Page 14

Ruugar

T he sounds of laughter and the clinking of spurs on the wooden boardwalk echoed through town.

They were fake spurs purchased at the general store, but real enough to those wearing them.

Tourists dressed in cowboy and other Wild West clothing walked down main street while children darted around them, their cries as shrill as chumbles waking to the morning sun.

A few even “rode” fake sorhoxes, that were only sticks with fake heads on the end.

The aroma of fresh cooked food drifted from the saloon and restaurant, mixing with the scent of hay and sorhoxes from the stable.

This was Lonesome Creek Ranch, a tourist destination, but the place I now called home.

As Beth and I rode down the street on our sorhoxes, I took in the sights with a sense of pride.

My brothers and I had bought this valley, brought our vision with us, and built this town, infusing a touch of orc culture into the Wild Western theme.

It was a strange and wonderful blend, and it seemed to captivate the humans who were visiting.

Dungar stood in front of the saloon, a broad smile on his face as he spoke with a group of tourists.

Four sorhoxes had been tied to the posts out front, saddled and ready, their green hides gleaming in the sunlight.

A fifth sorhox had been hitched to a cart and was loaded with the tourists' baggage.

Tark's mate, Gracie, was there too, her phone in hand, capturing the excitement of the soon-to-be adventurers.

We brought our sorhoxes to a halt in front of the saloon.

I leaped off Ebar and turned to help Beth.

Or rather, Ben , as she would be known for the upcoming week.

She swung her leg over Barg's back, her face pale but determined.

Her hands shook as she handed me the reins, and I gave her a reassuring nod.

“You're doing great,” I said softly, hoping to ease her nervousness.

When she placed her smaller hand in mine, I ignored the way heat curled in my chest at her touch.

She was delicate, soft in ways I had no right to want.

A woman like her, made for silken beds and fancy clothes, would never be happy living out of a pack beside a fire.

But I still couldn't stop myself from tightening my grip, though, before I let go.

It felt amazing to mean something to her if only to help her down.

She offered me a small smile, and warmth spread through my chest. This human, with her fiery spirit and courage, had quickly become important to me. I couldn't claim her as my own. I couldn't even show her the proper orc claiming rituals. But I would protect her with my life.

We stepped up onto the covered boardwalk, and Gracie hurried over, giving me a quick hug before she got back to recording.

I nodded to Dungar before greeting those traveling with us. “Welcome to Lonesome Creek Ranch. I'm Ruugar, and I'll be your guide on this trail ride. This is Ben, our trail ride helper. He'll be assisting us during our adventure.”

The tourists—a middle-aged couple from Ohio and a younger couple on their honeymoon—offered waves and smiles.

Mary and Joel Brightworthy and Pete and Carol Smith, to be exact.

I imagined they were eager to get going, and I was almost as excited as them.

I hoped this would be an excursion they'd never forget.

“Alright, gather close.” I urged the four guests off the boardwalk and onto the street, mostly to get them out of the way of those passing by.

“We'll be leaving soon, and I want to stress that safety is our top priority, so let's go through a few details before we mount our sorhoxes and head out.” Sel had worked with me on these lines, and I'd memorized them.

Took me longer than I liked. I wasn't used to anything like this, but I'd always had a way with others, so I was the most natural to volunteer for this task.

As I described the journey ahead, emphasizing the beauty they would witness and the measures we had in place to ensure no one got hurt, I caught sight of two males some distance away, weaving through the crowd. Nothing odd about that except for the intent way they studied everyone around them.

I recognized Bradley, Beth's intended husband.

The other older male must be her father.

They scanned the area with a desperation that made me grind my tusks together in anger.

I'd hoped they’d left town by now. They were persistent, if nothing else.

And this only reinforced why I'd made my offer to Beth.

I shifted my position, placing myself between her and the men, catching her eye.

Hers widened, and she peeked around me before her breath hissed out.

She stepped closer to me, using me as a shield.

I kept my body relaxed, but inside, I'd coiled like a spring, ready to leap to defend her with everything I had.

The sight of them here, in my territory, ignited a fierce protective instinct inside me.

The urge to confront them was strong, to let them know that Beth was under my care now, but there was no way I could do something like that. I wouldn't risk exposing her or potentially putting her in even greater danger.

As I talked, sounding natural due to practice, I kept my gaze on them.

“Alright, let's mount,” I said after I’d answered everyone’s questions.

Dungar and I each took one couple, introducing them to their sorhoxes and then helping them climb up onto the beast's backs.

“Like this,” I said patiently with Beth hovering by my side, hidden by the sorhox Mary had mounted. I showed her how to hold the reins and place her feet in the stirrups.

“My ass is going to be on fire before we travel a mile,” Mary said with a low laugh, her eyes sparkling. “Maybe I can get my husband to massage it later.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him seated on the sorhox beside hers.

He chuckled. “We'll see, Mary. We'll see.”

Beth snickered, and hearing the sound made some of my tension ease.

That and noting that Bradley and her father had turned and strode in the opposite direction.

I watched them disappear into the crowded street, my hands tightening around the sorhox’s reins.

They would not stop searching for her, not until they had her back under their control.

The thought made me want to go on a rampage.

But they wouldn't find her. Not with me here.

“Alright,” I called out, forcing my voice into an easy drawl. “Let's get movin’ before the sun climbs too high in the sky, folks.” Maybe I was finally getting this Wild West lingo down like I should.

The tourists settled in their saddles, adjusting their reins and footwear in the stirrups. Beth swung onto Barg’s back without too much trouble, though she dangled a bit before she scrambled up onto the beast's back.

“Now you're doing it, boy,” Mary said with a low laugh. “Takes some getting used to, doesn't it? I rode a bit when I was a girl but that was many years ago and…” Her toothy grin widened. “I'll admit I was a little skinnier back then.”

“You're gorgeous, wife,” Joel said from her other side. “Don't let anyone tell you anything different.”

“Aw, you're a dear.” Mary's gaze met mine. “That's why I married him. Why I stay married to him. He's the best.”

Joel's medium-toned skin darkened. “No sweeter than you, love.”

I watched them exchanging looks like they had their own quiet language. A lifetime of trust built through small moments. Love that had settled into something solid, something deep.

I’d never have that. Even if I let myself dream of a woman tucked against my side while we sat beneath the stars, her laughter carrying on the night breeze, it was nothing more than that. A dream. Especially with a woman like Beth. She’d never been meant for my world.

I glanced at the cart, making sure all our belongings were secure. The sorhox pulling it would ride at the back, following like it had been trained.

“All ready?” I asked the group.

“Sure are, partner,” Pete said with a grin, his hand extending out to squeeze his new wife's before releasing it.

Two happy couples should make this first excursion even more fun.

The others shouted out that they were ready, and after I’d mounted Ebar, I guided them out of town.

Beth urged Barg to walk beside Ebar.

“Is everything alright?” I asked. She must have a problem. She wouldn’t seek me out just to talk.

Would she?

“I'm going to be an old hand at this before the day's through.”

That was neutral enough. Still, I guarded myself for her to express a concern. Maybe she’d decided this would be too much, that she didn’t want to go with us.

“We won't ride long.” I hoped that would reassure her. “It'll take time to acclimate everyone to riding and Mary's not wrong to say that she'll be sore by the time we stop. You too.”

She shot me an odd look. “Will you massage my ass if I am?”

I nearly choked. My hands twitched, and I couldn't stop imagining?—

Stop. My body stilled. My mind froze. And my smile fell. I couldn't think about her in that way. Shouldn't.

Beth was only joking, playing at something, though I didn’t know what.

She didn’t realize she could cut me open with even one teasing word.

A woman like her didn’t belong with an orc who’d smelled like leather and a campfire most days.

She deserved a male who could give her luxuries.

Pamper her. Not offer only a life of dirt and long days in a saddle.

I forced a chuckle, though the sound came out jagged. “You might want to ask someone with gentler hands than mine.”

Beth tilted her head, studying me with those sharp, assessing eyes of hers. For a second, I thought she might laugh it off, keep it a joke so things would remain easy between us.

“Maybe I don’t want anyone else’s hands,” she murmured.

My pulse hammered in my ears, rapping out a brutal, thudding beat.

Did she know what she was saying or what those words did to me?

I forced myself to glance away, to focus on the horizon rather than the way her lips curved, the way her fingers tightened on Barg’s reins.

It had to be a joke. Something playful, teasing.

She couldn’t really mean she wanted me to touch her in that way.

My poor old cock kicked up, shoving itself against my pants. The coorails hummed. This woman… She was tearing me apart but piecing me back together again. What would it be like to touch her in that way, to stroke every part of her body?

I’d die—quite willingly—for the chance to do something like that.

If she truly meant it, I didn’t know how to handle it. I exhaled through my nose, keeping my expression neutral. “Careful, Beth. You keep talking like that, and a male might get ideas.”

“Good,” she said, her voice soft and almost as unsure as I felt inside all the time .

My breath would not move in my lungs. I could not think of anything to say.

She didn’t mean it. Not really. My small house was humble. Fates, I didn’t even have a mee-croo-wave like I’d heard all humans did.

Rough trail rides would be followed by preparing our own meals with simple pans and utensils, washing in a plastic pan at a sink with only tepid water most of the time. One shower per day in a tiny stall. The bathroom at the campsite wasn’t even next to the bedroom.

I snorted. Bedroom? Call that a tent where you couldn’t stand upright.

Instead of silk sheets, she would have to slide inside a sleeping blanket.

Worst of all, everything came with me. I wasn’t the kind of respectable male she’d been raised to marry.

She deserved so much better. I had to remember that.

With a blink of one eye I couldn't interpret, she urged Barg to slow his pace. After the rest of our group had passed, she eased Barg beside the sorhox pulling the cart, taking the rear as if we needed protection. We didn’t.

She did, and it boiled my bones to think I might not see anything coming with her all the way at the rear.

I slowed Ebar until Barg and the cart sorhox caught up.

“I ride in the back,” I growled.

She frowned. “Alright.”

It wasn’t any easier watching the sway of her body as she shifted on Barg’s back, moving ahead to ride behind the others.

She’d never ridden before, but you wouldn’t know that by watching her now.

My heart crunched with pride. I’d shown her how to do that.

She had a natural skill, but I’d helped her up, made sure her saddle was snug, and showed her how to hold the reins the right way.

Had she really suggested I touch a part of her body? I couldn’t imagine how painfully wonderful it would be to even stroke her face, let alone put my fingers anywhere near her ass.

But oh, how I longed to do so.

Ahead of us, the dusty road stretched away from the outskirts of town, the land wide and golden beneath the midday sun. The tourists chattered, their laughter mixing with the rhythmic thud of sorhox hooves hitting packed dirt.

As we passed the last building, I felt the weight of a gaze on my back. A glance over my shoulder made my heart come to a stop.

Bradley stood on the boardwalk in front of the jailhouse, his gaze fixed on me.

Me , not Beth.

Not yet.

He didn't know where Beth had gone, but his instincts must've suggested she was somewhere nearby. Why else wouldn't they have left town by now? I had a feeling this male wouldn't stop searching, not until he drove himself mad with the effort to get her back.

Go ahead, I thought but did not say. Keep looking for her. You won’t find her. The promise burned in my eyes.

After meeting Beth's gaze and noting how she'd kept her hat low to shadow her face and how she looked very much like a young male and not a runaway bride, I turned back to face the road. She was safe. I would make sure she stayed that way.

Even if I had to let her go back to the world she belonged to, while I stayed exactly where I was.

Dirt under my boots. Sun on my skin. Empty arms that ached for this woman alone.