Page 22 of Bound to the Orc Warrior

Still chewing a mouthful of bluebells, she bats my shoulder with her horn, a soft, affectionate tap.

I lead Naomi to the other side of the meadow and leave her near the edge of the forest. “When we were snapped together earlier today, you were still, and I was moving. Let’s repeat that. You remain here, and I’ll walk away.”

“Okay.” She bounces on her toes a little, her expression curious. “I can’t wait to figure this out! Usually, I just read a book to research something, but this is much more exciting.”

Quick strides carry me across the soft grass, which ripples in the breeze. Meadow wrens cheep, hopping about and pecking for bugs. My senses remain on high alert, the tension between my shoulder blades growing with each step. I didn’t note any warning signs last time I got flung across the forest, but I also wasn’t watching for any.

Once I’m ten feet away from her, I slow. As glad as I am that Naomi is built solid, she’s still not an orc. It won’t do for me to tackle her too roughly.

Fuck. Now I can’t stop picturing tackling her on purpose. Her running through the forest ahead of me, leading me on a mating chase. Tracking her, keeping my strides purposefully contained to draw out the moment. Her sweet scent pulling meforward until I can no longer resist. My weight carrying her to the ground, that luscious ass pillowing my—

“Why did you stop?” Shadow’s sardonic voice cuts across my imaginings, pulling me back to the here and now.

And the ache of my raging erection.

I clear my throat and resist reaching down to adjust myself. “I was trying to determine if I could feel when it was going to happen,” I lie.

“Did you feel anything?” Naomi asks.

“No.”

“That’s funny.” The cat sith flashes his wide grin, sitting in the middle of the meadow, watching us. “Because to me it looked like you were feeling hor—”

“Enough!” I bark. “On with the experiment.”

“Whatever you say, orc.” Mischief dances in his eyes.

I flash my tusks at him and take a step forward, then another. Right as I begin to think the earlier occurrence a fluke, a tingle rushes through me, like the faint whisper of my tracking magic when it first senses prey.

Another step, and the world wrenches around me, throwing me against Naomi’s back. This time I’m ready for it, and my arms scoop her off her feet before she can fall forward.

She lets out a surprised burst of air, then gives a breathless laugh and shakes her head. “That’s… I don’t knowwhatthat is, but it’s sure something.”

Her curls tickle my face, filling my nose with her sweet scent, and my arms tighten around her for a second before I can make them set her down.

My bride points into the meadow. “How far away do you think you got?”

“About twenty feet,” I say, having counted my paces.

“Yes,” Zephyr calls out, having angled herself to watch us while she grazes.

“Did you feel anything?” My moon bound looks up at me with curious brown eyes brimming with intelligence.

“My tracking magic activated right before I teleported.” The word tastes unfamiliar on my tongue, but I suppose I had better get used to it. “You?”

“I don’t know.” She lifts her necklace. “My crystal didn’t do anything, and I didn’t get that burn along my nerves I get when I try to teleport right now. But maybe I feltsomething.” Her lips purse as her fingers brush over the skin between her alluring breasts. She grins up at me. “I’m not sure, which means we need to do more experiments.”

I nod.

“So if you move away, you get teleported to me.” My bride points from me to her. “Time to see what happens if I’m the one moving.”

I grunt. “Good idea.”

The sway of her hips is mesmerizing as she walks away from me.

The quick shiver of my magic is the only warning I get before she winks out of existence only to crash into me, her back to my chest. I catch her as she bounces off.

“Okay, wow!” She lets out a delighted laugh. “That didn’t feel like my regular teleport at all! Those are easy. This felt like a giant hand threw me.”

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