Page 14 of Enchanted with the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #4)

Enka

I sat on the pull-out bed outside my mate’s bedroom, and the click of the lock sent a pang of pain through my soul. I shouldn’t have rushed in there without knocking. My instincts had pushed me to protect my mate, but damn it, I’d made her feel unsafe instead.

Scrubbing the palm of my hand against my face, I glanced toward the door where she was sleeping next to our daughter. She’d remembered something. The scent of her fear while she slept had been acrid in my nose while her whimpers were loud and painful in my ears.

I hadn’t been able to stop myself from going to her. From reaching out and waking her. I needed the pain she was experiencing to stop. But I shouldn’t have. I was being too forward, and my mate needed me to take things slow.

I could do that for her. It would hurt like an open wound, but something was telling me that when it came to Tasia, I was going to have to take my time. I had to be careful, or she would run. Again.

Now that I knew that it was her plan, I could let the panic that had swept through me when I realized she was gone take over my body. I clenched my hands into the sheets, looking at the locked door while my chest heaved with my breaths.

She wasn’t safe. Someone was following her and my beautiful, courageous mate had decided that her best bet would be to run. My lips curled in a snarl at the thought of that asshole who had to be following her.

I’d been too focused on Tasia and our Gruk-ir to be able to track him by his scent—the scents on this plane was unending and unless I identified a single human, my tracking skills took time to be refined here.

I clenched my fingers again until my claws dug into the mattress and I heard material shred under them and my fingers cracked under the pressure. I was never going to let him get to her. That nightmare had been about him. Our Gruk-ir’s father. I was sure of it.

He haunted her even now, and I was going to have to get rid of him. My gaze flickered to the door again, wondering how she would react to me finding and killing the father of her daughter. If she was afraid of him, she mightn’t mind.

Still, I took a deep breath, releasing my claws from the sheets so I could grab my phone, clumsily typing out a text to my brothers, Krusk and Savla.

Enka: What happens if you kill a human on this plane?

Savla: ?

Krusk: I’m wondering if this is a clean-up question or a preemptive question.

Rolling my eyes, I typed again.

Enka: Preemptive.

Krusk: Phew. In that case, I think there’s jail time involved. Should I ask Rudgar?

Enka: Not yet. But I have to take care of Tasia’s ex-husband.

Savla: There are animals that can eat humans here. They can get rid of bodies.

My eyebrows swung up, but I really liked that idea.

Enka: How far away are these animals? Can we buy some?

Savla: I asked Rudgar about buying a farm and he said he’d take me to see some. Bring the body.

Krusk: NO BODIES! We have to figure out a solution that doesn’t involve killing.

I paused, taking a deep breath before heaving it out in one rush of air and typing again.

Enka: He hurt her.

Krusk: Bring the body.

I smiled at the sudden about-face of my eldest brother. While he was the most reasonable of the three of us, he was loyal to a fault and he would stand up for anyone who wasn’t able to stand up for themselves.

Especially my mate. He knew who she was to me.

He’d known almost as soon as I did. Because of his gregarious, outgoing nature, some might underestimate him, but he had our best interest at heart and he’d been taking care of us since we’d been too little to remember.

He was more of a father to me than my real father ever had a chance to be.

Enka: I have to track him. I’m sure he’ll be following her, but I’m still not familiar enough with this world.

Krusk: I’ll talk to Dristan. He’ll be able to tell us how to avoid being caught.

I shook my head, knowing that my brother was already in on the plan to kill the male. Narrowing my eyes into the distance, I remembered how my female had looked—terrified—in the bus and in her bed only moments before.

I was going to be the one to crush his throat under my fist.

I bared my fangs in a growl, the sound eerie in the darkness of the room around me.

“Rawr,” sounded from the darkness behind the door and I tilted my head in that direction, curiosity filling me and I made my way over to it, squatting in front of it. “Rawr,” came the noise again, and I smiled.

“Rawr,” I echoed and a little giggle sounded, little feet pattering back to the bed.

Tenderness filled me at the thought of our daughter repeating a sound that I made. It warned me that I would have to be very careful with what I was saying even when I thought she couldn’t hear me .

Those tiny ears were delicate and impressionable. Moving back to the pull-out bed, I settled in, staring up at the ceiling, picturing my mate’s face in my head. As sleep took me, I hoped I would dream of her.