The sounds from outside were horrible. Keric’s thunderous roar…I’d never heard anything like it, primal and savage andfurious. Gunshots. Screams that cut off abruptly. The crack of what might have been bones breaking.
I had the Glock in my hands, safety off, just like he taught me. My palms were sweating but my grip was steady.
The front door being torn off its hinges. More fighting inside. And then?—
A sound at the bedroom window. Not the door. Thewindow. I spun just as a man in tactical gear crashed through the glass. He was raising his weapon, his eyes finding me, and I didn’t think. I just acted.
Center mass. Keep shooting until the threat stops.
The kick of the gun jolted up my arms. The sound was deafening in the small room. The man dropped, clutching his chest, blood pooling beneath him.
I killed a man.
The reality of it hits me now, standing in this cold cave with a feral orc looming over me. My hands want to shake and mystomach wants to revolt. I shot a human being and watched him fall. And I’d do it again. That’s the part that should scare me. I’d do it again in a heartbeat because he was there to murder me. It was him or me and in that instance I desperately wanted to survive so I did what had to be done.
Dinah. Oh god. My baby kitty is still in that carrier in the closet. But Drew promised to look for her. One crisis at a time. Right now, the crisis is the male in front of me.
He’s still breathing hard…and staring at me. I don’t know what to say or do.
I remember what Ellie told me later, when she was remembering that day Garlen went feral and ended up in the school parking lot. He’d charged across the pavement like something out of a nightmare. Everyone else, including me, ran screaming. But Ellie had stood her ground.“I suddenly knew that the right move wasn’t to run from Garlen, but to go toward him,”she’d said.”I could see that he needed me.”
And later, Aldar explained what would’ve happened if she’d fled:“If you’d ran, that would’ve made things worse. It would’ve ignited his worst instincts. Garlen would’ve chased you, kidnapped you, and we would’ve been searching for you in his lair in the remotest part of the mountain range.”
I purse my lips and look around. Well, Keric has already carried me to his lair in the remotest part of the mountain range. That part’s done. I assume because that bomb was thrown directly at his face and he couldn’t help but inhale all that mist that I’m sure turned him instantly feral. And maybe if Ellie had been standing in front of Garlen right after he’d been hit by a scent bomb, he would’ve kidnapped her right away too.
But maybe, now that Keric has ran for so long and has me somewhere safe, maybe I can still reach him and calm him down, the way Ellie did with Garlen.
I push off the wall and stand. My legs are shaky, I’m wearing my boots, thank god, the sturdy ones with good treads that kept me from breaking an ankle during Keric’s sprint through the forest. My jeans are dirty but intact. His flannel is torn, and underneath my sweater is damp with sweat despite the cave’s chill.
Instead of shrinking back, I steptowardhim.
His nostrils flare. A growl rumbles from his chest, low and continuous, vibrating through the stone beneath my feet.
“Keric.” I say his name firmly and without fear. I’m not afraid. Okay, a little afraid, but doing my best not to show it.
I reach out and touch his chest. Keric’s skin is burning hot through the tattered remains of his shirt. The muscles beneath my palm are rigid, like he’s holding himself back by sheer force of will. He shudders at the contact, and a sound escapes from his lips, not quite a growl, not quite a groan.
And then hisscenthits me.
It’s always affected me. I’ve been breathing it in for two weeks, letting it comfort me. But now it’sconcentrated. Amplified by whatever the scent bomb did to his body chemistry. It fills my lungs, goes straight to my head and makes me dizzy.
Heat blooms between my thighs. An involuntary response I can’t control.
His nostrils flare again. “Mine,” he growls, but softer this time. Less threat, more... need.
Am I feeling the same need? My nipples are two hard points and my clit throbs. Is it getting to me too, because I was right there when the bomb hit?
I slide my hand up to his face, cup his jaw the way he’s done to me so many times. His skin is rough with stubble I’ve never noticed before, and his tusks press against my wrist, smooth and hard. “I’m here,” I murmur. “I’m safe. You got me out. You protected me.”
His black eyes bore into mine. Searching. Hungry.
“Come back to me, Keric.”
It’s slow, so slow, like watching a tide go out, but I swear I can see the feral intensity start to fade. His breathing changes first, still ragged and harsh, but less frantic. The growl in his chest softens to a rumble.
Then he leans down and presses his forehead to mine.
It’s the same gentle gesture from this morning, an orc gesture of devotion. He’d done it before he left for the security meeting, back when the world was still normal and the worst thing I had to worry about was wanting to kiss him again.
