Page 65 of Orc's Pretend Mate

She frowns and shrugs.

“I’m sorry Vapas, I don’t know anything about all that,” she says.

She is rubbing her hand over mine. It’s a comforting gesture and I don’t think it’s a calculated move. I do not think she is that kind of a person. I stare into her eyes, searching for any hint of deception, but there is nothing. Nothing but the beautiful eyes of the woman I have fallen for.

My dragoste.

She may not have told me everything but does that change what I feel? What my heart and soul knows? That she is the one who completes me?

“Phoebe—”

She puts her finger on my lips, stopping me from saying more. Her finger is small, soft, and warm. I want to take it into my mouth, suck on that delicate digit then kiss my way up her arm until I find her lips then down…

Stop. This isn’t over.

I jerk my thoughts away from the carnal and focus. This isn’t the time and certainly not the place.

“Vapas… I need to finish,” she says, holding her finger to my lips a moment longer than is strictly necessary. Pressing a little bit harder, a little more insistent, then removing it with what seems like reluctance and a hitch in her breathing. “I came to gather information. Data for my leader. She thought if we could find enough good things, enough… I don’t know, similarities between the Urr’ki and the Zmaj that she could negotiate at least a truce if not an actual peace.”

I frown. I don’t understand what this human leader wants. No one does something without some kind of a gain for themselves,what does she gain? What do the humans get from involving themselves in our war?

“Why? Why bother? What do you, your people gain from any of this?”

She shakes her head then shrugs.

“I.. don’t know.”

“You are sure?” I probe, watching her responses, the final dregs of suspicion holding me back from understanding. She nods and all I see is sincerity. She is telling me all she knows. “Do you think…”

Do I want to know this answer? Will she be honest?

“Think?”

I swallow pride and no small amount of trepidation. Steeling myself for the answer, whether I like it or not.

“Do you think they will kill me?”

She jerks back, eyes widening, and her mouth dropping open.

“No!” she exclaims so loudly that it echoes off the walls of the tunnel. She shakes her head violently and grabs onto my arms, pulling me in closer. “No Vapas. No, I’d never. No.”

She cups my face between her hands. Her face is close enough to kiss. The intensity in her eyes burns into my heart.

“It is okay,” I say. “I do this for my people. For the chance, no matter how slight, to stop the Shaman.”

“Vapas, no. I meant what I said. All of it. They will not harm you. I will not allow it.”

“Phoebe, you cannot know that. Our peoples…”

“I know it,” she says, steel suddenly in her voice. “Because I will not allow it. As long as there is breath in my lungs and strength in my hands, you will not die at the hands of the Zmaj.”

There is no hint of doubt or deception in her voice. Her eyes bore intensely into mine.

I pull her into a kiss.

41

PHOEBE

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