Page 16 of Loved By The Orc (Monster Orc Brides #4)

HE PASSED THE test with flying colors.

He was just as wonderful with me after we had sex as he was before.

He was just as wonderful in the week following.

It’s been our own little honeymoon here in Creede.

That might not have happened had I picked a male in my own clan.

It may have been males bragging—or honestly, I might have ignored the male afterward.

Gone the route of my mother. I do have half her genes, after all.

The rest of the orcs have gone home and it’s just been me and him—Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Paul.

And it’s perfect, each day better than the last. We make love in the woods, in the creek, in the wagon outside.

And when he pings a pebble outside my window? I open that up and he climbs inside so we can make love in my room.

Tonight is the smell of rain in the air, and storm clouds are rolling in.

He’s been distracted, leaving dinner early to head out to watch the house.

I’m not sure why he’s so intent to watch from outside, we haven’t seen hide nor hair of any Southpeaks in the village since the mating ceremony.

I ready myself for bed, a little sad that I don’t think he’ll visit me this night, but a little hopeful too when it starts to rain.

Mayhap the weather will bring him in. I wait, but there’s nothing, not until I blow out the candle that sits near my bed .

A small pebble pings against the pane of the window but with the light rain pattering the glass, I almost miss it.

Varguk .

A tingle flips inside my lower belly. He’ll slip inside, we’ll make love until the early morn and I’ll head out to market with Aunt Rosemary.

Sure, the sun’s heat will make me tired toward midday, but it’s going to be so worth it.

And afterward, she’ll leave me in his care with a wink while she goes off to visit Uncle Paul, probably knowing that Varguk and I need alone time that we won’t get later when my visit to Creede is done.

Very quietly, I slide the window up and peer out into the darkness. He’s not in the usual spot where I can see him. He’s further back, near a tree, as if he softly climbed down and had to pitch a rock further. I can barely make out his form as he points to the back of the house. The door?

Why doesn’t he climb the trellis like he always does? Mayhap there’s something wrong—it’s loose or slippery. All the excitement I felt earlier slips away. Something isn’t right.

I watch carefully as he moves to the edge of the house and turns the corner. It’s his gait, the way he looks over his shoulder at me like he needs to have that last connection between us that makes up my mind. Of course, it’s fine.

I close the window softly, leaving it open just a bit so it won’t squeak when it touches, but not enough to let the rain in.

Then I tiptoe down the stairs to the back door.

My heart thuds against my ribs. Does he to sneak in?

Stay with me the whole night? Surely, it’s wet and miserable in the wagon.

Or mayhap he has some bad news with the weather.

Has he spotted another Southpeak in the area and that’s why he’s tense? Maybe another letter from his father.

Very quietly, I unlock the back door, but the way it’s harshly yanked open against me surprises me .

“Varguk?” I whisper, puzzled that he pulled open the door with such force. He could wake Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Paul and all my quietness sneaking down the stairs will be for naught.

Again, I get a niggling of my senses that something’s off. He’s so familiar, yet… not.

The stranger stares back at me with deeper-set eyes. A face not quite touched with harshness and experience. A leaner face, the lips I’ve kissed hundreds of times not quite as beautiful. Mayhap a bit younger? I realize my mistake at the same time I open my mouth to scream.

This isn’t him.

His hand shoots out and a sweet-smelling cloth covers my mouth. My last thought before the world fades away is wondering if this is what it felt like for Shalia when she was taken from this house.

The damp smell of dirt fills my senses, the cold, hard surface pressed against my cheek.

I barely peek from the slit of my eyelashes.

There’s no windows, no natural light, just the musty dampness of earth.

My groggy mind remembers the sweetness of chloroform.

I wonder where they picked it up. It’s not that easy to come by.

I’m fighting not sliding back into unconsciousness, but mayhap I do.

When I open my eyes fully, there are two orcs surrounding me, peering down with similar faces. Completely familiar, each resembling the other, yet they can’t be who I think they are.

Leviton should be dead. And Varguk is staring at me with a hungry expression, wholly different than the desire he normally looks at me with .

But wait… I remember now. It’s not Varguk. He looks like him, but there’s something wrong with the image. And so maybe I’m also imagining a dead Leviton here in the flesh?

“You! You should be dead.” I point at the image of Leviton, which blurs in front of me.

A slight throbbing begins in my temples as I try to think back to what I might be missing. My brain feels cloudy, like I’m stuffed with cotton between the ears.

He chuckles. “Not that easy to kill, m’kirn.”

“Where am I?”

“Halfway to our village.”

“You stole me? My father will have your head,” I spit out, as he begins to loosen my bindings. Blood rushes to my limbs, painful needles flowing to the tips of my fingers.

“Will he?” Leviton asks. “Because he still thinks I’m dead. Only you know otherwise.”

“How are you alive?”

“When it comes down to it, wench, you were kidnapped by Southpeaks. Varguk played you. He pretended to be the good brother and kill the bad one, thus earning your trust. Your loyalty.”

“Nay. He would never—”

“We’ve been competing since the day we met,” he snaps.

“Until Varguk stumbled across meeting Prince Bakog. He realized the West Mountains were willing to do anything to get their hands on the rogue clan who’d taken one of theirs.

We reached an agreement. If you ever see him again?

Ask him if he was sent to your town with the intent to mate the bridge between Blackheart and West Mountain.

He won’t deny it. Neither will the West Mountain prince. ”

“You lie.”

“Nay. I’m not dead at all, am I? We just wanted you to think so. That was the plan between me and Varguk until he tried to betray me,” Leviton answers .

“What sort of plan?” I echo stupidly.

“A goal of our clan mating the bridge between the Blackheart and West Mountain orcs. Varguk volunteered, of course. Had I known you would be so lovely, though, I’d have taken the job myself.”

“But I saw you die. I watched.” There’s no way he can be telling the truth. No way Varguk was playing a part.

Leviton shrugs. “He choked me until I passed out. I pretended to be dead while the others carried me out. That way no one would suspect me when you were kidnapped and Varguk came to your rescue. We figured you would be so grateful, you’d beg your father to allow you to mate Varguk.

But the plan’s changed.” Levi reaches out and fingers a wisp of hair that’s escaped my braid.

“You see, Varguk got stupid and thought he could rule instead of me. Decided the plan was all his. Good thing I have my full-blooded brother.”

My eyes fly to the male who’s been standing quiet this whole time. He grins, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Or you can choose me,” the look-alike snickers.

“Though you probably don’t want a reminder of the face that looks like the one who betrayed you.

” Very slowly, he skims his gaze down my body, which tells me that he doesn’t mind one whit.

“By the way, my name is Auglesh. I’ll have you soon with your legs spread wide to welcome my thrust.”

“My father, my clans—both of them—will have your death.”

“Will they? We’re giving you a choice. Revenge on Varguk. Mate with me willingly.” He shrugs. “And you can go on your merry way. Back home to your father. Varguk will stay locked up.”

“What do you get out of it?”

“I’ll have accomplished my goal. I’ll have a mate and I’ll still be able to remain in my own clan after you leave.”

“You lie. Both of you. Varguk wouldn’t betray me.”

“He can and he did. The whole fight was designed to make him look like the hero, to get you to spread your legs. The entire world knows you’re frigid. ”

The sound rips from my throat. I had been frigid and went the complete opposite with a Southpeak. An enemy.

“Does that hurt, wench? Knowing my brother was fucking the prize? Did he break your heart? I heard from your own clan you’re unapproachable. Did he manage to soften you up?” Leviton asks.

“Go to hell,” I snarl. “I don’t believe either of you.”

“Godsfire,” Auglesh grunts. “Did you fall in love with him? He was playing you for a fool.” Then he pounds Leviton on the back. “We should have thought of that. I just thought she was emotionless.”

“Aye, he’s not as dumb as he looks,” Leviton says. They both snicker, then he turns to me. “We’ll take you to our village and you’ll tell our father and the clan king you want to mate one of us. It’s your choice as to whom. Then we’ll bring you Varguk and you can have your revenge.”

“Don’t forget he played you, Bridge.” Auglesh’s voice is soft.

“You choose or the king will.” Leviton shrugs. “At least you’ll get to bargain for Varguk’s head our way. Still don’t believe us?”

I shake my head forcefully, but there is some doubt. How in the world is Levi alive unless he faked it and Varguk was in on it? How well do I really know Var?

I believed him. I trusted him. I…

Loved him.

“No one in either of my clans will believe that I am a willing mate for a stranger. You’ll cause a war.”