Page 20 of Orri

Orri seems to finish up his drills, because he walks over to a bench, panting, before grabbing a cloth to wipe down the edge of his sword with some sort of oil. He sheathes it carefully and is about to leave when I can't take it anymore.

I had planned to stay hidden, but I couldn't let him leave. I didn't know why, just that I didn't want him to go. Not just yet.

"Orri!" I call out, stepping out of my hiding space and into the clearing.

He turns toward me at once, his lips quirking up in a grin. "I was wondering when you were gonna come out."

I open my mouth, then close it. He knew? The whole time, he knew?

"How long..."

"Ever since you arrived." Orri shrugs, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Your scent isn't exactly hard to miss." He rounds on me, his eyes seeming to flare when they stare down into my own. "Especially for an alpha."

My breath catches in my throat, and suddenly I'm at a loss for words. Every idea flies out the window and I'm left standing there gaping like some kind of drowning fish.

He lets out a short laugh. "Heh. But besides all that, what brings you out here? I was just doing some morning warm-ups. Soren gets on our ass if we don't keep up with training, so I try to get in a few rounds whenever I can."

For the briefest second, the sight of grubby, pawing hands dragging me away from my home surface in my mind once more. But I push them away with a shake of my head. Because it's given me an idea.

"Can you...teach me?"

DRILLS

ORRI

Idon't know what foolish thought possessed me to say yes to her request. She didn't know what she was asking. Not really. Otherwise she would never have said such words so innocently. So casually.

Ever since I was a child, ever since I could barely walk, I had been training to be the warrior I am today. Endless drills. Late nights. Early mornings. Sore muscles.

Sweat, blood, and tears.

Not to mention all of the field experience. All the men I'd watched die.

Zannah.

I wince at the thought, the same way I do every time I think of her. But for some reason, it doesn't have quite the same sting it once did. It's still there, of course, but it's like expecting a burn and finding only a comforting warmth.

Strange.

I don't have long to dwell on that thought, however, because Isabella's right there next to me, practicing the movements I showed her and looking up at me with a childlike hope in her eyes.

Fuck. She's too pure for the likes of me. She's hurt and been hurt so much already. She'd never go for a guy like me.

"How'd I do?" Isabella's cheeks are flushed and she's panting. A slight sheen of sweat shines on her forehead, not unlike the way she looks when we...

"Good," I mutter quickly. All too quickly. "Very good. You're learning fast." I only hope she doesn't hear how distracted I am. How much torture this actually is for me.

I have no problem with women warriors. After all, Zannah was one. But with Isabella, every alpha instinct I have screams to protect her. To keep her from harm's way at all costs, not to teach her how to fend off danger without me.

Without me.

That's a punch in the gut, but it's the truth. Once this little experiment of ours is over, we'll go back to our own homes, our own lives. That's the way it had to be.

Even if I lay awake at night cursing my very being for wanting to fill her with my cum so full that she'll never leave, so that she'll bear me many, many children...

"...hands-on." Isabella says something, and I only catch the tail end of it.

Busted.

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