Chapter 6

Six

Govek watched the mysterious woman fall into a restless slumber. Her sleep drunk movements were jerky, and her brow was furrowed.

She dreamed of terrors. Of that, he was certain. He warred between the driving instinct to offer her comfort and the burning need to let her rest.

She'd saved his life. Fuck.

He wrenched his hand through his hair, tugging hard enough to rip strands free. Her imprint was thrumming like violent currents through his veins. It would be fucking agony to dispel it. Far worse than it had been with Yerina.

But he must. He could not keep this woman. He was going to war.

She mumbled something in her sleep, causing Govek to tense, to come to attention. Her voice was a beautiful melody. So high and sweet. He hung off her every breath.

"Don't leave," she muttered into the cloak.

Guilt speared him. It was like she could read his blasted mind.

But she would be fine on her own. He couldn't be sure what kind of world this "Earth" was, but judging from her condition and her babble about dogs, she had evaded predators and knew how to survive. She even had that vile tincture that had torn his nose to pieces. It was probably what had saved her when she was running to the spring and back.

He'd been careful not to take a strong whiff of her since he'd healed himself in the spring. Even though every stupid fiber of his worthless being craved to do so. She was still doused in the noxious fumes.

They would protect her when he was gone.

She'd saved his life, and in return, he would abandon her.

His wretched claws crept out from beneath his nails, digging into his palms. He let out a harsh growl so deep it rumbled his entire chest.

Then he froze, whipping his head toward Miranda. He found her more relaxed than before, her expression more peaceful. Thank Fades, he hadn't woken her.

She looked fucking wrung. The circles around her massive brown eyes were so dark they looked like bruises. Eyes that were so expressive it left him no illusion to her emotions. When she smiled, it felt like the warmth of summer and the little laugh she'd gifted him was?—

Fuck. Fuck. He was leaving her tomorrow.

Even if he wanted to keep her, he had nothing to offer. No boons to win her over.

Yerina had liked furs and fruits, but these Fades-forsaken woods outside the Rove Tree's reach had been abandoned by all animals except for blighted predators and half-starved hares. The summer fruits had been picked over ages ago. Fish was the only sustainable food.

He might be able to find a few herbs if he looked hard enough—and got terribly lucky.

He would never be able to earn her affections with such meager offerings. He let out another frustrated growl.

Miranda made a humming sound, and he froze again. He'd woken her?

No. She was still asleep, and he sagged with relief.

Her admission about his growls feeling "tingly" broke into his thoughts. Never had any being described his threatening sounds as such. She'd rubbed her hand along her chest, right between the lush globes of her breasts.

And now she wasn't even wearing a fucking shirt.

He ground his teeth and stared into the fire until his eyes burned from the smoke.

Miranda's whimpering broke through his determination to ignore her.

She seemed to be having another nightmare.

Blast this imprint and its ruthless demands. He fixed his eyes on the woman.

Hiswoman.

A shiver of pleasure crept up his spine as he clenched his fingers in his hair. His control was slipping. Another particularly pitiful cry forced him to his knees and brought him forward to her side.

"Hush," he murmured. But she didn't obey him. He hadn't expected her to. His voice wasn't created to bring comfort.

It was meant to terrify.

Tears gathered around her long, dark lashes and her pink lips trembled.

"Shh," he managed to make the sound soft and quiet.

The tear broke free and slid down her cheek. She let out a whimper that bellowed through his frame and the imprint roared with blazing agony. He could not withhold a growl of frustration.

And in response, her body relaxed. Her expression smoothed, her tears stopped, and her limbs went limp.

Because he had growled?

What he would give to read her mind now. To get inside her head. The imprint in his chest thrummed its fire, but could not reveal what his woman was thinking. It only made his blood blister with the longing to do so.

If she liked his growling, should he do it more?

No. No! It was illogical. Went against the nature of all living things. He should haunt her nightmares.

It must be a coincidence. Well placed timing.

He raked a hand through his hair and watched her intently.

She buried her nose in his cloak, tucking her full lips against it, and sucked a deep breath into her lungs. "Smells good," she mumbled, all sleep-drunk perfection. "Govek..."

Oh fuck.

He trembled, pleasure shuddering down his spine and spiking heat through him as goosebumps broke out over his arms. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needed to get out of here. Go back to the spring. Douse the fire in his blood.

Her hand reached out and took his, and his heart skittered up into his throat. He fixed his eyes on her face, waiting for her own eyes to open. Waiting for her to admit that she'd been awake this whole time. That she'd been pulling some sort of cruel farce because, of course,she wouldn't be attracted to him. Of course, she wouldn't find him appealing or comforting. He was loathsome, vile, unable to control?—

Her body went completely boneless, and her face sagged into a deep sleep.

While holding his fucking hand. With his claws right there.

Govek tried to pull away, but her brow furrowed slightly when he did and he knew the instant he ripped free of her she would wake. She would wake and he would be faced with her barely covered body, her sweet voice, and her incredible scent, and those lovely brown eyes—all bright and perfect.

He was an imbecile. He had to let her go. He was going to war.

But for tonight... for now, he could enjoy this.

Govek curled up then, finding a position in which he could relax while she still gripped him. He allowed his thoughts to grow heavy. He'd almost died today. Boar, wolves, poison...

He fell unconscious with the heavy knowledge that this woman had saved him multiple times.

A sharp gaspinstantly brought him out of slumber. The dim light of morning assaulted his dreary gaze.

There was a pressure against his palm, a scramble, and finally, a sudden chill.

The woman. She'd let him go and left him.

Blast! The sleep had done her a great service. Her eyes were bright and her coloring had returned, bringing a subtle pink to her cheeks and lips. She was a welcome sight.

"Y-you're real."

A heavy sigh escaped him as he took in their surroundings. There didn't seem to be any predators about, though most were not stupid enough to threaten an orc. The day would be clear once the morning fog burned away.

He would make good time on his way to the Warlord.

"O-oh gosh. God. Sorry." Miranda pressed a palm to her forehead. "I'm just... all out of it. I... I'm..." She paused, seemed to be distracted, staring up at the trees again. The brambles and thickets. Reverence and confusion. This expression had fallen over her features many times the day before, and Govek was uncertain if he would ever grow accustomed to it.

He reached for his pack and sifted through it, making difficult choices over what he wanted to keep and what he would send with his female.

The female. Fuck.

She gulped hard. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"I am fine," Govek snapped, getting to his feet. He was stiff from being in the same position for so long.

"Wow. You really are green."

He snorted, wryly amused.

"W-what are you again? An orc?"

"Yes."

"Okay." She took deep breaths. "Okay, okay."

She wandered off a few paces, shivering. The vile urge to offer his own cloak to her bellowed in him. He went to her pack instead, abandoned near the fire. It had almost nothing in it. The crisp blue was haunting against the soil and the slick texture was like nothing he'd ever touched before.

This woman was not his mystery to solve. This is where they would part ways.

He shoved her pack into his own, determined to forget it ever existed and held his belongings out to her. "Take this."

She hesitated, and then hefted the bag onto her shoulder. Its weight strained her and his heart thundered as if trying to work against his own mind.

He gestured to the west, calculating how fast she might travel. "Two days' walk and you will come across Baytton." He hoped Baytton was still there. Rove Wood Clan had no contact with human villages outside of Oakwall. Tavggol had been working tirelessly to build peaceful trade with another, only to have his plans go up in deadly, horrific smoke.

Smoke that had choked out his life far too soon.

Govek fisted his claws so his female would not see them and set about extinguishing what remained of the fire. "Baytton is a human village and has high walls. You will be safe there."

"You . . . you're . . . what?"

She was shaking more violently now, and Govek tried not to look at her. His instinct to aid her was shrill. "As long as you do not mention to the Waking Order you were in the company of an orc, they will welcome you." Better yet. "Or tell them you found me poisoned and finished me off. Stole my belongings." They may question her about his clan and the whereabouts of his body, but not harshly.

"No," she said as he dug handfuls of damp soil and threw them onto the embers. They sizzled and popped in protest before going out with a final puff of smoke.

"You can't . . . I won't let you . . . you can't just leave me here."

His gut pitched. These woods were deadly. Hundreds of creatures larger than her stalked within. But he could not bring her with him to Karthoc's forge, and he certainly could not venture anywhere near a human village. Soldiers of the Waking Order patrolled for tens of leagues outside the walls.

"You will be fine."

She would be. She wasn't the one who was going to have to fight off an imprint that shouldn't even exist to begin with. She wouldn't be raked with agony every step she took away from him. She wouldn't have a burning urge to return to his side, despite all logic and reason.

But he'd broken off Yerina's imprint. He could break Miranda's too.

"Use that tincture you have to hide your scent," he told her.

"Govek, no. I want to go with you."

A shiver stirred within him at her plea. It broke down several barriers he'd been trying to erect between them. "My path takes me through perilous lands. You will perish in the attempt."

"I can make it."

He shot her a harsh look. "I assure you, you will not." She was skin and bones, and she didn't even have proper clothes.

"Could... could you take me to the village then?"

Was she trying to lure him to his death? Flames licked the edges of his mind. "You think me foolish enough to risk being slaughtered by the Waking Order to ensure your safety?"

"What is the Waking Order?"

The honest query speared him, made his throat dry.

"Washington state, in America, on planet Earth."

His stomach clenched, and he chose his next words carefully. "They are a human sect who ignorantly believe my kind, and all sentinels, must be eradicated. Should they see me, they will slaughter me on sight. Or worse, torture me for information about my clan. I will be flayed alive and cooked on a spit."

His forehead broke into a sweat as he fought back foul memories. Gruesome sights that had torn through him.

Of what remained of his brother in the Clairton town square.

Of the blood and the stench and the battle rage.

Of the madness and destructive magic he'd been unable to control.

Gentle fingers smoothed over his arm, and he flinched, reeling from her sudden touch.

Miranda stood with her brown eyes beseeching and her voice warbling. "Please take me with you."

He took harsh, gulping breaths. "Move west, follow the sun, and you will encounter humans."

"Please, Govek."

He closed his eyes against the driving urge to obey.

"I just... I can't be alone right now. I won't slow you down, I promise."

Her pleading was nearly his undoing. He barely rasped. "I am going to war, Miranda."

She flinched as if he had slapped her and the terror rendering her expression to pieces gripped like a vise in his chest. "War?"

"Yes."

"You're at war?"

He could only nod.

"B-but you can't be. This can't be. I'm not... I can't..." Her voice raked over his flesh like a harsh winter chill, scraping against his senses.

His gaze shot to her hand, where her fingers were digging into the cut on her palm. Breaking it open anew. Bright blood dripped from between her fingers onto the forest floor, painting the decaying leaves at her feet. "Stop!"

The slice of a yowl drowned away his order.

A saber cat.

The beast pounced toward Miranda with deadly precision.

Nervous energy burst through Govek's limbs. He shot out, shoving her behind him, and threw himself toward the cat's gaping maw.

Govek's fist collided with the animal's thick skull. It cracked, and the cat plummeted to the forest floor.

He looked back at his woman long enough to find her scrambling to her feet. His heavy bag had pulled her down.

The cat snarled and Govek whirled, bracing his feet. Its jaws were dripping, its sharp teeth were tinted black. Its eyes were glazed and listless. Its movements were jerky and unpredictable.

It had the blight.

The cat charged with ruthless precision, claws digging into the ground, snapping and spitting. It shot around him.

Toward Miranda.

He roared, leaping into the air and tackled it. It scrambled and flailed and screamed into the foggy air. It was all he could do to avoid its deadly claws.

Its neck was right there. With a quick assessment of his woman, he flashed his eyes and found Miranda still horrified, and he fucking couldn't do it. He could not risk terrorizing her with the sight of him ripping the creature's throat out with his own vile fangs.

The hesitation caused the cat to break free.

Miranda did the unthinkable. She bolted for the woods.

The cat whipped toward his woman. Its instinct to chase its prey making it inconceivably fast as it hurtled after Miranda.

Panic speared his mind, and he shot his hand out, caught the tail of the cat and crushed it in his grip. It snapped. The bones wrenched apart under the force of stopping the beast from hurtling toward Miranda.

But the flesh held.

The cat screamed and spat in agony, writhing and twisting around to skewer him. Govek's own terror went higher and gave him precision. He dragged it back, dodged its claws, and pushed his knee into its ribs until they crunched under his weight.

Anguish roared to life in his bones. The cat's tortured cries grated his senses, and he gnashed his teeth against the guilt that he was causing it such pain.

It whipped its head around, its teeth snapping so close to his cheek he felt its spittle on his face and smelled its rotten breath. Govek wrapped his hand around its neck and sliced clean through the fur and tissues. Blood sprayed in an arc against the ground. It was dead in an instant.

Rage roared to life within him, and he lurched toward the trees where Miranda had run. He would hunt her. Force her to return. Make her face the torture her stupidity had caused this creature.

Had caused him.

She'd fucking ran.

Just like Yerina.

His chest burned.

"A-are you okay?"

He froze, eyes darting. Miranda was staggering toward him. But she had run. She'd?—

"Oh god! Your hand. Here."

She was so close to him. Right in front. Her fingers were soft as they grazed his wrist. Thank Fades he'd managed to sheath his claws already.

His mind caught up with him and he shook his head, forced the agony of her betrayal to dim.

This wasn't like Yerina. There was no comparison. Miranda had been fleeing for her life and Yerina had been scorning him.

He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the pain of his former woman's abandonment.

She dumped the water pouch out over his hand, rubbing it clean. Moving it around.

Searching for injuries?

"You're okay. You're okay," she murmured half to herself. She was terrified.

Terrified for him. Not of him.

Govek did not know how to process this interaction, so he went still, allowing his woman to flutter her soft fingers over his flesh.

"It's... it..." Her eyes were flooded with tears and her face was pale. "It was screaming."

Govek gulped. Taking a deep calming breath, he came down from his raging. Found reason. "It is past its pain."

She sniffled piteously, staring at the cat's lifeless body. "It's so pretty. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run."

He wanted to tell her it was blighted. That it would have died, anyway. That the few agonies it had suffered at his hands were nothing compared to what it would have had to endure as it rotted away from the inside.

But another dreadful thought spiked in his system and drowned out his ability to speak.

He could not leave her alone in the woods.

Miranda would die. She would be picked off by a predator or injured by her own misstep. Likely only moments after she left his sight.

But he certainly could not take her to war with him.

He did not know what to do. Where would they go from here?

Fuck the Fades for giving her to him. For dropping her into his lap. They had been cruel to him for the bulk of his miserable life, and this was just one more blasted misfortune he would have to endure.

"Govek?" Her gentle, sorrow-laced tone was maddening. He willed her to be silent even as he swallowed the temptation to order her to say his name so sweetly again.

"Can you walk?" he whispered, glancing at her trembling knees. He did not wait for a reply. Instead, he lugged his discarded pack over his shoulder before scooping the woman off her feet.

She was so light it staggered him, but her frame was warm and supple against his bare chest. He relished the sensation, gulped as it soothed him. He tucked her into the crook of his arm as she squeaked with surprise.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he carted her off into the depths of the forest in the opposite direction of any human settlements.

He did not answer her—because he did not know.