Page 6

Scrambling up, I grabbed my bag and tore off the ridiculous heels. The warm earth felt amazing under my toes. Wonder surged through my chest.

Since I was running, I donned my flip flops. With my bag swung over my shoulder, the silly shoes inside to avoid leaving evidence of the crime, I peered around. A path meandered alongside the barn, heading toward the back of the structure. To my right lay Main Street where people might see me. The left led to darkness.

I chose the darkness.

My pulse thumping hard in my throat, I bunched up my gown and ran. My flip flops kicked up dirt. The tightness in my ribs didn't matter anymore. I was free, free, free.

I didn’t stop until I’d rounded the end of the barn and streaked across the open area beyond. I found shelter behind a neat row of stagecoaches. Pressing my back against the wooden frame of the one on the end, I dragged in quick breaths, forcing my mind to catch up with my body.

The one good memory from my past flickered through my mind. My first visit here, for a tour of the facilities and to finalize the papers to host our wedding. That day, everything changed.

The orc had been standing near the barn, his green skin catching the afternoon sun, his broad chest bare other than a thick leather strap crossing over it. He was taller than any man I’d seen, more muscular, and almost overwhelming in a tingling way.

When I stumbled, my hand brushing his arm, and my world had tilted.

The oddest feeling had pulsed between us, like an invisible band pulling tight. His dark eyes had lockedonto mine, and the air around us seemed to go silent. Even now, I swore the humming beneath my skin I'd felt from the intense way he'd stared down at me then floated through me even now.

In a flash, it was over. Bradley huffed inside the barn. I looked up at the orc one more time, taking in his handsome, rugged features, then stepped inside to join Bradley, pretending nothing had happened.

But everythinghad, and I’d worn the wide gold bracelet over the areahisfingers had touched ever since.

I clutched the bracelet now, my belly on fire. Did he remember me? Would he recognize me if he saw me now? I doubted he even knew who I was. Maybe he'd returned to the orc kingdom like many of the orcs that came to the surface a few years ago. Some had remained after treaties were formed. Some had even taken jobs and married humans. But others missed the life they'd had in the caverns far below the ground, where the sun didn't shine, insects lit up the cavern ceilings like stars, and life must be simpler than it was up here.

Shouts echoed around me.

“She’s gone,” someone bellowed from the barn. My chest collapsed. Not just someone. Bradley.

Footsteps pounded on the dirt, moving fast and in all directions.

Panic roared through my veins and my hands shook. I couldn’t let them catch me. Not when I’d made it this far already.

I bolted toward the plain beyond the stagecoaches, my flip flops slapping my heels, and my footstepspounding the dry earth. The wedding dress flounced around me, getting heavier with each step. Dirt clung to the silk, but I barely noticed. I only wished I'd taken the time to ditch it in the bathroom before fleeing.

No time now.

Orc cattle dotted the landscape ahead, massive green beasts grazing beneath the open night sky. Beyond them, past a series of rolling hills, a forest stretched for miles, thick and dark and easing up the mountains. If I could just get there, I'd be?—

“Find her. Now.” Bradley’s furious voice snapped out, scraping down my spine.

Run faster!

I pushed hard, my lungs screaming, my pulse thundering in my ears.

That's when I tripped and twisted my ankle. I stumbled down into a small ravine.

When I hit the ground and landedhard, my yelp erupted from my throat.

Chapter 3

Ruugar

Ispotted her the moment she bolted out from behind the stagecoaches, the echoes of pursuit thrumming around me. I followed, keeping pace with her easily. Watching to see what she planned. Determined to help her if she had need.

Then she fell. One second, she was running, her wedding dress billowing around her, and the next, her arms had spiked out, and she'd disappeared into the dry gully halfway between the edge of Lonesome Creek and the first sorhox pasture.

My heart punched my ribs as I broke into a sprint, leaping down the small drop, terrified she might be lying on the ground, horribly injured.

She'd hit the ground hard, her bag tumbling away from her, landing a few feet beyond her reach. Dirt smudged her dress, and moonlight tangled with her hair. She groaned, trying to push up onto her hands and knees.