Page 3 of Guarded By the Orc

“You can speak my language?” he asked, his voice deep and curious. “You couldn’t understand me earlier.”

“I’m a witch,” I explained, mumbling a bit every time I smacked my face against my palm as he walked. “I’m Zara, by the way.”

“I’m Savla,” he told me, and I felt his head and shoulders dip in a small bow. I grinned at the formality.

“I’ll have to figure out how to go home,” I told him, heaving a deep breath, my mind already struggling to remember the spell that I’d learned for opening an interdimensional portal.

If only I’d paid more attention to what mama was saying instead of trying to sneak chips under the table…

“I’m taking you to meet my brothers,” he told me, his voice conversational. “Because you might belong to them.”

My head whipped in his direction, but then I face-planted against his back once more. “Belong towho?”

“A fated mate,” he explained, his voice a low rumble of longing that sent a pang of sadness through my chest. “Our other half.”

“Like a wife?” I asked, patting his back to comfort him.

“More than that,” he scoffed. “It’s our perfect match. She would fill all the missing spaces inside.”

I have missing spaces too.

“And you might be that for one of my brothers,” he explained, and continued walking like he hadn’t just shared life-changing information.

“Listen, bub, I don’t know who’s in charge of that stuff, but I can assure you, I’m not anyone’s fated mate,” I told him.

“Only one way to tell,” he responded with a shrug, continuing on his way.

“And I’m notyours, right?” I asked, cringing, and wonderinghow in the hell I was going to escape from his clutches if Iwas.

“No,” he assured me in a placating voice. “I would have known right away. But you can still belong to my brothers.”

“I don’tbelongto anyone but myself,” I harrumphed, trying to scramble away from him but only ending up smashing my nose against his back. I grabbed it, my voice nasal as I continued, “And even if I did, trust me, they wouldn’t want me for a mate anyway.”

He grunted as he continued walking and as the blood pooled in my head—making me wonder if it could explode if it got too full—I prayed that I wasn’t walking into another trap.

CHAPTER 2

Zara

Present Day

Iblinked my eyes open, staring up at the ceiling of the room I was in, surrounded by warmth and an alluring, masculine scent.

What the actual fuck?

That couldn’t be right. My groggy mind tried to grasp the fleeting memories that were passing through my brain, but I couldn’t come up with an explanation.

The last thing I remembered was opening a portal to escape Veron—the grand warlock who’d stolen me from my home and transported me to his plane to hold me captive. The male who thought I was his property. My lip curled of its own volition as I tried to figure out what new trap I’d found myself in.

It wasn’t unheard of. I was abitof a disaster who bit off more than she could chew most of the time. I’d learned that andaccepted it about myself. I even learned to see it as one of my better traits. I was arisk taker. I still hadn’t found the upside of it, though.

A soft snuffle came from my left and I froze, realizing that there was someone lying next to me.

Oh Goddess Mother, please say I didn’t find myself in bigger trouble than I had in the first place.

I wasn’t the best decision-maker when it came to males. In fact, when I’d seen Veron the first time, I’d thought he was handsome. And arguably, he was.

Handsome andevil.

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