Page 23 of Bound to the Orc Warrior

“It always feels like that for me.” I set her on her feet. “It felt the same as when I followed you to each location earlier today.”

“Huh! That’s interesting. Maybe it means I didn’t teleport you. I teleported me, and this… tether brought you to me.” She spins around and grabs my elbow to tug me into the middle of the meadow. “Now, let’sbothwalk in opposite directions!”

We stand back to back, then pace away from each other like opponents in a duel. I shorten my steps greatly, trying to match her human stride.

A quick buzz of magic, and the world spins around me. I move, and Naomi moves, too, until we slam into each other, chest to chest.

This time, when my arms catch her to me, her face hovers only inches from mine, her lips parting on a startled gasp that draws my gaze to their soft plumpness.

Her tongue darts out, wetting them, making me groan with need.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Naomi

My breath catches at the heat in Wranth’s eyes as he stares at my mouth. Tingles race through my body that have nothing to do with magic.

And everything to do with him.

He holds me several feet off the ground as if it’s nothing, his easy strength a turn on I never realized I had before today, because no human guy could ever pick me up like this. A growl rumbles through his chest, so deep I can barely hear it, even as it vibrates against my suddenly sensitive nipples.

There’s something fierce and primal in his expression, something I want to unleash. He’s fully present, everything in his body humming like a plucked string tuned toward me, and that kind of focus is really fucking heady. I imagine him being this intense in bed, and my core throbs.

When I can finally suck in a breath, his scent, all pine and leather and male, fills my senses. I lick my lips, as if trying to taste him on the air, and his groan makes me squirm.

“Wranth,” I breathe, fascinated by the way me saying his name makes his pupils blow wide.

“Is horniness a side effect of teleporting?” Shadow asks, voice dripping amusement. “Because that certainly appears to be the case.”

Wranth’s head snaps around, and he glares daggers at the cat.

Zephyr neighs a laugh. “I hate to agree with him, but you must admit he has a point.”

Wranth just growls, baring his tusks, but it’s too late—the mood’s broken.

I shove lightly at his shoulders until he sets me down. Then I start listing things on my fingers. “Okay, here’s what we know. One, we can only get twenty feet apart. Two, whoever moves away is the person who gets teleported back to the other. Three, the directions we’re facing when moving seem to dictate how we’ll end up at the end of the teleport. And four, this feels to you like when I pull you along after one of my teleports, but it doesn’t feel like a regular teleport to me.”

Shadow and Zephyr have both moved close, even though the latter still continues to graze. The panther says, “None of that explains what’s causing it.”

“You’re right.” I spread my hands. “Any ideas?”

“The phrase has always been ‘moon bound’ for those brought together by the goddess,” Wranth says. “What if the bond is more literal than we imagine?”

“Does this happen to the other couples you told me about? Do they get snapped back together if they get too far apart?”

He frowns and shakes his head. “No. Branikk regularly goes hunting without Grace accompanying him, and the others havetraveled farther than twenty feet from their moon bound brides as well.”

“None of the other couples have the same types of magic you do,” Zephyr says. “It could be the combination of your two specific magics interacting with the bond.”

“You mentioned your magic.” My eyes flick to Wranth. “Can you explain what it is for me?”

“It’s tracking magic,” he says. “The ability to find a living being and track it, no matter how far it goes, no matter where it hides.”

“So you’re ‘tracking me’?” I make finger quotes, then let my hands fall when I realize he probably won’t know what finger quotes mean.

“Not consciously.” He rubs at his chest, his eyes going a bit distant. “Yet I always feel you, my bride, such as I’ve never felt anyone before. It’s no longer as urgent as the Moon Goddess’s summons that led me straight to you, but it’s always there.”

“Huh.” I don’t know how to process any of this. Before I know it, I find my fingers drifting over the spot between my breasts. “I think I feel you, too.”

---