Page 30 of My Orc Billionaire
I staggered away from the vehicle and tipped my head back. My suit was already soaked through, and I struggled to breathe through the lashing wind and water. My broken tusk ached from the impacts, and my throat clenched with the emotion I hadn’t allowed myself to feel for so long.
When tears flowed from my eyes, I told myself they were because of the violence of the thunderstorm…and I almost believed the lie.
I was here.
I was alive.
And finally…I wasfeeling.
My claws extended to their full length, myKteerexulted in the freedom. As the energy from the next lightning strike gathered, I threw out my arms and tossed back my head androared.
Even behind my closed lids, I could see the lightning, feel its energy wrapping around me. Another deep breath, and as the white lights faded from the darkness, I roared again. Then again, loving the sensation of the natural world cocooning me.
How long had it been since I’d locked myself away?
Away from my friends. Away from my brothers. Away from this energy. Away from the world.
I missed it. I missed them.
Another roar, then a fourth, and my breath left me.
Finally, myKteerfelt calmer, and to my surprise, laughter edged its way up my throat. Gods below, I couldn’t recall the last time I’d laughed, but now it felt appropriate.
I was drunk on a thunderstorm, wasn’t I?
Still laughing at my own foolishness, I bent to scoop up a large handful of the gravel from the parking lot. When I reached for the SUV’s door, I was shaking my head at myself.
“Sorry about that,” I announced as I slid, dripping wet, back into my seat.
Riven’s eyes were wider than I’d ever seen, white showing all around the green irises, and she gripped the armrest. “Are you okay?” she croaked, and yeah, that was definitely a croak. “I thought you’d been electrocuted.”
“Nah.” My smile felt easy, but I heard her suck in a breath when she saw it. “It hit to the south.” I held out the handful of gravel. “I had to prove myself.”
“Holy shit, Abydos,” she breathed, then lunged forward to clap both her hands over mine, closing the rocks in my fist. “You don’t need to kill yourself to prove anything. I’ll believe you.”
Huh.
Had she been…scared for me? I twisted in the puddle I was making on the fancy leather to face her. “I wasn’t in danger.”
Her fingers twitched around mine. “When you started to yell like that, I wasn’t sure if I should call for an ambulance. I thought you’d been hit by that lightning strike.”
Maybe it would have been better to let her believe that, because the gods knew I couldn’t explain how cathartic screaming at the sky had been. So I just smiled and shrugged. “I wasn’t.”
“And now you’re smiling! Good God,” she breathed, her gaze darting over my face. “Maybe youareinjured.”
“I’m soaked, is what I am.” I turned my hand upside down, pouring the gravel into her hand, then reaching for the ignition. “Let’s get home before I ruin this car like the last three.”
She snorted softly, but I could feel her attention on me.
It wasn’t until we pulled out of the parking lot, and I turned toward the north—my house was on the cliffs in that direction, and there was only one major road that went around the island—that she exhaled and sat back in her seat.
“So. You grabbed a bunch of rocks.” I saw her pick up one from the corner of my eye. “What’s this one?”
“Granite,” I answered without hesitation.
She hummed, dropped the piece of gravel to her lap, then held out another. “What about this one?”
“Granite.”
