Page 24 of Orc's Forbidden Claim
“I am Khiara,” I say, circling back to get names.
“We know,” the leader says.
“You do?” I ask, arching an eyebrow.
“You and your brother are… well known,” he says, the other two clear their throats and grunt.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“The Shaman and the Maulavi have issued kill orders for both of you. On sight. No capture, no questions, no one is to talk to you.”
I am not surprised by this. We have the Queen, and he knows it. His grip on my people is predicated on his control of her. I grunt and shake my head.
“Fine, names?” I ask again.
“I am Yodha, this is Karta, and this is Baaz,” he points to them each.
“Why did you join them?” I ask.
“We had no choice,” Karta blurts, speaking for the first time. “We were ordered to go.”
“I had hoped to sabotage the mission, if possible,” Baaz says, shrugging.
“You knew the mission?” I ask. “Did you have a specific target? Why these females?”
Yodha shakes his head.
“It wasn’t specific. The Shaman wanted more captives. The Maulavi who gave the orders said they wanted more leverage to keep the lizards at bay.”
“They seem to think the Zmaj won’t attack if we have enough of the humans,” Karta says.
Saylor rises onto her toes and whispers in my ear.
“Are we safe?” she asks.
There is no stopping my smile. My lips curl up as I turn my head to answer, and then there is motion in the periphery of my vision. Prickles race over the back of my neck as I know, without knowing what or why, that not only are we not safe, butsomething is wrong. Terribly wrong.
“Sek!” I shout and everything happens at once.
Kharta is rushing forward, toward Saylor. The Urr’ki that was on the floor, the one I had thought dead, rises. There is something in his hand.
Kharta is closing, pulling my attention to him. He leaps.
The world explodes.
16
SAYLOR
Afeeling of peacefulness bubbles in my head and heart. Standing next to Khiara while he goes back and forth with my former captors, albeit the ones who were at least nicer to us, is enough. Of course, I want to be home. Away from all of this, home comes with so many problems of its own that I don’t feel any rush for it.
Wren knows my ‘secret’ now. I not only haven’t bothered trying to hide it but Khiara and I put it on full display for everyone present. We’ve not had a chance to talk, though. Thoughts of the orgasm he gave me, in front of everyone no less, drift through and though I am embarrassed, it was also hot as fuck. He didn’t care who was watching, he only cared for me. For pleasing me. For touching me. Being with me. Obsessively so and there is something about that which makes my stomach knot and my heart beat faster.
I only give the slightest of attention to what they are saying, even when they switch to Zmaj which, while I can speak it, I don’t care. I can’t stop touching him. Thinking of him. Running my hand down his arm, over his chest, basking in the warmth and love of just being close to him.
Their conversation goes on too long so finally I rise onto my toes so I can whisper to him.
“Are we safe?”
