Page 25 of Guarded By the Orc

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Zara exclaimed, moving toward me. The other females didn’t follow, keeping their distance from me. “I didn’t introduce you! This is Rudgar. He’s—” she cut herself off, frowning as she looked up at me. “He’s Rudgar,” she finished,with enthusiasm and Tasia quirked an eyebrow.

“You said that,” she told Zara.

“Well it’s true,” Zara finished with a nod. “And I’m staying with him. I’m not sure how safe the house would be since they can probably track my magick back here, so I’m going to be staying with him and his clan. His clan-brothers saved me on the warlock’s plane,” she explained and the coven watched with rapt attention. “And he’s protecting me,” she added, her eyes darting away. “So…” she trailed off before turning to face me again, holding her hands up toward me as if I was on display. “Rudgar!”

I raised my hand in a wave and the coven looked from Zara to me and then back again.

“Rudgar!” the little one chirped, moving closer and then pointing at my gun. “He’s packing heat!”

“Gabbi,” Tasia snapped, holding her hand out toward her. The little girl frowned, pointing at the gun.

“But heis,” she insisted, even as she moved to take Tasia’s hand.

“You’re back home, Zara,” the tallest female with a long braid down her back said, hugging my mate around her shoulders. “We can protect you as a coven. You should stay with us.” She turned to look up at me, but I could see the suspicion in her gaze. “Thank you for taking care of her, but she has us now.”

I shook my head, my lips parting to speak, but Zara spoke first. “I’m sorry guys,” she said in a low, sweet voice. “But it’s safer for everyone if I stay with Rudgar and his clan.”

I had to forcibly stop my eyebrows from going sky high. Even if I thought so, I didn’t think that Zara would agree with me.

“And I’d feel safer if you guys didn’t stay here either. I won’t be able to protect you,” she explained.

“But…” Tasia trailed off, her eyes snapping to me and then back to Zara, her shoulders going stiff. Realizing that she wasn’t comfortable speaking near me, I pointed toward the door.

“I’m going to stand over there. I can’t leave while she’s in here in case they come for her,” I explained, hoping that they’d understand.

They all nodded—even Gabbi—and I moved away from them.

Even though I can hear every single whisper.

CHAPTER 13

Zara

“You can’t want to actually stay with him,” Floria whispered, glaring toward where Rudgar was now standing—facing the door.

“I do,” I said with a small shrug. “They’ve been protecting me and I know it’ll be best for everyone if I stay with them. I’ll do the protection spell on their building and that way they won’t be able to get to me.” I looked around at them, my heart feeling full.

This coven had always been my mom’s. She hadn’t wanted me to be initiated into the coven since my powers were so unstable at the time and could call the warlocks to us.

But they’d still taken me under their wing, training me in the basics and while I wasn’t fully in the fold, they were the closest thing to a family that I’d had outside of my mom. Seeing them now, tears prickled at my eyes. Being in the home I’d grown up in, surrounded by the people who’d been there throughout my childhood was making nostalgia and sadness bubble inside me.

Tabitha—the defacto leader now that mom was gone—andFloria looked at each other, passing silent messages that confused me.

What could they be hiding?

“Fine,” Floria said with a sigh. “What did your mother tell you about us?” she asked, and I frowned.

“That you’re a group of powerful witches—” I was cut off by tittered laughter throughout the group. “You’renot?” I asked, frowning.

“We’re a group of witches,” Floria agreed, shrugging, “but we’re not that powerful. In fact, the only thing that we all have in common is that we’re all on the run,” she said with a rueful smile. “Every single one of us is running from something, and we found each other. Your mother was protecting us,” she finished and my eyes went huge in my face.

“She was?” I gasped, reaching my hands out to hold Floria’s. “I didn’t know that.”

The entire group moved closer, huddling around me, wrapping their arms around each other and me. I remembered this. I always thought it was a way to combine their powers, but now I was realizing that this was a group hug. Surrounded by their arms and held tight in their combined strength, I felt my own power flare inside me.

“She might be gone, but I can still protect you,” I told them, gripping the hands of the females closest to me. “This is still her coven.”

“Zara,” Hanna said, her tone stern. “That’s not fair. You need to protect yourself.”

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