The Orc Outcast’s Miracle (Orc Mates Of Faeda #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

GOVEK

H is bones rattled and the blood in his veins scorched as he charged into the hall.

“Where is she?” His roar thundered. It echoed off the crystal leaves of the Rove Tree above him and rained down to skewer silence into the worthless frames of every male present.

Deadly silence that catapulted him into more dread.

The imprint that connected him to Miranda was like an inferno in his chest. The bright white light of the Fades scorched behind his eyes, rippling with intensity, fueled by his rage.

He could not calm himself. He couldn’t control his magic.

He couldn’t bend it to his will to find Miranda, and not one of his wretched brethren spoke up to tell him where she had gone!

He bounded over to the nearest table—a thick slab of wood that was wider than he was tall, thicker than the length of his massive hand, and as old as the woods themselves. He would render it to fucking cinders .

The orcs who had been seated there scrambled and leaped out of the way, leaving behind bowls of stew and cups of mead.

“Tell me where she is!” His words punctuated as his fist struck the middle of the table. His magic flamed out of control and burst from his knuckles on impact. Bolts of white current skittered like lightning across its surface, leaving a crack in its wake, searing his rage into the tabletop. The bowls of stew bubbled from the heat; the clay goblets of mead shattered. The scents of overcooked meat and fermented honey combined with scorched wood and burned his nose, his eyes watered.

Miranda’s scent wasn’t among them. He could not scent her here. She was gone.

Gone.

He whirled around to face the table with the humans and their mates. The women shrieked and clambered away as their orcs leaped to protect them. Their eyes were wide, their tiny fangs bared, their fists bunched. They stood frozen in shock and fear.

When they should be fucking talking .

“Where is she?” She should be with them. They should have protected her.

She’d screamed for help. He’d felt it. Now he felt nothing, and he could not focus his magic enough to find her . Light exploded behind his eyes as terror-laced agony shot through his body.

Where was she? Where was she? He could not calm. His magic refused to obey. It crackled in his palms, prickled between his fingers.

“Calm down, tough guy.”

That’s what she would have said. And she would have touched his cheek and taken his hand and dabbed at the cuts on his palm.

Govek trembled as he turned his hand over, the magic pulsed with the beat of his heart and light danced in the veins of his wrist. His claws had sunk so deep into his flesh it was a wonder he couldn’t see bone. Blood pooled in his palm, spilled over, and dripped to mar the jagged burned lines he’d scorched into the ancient wood table.

He gnashed his teeth.

“Govek! You must be calm!”

His father’s shout had him almost keyed up again. How dare Ergoth tell him to be calm when his mate was missing !

And in pain.

He could feel it through the imprint that rumbled in his chest. The scatter of her broken plea still jittered over his flesh. He’d felt her screaming for him.

He had to find her. Now .

Instead of waiting for these fools to answer him, Govek barreled toward the exit. He would find her by scent alone.

“Govek, what have you done ? Look at this table! Explain yourself.” His father’s voice was clipped and left no room for argument. In any other situation, Govek would have stood and accepted whatever punishment he was due for committing such an atrocity.

But not this time.

The imprint flooded his body with thrumming anguish, demanding he atone for his mistake—for believing Miranda would be safe in the hall without him .

After he found Miranda, he would come back and rip his brethren’s limbs from their torsos for not protecting her.

Rip himself apart too. He’d left her too. He’d failed her.

“Where are you going? You cannot just leave , Govek!” His father bellowed as he started toward the doors. “I command you to stay and take responsibility for your actions here.”

Like fuck he was staying here. He was going to find Miranda.

“ Govek . Stop. Now. ”

The magic-laced command from his father prickled through Govek’s already scorched veins, and he was forced to halt. His muscles refused to budge.

His father’s magic flashed deep into his bones and held him firm. The bitter, familiar stench of it mixed with the burning wood and Govek’s stomach twisted, threatening to bring up his last meal.

Govek’s thoughts flashed with acknowledgment. Confusion. Something about this scent was...

“Stop fighting me, Govek.” His father’s voice brought Govek back to the present.

“I must find Miranda first,” he grated, and barely managed to turn his head to look at his father. The male stood atop his platform, his chin high, his eyes pricks of golden light. “Let me go.”

The magical hold danced in Govek’s veins. Stinging his muscles with every twitch. His bones felt like they would crack under the pressure.

“No. You will stay and wait and atone.” Chief Ergoth rested his hand atop the back of his wooden throne. “Look at you. Do you think Miranda will even want to come near you in this state? You’ll terrify her. ”

Govek tried to slink his claws away or cover his teeth, but he couldn’t move. His father’s magic was too powerful.

“Agol, go and fetch Sythcol. I believe we will need his clearing magic to calm things.”

“Miranda is hurt.” Govek grated through the clench of his teeth. “Someone must go to aid her.”

“She cannot possibly be. We are within the bounds of Rove Wood Clan. Under the canopy of our Great Tree.” Ergoth swung his hand up to indicate the crystalline leaves above. “No harm could come to any woman here.”

“ She is. I feel it in the imprint?—”

“That imprint,” his father scoffed, and the sound raked fury through every scrap of Govek’s body. “I’m not convinced what you are feeling is true , Govek. You have barely known her for a quarter moon. It’s simply not possible.”

Govek trembled against the bounds of his father’s magic as his anger rose. He knew what he felt toward Miranda. There was no mistaking it.

His body quaked, his magic blistered, his will fought against his father’s strong, unyielding magic, battering it with his own might .

“Calm down, tough guy.” He shut his eyes, focused on the light in his mind, focused his rage into a pinpoint, pushed it into his father’s hold.

And it budged.

All went still in his mind as shock radiated higher than his anger.

“Govek,” his father said low and deadly, a tone Govek had never heard before.

But he did not stop. He pushed against his father’s magic again, forced it to release the tips of his fingers .

“Fine, Govek, you win. I’ll send someone to look for Miranda. Now be still,” Ergoth said quickly. “Good, Agol, you’re back. Send your son a message to find Miranda and bring her back here as soon as possible. Sythcol, hurry it up with the clearing.”

He wanted to send Wolvc to Miranda’s aid? Fuck the Fades to the depths. He would never allow that to happen.

No other male would touch his mate. Govek let his rage build and shoved hard at his father’s magic again. This time his whole left arm popped free.

“Govek, don’t fight me. You will only hurt yourself in the attempt!”

“I only want to find Miranda.” Govek caught Sythcol’s gaze from the corner of his eye. The slender, pale green male had been on his way to his post near the back of the hall but paused to look upon Govek with wide, blinking eyes.

This male was the only one in the clan whose magic could rival his fathers. The only one who could fight Ergoth’s might.

Or at least he’d thought he was.

“My chief, perhaps you should release him,” Sythcol said, shocking Govek.

“Are you questioning my decision?”

“N-no, my chief. It is just?—”

“Govek!”

She called again. Miranda called .

And Govek’s magic spiraled into a frenzy, churned up by the force of his imprint, by the heat of his rage, by the bone chilling depths of his terror.

He had to save her. He had to.

The light of the Fades exploded in his mind and his father’s holding magic was caught in the inferno and burned out with a searing, electric jolt.

He was vaguely aware of his father’s cry of pain as the magic between them severed, of voices rising in shock, of clattering and commotion as orcs leaped out of his path as he bolted for the door.

He would find Miranda.

His rage broke free from his control.

He would rip apart any being who’d touched her.