Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Anna
I’m lying in Keric’s bed, well it’s my bed now, I guess…and all I can do is stare at the beamed ceiling. The bedroom is nice, comfortable and very masculine, but not unwelcoming. I can’t help but glance around, thinking of how I’d love to add some touches of color to his bedroom though.
Because I guess we’re mates?
I reach up and start twirling my hair. Not that this is a bad thing.
It’s just that instead of the two of us being able to get to know each other better while dating, texting and calling each other back in Truckee, I’m now living with him like we’re instantly married.
We have to do this so I can hide out here.
He did insist I take his bedroom while he’s trying to squeeze himself on the couch to sleep at night. This is sweet of him.
My stomach is pleasantly full. Keric made dinner for us earlier, some kind of stew with venison and root vegetables that was honestly the best thing I’ve eaten in months. I complimented it extensively while he just smiled that small, pleased smile of his.
That orc can cook. I’m not a cook. Never have been. My specialty is takeout menus and microwave popcorn. But I can appreciate good food when I taste it, and Keric? He’s talented.
I insisted on doing the dishes afterward.
It’s the least I can do when he’s feeding me, housing me, protecting me.
Plus, I’m a tidy person. Always have been.
And I noticed immediately that Keric is the same—everything in his cabin has a place, everything is organized.
We’re going to get along well, living together like this. At least in that regard.
I reach for the new cell phone on the nightstand.
It’s way nicer than the burner I’ve been using.
Keric gave it to me earlier, already set up with contacts programmed in.
I unlock it and scroll through the list, touched that he thought of everything, making sure I can reach anyone I might possibly need in the compound.
The thoughtfulness makes my chest tight.
A notification pops up on the screen. It’s a text from Ellie. Are you okay, Anna? I got your new number from Garlen.
Relief washes over me. She’s reaching out and not angry that I lied to her for months. I type back quickly. Yes, I’m good. I’m in Maine, in Keric’s cabin. Can you believe?
Three dots appear immediately. She’s typing. Oh, wow, you’re already across the country! I heard that was where you’d gone. They told me everything, Anna. I hope that’s okay.
My stomach clenches. Everything. She knows everything. I type out a quick response. Oh Ellie, I feel bad that you know I wasn’t telling you the truth about myself this whole time. I promise that was always me though. You know me better than anyone.
Oh, I know. You really DO love celebrity gossip and skin care. That can’t be faked. Lol
I laugh, actually laugh out loud. Leave it to Ellie to cut through the tension with humor. Exactly!
I know you’re in hiding for a noble reason - I don’t know the exact details but Keric told us you’ve been running for three years on your own, which is incredibly brave.
You’re trying to work towards taking down someone bad who I’m sure hurt someone you cared about or knew in your past job.
And now they’re trying to hurt people you care about again, so Keric took you to the commune to keep you safe. It’s the right call.
I stare at the screen, reading her words over and over.
She gets it. She understands without me having to explain everything in detail.
This is why I’ve always loved Ellie. She sees people clearly.
She doesn’t judge. She just... understands.
Yes, that’s pretty much how it is. Keric told me that the Irontrees are going to keep you and Zoe safe too. That’s what’s most important to me.
Oh, Anna, that’s so kind of you. Don’t worry about us, we’re both here in the house on lockdown and these orcs have us covered. I think even the Bloodtree clan is helping too.
I blink at the screen. The Bloodtree clan?
Long story. They were opposed to orc integration but after everything that happened, they’re on our side now. It’s complicated orc politics. But basically, we have a LOT of protection.
I bite at my lip. Orc politics. Of course. Because my life wasn’t complicated enough already. But the important thing is that Ellie and Zoe are safe. Protected. That’s all that matters. That makes me feel better.
Get some sleep. You must be exhausted after the time change. Text me tomorrow. I want to hear everything about Maine and Keric’s cabin.
Will do. Love you.
Love you too.
I set the phone down, smiling. My first real smile since finding those photos on my doorstep yesterday. Was it only yesterday? It feels like a lifetime ago. Ellie knows the truth and she’s still my friend. Still reaching out. Still caring. I’m not as alone as I thought.
But I still can’t sleep. My mind is racing, processing everything. The commune. Keric. The fact that I’m in Maine, three thousand miles from California, living with an orc who thinks I’m his mate.
His mate.
I push that thought away again because it’s too much to deal with right now.
I get up and turn on the bedside lamp. Might as well do something productive if I can’t sleep.
My go-bag sits on the dresser where I left it earlier.
It’s small, just a backpack really, but it contains everything essential for running.
I’ve had this bag packed and ready for three years.
The essentials of witness protection. Well, DIY witness protection.
I unzip it and start unpacking. Might as well settle in, even if this is temporary.
There’s only one bathroom in the cabin and it’s in the hallway.
I open the door of the bedroom and go in there and start putting my stuff away in the drawers.
Travel-sized toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, deodorant, face wash, moisturizer and sunscreen.
I line them up the best I can, neat and organized, minimal but enough.
Then I take out the concealer, foundation, mascara, cream blush, anti-frizz hair oil and set it next to the toiletries.
The bathroom is bigger than I thought it would be, I’m pretty certain because it needs to be big enough to house an orc.
The toilet is taller than usual, the shower is large and the counter height is a little tall.
The ceilings on the whole cabin are tall and beamed, even the ceilings of the bedrooms and in the hallway.
This has to be so those horns have clearance.
I make my way quietly back to the bedroom and start putting my meager supply of clothes away in the dresser drawers Keric emptied for me earlier. I carefully fold and put away two extra pairs of underwear, one extra bra, a clean t-shirt, leggings and socks.
I brought my passport in my real name, Anna Lee, my real birth certificate, a thousand dollars in cash, and a flash drive with copies of my passport and birth certificate. I tuck these in the back of the drawer, out of sight.
There’s another flash drive. Multiple flash drives, actually, that could bring down powerful people. The ones that got Jonas killed. I hold them for a moment, these tiny pieces of plastic and metal that have destroyed my life. Then I hide them with the other documents.
Everything fits so neatly in one drawer. Three years of my life reduced to this.
As I unpack, my mind drifts to when I first started running.
How alone I felt. I was adopted as a baby and my adoptive parents, the ones who raised me and loved me, passed away within two years of each other.
Mom from cancer when I was twenty-five. Dad from a heart attack when I was twenty-seven.
I was an only child. No siblings. No aunts or uncles I was close to. No grandparents left.
By the time I started running at twenty-nine, I was already used to being alone, but it was still hard.
I had to leave behind my friends and colleagues, everyone I’d built relationships with during my years as a professor.
No warning. No explanation. I just... vanished the night Jonas died.
God knows what they all think. That I had a breakdown?
That I ran off to join a cult? That I simply didn’t care enough to say goodbye?
The truth is I ghosted everyone I cared about because I loved them. Because keeping them safe meant cutting all ties. Because people around me were dying and I couldn’t risk anyone else.
So I became Anna Kim. Quiet teacher. Invisible woman. Someone with no past and no connections. Someone who could disappear again without anyone noticing.
And it worked. For three years, it worked. Until those photos showed up on my doorstep and I realized it was all for nothing. They found me anyway.
I sit on the edge of the king sized bed, my go-bag empty now, and feel the familiar weight of loneliness settle over me.
But then I remember, this time is different. This time, I have Keric and this entire commune of powerful orcs who don’t even know me but are willing to protect me because Keric asked them to.
This time, my secret is out. Keric knows I’ve been running and people are after me.
He knows I’m dangerous to be around and he chose to help me anyway.
For the first time in three years, I don’t have to lie every single day.
Don’t have to create a fake backstory and remember all the details and pretend to be someone I’m not.
Keric knows who I really am: Dr. Anna Lee, former associate professor of literature, running from people who want me dead and he’s still here, looking at me with those dark, intense eyes like I matter.
I’ve been running and hiding for so long. I forgot what it felt like to have someone in my corner. To have a partner, even if our partnership is... complicated.
You’re my mate, he said at the bus station. I still don’t fully understand what that means. I’m starting to think it might mean I’m not alone anymore.
But with that thought comes the guilt, my mind flooding again with images of Jonas.
Dr. Jonas Webb, my colleague in the literature department, Head of Special Collections and the rare books archive.
He was a food friend, a brilliant scholar, and the married father of two daughters.
I can see his face so clearly, that bright smile when he’d show me a rare first edition, his excitement about the collection infectious.
His deep laugh echoing through the archives.
Framed pictures of his ten-year-old twin daughters and his wife were always on his desk.
The last time I saw him alive, he was focused on our ethical obligation.
“We’re doing the right thing, Anna. These are priceless cultural artifacts.
We can’t let them steal our history.” I’d completely agreed to his plan, because he was right, it was the right thing to do.
Neither of us had realized the lengths people would go to keep their lies hidden.
And then the phone call. “Dr. Lee? This is campus police. I’m afraid there’s been an incident...”
I close my eyes against the memory, but it doesn’t help.
Jonas is dead because of what we found. Because we were going to do the right thing. Because I wasn’t fast, smart or careful enough and now more people are in danger because of me. Ellie. Zoe. The Irontrees. This whole commune could become a target because they’re protecting me.
I can’t let that happen. I can’t let anyone else die because of what I know. But I don’t know how to fix this. Don’t know how to make it right.
I open the bedroom door as quietly as possible and make my way down the hall.
It’s time to tell Keric the truth.