Chapter 15 Vidorak
Chapter fifteen
Vidorak
The request was a surprise to both the witch and him. He hadn’t expected to say that, and was hesitant about leaning into the pull he felt toward her.
With the initial surprise worn off, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but without repulsion, which boded well for him. “Why a kiss?”
How could he answer that when he didn’t know himself?
“I want to find out something.”
Her eyebrows drew together in a frown. “Have you never kissed a female before?”
“I have kissed plenty of females.”
“First you heal my wounds, and now you want to kiss me. I am beginning to think you really did suffer brain damage in the fight.”
No, he had felt drawn toward her since the beginning, but he was not about to tell her that.
“Do you want the information or not?”
That refocused her. “I want it. Brace yourself, orc, I don’t want you to lose all ability to talk afterward.”
She stepped up to him and put a hand on his chest. His heart was already beating so fast, and she’d barely touched him. There was still an inch of space between them, but immediately he picked up on her scent of embers and clove.
He stood frozen, not trusting himself to move, worried that if he reached for her, he would crush her to him.
Golden speckled eyes bore into him as she lightly rose on her toes.
His mind felt clouded, and—not for the first time—he wondered if she had him under a spell.
The more times he asked himself that, the less he cared about the answer.
Unable to resist any further, he lowered his head, and his hand disappeared into the wild mess of red curls to cup the back of her neck.
Despite her bold words, the initial contact between them was slow. He brushed against her soft lips, not even kissing her yet, just reveling in the intimate touch. When her mouth slightly parted, he lightly drew her bottom lip into his, tasting her.
As he deepened their kiss, her hands slid up his chest to his shoulders, tugging him closer, and he felt he would lose his mind at that.
She lightly nipped at his lip, prompting him to open and slipped in her soft tongue.
He responded in kind, exploring, caressing, and savoring all that she would give him.
Deep inside him, a bond beautifully and irreversibly snapped taut.
It was a feeling of becoming undone and simultaneously whole, as his soul became tied to this woman.
Everything became clear. His sudden draw toward her, the way she chipped at the wall he’d built.
Now, a primal instinct in him awakened, ready to protect her at all costs, even with his life.
She was his to keep, his to care for, his to love. She was his one and only mate.
While she wasn’t an orc and likely didn’t feel the snap of the mate bond as he did, she didn’t seem unaffected either. Her body leaned into his, her delicate curves molding into the hard planes of his chest. She moaned softly into his mouth as her nails dug at his shoulders.
It took everything not to seize her by the hips and rub her against his hard cock. Now that he recognized her as his mate, he wanted to solidify their bond completely. He wanted to give her so much pleasure that she wouldn’t have any regrets about bonding with an orc like him.
Something must’ve slipped through the haze of their passionate kiss because she broke away, breathing heavily. “Did you figure out what you needed?”
He nodded once but didn’t break their contact, with one hand still buried in her hair and the other at her back.
“Your turn.” She then added, “Better not back out on me.”
His hand moved to her cheek, and his thumb traced over her reddened lips. “The amulet is in the Orc Mountains, little witch.”
Her eyes widened in genuine surprise. “How did the Eye of Azara end up there?”
“The way most things end up on the mountain, it was stolen. The clan raided a sanctuary in the north many years back, but I couldn’t tell you which one.”
She nodded and then smiled. “It seems our paths won’t separate just yet.”
He kept caressing her face, captivated by the way her soft lips resembled rose petals. “What makes you think I will take you there?”
She stepped out of his embrace and broke the contact. He wanted to snatch her back, hating the loss of her touch.
“I suppose I cannot expect you to lead me there out of your own goodwill.” She turned her back to him and fell silent, mulling over this new information.
After a few moments, she faced him again with a dark smile.
“Since you have no qualms about making deals, I will pay you to take me there.” Her eyes traveled down his body, spotting his not-so-subtle erection.
“Unless you are interested in getting paid with something other than money.”
“You would agree to that? To let me touch you and taste you however I want? To let me have my way with you in exchange for being escorted to the mountain?”
Images of licking her down to her cunt every night and fucking her out in the open against the trees flickered through his mind. It was an incredibly tempting offer—to ravish her so exhaustively, she’d forget all about her dangerous plans.
He knew enough of his little witch mate to know that even if she let him have her body, let him learn all the ways she responded (and he planned on learning it all thoroughly) her mind was a different question. He wanted it all—her mind, her trust, her fears, and her love.
“Perhaps.” She gave him a sultry look, flirting with the idea. “Or perhaps I will go to Ettera and hire another orc.”
Possessiveness gripped him. Under no circumstances would he allow another orc to take her to the mountains and spend those days and nights with her. She was his mate.
“That’s not happening.”
Also, she wasn’t an orc. It would be unlikely that whoever she hired would be honest with her and not lead her back to Jarl Kinar.
Knowing her stubborn streak ran deep, he relented. “I will take you. But you must promise to listen to what I say. You are not familiar with orc ways.”
She nodded. “Fine, I will listen and take what you say into consideration.”
He growled and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Not just consideration. You will do as I ask. It is not only your life that would be at stake.”
Her mouth was in a hard line, but she agreed. “I promise.”
He let her go, accepting the agreement as much as he could. He turned toward the fire, running a hand over his face, wondering what his chances of success were.
“The payment?” she asked behind him.
It took him a second to remember her question. He pondered for a moment. “I will take truth as payment. I get to ask you one question every day, and you must answer honestly.”
A scowl spread across her face. “That is the strangest request I have ever heard. Are you sure you don’t just want to use my body?”
He grinned. “I didn’t say I was not planning on doing that too. But that will not be part of our deal.”
She looked him over for a moment, trying to read him with those golden eyes. “I agree to your terms of truth.”
“Great. We will leave tonight.”
Reassured that his witch would not run, Vidorak left the cave to go hunt, allowing her to rest again. She may be eager now, but her body was still healing, and their journey would not be easy.
The Vestrahorn mountains lay far to the north of the Shalimar realm, treacherous and looming.
The land there lacked the greenery and fertile soil of the south.
Instead, the mountains were rocky and barren.
With the lack of farming, food was discussed as much as war.
Starved and isolated, beings of all races became hard.
His mate had not interacted with orcs much, having been busy fighting her own battles with the nobility in Sanograd. Any mistake on either of their ends could be fatal. A horde of orcs could overpower anyone, even a capable witch.
There were multiple points of entry into the mountain, and he could get her in covertly enough. The true difficulty would be in obtaining the amulet. His uncle was obsessed with the amulet and rarely let it out of his sight.
They would need to discuss how to explain her presence. Human women weren’t common in the mountains. Most of the ones that were there were pleasure slaves to the orcs who captured them in the raids or servants in the kitchens.
He imagined what her response would be if he suggested bringing her under the guise of his pleasure slave. He would probably end up with a black eye or a burned ass at that suggestion.
Vidorak captured a couple of rabbits and returned to the caves to find his mate sleeping. Her brows furrowed while she dreamed, and her hands clenched into fists. Even asleep, she did not stop fighting.
His hand ached to brush a red curl back from her face, to touch her once more, but he resisted. He would let her rest a while longer before waking her to eat and travel.
There was also the question of the mate bond. He didn’t want to burden his witch with such knowledge when there was barely any trust between them. It was not the right time, and given the tumultuous lives they led, it might never be.
For now, he would keep that secret just as she still kept many of hers.