Page 46 of Torgash

I should protest, insist on getting dressed, and reestablish distance. But when he pulls me closer, the tension in my shoulders melts away.

For the first time in months, the constant vigilance that's been my companion since arriving in Shadow Ridge finally quiets.

"Better?" he asks quietly, one hand stroking down my spine.

"Yeah." The word comes out barely above a whisper. I turn my face against his chest, inhaling that leather and spice scent. "You're still an asshole."

He chuckles, the sound rumbling beneath my ear. "That's not what you called me earlier. Something about having more honor and integrity than half the humans in this county."

My gaze snaps open. "You heard that?"

"Orcs have excellent hearing." His tone holds quiet satisfaction. "Especially when someone's defending us."

My face flushes, but I don't pull away. I close my eyes again, letting his warmth seep into my bones. "This changes everything."

"I know." His words rumble in his chest beneath my ear. "Let me worry about that now."

For the first time since I arrived in Shadow Ridge, I'm not fighting. Not calculating my next move or measuring the cost of letting someone else take the lead. The families counting on me, the investigation, Royce's corruption—none of it disappears. But for tonight, the crushing weight of carrying it all alone finally lifts.

I don't have the strength to argue. Don't want to. Tomorrow can bring whatever it brings.

Chapter Nine

Ash

The war room is compromised.

I sit in the chair where Nova came apart in my arms, staring at the table where I spread her open and took her mouth like I owned it. The leather still holds her scent—citrus and woman and the musk of what we did together. My hands remember the weight of her thighs, the way she trembled when she said my name.

Torgash.

Not the sanitized version I give humans who can't handle the truth of what I am. My real name, the one that tastes like blood and survival on my tongue. She said it with reverence, with absolution, seeing straight to the core of me without flinching.

The trust in that moment—letting me see her completely undone, calling me by my real name without fear—it's carved itself into my bones. Makes the secret I'm keeping about her sister feel like poison in my chest.

Something restless prowls through my chest, confused by my restraint. I could have taken her completely. Could have buriedmyself inside her until she forgot every reason we shouldn't be doing this. But that's not what she needed.

She needed to surrender without being conquered. She needed to know she could let go without losing herself, that she could trust me.

And hell, watching her break apart under my hands, seeing that fierce control finally crack—it was better than any claiming could have been.

The door clicks open behind me. I don't turn, don't acknowledge whoever's stupid enough to interrupt.

"Brooding makes you look almost human," Diesel says, dropping into the chair across from me.

If he can smell what happened in here—and with an orc's senses, he definitely can—he's not letting on. Club courtesy, maybe. Or he's smart enough not to poke that particular bear.

"Go to hell."

"Can't. Got news you need to hear." He sets a folder on the table, careful not to touch the surface where Nova's scent still lingers. "Another foreclosure went through. Williams family. Lost their farm to some shell company out of Atlanta."

I force myself to focus, to push thoughts of Nova's broken breathing aside. "Same pattern?"

"Identical. Fake documentation, rushed timeline, judge who's suddenly very accommodating." Diesel leans back, studying my face. "Judge Kellerman's been rubber-stamping Royce's bullshit for months."

"Kellerman's been taking bribes for years," I realize. "Not just from Royce, from anyone willing to pay."

"Looks that way. Organized corruption that chews up anyone who gets in its way." Diesel's expression darkens. "The Williams family is just the latest."

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