“No.”
“Or gifts.”
“Also no.”
I slid my hands up his chest. “But you want to claim me anyway.”
“I’ve wanted that since you walked through the door to treat Cooper.”
“Then do it.” I held his gaze. “Claim me the way an orc does. Please.”
He bent and swept me up in his arms.
“What are you doing?”
He carried me through the doorway and laid me carefully on his bed.
Our bed if I had any say in it.
He stood at the edge, looking down at me.
“Tell me what happens next,” I said.
“When an orc claims someone,” he said, his voice dropping lower, “they ensure that person understands exactly who they belong to.”
My pulse jumped. “And do I belong to you?”
His thumb traced my lower lip. “You will.”
His eyes held mine, and I realized this was it. The moment where I chose to stay instead of run. Where I let him see the woman who was still learning what it meant to be claimed.
“Show me,” I said.
He climbed onto the bed, caging me beneath him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LAINA
His weight settled the mattress, and every nerve in my body lit up. This was it. The moment I stopped running and let myself be caught. Let myself be claimed.
Brovish braced himself above me, his arms caging my shoulders, his hair falling forward to brush my collarbone.
His hands shook.
I’d watched those hands steady frightened creatures and lift me into my truck. Seeing them tremble now made my heart sing.
I reached for him.
My palms found his chest beneath his shirt. Warm skin over solid muscle. His pulse thudded beneath my touch.
“Laina.” My name rasped from him.
“I’m here.”
His hand slid to my side, spanning the space between my hip and the underside of my breast. The size of it registered; his palm covered half my torso. My breath stuttered, and heat pooled low in my belly.
He froze. “Did I hurt you?”
