CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lara

The sprites fly off, heading downriver, and I watch the tiny fae until they disappear from sight. If I didn’t believe any of this before, I sure would now. How else do you explain miniature pink people with iridescent butterfly wings? I read about sprites in the research I did on Faerie, but seeing them…

It makes all of this hit home. Fae exist. Faerie is real.

And Brokk’s really an orc.

We set off into the jungle, Brokk leading the way, and this time I can see what he’s doing for what it truly is—he’s not shoving the plants aside with his body. His magic moves them out of the way.

Magic. I just had magically enhanced sex—the most mind-blowing, hottest sex of my life—with an orc! Even better, he seems to like me for who I truly am, hot mess and daydreaming imagination and everything.

All the guys I’ve dated have complained that I didn’t put aside my career for them or clean their apartments or cook or do any of the things “normal girlfriends do.” When I tried to joke that I can’t cook and barely clean my own apartment, it didn’t help. I was funny, could talk about geeky stuff, and enjoyed sex, but it was never enough in the long run.

That’s why I tried to warn off Brokk—if he’s going to be like those other men, I need to know now.

Because Brokk? Brokk can break my heart.

I misjudged him, looking at the surface of all those fan videos and creating a false story that he was vain and shallow. Instead, he’s the best guy I’ve ever known. He freaking rode the landing gear of a plane to save me! Then he came into a camp full of people with guns!

It doesn’t matter that all of this is moving really fast. I want everything he said about us being mates to be real. I mean, who doesn’t want that? The one fated to be your perfect companion? The one who’ll never leave and always be true?

Show me the dotted line—I’m ready to sign up!

Brokk halts beside the trunk of a narrow palm and grins at me. “The first part of lunch.” He points to where a massive cluster of bananas hangs overhead. There are three circular rows of them, each consisting of at least two dozen bananas, and they grow with the ends of the fruit pointing upward instead of down! I never knew that.

His magic flares, and a bunch of bananas falls into his waiting hands.

The peels are thicker than I’m used to, and the flesh inside is a pale peach instead of yellow, but they taste even sweeter than the bananas we get in America. I eat two, and Brokk finishes off the rest as we continue to walk.

Next, he finds a coconut palm. A pulse of electricity ripples through the air as he uses his magic. Nothing happens. Another pulse, and Brokk grunts and starts walking again.

“What is it?” I ask.

“The tree said no. It lost many palm fronds in a storm a year ago and is just getting back to full strength. It didn’t make any younglings last year, so it prizes all that it has now.”

“And you couldn’t make it give us a coconut?”

“I could, but why would I?” He glances back over his shoulder, his expression serious. “We’re hungry, but we’re not in danger of starving. We can find another tree.”

My heart pinches. Brokk’s the kind of guy who’ll take out any creep who bothers me but will also not harm an innocent plant. It’s a code of honor like I write for the orc warriors in my books, and like my books, I thought men like this were a fantasy—something too wonderful to ever be true.

But he’s real, and I need to know more about him.

“So what was it like, coming to Earth? I don’t see how you got a job.”

He throws me a bemused grin. “I’m a good worker.”

“I don’t mean like that.” I wave a hand. “I mean all the paperwork. You don’t have a birth certificate or a social security number. Did you magic up something?”

“No, my magic only works on plants.” He moves a wide mat of vines out of the way to make an easy trail for me. We pause for a moment, and one of the vines snakes over to Brokk’s hand, offering up a trumpet-shaped bloom in a gorgeous deep pink. He plucks it and tucks it over my ear. “There. A beautiful flower for my beautiful mate.”

I hook a hand over his shoulder and strain upward on my tiptoes, falling short of my prize. “Come here.”

He smirks and lifts me up, his lips still smiling as they take mine in a kiss that curls my toes.

As we continue through the jungle, he says, “You’re right. I don’t have any of the paperwork you mention. Everything’s handled by Steve.”

“That’s your agent?”

Brokk nods. “He’s the one who found me in Times Square. He bought me dinner, and we talked. Steve asked me about all these papers you mentioned, and when I admitted I didn’t have any, he said not to worry. He took me to an apartment where two other men live and gave me a place to sleep. Then the next day he took me to buy new clothes and booked my first auditions. He signs all the papers.”

“And takes all the money,” I mutter. “I bet this guy goes after illegal immigrants and takes a huge cut of their earnings instead of the ten percent he’s supposed to get. Do you know how much he takes?”

“No, I didn’t care. Your little green pieces of human paper don’t mean anything in Faerie.” Brokk gives a careless shrug. “And Steve allowed me to fit into your world. Orcs don’t have the glamours and spells needed to look human—not like the elf fae—and I’m not sure any fae know how to do all this human paperwork. Such documents weren’t necessary when we visited Earth over three-hundred years ago. All we needed then was gold.”

“You’re right. I should thank Steve.” I won’t. The guy is probably exactly what I think—someone using other people to make lots of money—but I can’t deny that Brokk didn’t have a lot of options.

Which makes me wonder how we’ll work out the paperwork for the future.

Our future.

“Earth was very confusing at first. Your world has changed so much over the last three centuries, whereas Faerie changed little in how we live our daily lives. We still heat our cottages with fire. We hunt and farm. We ride unicorns.”

Unicorns? How freaking cool is that?

“But you do all of that with magic, don’t you?” I ask. At his nod, I add, “Which means you never needed to develop technology.”

“True. Added to that is the fact that my ancestors spent those first hundred years rebuilding our civilization.”

“That sounds like quite the tale!” Excitement thrums through me, everything I love about stories and fantasy making me giddy. “I want to know everything!”

Brokk finds another coconut palm, this one able to share its nuts, and we eat and walk while he tells me the story of his world.

When the doors of Faerie slammed closed three-hundred years ago, a goddess took orcs, unicorns, dragons, and other fae from all over Faerie and dropped them into Alarria, an uninhabited realm full of new magic.

The orcs formed an alliance with unicorns, since there were no horses, and learned how to use the special magic of the realm. They build villages with cottages made of living trees, and they spend their evenings at the pub, drinking and talking with friends over a pint of cider or ale. They have bathhouses fed by hot springs and use magical glowing crystals instead of electric lights.

“It all sounds really lovely,” I say.

He glances back to offer me a wistful smile.

“Do you miss it?” I ask.

“I do.”

Of course he does, Lara. I roll my eyes at myself. It’s his home, and he spoke of it with clear affection. But how much does he miss it? Does he want to leave Earth? My tummy gives a nervous flip, but I force myself to ask, “Do you want to go back?”

“I tried when I first got here, but I could never figure out how. When Naomi opened the door to Earth, I got sucked through and flung far from the others in my party.”

“Who were they?” My brain whirls. I want to know everything about him. “What was your job? Why were you one of the people coming to Earth?”

“I was with the human witch Naomi and several orc warriors, including King Aldronn. I was one of the king’s guard.” His shoulders flare, his back muscles rippling in a fascinating way. “It’s the highest honor an orc warrior can achieve.”

He’s such a good fighter, but I had no idea he was one of the elite! “King’s guard. That’s really impressive.” And seriously different from being a cover model. Can anything here compete with his position in Faerie? Will living on Earth ever be enough for him? Kings aren’t exactly thick on the ground, let alone one willing to hire an orc. “If paperwork wasn’t an issue, what would you like to do here on Earth?”

“I learned much in all my years of warrior training. I used it in Alarria to protect one very special person, my king. I will use it here on Earth to protect one very special person.” He halts on the edge of a clearing and turns to me. “You.”

“What? I’m no one! I’m certainly not royalty.”

“No, you’re not.” His dark eyes bore into mine. “You’re far more precious, my mate.”

My heart skips, and emotion fills my chest until I feel like I’ll burst. “Are you sure that will be enough for you?”

“It will be everything.” He cups my cheek. “ You are everything.”

Giddy delight fills me, and I take a step forward, ready to throw my arms around him. “Brokk, I—”

He reaches for me, pressing insistent fingers to my lips.

My body shivers with anticipation. Is he going to kiss me?

But when he leans over, it’s to whisper in my ear. “Men are coming.”

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