Page 51 of Guarded By the Orc

“We can hear you,” Enka said in a loud whisper next to my ear. Startled, Rudgar and I jerked away from each other as he continued. “In case you two didn’t know and weren’t meaning to shove your mated joy into our faces.”

I swatted at him as he made kissy noises next to me. Krusk laughed from his seat and Savla shook his head, pretty much ignoring us.

Rudgar closed my door, making his way to the driver’s seat, his glare fixed on Enka who didn’t look repentant in any way.

“Our realm has more magick than this plane,” Krusk said, leaning forward, his fingers drumming on the back of Rudgar’s seat, “but evenI’venever seen anything like that. I was looking at the trees in that grove after he revealed them, Zara. They weremoving. On their own!”

I nodded, gathering my thoughts that had been scattered with Rudgar’s kiss and sweetness. “It’s not justaSacred Grove. It’sone of the original groves where it’s believed that life began. Just behind the trees, there’s a spring and that water can heal most illnesses,” I explained. “Getting access is almost unheard of. And forall of usto be allowed,” I continued, shaking my head, “I still can’t believe it happened.”

“We’re damn lucky then,” Enka said, and I felt Savla move in behind me, looking at the wood in my hands. I handed it over to him, knowing he would treat it with gentle care that I didn’t trust the other to have.

“It’s beautiful,” he said in a low voice, his fingers running over it, tracking the grooves and the ridges. I didn’t know what was going through his artist’s brain, but I knew that he was already seeing what he would be carving from it.

Sweet relief ran through me. Finally, I had the start that I needed to prepare myself to face off against Veron and his army. And now I had the Guardian and The Grove behind me too.

With some luck, we just might be able to get out of this alive.

CHAPTER 26

Zara

And it looks like our luck’s run out.

“What do we do with it?” Tasia asked, staring down at the branch that was laid on the table.

I looked around, my eyes huge as the other members of the coven shrugged.

“I have no idea,” Tabitha said, looking at me with expectation.

I peeked over my shoulder, because she couldnotbe askingme.“How the hell would I know?” I gasped, when I realized that no one was behind me. “I just got the wood!”

“Well children’s wands aren’t the same as what you’ll need here,” Floria said, tapping her index finger against her lip. “You’re going to need something stronger and more powerful. The wood itself is going to do the bulk of the work, but we’ll need to reinforce it somehow and none of us have ever done anything like that before,” she added with another shrug.

“He didn’t give you any instructions?” Hanna asked, poking at the branch. I swatted her hand away before shaking my head.

“No, he pretty much just gave it to me and then said that whenever the bad guys show up, he’ll help protect anyone who needs it.”

“Good plan,” Floria said with a firm nod before frowning down at the wood. “But yeah, I have no idea what the hell to do with this.”

My palm smacked against my forehead in frustration. “Well, shit.”

“Pretty much sums it up,” Tasia murmured, peeking into Gabbi’s bedroom to make sure she was still asleep before hurrying back to us. “Let me go check out some of the books that I have on wand making.”

All eyes turned to her and she shrugged with a small smile. “I wanted to start working on Gabbi’s, so I did some digging in the library.”

She hurried into the main apartment—that we’d designated as a shared space. We only gathered into this smaller one when Gabbi was taking a nap and we had to keep our eyes on her.

“You know what happens when we finish the wand, don’t you?” Tabitha asked me, distracting me from alternative plans in case she couldn’t find anything on making a wand for an adultwho should be able to control their powers.

“What happens?” I ask, my palms getting sweaty at the idea of having to face Veron and his warlocks head-on with these wonderful witches behind me.

I need to protect them, but I don’t know if I can.

“We’re going to have to unbind your powers,” she said in a gentle voice, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “And you’re going to have to unleash them through your wand.”

I swallowed hard, not having realized that I would be expected to perform a fully-empowered spell so soon. Anxiety ran through me and I swore that I could feel sweat on myfeetas well now.

“Oh, yeah,” I forced out a fake laugh. “Of course I knew that,”I continued in a voice that was much higher pitched than I was used to. I cleared my throat.

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