Page 9

Chapter nine

Kai

I was frustrated for so many reasons. What Nash said made sense, if he was telling me the truth. If he had enemies and they saw the way he acted so protective of me, it tracked that me running off and finding Rainn could just get both of us hurt. He seemed so sure that he was safe, too. If there were guards posted at all the portals, there really was every chance Rainn was living his best life at the moment, bouncing on orc dick and coming up with a million new book ideas.

And…

It was getting harder for me to deny that there was something about Nash that made me want to stay near him. I was still torn between blaming it on orc magic and some weird karma for stealing that dildo, but I was starting to realize how useless it was to fight it.

So… I could be his friend.

A friend who slept next to him and got off frotting, apparently. But… that was pretty friendly, right? Way more friendly than I’d been with anyone else. So maybe I could be his best friend.

With benefits.

Right.

I had to do something, because apparently I couldn’t lie to him. For some reason, when he was so close to me, it had been impossible for me to tell him I didn’t want him to touch me. Him chasing me into the woods and catching me felt like…

Shit, it felt like something . Something big that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. It was the second time he’d done it—catching me when I ran—and it felt like every time it happened, the feelings inside me were wound tighter and tighter.

And last night, those feelings had snapped. It was the only explanation I had for letting him touch me—the only reason I had for it feeling better than anything I’d ever felt in my life.

Nash was just… frustrating.

My eyes slid to the man in question—because as much as I wanted to keep calling him a monster, he was more than that. He had his arms wrapped around me tight enough that I couldn’t really move.

He’d promised not to tie me up, but hadn’t said a damn thing about holding me all night.

His chest was rising and falling slowly, and I had to admit there was something about him that made it nearly impossible for me not to look at him. I was dizzy with the image of him now, soft and sweet and relaxed, and the image of him hovering over me last night, his eyes burning and his expression so possessive I was caught up in the absolute filthy shit he was saying to me.

Breeding. Filling me up? That was baby-making talk.

Fuck, I’d wondered before if there was some kind of magic that could make that happen, but I totally wasn’t a morning sickness kind of guy.

So why had I been so caught up in the moment?

I didn’t want to think about it too hard, so I shifted up on my elbow and slapped Nash’s chest instead. His body went rigid for a second before a small sound tore from me as he flipped me over, pinning my body beneath his in a swift movement that seemed more instinct than intention.

The alert and dangerous expression on his features slipped away the second he focused on my face, though, and the heat of his body pressing against mine melted.

“There are less dangerous ways to wake a warrior, Kai.” His voice was rough with sleep, but he leaned down with his intentions written clear on his face. I had to turn my head to stop him from kissing me, but he didn’t seem deterred. He just pressed his lips to my neck and nuzzled there…

Which might have been worse, because it sent little tingles of pleasure all along my body, and he was pressed close enough to me that I knew he’d feel it if I didn’t get him to move.

“Up.” I shoved him as hard as I could, using his loose posture against him to send him tumbling off the bed. The shocked sound that escaped him was enough to tear a laugh from my chest. “You said you’d let me be useful today.”

“I could think of many uses—”

“Not that kind of useful.” I cut him off and shot off the mattress before he climbed back onto it. “Come on. Show me how you live, orc man.”

I could do this. I could be friends with Nash. If he were human, he’d be the exact kind of buddy I’d make to work out with.

Of course, I’d never looked at my workout buddies’ abs bunch and contract as they lifted themselves from the floor, or found myself fascinated with the way their arms flexed and bulged as they got dressed.

Orc magic and dildo-stealing karma. There really was no other explanation.