Page 10 of Bound to the Orc Warrior

“Thank you,” I call out. “I think seeing another human will be a great help.”

My bride spins to face me, her pretty face going slack as her eyes raise above my head to take in the mechanical contraption that stands in the middle of the village green like some strange metallic willow tree dripping chains for branches. As ludicrous as the thing looks, when it spins the chains up into the air, it makes a fine defense against the sluagh.

She laughs, the sound holding little true joy, and mutters something.

“Please,” I say, pulled forward by her distress. “Let me help you.”

She backs away, halting when she runs into Reta, the weaver.

Another gut-churning wrench, and we’ve returned to the standing stone, me again guarding my bride’s back. She darts forward to press her hands to the granite pillar, and the crystals embedded within begin to glow.

The sluagh shriek in triumph, and I pull my sword free, leaping to protect her.

My moon bound gasps, sucking in gulps of air as if she’s expending great effort, then blinks out of existence.

A giant hand picks me up and hurtles me through nothingness.

I land on my feet on a strange gray surface. Buildings built one against the other line the way ahead, strange and square in design. But I pay them little attention, because my bride falls to the ground.

It takes but a split second to put away my sword, the movement done with the smooth familiarity of long practice. I wrap my hands around her shoulders, the shock of touching her skin racing through me, and pull her to her feet.

She turns, and the smile falls from her full lips as soon as she spots me.

People—humans—surround us on all sides, and a strange mechanical carriage roars as it heads straight toward us.Wherever this is, it isn’t Alarria. As much as I’ve always felt an outsider there, Alarria is still my home. Standing in this strange place, I finally realize that for the first time in my life.

Because what Idon’tfeel here is even more shocking.

Alarria exudes magic. It’s in the air you breathe, it pulses upward from the ground, and it radiates from the trees. Magic weaves through the fabric of the realm, bringing it fully to life. You become so used to it you take it for granted.

But here in this strange place, I can’t feel any magic.

“By the goddess,whatdid you do?”

CHAPTER FIVE

Naomi

“No,” I say. “No, no, no.”

The green elf can’t behere, in Ferndale Falls!

Everything I’ve just gone through can be a—god, I don’t know—a freaking fever dream or something. But if he’s standing here, on Main Street, then all of this is real.

“Where are we?” His dark eyes dart all around, and when Joe drives his ancient Ford pickup past going all of ten miles an hour, the green elf flinches away, putting his body between me and the car as if protecting me. “What are the dangers of this world?”

“Dangers? Here?” In my small town?

His eyes snap back to mine, his big body looming over me. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know the dangers.”

“Naomi!” Hannah’s familiar voice calls out. “Naomi, get out of the middle of the street!”

“Oh, yeah.” I mean, it’s not like there’s enough traffic for it to be truly dangerous, but still, she’s got a point.

I step up onto the sidewalk, and my shadow follows.

Hannah hurries over, wearing dark jeans and a well-tailored white button-down shirt—what I jokingly call her mayor uniform.

“Whoa, that is some serious cosplay.” She runs an appreciative eye up and down the guy, who is taller than I originally thought now that I see him standing beside my six-foot friend. “Who’s the elf?”

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