Page 63 of Lost to the Orcs

How can we do this without her?

After reading some texts, Irf disappeared. He’d said he was doing a ritual t’ bring her back an’ then, he was gone. Narod picked found the texts an’ read o’er them. When he was finished, he explained that Irf followed a tethered soul. The original t’ the body was being forced back here. But she isnnae ouers. That soul is no’ ouer mate.

What would we do? How could we survive? It would be hell touching her knowing she is no’ my mate. My sunkissed. Little Lost.

“HGH.” The choking gasp that arches her back, jerks me out o’ my thoughts. I shout for Jae. For Narod. Anyone. She settles backdown.

Within minutes they come running an’ I explain what happened.

“Hold her.” Narod instructs. I sit on the bed an’ grab her. Taking her int’ my arms an’ cradle her against me. Her head lolls against my chest. I wrap my arms around her gently but firmly. I donnae want her t’ go anywhere. Jae comes forward an’ starts caressing her limbs. I kiss her shoulder. Trailing them up an’ down her neck. Caressing the mark there.

Please. Goddess. Jaeda, anyone. Please.

Her body seizes. I feel it shudder an’ try t’ leap out o’ my arms. I hold her firm but no’ bruising. She jerks an’ struggles. Her breathing erratic. Sharp. Heart beating frantically against my arms.

She makes that choking gasp sound again.

A scream is ripped from her throat like she’s being torn t’ shreds an’ then silence.

Utter silence. I stare at Jae as he stares at me, ouer faces etched in pain and horror.

She’s no’ breathing.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE: DELIGHT AND SORROW

It burns.

Everything burns. My skin. My eyes. My hair. The air in my lungs. My chest hurts. It feels like the one winter it snowed and we had to leave school early. I walked to the foster home in the snowfall. Kicking and giggling and having the most fun since my parents died. I stepped inside and my foster parents shoved me in a hot bath. Everything stung for at least 30 minutes. It feels like that.

I crack my eyes open but slam them shut moments later with a hiss.

I grit my teeth and try to move. But I can’t. Ican’t. My burning breath comes in choked aching gasps as I feel myself panic.

Muffled noises start to fill and echo around me. I’m under water again. Or down a tunnel. Why a tunnel? Was I down a tunnel?

“Sunkissed?”

And silence. I stop breathing. My heartbeat is too loud. I open my eyes, flinching and wincing at the brightness of this world behind my eyelids. Tears sting my dry eyes. I know that voice. I know that nickname. I know that beautiful face. “U’s?” My throat cracks. It is dry. It is a wheeze.

I hear him choke, his lips tremble and his beautiful gorgeous honeyed eyes melt before me as they spill down his cheeks. He holds my hand in his like he is afraid I will disappear. Or shatter. He kisses it with his lips. With his tears.

A rush of air, the scent of citrus, precedes the arrival of Jaedason. “Jae.” His word is a croak but he looks at me like I just told him the secrets of the universe.

“Ach, my mate. My beau’iful little lost. Is me.” He stumbles in the room, his rush nearly tripping him as he sits on the bed next to my hip. Pulling my other hand to him. He presses it against a more than scruffy cheek. As if he hasn’t shaved in a month.

That’s when I feel it. I jerk and gasp in surprise. Because I did. I felt it. I know I did. I look down my body, and there, my belly is much more distended than I last saw it. I swallow. My brow sweating. Fearful and awestruck. I pull my fingers from my mate’s hands. “Jae? U’s?” My words are hoarse. Trembling as bad as my fingers as I lay them atop my belly.

The fluttering isn’t light. It is harder than I would think at only two months pregnant. The rapid development of a mate bonded pairing. Hani said so. She did.

Another huffing puffing set of breaths makes me look at the doorway. Irf and Narod are there. Panting a little but none the worse for wear. “You made it back.”

Irf smirks at me. “Ock, cannae leave ye t’ my uncles now can I? Look at them. Unable t’ explain a thing.” I do look at them. They look stressed. Haggard and lost. In the time it took me to look at my belly and the other two to arrive; U’snar has dropped to his knees, holding me around my waist, his head in my lap. While Jaedason has me propped up before him, his hands holding me lightly to him, while his head resting on my shoulder. Just breathing me in.

Narod nudges Irf and he glares at the other male, before rolling his eyes and pushing some hair behind his ear. Narod pulls a skein of water from his hip and offers it to me. “Drink. Slow.”

I do. Trying for moderation. “What? How am I–? Addie?” It’s a mess. I know I was in my world for a month. I recall counting the days. Not knowing why originally but counting them nonetheless. Subconsciously wanting to get here.

“She is fine. Woke up weel afore ye.” Irf states. At my severefrown he winces. “Ock, I didnae know ye would be worse. Mayhap it were yer condition.” His eyes stutter over my belly before looking back into my eyes. “Her body didnae have yers. An’ she was healthy. So, she came t’ right away. Ye’re sustaining for two. Is mostly a speculation though. There is li’l in the texts t’ go off o’. We just waited, kept eyes on yer condition an’–

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