15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

K rull

As we cruise through the streets of L.A. on our way back to the Zone, I gaze at the human cuddled in my embrace. I can’t believe she fell asleep. The adrenaline must have taken everything out of her.

“Nicest looking stray anyone’s ever brought back to the Zone,” Thrall says with an indulgent smile on his face as Mara’s head bumps against my chest every time we hit a swell. Thrall, the biggest of all of us, recently mated a human, and I’ve often envied how rock-solid his relationship is with Amelia.

“You can have her bed down in the firehouse.” Brokka’s offer is half-hearted at best. By the look of things, it’s obvious I’m not going to let this female out of my arms anytime soon.

“Not gonna happen, but thanks for the offer, Chief.”

Everyone chuckles. Turning to Bold, I ask, “Want to join the fire crew? Slumming? What brought you out with a bunch of firefighters? ”

He smiles, his ivory canines glint in the sun, as he flashes his badge at me. “Humans don’t know our badges are useless outside the Zone. I figured every thug in a hundred-mile radius would be descending on the flood zone, looking for trouble. Thought I might help protect my firefighting buddies.”

“Well, glad you came along. I’m not sure Mara would have gotten down safely without you.”

“My pleasure. Glad to help.”

After we enter the Zone’s barbed-wire gates, I wake Mara and, despite what I said to Brokka, I ask if she wants to stay with me in my apartment, or bed down in the makeshift shelter at the firehouse.

She looks shy, avoiding the gaze of every male in the boat. They’re all openly eavesdropping.

“If it wouldn’t be an imposition…”

“I’m a big, green orc who barged into your apartment, into your life, and you think you’ll be an imposition?”

So five minutes later, here I am carrying her through the doorway to my second-floor apartment in the Zone. She’d halfheartedly protested, saying she could walk, but I didn’t waste my breath arguing, just took the stairs two at a time.

“I must have been running on nothing but adrenaline.” Her voice is soft, as though saying just that sentence was too much for her. “I could sleep for a week. ”

“First, I’m going to get you in the shower, then I’ll put you to bed. Kam texted, said his mate Emma was bringing korzok . It’s an orc curry dish. You’ll like it.”

I lean to kiss her filthy forehead and sift my thick orc fingers through her hair. “After you eat, you’ll sleep until you wake up. No interruptions for any reason.” Unless there’s a storm surge that finds its way to the Zone. But I’m not going to mention that.

I wonder what will happen when she wakes. Will she call her parents? Leave her gallery and go back to Ohio? Leave me without a backward glance?

I’m not ashamed to admit to myself that I’m falling for Mara. No. That’s a lie. I’ve already fallen. Hard.