Page 42 of Guarded By the Orc

Swallowing hard, I nodded, looking between these females who were my family. “Okay. I can do this. What do I have to say to the Guardian?”

“That’s what Tabitha’s working on,” Floria explained. “There’s a protocol to how to deal with him and we don’t want to offend him.”

“So he’s a Guardian of The Grove?” I asked, my brow furrowed with confusion.

“A little more than that,” she said with a shrug. “He’s a Guardian of the forest. But that grove is special, so he pays particular attention to it.”

Nodding, I rubbed my hands together, worry filling me. I wasnotgood with protocol. In fact, I would say that I was the exactopposite. I tended to shove my entire foot into my mouth when given the chance.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself, hoping I wouldn’t fuck anything up for my coven, who were counting on me.

CHAPTER 22

Rudgar

“This is a terrible idea,” Enka said, putting his weapons into the holsters that I’d given him and his brothers not too long ago. They’d come a long way from when they’d fumbled to get dressed in the first place with the buttons and zippers.

Now, they were almost as good as I was with arming themselves. I had my best friend to thank for that. While I was distracted with my mate, Darak had taken the time to come help them acclimate with our world along with getting them settled with roles in the building.

Rok—who still hissed at the computer more often than not—was in charge of the team, but Enka was showing a big interest in technology and was learning faster than Darak had hoped.

Krusk was also settling in well, but Savla seemed to have the same attitude toward technology that Rok did. Hopefully, with time, we would be able to talk them into it. If not, there were ways around it, and I was sure we could figure it out.

“I know this is a terrible idea,” I told Enka, eyeing the three males as they stood in front of me. I had asked Rok and Dristan to stay behind to protect their mates and the other females from Zara’s coven. “If I could talk her out of it, I would, but she’s refusing to see sense.”

The other males nodded with sighs.

“It’s hard to make that one see reason,” Krusk agreed. “Once she has her mind set on something she bites in with all her teeth.”

“Stubborn as akikon,” Enka said with a shrug and Savla nodded.

While it still irked me that these three unmated males knew my female well enough to make those kinds of statements, I could admit that it was sweet that they knew her that well. Shewasas stubborn as akikon—whatever the hell that was.

“Why does she need a wand anyway?” Krusk asked, tucking a sword into the sheath at his back. While it wasn’t necessarilylegalto carry that huge weapon, I wasn’t going to deny him the comfort of it when we faced off against theGods knew whatkind of creatures in this grove that my mate was insisting that we go to.

“She can’t focus her magick without it,” I explained, but I wondered if I was saying the right thing.Ididn’t understand it. How could I expect them to? “If she’s going to face off against the asshole, she’s going to need to be at her full power,” I told them what she’s said to me in slow words that had both helped and offended me.

“Ah,” Krusk said with a nod. “Veron. Yes, he mostdefinitelyis an asshole.”

“Of the assholiest variety,” Enka added with a snort and Savla grunted his agreement.

“Where’s The Grove?” Krusk asked as they finished packing and looked at me, waiting.

“It’s close to where her mother’s house is. She was drawn to the power of it, making their home close enough that she thought she could get help from the Guardian in case she needed it but…” he trailed off with a sigh, scrubbing his hand across his face. “That didn’t work out.”

“Well now maybe Zara can get his help,” Enka said with a shrug, patting my shoulder in an awkward way.

“Yeah,” I agreed, turning to face the door, straightening my shoulders as I led them out and toward my home—where my mate was getting ready as well. “And if he can’t help her, I’m going to find another way.”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I told Zara as we walked close to the forested area near her mother’s home. She turned to look at us, her lips pursed.

“And I don’t think I need four huge orcs as protectors to go meet him, but here we are,” she sniffed, her brow furrowed with consternation as she looked at where Krusk, Enka and Savla stood behind me.

“You definitely need protection,” Krusk said, eyes roaming behind her where there was a light mist surrounding the forest. “There’s something weird about this place.”

“It’s not weird, it’s sacred,” she sighed, rolling her eyes as turned to face the trees. “And whatever you do, don’t youdarehurt anything in there.”

I turned to look at the other three males, who had the same incredulous expressions on their faces. “What if something attacks us?”

---