Page 3 of Healed By the Orc

Blade grinned, his tusks framing his smile with their ivory, his cheeks dimpled adorably, and it was like his deep brown eyes glowed with a faint golden light. He was too bloody attractive for his own good, the green hue of his skin just made him exotic, but dang his cheekbones were killer. Those dimples made me melt, going all gooey and soft inside when I should remain firm.

“You can’t go home, lass,” he said, his grin dropping to make way for a far more sober expression. I had a feeling he didn’t wear a look like that often, which made my stomach swoop with nerves. “Those portals only ever work one way, and even then, only if they feel like it,” he explained solemnly. He talked like those things had minds of their own, but though I’d come to Ireland to connect with my roots, I wasn’t one to believe in such fanciful things. It had to be a technology that had yet to be understood, or a strange phenomenon like freak storms or something.

“Look,” Blade said at seeing my confused expression. His lips quirked again like he couldn’t help himself; the man was all smiles all the time, but he was making an attempt to suppress the impulse. “The overlords don’t take kindly to human visitors. They’ll lock you up if they get their paws on you. Unless,” he wiggled his eyebrows at me mischievously, “Unless you get mated. So want to be my mate?”

Did this orc just propose to me? What the flying fuck? Completely baffled by this turn of events, I was silent for a long moment, staring into his dark eyes with their odd golden twinkles as I tried to parse the information. “Absolutely not!” I barked when I realized he was serious and waiting for a reply. Who gets married to someone after one shared high-speed chase? We only barely knew each other’s names and, on top of that, I was dying. That was a splash of cold water in the face I could do without, and it dampened my fighting mood.

“Why not?” Blade asked, and when I opened my mouth to formulate a reply, he swooped in. I meant to say something sensible about how we had only just met, something about strangers and different species, and how this was probably a hallucination. His kiss made any rational thinking impossible.

His mouth against mine was strange for only a short moment. I could feel those sharp tusks press against my cheeks without harm while his lips were shockingly soft and warm. His taste swept across my senses like a tidal wave, a hint of nutmeg, a taste all his, and something that made me think that maybe magic was real after all. My nipples grew into diamond-hard peaks from that mouth-to-mouth touch, and when he swept his tongue into my mouth, I ached for him.

Heart racing, breathing fast and choppy, my chest ached dully, but my belly felt on fire as pleasure tingled through my limbs. This was a kiss? I could not recall ever feeling this way from just a kiss, like I could combust on the spot, like I would shatter from a single touch. All he did was press his mouth to mine, but it felt like so much more. No, that wasn’t entirely true. He’d cupped one big hand against the small of my back and I felt the heat of his palm blaze through my thick coat and sear into my skin.

“Why not?” he asked again when he finally pulled back. His voice was husky and low and I could hear the racing of his own heart; it told me he was as affected as I was. It felt good to know that he had enjoyed that kiss just as much. Then he grinned, and I was not at all surprised to see it. I was all too happy to enjoy those sexy dimples. “I’ve got the stuff. I’d make an excellent mate.”

There his brows went again, waggling playfully, and my chest grew warm, a smile stretching at my cheeks that did catch me by surprise. “Still a no, buddy. I have a life to get back to, things to do.” And even if I was starting to like this guy, orc, I couldn’t stick around just so he could watch me die.

“Really?” he drawled, his hand sliding up my back along my spine until it settled between my shoulder blades. That touch felt awfully possessive, it felt like he was ready to press me forward for another kiss. “Our human visitors don’t usually have much to go back to. They’re always more than happy to settle on Mirock if they find a mate. Orcs are very good mates for humans.” His eyes pierced mine with a look that felt like it went right through me, like he knew I was hiding something.

I shrugged, my lips dry and my words struggling to escape a throat suddenly tight from tears. “I have important things to take care of. Please, can we find one of those portals and try? There’s no harm in trying, is there?”

I didn’t know what I’d do if I discovered I was truly stuck here. We were sitting on a flying motorcycle, so maybe I could get medical help here, but he looked so barbaric in other ways… He was horrifyingly right, though. I didn’t have anything to return to on Earth if you looked at it. A job I now hated, and no family except for a distant cousin that I’d only emailed twice in the past year; she did not even know that I was dying.

“Sure, we’ll give it a shot,” Blade said easily. “I know of a place not far from here.” He pressed with his hands until I was facing forward, then carefully curled one thick forearm around my middle to pin me in place. I was acutely aware of his groin pressed to my rear suddenly, and of the thick bulge I could feel pressed against me. How had I not felt that before? He was huge, and he was hard, and completely unashamed about it. Maybe making me feel that thing was another ploy to convince me to be his mate.

“You could just put me on the ground and point me in the right direction,” I said. “No need to take up more of your time. I’m sure you have better things to do…” I trailed off because I was fishing, and I was also trying to push him away. It didn’t feel nice to be so wanted by a guy I barely knew and know I couldn’t have him.

“There is nothing better to do than to help a sexy little human, trust me.” He laughed warmly, and I imagined he was sporting those dimples again, but I didn’t dare to look over my shoulder to verify. His hand moved on the handlebar of his hover bike thing and off we went, zooming through the woods at a much slower pace this time.

“I’m older than you,” I warned him, but I had a feeling I knew exactly what he’d say about that. Honestly, I had no clue if I was older or not. He was an orc. Who knew what age they were or how old they even got? I was just going off the fact that he was so cheerful and bad boyish, playful with a little edge of danger. “Don’t get any ideas,” I warned him more forcefully when he laughed. “Even if you kiss like a fiend, I’m not mating you.”

“We’ll see,” was all the response I got.

Chapter 4

Blade

So she was stubborn. That was an outstanding trait for an orc’s mate; I liked it. Even if it meant my cock ached from desire, a special kind of torture when pressed against her soft rear. The portal stones I knew of weren’t far, only a day’s journey on my bike, and I was going to enjoy every minute of it. First, though, I wanted to take sexy Hannah somewhere fun, and I knew just the place.

She was hiding things from me, and it was now my mission to pull the truth from her sexy lips. I needed to convince her that I was her orc, her man, because I knew that returning from where she came was impossible, and mating was the only thing that would keep her from prison. I’d be damned if I let another male steal a prize like her.

Her dark brown hair was slowly straightening as it dried and I was curious to see what it would look like after I’d brushed it. Would she let me? I wondered what kind of privileges I could seduce out of her once she was warm and fed. So the stream, for fun and for catching our meal, and then I would take her to a hideout along our route so I could take care of the warm part. Even in her thick coat, she did not seem suited for the cool temperatures of the woods.

“We’re almost there,” I said against the curious, round curve of her pink ear shell. She shivered, her back leaning into me, and I tucked her closer, hunching my shoulders around her to shield her from the whipping winds.

“At the portal? Or stones? Whatever they are...” she asked hopefully, and I shook my head and winced when that made her expression fall. I hadn’t meant to mislead her, but she gave me a very suspicious and distrustful look that pierced my heart. Ah, damn, I didn’t want her to look at me like that. I wanted that other expression back, the one right after I’d kissed her and she’d looked all dazed and tousled.

“The stream, for food and water. Just a quick rest stop along the way,” I explained as I steered the hoverbike around the trunk of a big tree. The stream came into view then, a beautiful purple-hued streak of water with a fine opalescent mist rising above it. Hannah gasped at the sight, clutching a hand over her mouth to contain her delight. I wished she wouldn’t, that she’d let herself unwind, that she’d feel free to express herself.

I pushed because that’s what I did. “It’ll be perfect for bathing. The stream is fed from an underground spring. It’ll be a pleasant temperature.” My voice lowered as I turned on the seduction, “Wanna get naked with me, my beautiful wee lass?” Either that would make her laugh, bring out the fire, or she’d say yes; all those options were a win for me.

She did not disappoint, hissing with indignation and rapidly shaking her head while a blush stole over her silky skin. “You are incorrigible, Blade,” she said sharply, but then I saw the way the corner of her mouth curved up, even though she tried to hide it. I felt like I was king of the world at seeing that hint of a smile.

“So that’s a yes?” I teased and roared with laughter when she elbowed me sharply in the ribs in response. It was a simple maneuver to bring my hover bike in for a landing near the soft, sandy bank of the purple stream. I swung out of the saddle and grasped my pretty human around the waist before she could dismount on her own. She weighed far too little when I picked her up and let her slide down my body to the ground.

Her breathing stuttered, her palms landed on my pecs, and the look in her eyes turned heated. Yeah, my pretty lass didn’t know it yet, but she was going to be all mine. I’d wear down that stubborn streak with my own, and I’d unravel the secret she was keeping, the one that made her think she had to go home. My fingers flexed along her rib cage, seeking the softness of her skin, her warmth. The thick leather coat blocked most, but not all.

She was too tempting, so I gave into my primal urges and covered her mouth with mine. Sweeping her gasp away I tangled my tongue with hers. She moaned, and I felt her fingers curl against my skin, tiny bites of her blunt nails against my tough flesh. I pulled her closer, eagerly taking that kiss and conquering her with my tongue, groaning when she let me. My cock ached in my pants and I ground myself against her soft belly; I wanted her to know how much she turned me on.