Page 53 of Guarded By the Orc

Then I was going to vanquish the warlocks that had taken her and then takenme. I was going to make sure that my children and their children’s children never had to worry about them again.

None of them are going to escape my wrath.

And if my mother was really looking down on me, I was going to make her proud.

CHAPTER 27

Rudgar

Ipaced inside my office, my eyes narrowed on the screen in front of me as I waited for any information my contacts could find on Veron and his warlocks. It was hard—since they lived on another plane—but I had sources that were able to dig into places they shouldn’t—when given a direction.

Using Rok’s knowledge of his homeland, I gave some leads andgenerouspayments for anything that they could give me. It was killing me that I wasn’t able to protect Zara from this threat.

She was going to have to rely on her coven and herself. It irked me, a thorn buried deep that I wanted to dig out. Ineededto keep her safe, but I didn’t know how.

I couldn’t fight against this enemy with brute force the way I was used to.

The way I’dloveto.

Just imagining jamming my fist into the face of the prick who’dtaken her got my blood boiling. He’d taken her. He’d put hisfilthyhands on her. He’dtorturedher and I wasn’t going to be able to get my hands dirty?

Bullshit.

“Look at you,” Dristan said from the door of my office, his eyebrow quirked and his arms folded over his chest as if he’d been standing there for a while. “You’re looking as stressed as I used to be when I was worried about Penelope not being able to fall in love with me.”

“Low blow,” I told him, eyeing my computer again, ensuring that I didn’t have any responses. “But the difference is that you were able to give Pen everything she needs in a mate.”

I dropped into my chair, keeping my gaze averted as I continued, “I don’t think Zara needsmefor anything.”

Dristan made a small, thoughtful sound as he tapped on the doorway. “And why do you say that?”

I rolled my eyes, slumping in my chair. “She can take care of herself. Shehastaken care of herself. I went with her to the Guardian of the forest in case she needed me, but I was wrong. Instead, I neededher. If she didn’t help us there, we wouldn’t have gotten out,” I explained.

I clenched my fist, trembling with helpless frustration. “I would doanythingfor her, Dris. I just don’t knowwhat.”

Dristan moved to the visitor’s chair that was in front of my desk, leaning back and strumming his fingers on the arms. “And you want her to need your protection,” he said in a considering voice.

My brow furrowed, and I shook my head. “No, I want her to needsomething, Dris. Literally anything from me. But she’s doing it all on her own,” I sighed.

“And you haven’t provided shelter for her? For her coven? You’re not giving her the room that she needs to come into her power? The acceptance of who she is? Ofwhatshe could be?” heasked, those fingers still strumming while he sat there with quiet composure so different from what I was used to from him.

I stared at him, confused. “Who the fuck are you and what have you done with my brother?” I asked him.

A sharp bark of laughter was my response. “Someone who’s been watching you beat yourself up over something you have no control over. You’re missing the point of a mating,” he told me with a gentle smile that I remembered from when we were growing up.

This was the male who had taken over the role of my father without a question. Without a single complaint.

“What’s the point of a mating?” I asked, knowing that the peace that I was witnessing inside my older brother could only be found with a completed bond.

I wasn’t sure I would ever get to that point. Where Zara and I would be so enmeshed in each other that we didn’t know where one ended and the other began.

“To accept each other for who we are. To fill the missing pieces,” he responded, twining his hands over his stomach now and giving me a slow, happy smile. One that I never thought I’d ever see on his face. “And to think about what sheactuallyneeds rather than what you want to give her.”

I sucked in a breath, feeling the blow of those words like a solid punch to my chest. Iwastrying to fit her needs to what I felt comfortable with providing. I’d beenbornto protect my family, but so was Zara.

She protected her coven with the same intensity I protected my family. Maybe that’s not what I needed to give to her. Instead, I could help her see that she had everything that she needed inside of her. Every part that she was looking for was already there.

I saw that fear in her eyes that I recognized in Dristan for a long time when we were growing up. The fear of not being enough. Not being what everyone needed. But that was thefurthest thing from the truth.

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