Page 8 of Bound to the Orc King

“My moon bound bride.”His voice echoes in my head.

“Stop calling me that,” I say.

“I didn’t say anything.” He startles.

“By the goddess, what magic does this witch have that she’s already enchanted me? I want nothing more than to spread her naked across my furs.”

My crystal burns on my chest, and his lips definitely didn’t move for any of that last bit.

Fuck.

I can read his mind.

CHAPTER FOUR

Aldronn

Pine boughs smack the top of my head and shoulders as I hunch forward over Starfall’s withers. My unicorn mount lives up to her name, her hooves racing across the moss-covered ground with the speed of a blazing meteorite.

The chain anchored in my heart gives an impatient yank, and an involuntary grunt of pain escapes me.

“By the goddess, exactly how fast does she expect you to go?” Starfall gives an irritated huff. Then she shakes her head in a whinnied laugh, her spiraled horn flashing silver in the dappled sunlight that makes it through the heavy foliage. “Ha! I just swore about the Moon Goddess, using her own appellation to do the swearing!”

“I’m glad one of us finds it funny,” I mutter, but my lips curl into a sardonic smirk. How ironic it’s the grumpy unicorn who’s amused instead of me. But my old friend has a point.Naomi used her teleportation powers to bring us as far north as possible, to a landmark she knew in the Dular Mountains. It cut a good week off our travels, and after several additional days of hard riding, we’re well past all known territories mapped. How can the goddess expect us to get to my bride any faster?

Yet the Moon Goddess always has a reason, and my premonition magic combines with the insistence of the summons, warning me my bride is in danger.

Every other human witch has been attacked upon arriving in Alarria. Perhaps mine will be a great warrior, able to defeat an eight-foot ogre, a war queen ready to battle by my side.

Which would be good, because a familiar roar echoes from ahead, grating across my nerves. Ogre.

“Did you hear that?” I bite out.

“Of course I did,” Starfall snaps, more her usual grumpy self. “Unicorn hearing is even better than that of an orc.”

“Be ready for anything.”

A snort is her only reply, telling me the disdain she holds for my words. She has a point. Starfall has been my mount for over a decade and fought by my side in many a battle. She will be queen of all the herds when she finally leaves me to return to her people, and I couldn’t ask for a better companion.

Light brightens ahead, signaling an opening in the trees. Starfall bursts out into a clearing containing a twenty-foot granite standing stone.

A woman stands on top, kicking ineffectively at the ogre grasping her ankle. The eight-foot-tall gray beast hulks with thick muscle. He out masses me, which makes him especially huge compared to the human.

How dare he touch her! Rage such as I’ve never known washes the world red. Years of diplomatic training fall away, leaving nothing but my warrior self.

“Get away from my bride!” I bellow, heart beating a war drum in my ears.

The ogre lets her go but doesn’t drop from the tall column.

“Get me as close as you can,” I murmur to Starfall. “I’m going to jump from the saddle.”

We first did the move on a dare, a far younger me wanting to show off for a girl I planned to bed. I didn’t need to do it—my title as prince would have been enough for her—but it wouldn’t have been enough for me. I prefer it when they want me as a manandas a royal. It makes our time in the furs far more satisfying for both parties.

The unicorn and I have practiced it many times over the years, and the familiarity of the move pays off. I stand in the stirrups and climb onto the saddle, my knees absorbing the rise and fall of her gait.

“Now!” Starfall yells.

I spring upward from her six-foot-high back, my strong thigh muscles propelling me through the air. My hands clamp onto the ogre’s shoulders, and I yank backward.

---