Page 5 of The Orc's Promised Bride

He quickly knelt next to her, checking for injuries. Dirt and scratches marked her bare skin - a lot of smooth bare skin barely covered by a few strategically placed leaves and a tangle of vines. Doing his best not to let that distract him, he focused on the thin lines of blood trickling down her arm, dark in the moonlight. The wolf must have caught her with his claws. He shuddered as he remembered the creature’s massive paws. The fact that it had only left three shallow scratches was a miracle.

“Are you all right?” When she didn’t respond, a sudden uneasy suspicion made him switch to the English he’d learned from Kari. “Are you hurt?”

She slowly shook her head, confirming his theory that she had come from Kari’s world. But how? And why? To the best of his knowledge there was no shrine nearby. He looked around, half-expecting to find another male searching for her, but there was only the silent forest.

The mystery of her arrival would have to wait. Right now he needed to tend to her injuries. Wide dark eyes darted from him to the direction the beast had fled, as if unsure which should worry her more.

“You are safe now,” he said gently.

She hesitated, then lowered her stick although she continued to clutch it.

“Who are you?”

Her voice was soft, melodic, and he liked the sound of it as it rippled over his skin.

“I am Lothar. You are?”

Another hesitation.

“I’m Jana.”

She looked directly at him as she answered and their eyes met. The world tilted sideways. Energy crackled through him like lightning, every nerve singing with recognition as the mate bond snapped into place.

Oh, fuck.

CHAPTER 4

Jana wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at the massive orc kneeling beside her.An orc.An actual orc with green skin and a long dark braid and gleaming white tusks. As impossible as it seemed it only confirmed her earlier conviction that she was no longer on Earth.

His presence was both terrifying and reassuring after hours alone in this alien forest. Green eyes met hers and an odd rush of warmth flooded her body. She blinked hard, trying to process her reaction. Nothing made sense - not the weird purple-tinged moss coating the boulder next to her, not the impossibly large wolf who’d attacked her, and certainly not the huge orc warrior who’d just saved her life.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing at her arm.

His deep voice carried a strange accent, but the English was clear enough. An orc who spoke English. Her mind reeled again and her fingers tightened on the branch she still clutched.

“I’m… okay. They’re just scratches.”

The words came out hoarse and he didn’t look convinced.

A twig snapped somewhere in the darkness and she flinched. He turned his head, his big body blocking her view of whatever lurked in the shadows. The scent of leather and woodsmoke clung to him, along with something she couldn’t identify, and beneath her fear and confusion, something deep inside her responded to that scent.

He glanced back at her, quickly averting his eyes from her bare skin.

“I have a camp nearby. Fire, food, spare clothes.”

She picked nervously at the rough vines she’d woven together. The makeshift dress wasn’t much, but at least it covered the essentials. Mostly. She’d found the bush with the large waxy leaves soon after she’d started down the mountain - another plant she didn’t recognize - and stopped long enough to construct the outfit.

She’d walked for what seemed like hours until her bare feet began to ache, covered with tiny cuts and bruises. She hadn’t encountered anyone before the sun started to dip towards the horizon, casting long shadows through the trees, and she’d reluctantly decided she needed to find shelter.

She’d still been searching for a likely place when the fine hairs on the back of her neck suddenly rose, as if someone was watching her. She turned in a circle but couldn’t make out anything in the uncertain light beneath the trees. Leaves rustled, too deliberate to be the wind. Her skin prickled with goosebumps as she slowly turned her head toward the sound. The dense foliage revealed nothing, but she felt it - eyes watching her, tracking her movements.

Heart pounding, she picked up a fallen branch, hefting it like a club. The weight felt reassuring in her hands, though she wasn’t sure how much good it would do against whatever lurked in the shadows. She started moving again, trying to watch the foliage behind her and search for some type of shelter at the same time.

Darkness crept through the forest. Her pulse thundered in her ears, drowning out the evening sounds of birds and insects, but she kept moving. Every time she stopped, she heard rustling behind her.

As if I’m being herded, she thought despairingly as she stumbled over a rock and came to a halt.

The leaves rustled again, this time accompanied by a low growl.

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