Page 24 of The Orc Chief’s Baker (Orc Mates Of Faeda #4)

Chapter

Fourteen

brOVDIR

F ades be praised! She felt good in his arms.

His blood was zinging with the contact. Her sweet scent was all curled up and content in his head. His chest felt light and thrummed with a deep-seated security that he recognized despite never having experienced it before.

An imprint.

“Healed?” he asked this despite the logic that he’d witnessed her injuries disappearing with his own eyes. The cuts were gone, but the scent of blood remained, and she was coated with mud.

He would take her to his bath.

“Yes, I’m healed.” Her voice was a little lower and huskier than he’d remembered. He’d gone to sleep with the memory of her sweet voice playing in his mind, and now he finally got to hear it again. “I’ve taken those tinctures many times and they’ve never failed. Did you think it might?”

“No,” he said with an exhale of relief.

“It was pretty lucky you got to the sinkhole in time. Your hearing must be pretty good to have heard me all the way out here, even for an orc.”

He hadn’t heard her. It was the imprint that had told him she was in peril. The connection allowed him to hear her call, even over great distances.

He tightened his grip slightly. That meant she’d called for him. It hadn’t only been the imprint warning him she was in danger. In her time of greatest need, she’d wanted him . His throat tightened as the urge to nuzzle the top of her head with his cheek grew overwhelming.

“So . . . um . . . I have a favor to ask.”

He nodded. He’d give her anything.

She let out a little puff of breath that warmed his shoulder before saying, “Instead of going back to Oakwall, could you take me to Savili and Iytier’s home?”

He blinked rapidly as shock flattened him.

“I know it’s not really allowed to have unmated women stay in the clan,” she said carefully.

Was that not allowed?

“But Savili has been my friend since childhood. Her sister is one of my closest confidants.”

His hands tightened around her slightly as his face went flush with... jealousy.

He wanted to be her closest confidant.

“And Iytier is mated, so it shouldn’t be too big a thing to stay at his home for the night.”

Oh, fuck no.

She would not be staying with any other male. Human or orc. He would not allow it.

“Uh . . . Brovdir your claws are out.”

His breath caught in his throat as he realized he’d clutched her far too hard. The wet fabric of her dress was caught slightly around the sharp tips of his claws. He slunk them back into his hands so quickly it almost took the cloth with it.

“Hurt?” Fades help him, if he’d harmed her without thinking?—

“No. I’m fine.”

He exhaled a sigh of relief. Fuck, he’d never considered himself the jealous sort.

But he’d never imprinted on anyone before, either.

“Your claws are so much bigger than the orcs from Rove Wood. It was almost as long as my pinky.”

Pleasure flushed him. “Thank you.”

She sputtered and her cheeks reddened delightfully. “That wasn’t—I . . . I mean I don’t . . .”

He waited, wishing to hear more compliments from her.

“Never mind.”

Disappointment made him sag.

“Anyway, I really need a place to stay. Just for tonight.” She added that last part far too rapidly. “Just for now. And then I’ll go back to the village in the morning.”

“Stay with me.”

The request came out before he even realized it was coming.

Trinia’s beautiful eyes widened. “Uh... Brovdir, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Why not?

Her brows shot up and her eyes got big, and his heart felt like it would thunder right out of his chest.

Especially when she reached up to scratch at the back of his neck, right at the hairline.

That felt good . So fucking blasted good .

“Don’t look at me like that.” Trinia’s voice was a little tight, but she didn’t stop scratching. His knees felt like they might go weak. “You know it’s not a good idea for me to stay with you.”

Why wasn’t it?

She gave him a hard stare. “Brovdir, you are the unmated orc chief, and I am an unattached woman. You know what everyone will think.”

They would all think that she was his woman and not go anywhere near her.

“Brovdir.” Her tone was low with warning. It made his back straighten. “We do not want to give them that impression. Trust me.”

But he did. He did so badly .

He’d give anything for that impression to be reality. The very idea of other males in the clan thinking that this woman, his woman, was still a prospect for them...

His blood heated all over again.

“Put those claws away, Brovdir, and take me to Savili.” She shivered slightly, and he worried that his claws might have frightened her. “Biscuits and jam, it is cold out here.”

He picked up the pace, and a moment later, they broke through the tree line onto one of the clan’s lit paths.

Even after all this time, he couldn’t get used to the sight of it. The huge oak and fir trees that lined the paths were so large it was almost intimidating, but the fact that they’d been carved into houses , with doors and windows and furniture, was still unbelievable to him.

Outside these woods, clans struggled to keep the elements from knocking down their homes. He spent most of his nights in a roughly made tent. He’d been told stories of the Rove Woods. They all had, but hearing about it and seeing it were two entirely different things.

“Oh, you brought me here already ?”

His stomach dropped as she leveled him with a hard stare.

“You had no intention of taking me back to my home at all, did you?”

He couldn’t quite meet her gaze. “To... to Hovget.”

She put a finger under his chin and forced his face to turn back to her. He blinked in surprise at the warmth in her gaze. “Don’t try to lie, Brovdir. You aren’t very good at it.”

He... wasn’t? He’d been able to deceive thousands of humans in the past. It was part of the reason he was still alive .

“I can’t imagine that you were taking me back to your home to take advantage of me.”

Never. The idea of having any woman who was in any kind of duress repulsed him, but the thought of abusing Trinia in such a way made him feel physically ill.

“I can tell you aren’t the type.” She patted the middle of his chest and his whole body went flush with pleasure. “And I know you have a tough time speaking, but honestly, you need to tell me where we’re going if you’re going to cart me around. And you should take me to Savili. I insist.”

He had no valid arguments to this.

“Put me down now, Brovdir. I’m a big girl. I can walk on my own.”

Everything in him rebelled at the idea.

But she’d given him an order and he could not disobey.

He lowered her to her feet.

“Warrior—er, I mean Chief Brovdir! So glad to catch you.”

His stomach dropped.

Barreling up the path toward him was Elder Plog and judging from his expression, he was extremely eager to catch Brovdir.

Fades help him.