Page 40 of Enchanted with the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #4)

Enka

S mall sparks of pleasure were still skittering across my nerves as I lay with my mate, grateful that she was still plastered against me, her scent mingled with mine strong in my nose. It was heady—addictive.

I pushed her hair away from her face and she looked up at me with sleepy eyes, blinking at me, but instead of the sweet satisfaction I’d seen in her eyes before, there was something else there. Worry.

“Hey,” I murmured, leaning down to press a kiss to her lips, gentle with her now after I’d been so rough. “What’s wrong?”

Her lips parted a few times, but nothing came out. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to talk about it. That meant that it involved her fuckhead husband.

“Did you know…” she started, squeezing her eyes shut, as if she wasn’t able to look at me. “That I’m still married?”

I tensed against her, my gut roaring with the need to find that unworthy male and rip him to shreds. To kill him so that she didn’t have a single thing linking her to him.

The look in her eyes told me that that wasn’t the reaction she needed though. She was searching my face as if gauging how I was dealing with the news and I couldn’t show her anger. She’d think it was aimed at her when that was the furthest thing from the truth.

He’d targeted her. My sweet, perfect mate had been a victim of David, and he’d continued to abuse her until she’d left. I was so proud of her. So fucking proud that she’d found a way out of the cycle.

Instead of answering with words—which I was certain wouldn’t be helpful in this situation—I nodded, twining my fingers with hers. There was a little spark of hope in her eyes now, and a small, tremulous smile appeared on her lips.

“I want to get a divorce,” she said, taking a deep breath and releasing it.

I didn’t allow the punch of joy that I was feeling show. This wasn’t about me or my possessiveness. This was about her and I was going to support whatever she wanted to do.

“I… have pictures of everything,” she murmured, ducking her eyes as if she wasn’t able to look at me while talking about it.

I didn’t force her, letting her seek comfort in my touch instead.

“So I want to go to the po lice and file for a restraining order. I thought…” She shook her head as she trailed off, before clearing her throat and trying again.

“I thought that if I did that, he’d find Gabbi and I, but now, I just want to get him out of my life. ”

She looked at me now, her smile clear and sure. “And I want to start a new one with you. I think it’s time to start over,” she murmured and I couldn’t stop my grin this time.

I pulled her hard against me, hugging her close and her arms wrapped around my neck, squeezing me tight.

“I’m so happy to hear that,” I told her. “I can help you with anything you need, and I’ll protect you and Gabbi.”

“I know,” she murmured, tears in her voice. “That’s why I feel safe to do it now. Even if he finds me, I know you won’t let anything happen to our daughter.”

“Or you, my mate. He’s never going to touch you again,” I assured her, burying my fingers in her hair and pressing my lips to hers, kissing her with all the love I felt for her.

She was perfect. So strong, so beautiful and still so kind. I didn’t know who’d blessed me by granting her to me as a mate, but I’d forever be grateful to them.

She kissed me then, as if I was the most precious thing to her. Cupping my cheeks and caressing my lips with hers. Her tongue took a slow, savoring foray of my mouth and I stayed still, basking in her affection.

She pulled away, searching my face and I swallowed hard, wondering what she was going to say. Hoping, praying.

“I love you,” she murmured and the punch to my gut of her words had me exhaling a slow, wheezing breath.

I grabbed her, making her yelp, squeezing her against me and murmuring grateful prayers against her hair in Orcish. A lifetime of being alone had led me to her. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat .

“I love you so much,” I told her, pressing kisses to her hair, neck and shoulder, paying special attention to my mating mark on her neck. “So fucking much.”

She was beaming when she pulled away to kiss me.

“Gabbi’s going to say I told you so,” she giggled, snuggling against my chest and resting her head in the crook of my neck—fitting me as if she was always meant to be there.

“She did tell us,” I defended her, “so she’d have every right to.”

“You’re going to spoil her until she’s rotten,” Tasia tsked, running her fingers through the hair on my chest.

The buzz of my phone was quiet from my jeans and I sighed, making tiny adjustments under her so I could reach it without jostling her. I tugged it free and pulled it closer to us, showing her the screen as well.

“Rudgar,” I grunted, opening it, my eyes scanning the words before we both froze. She’d clearly been reading as well.

Hanna’s missing. The coven’s tried scrying for her, but they can’t find her. Call asap.

We were up and off the sofa, dragging on our clothes as quickly as we could. We were both seated next to each other on the sofa in minutes, and Tasia’s hand was trembling as she took the phone from me.

The sound of ringing was loud in the quiet room and I watched my mate’s lower lip start to tremble. I ran my palm down her back, wishing and hoping that nothing was wrong with Hanna. I didn’t know her that well, but she was one of my mate’s beloved sisters and our daughter’s aunt.

“Hey,” Rudgar’s voice was a rough growl as it came over the phone’s speaker. “I have the rest of the coven here—”

“Tasia,” Zara interrupted, before he could finish. “Is she safe?”

“I’m here,” my mate said into the phone, her voice trembling. “I’m safe. Gabbi’s safe.”

The rush of breath from across the phone told me that the others were sighing with relief.

“We don’t know exactly what happened,” Tabitha continued, the voice of reason in a moment when everything seemed to be falling apart. “But she went to the park like she usually did, and she… she didn’t come back.”

“I should have gone with her,” Floria wailed, a little further away from the phone. “She asked if I wanted to go with her and I should have .”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Rudgar said, but I saw the guilt in my mate’s eyes, the same way the rest of the coven was probably feeling.

“You don’t know what happened,” I said in a low voice to Tasia, but she was shaking her head.

“It has to be him,” she gasped. “It has to be David. He couldn’t get Gabbi and I because we were here, but if he was watching us, he knows who my sisters are.”

Tears were flooding her eyes and I had her in my arms in the next moment. “We’ll find her,” I told her, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I’ll get her back for you.”

“No,” she insisted, shaking her head before speaking into the phone. “I’m the one he wants.”

“And it’s reckless for you to go after them without support then,” Rudgar insisted, and I was so grateful for his words that if he were in the room with us I would have spun him around in a hug.

“We need to think this through. We have to narrow down the locations he could be. I’ll start tracking her through the cameras.

We just wanted to make sure you were okay first.”

“Yes, that’s a great idea,” I told him. “I’ll get Gabbi and take her to Darak. Then we can head back home—”

He reached out, putting the phone on the table and then gripping my arms while he searched my face. I knew immediately what he was going to say and I shook my head with vehemence.

“No, Enka. No ,” I insisted. “He’s after me, so I’m not going to let everyone put themselves in danger while I sit here protected.”

“You need to take care of our Gruk-ir,” he explained, pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead. “I promise I’ll handle this for you. I’ll take care of our family.”