger was not a human dagger. An Orc dagger is a human sword at best. I’m surprised Sumira can even lift that sword.

She nicks me a total of five times before I sweep her feet out from under her. She yelps, sword flying into the air before falling back down and slicing her forearm before it flies out the circle. Thankfully the crowd gets out of the way in time. Sumira shouts her outrage and pain. I get a tally.

“That’s not fair! It was my sword!” She hisses at Burgrol.

Burgrol glares at her. "Oak, but it was her who disarmed you.”

She does that gross ugly snarl before pulling out one of her daggers. An actual dagger. Not an Orc one. This one wasn’t attached to her belt but came from her sleeve. I frown. Burgrol frowns too. A murmur in the crowd—

But then she’s lunging at me. Slashing wildly. Just as wildly but not as off balance as before. Several hits get in during and before I can get any in return. I’m panting, feeling slightly dizzy. I honestly should have grabbed a weapon.

Just then, Sumira makes a two handed stab down and I feel it flyright past me. My hand grasps the weapon at her belt. It’s heavy, but not too heavy. About the same as picking up a sleeping Orcling. I slice her side.

I’m two tallies to her 13. I wobble. I wipe the sweat from my brow, my eyes on her and her wicked smirk. “I don’t get your damn problem.” I slur. “You had them. You had these wonderful, amazing mates and you threw them to the side.”

She doesn’t comment on my statement, instead, she hits the Orc dagger with her smaller one. My hand immediately goes limp and the dagger flies. Sumira stabs me where I had just sliced her. “I got bored.” She whispers to me. “They are justtoosweet sometimes. Don’t you agree?” She pouts at me before pulling the dagger from between my rips.

It’s so hard to breathe.

Fuck.

“You know,” She adds, stepping back, her words taunting me, “I can’t wait to taste Jae’s prick again. It was beyond the sweetest. And when you’re dead and in the ground, your bastard in the dirt, I’ll be happy to give him another from my womb. Bind him to me.”

I’m not sure what it is that hits me. Maybe it’s her triumph. Maybe it’s her words. Butsomethingclicks inside me. That instinct I’ve noticed over these weeks coming to the fore. I hiss at her, like I’d done before. It is still so hard to breathe. To move. Something is wrong with my right hand, on the side she’d stabbed me, but still, my stance is unconcerned. Ready to strike. Deceptively languid.

When she seems to let her guard down, I lunge at her. Tackling her to the ground, she stabs me in my right shoulder and the arm goes more limp than before. Not before claws erupt from my fingers and slash her arm. “You bitch!” She snarls.

I growl at her, my brain demanding I get that weapon from her by any means necessary. I swing a fist at her face. Claw at her. And she slices at me. I feel the numbness in my limbs. Slowly but surely filling me. Deadly.

She laughs hysterically. “You’re going to die. You’re going to die and I will laugh at the ditch I instruct them to drop you in. Jae is mine. He always was. I was his first and I will be his last.”

‘No.’ I hear myself say as if from a distance in my mind, my tongue too heavy for words. ‘She can’t win. I can’t–it’s so hard to breathe. I want to seemy baby. I want to kiss my mates.’

We pull apart and are able to stand when we lung for each other. Somehow, my palm connects with her nose and she drops her dagger. I feel it. That final surge. I jump her. My fists and claws slashing and flying. Pounding her into the ground. All my hate, my despair, me fear in every slam of my hands on her flesh. I’m feral. Destroying the threat to my mates, my children and home.

Fingers clutch mine. Scratching and clawing. I can smell the stink of her fear. See the widening of her eyes. The panic.

It’s not until hands grapple me, pull me off her that I realize she’s dead. The fear, the panic, all of it, has faded from her eyes. My mates, citrus and earth wrap their arms around me. I’m growling weakly at them. Trying to tell them. To let them know about her knife. About the unnatural clamminess of my hands from his oiled gloves. But nothing comes out but weak mews.

Narod pulls me out of their arms and declares me the winner. Asking if anyone has seen Irf, who wasn’t able to be present for some reason.

They take her remains. Hopefully to be burned.

I just stare at my mates who are staring at me in fear. “My mate.” Jae whispers, his gaze taking me in. Feeling the bond taught.

“Sunkissed,” U’s pleads. “Say you’re okay.”

Tears trickle down my cheeks. When Narod turns to look at me with concern, I notice Irf rushing into the room. But I know he’s too late. We’re all too late. My legs give out and I fall to my knees. Chest tight, a silent sob on my lips, darkness envelops me.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE: HER

It’s bleak and black. For a minute. An hour. Forever. I don’t know how long I’m just there. Living in it. I am darkness. Filled with it. Seeping it. Lost. I am lost.

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