Page 17 of Orc's Pride

I can’t help but imagine how those hands would feel against my body, gripping it just as tight. His hands against my thighs were controlled and careful, and even now his eyes are calculating.

What is he like when he loses control?

“Not enough.” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head as if to clear it. “Things being as they are, you’ll need to stay with me. It’s not safe for you to run around here. My men are loyal, but I can’t ask them to tolerate a spy. Or who theythinkis a spy.”

The insult of it makes me sputter as much as the insidious heat spreading throughout my body. “You want me to stay here, and what? Spend the night in your bed? I can’t just sleep with an orc in exchange for…for not being murdered!”

He purses his lips and nods sagely. “Of course not. An orc, of all things.”

“You know what I mean.” This time the heat burning my cheeks is shame. I didn’t mean to insult him, but strangely, he doesn’t look insulted at all. The tension between us is broken, but he looks almost relieved. Amused.

“I absolutely agree. Tell you what.” He motions towards his ear and leans very close. I can smell him, a deep, earthy, mossy scent that I can’t help but breathe in. “You tell me your secret, and I’ll explain to everyone how you’re not a spy. Just a very strong, very observant, very strangely placed human, who happened to lose her way in the forest, even though there are no human settlements within less than a day’s travel. It really makes perfect sense, doesn’t it, when you weigh all the evidence logically? Deal?”

Ugh. He makes me want to scream. He’s relentless, and the coiled intelligence in his eyes tells me that he’s not going to give up until he finds out the truth. Or until Iwantto tell him the truth. He has no idea how close he got to it, just by asking. I know he won’t stop until he discovers what I’m hiding.

Hopefully I’ll be gone by then.

Pitha brings his hand back to my cheek and traces a finger across it. It’s a soft touch, almost imperceptible, but it lights up my nerves like some sort of an explosion. It takes everything I have not to lean into his touch.

I hold myself still and shut my eyes.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have any deep, dark secrets.”

When I open them again, whatever flirtatious or understanding manner he wore slides off his face in an instant. It chills me, how quickly his face changes. I nearly pull the fur blanket beneath me over my body to shield me from his cold stare.

Was this all a game to him?

“Liar,” he spits. “If you wish to stay alive, follow my orders. I’ll deal with my subordinates. And don’t worry. I’ll make sure you stay alive until I discover what you’re hiding.”

He stands, graceful as a mountain lion.

“I’m terribly sorry you’ll have to spend the night with a dirty orc, instead of the dark elves you prefer, but I’m sure you’re used to making sacrifices to save your own hide. Your kind always are.”

I open my mouth, outraged, but he cuts me off before I can make another sound. His molten eyes are already chilled over, focused on his men waiting outside his tent. I’m nothing more than an annoyance to him now.

Was I ever anything more? He keeps talking about me thinking him a fool, and he just played me like a drum. My body still thrums with the echoes of whatever we just flirted with here.

I’m suddenly very concerned that I’m being outclassed.

“Stay here.” He speaks like he’s used to being obeyed. I hate how it makes my heart race.

He doesn’t even spare me a glance as he leaves. I listen to his footsteps crunch in the leaves outside, and his voice carries muffled orders to his men in the same curt tone.

Alone in the tent, I pull the blanket onto the ground and curl up in a corner. I don’t trust myself to spend a night in bed with him.

I don’t trust myself at all.

9

Pitha

As I step outside of the tent, I take a deep breath into my lungs.

She… surprised me with how she’d responded to me. I’m not a stranger to people finding me attractive—even if I’m a brute, I know I have a good face and a strong body. Not many females have told me they’ve felt otherwise, even before I’d taken them to bed.

But this human… Dana…

She’s something different altogether.