Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

GOVEK

G ovek's blood raced, his teeth gnashed, his heart pounded behind his eyes. His body felt too small to contain his rage, and he worried the force would break him apart at any moment.

His vision flashed with images. The scent wafting off Miranda was maddening. They had put their hands on her . They had touched his mate. He was going to rip them apart. He would sink his teeth deep into their flesh until their blood gushed against his tongue.

His stomach rolled, and he was certain he would vomit. The images wouldn't stop .

"Set me down here."

Miranda's voice cut through the fog but didn't clear it. He managed to get her safely to the forest floor before he curled in on himself, clenched his hands to his scalp as if the pressure might squeeze the thoughts from his mind.

"Govek?" Her soft hand tenderly stroked his arm, leaving torrents of prickles in their wake. "Talk to me. What are you thinking?"

"Carnage," he managed between the rolling madness. His muscles bunched up with the longing to charge back toward the males and slaughter them. To paint the trees with their blood.

He sucked in a breath and Rogeth's stench overwhelmed him.

Fuck . She smelled so fucking?—

"Govek—"

Her call ended in a yelp as he yanked her into his arms again, forced her to his chest. He needed to get that fucking scent off her or he would lose the last miserable scrap of his sanity.

It was the worst over her mouth. Rogeth's pungent odor lingered on her lips. His shaking increased as he lowered his head to her.

He couldn't wait to give her a bath.

He slanted his mouth over hers and sucked at her lips, laved his tongue over her. He drank down Rogeth's tainted, bitter musk and replaced it with his own.

It worked too blasted well. Miranda moaned against him and returned the kiss with gusto. She squirmed against his body as he pressed her into the tree. She must have thought he was trying to woo her, because she kept tempting his tongue into dueling. Distracting him from his goal of removing the scent from her flesh. It was on her cheeks too, down under her chin, near her neck.

Only when he broke away to lick across her cheek did she manage breathlessly, "What are you doing ?"

"Marking," he snarled, and fuck, this wasn't the kind of mark he wanted. His body buzzed with need. He longed to drag his fangs across her neck and sink them into her flesh, brand her fragile skin with his bite. Force a mark upon her that could never be undone. The instinct was strong, vivid, alive .

Like it had been all those moons ago with Yerina.

He pushed the bitter memories from his mind and concentrated on Miranda. On kissing her tender lips. On making her tremble and squirm.

"Govek, hold on." She splayed her fingers through his hair, turned her head away so she could speak. He laved his tongue over her cheek in response, and she let out a little whimper of pleasure that shot right through him. "Govek, wait. We need to get to the hall."

The hall? Fuck that. He'd just escaped from his father's clutches. He would not be going back.

"Govek, we need to head off Maythra before she tells everyone lies about what happened."

Fury swarmed his mind until he felt like his limbs were buzzing. He pulled back to search her face. "What did they do to you?"

Her eyes went huge, but she didn't hesitate. "They were trying to frame you. They wanted to get me back to the hall so you'd see me with them and attack. I think they thought this would force Karthoc to rescind his order to make you the chief."

"No," he snapped. "What did they do to you ?"

Her brow furrowed with confusion until he reached up to touch her face. "They... they threw some kind of liquid on my face that made me feel dizzy and disoriented."

"You smell of them, Miranda. They touched you. "

"They only touched me briefly to silence me. Just once on my face and arm. "

The confirmation only made it worse. He slunk back from her, his anger raging like an inferno.

"Govek, hold on." She stepped closer.

" Go ," he rasped. The word felt like jagged glass tearing up his throat. He wrenched away from her so fast his head spun and he actually staggered. He went to his knees in the harsh icy dirt. The wet chill soaked into his pants and cooled his heated flesh. He needed to calm, calm ? —

"I'm not safe. I'm not in control ."

"Govek—"

" Go! "

Her breath hitched.

Fuck, fuck ! He'd scared her. He'd ruined this. She really would abandon him now.

But she didn't. Instead, she came around to face him and leaned down close. She reached out to hold his shoulders firmly in her warm grasp.

Fuck, Rogeth's scent on her face was still there, right under her chin. His eyes fixed to the spot.

"I'm not going, Govek." Her words were clipped. "If we're going to survive, it will have to be through this. You can't control yourself forever."

The agony of that truth rippled over him and cooled the rage with his sorrow. She was right. He couldn't control himself. He didn't deserve to have a mate.

"Govek, look at me."

He couldn't. He couldn't face losing her.

"Look at me."

The demand from his mate couldn't be denied, and he snapped his gaze to hers. His mind raced as he braced himself against the emotions she would be feeling. Terror, disappointment, disgust.. .

But looking up, all he saw was... determination?

He searched her features. He was still breathing hard, still buzzing with need, and still on the brink of losing his Fades-blasted mind .

"I know exactly what you are, Govek." Her voice hit him like the swing of a fist to his gut. "I know you are an orc. I know your magic is fueled by your emotions and you're having a lot of bad ones right now. I know you've lost control and done horrible things that rack you with guilt."

He bowed his head, eyes prickling.

Warmth cupped his cheeks as she used her hands to bring his face up. Forced him to meet her eyes. She stroked her fingertips along his jaw. The soft pad of her thumb soothed over his lips. She caressed the crook in his nose, his tusks.

He shivered under the force of her generous touches. His mind reeled to that not-so-distant day in the outer woods where she'd examined him, learned his features.

Her eyes were so gentle and warm and giving . She held his gaze as she pressed her thumbs into the hinge of his jaw. Her stare burrowed deep into him. She wasn't learning his features this time. She was learning his soul.

And he could hardly stand it. It cracked his defenses apart, shattered him with the same force he'd used to shatter the table in the hall.

He could do nothing but crumble.

He leaned into her embrace, tucked his head into her chest as she bent down to hold him, soaking up her warmth, her light, listening to the beat of her heart as it thundered in his ear. Her scent—sweet, clean honey drenched in sunlight—flooded him .

He was drenched in that light too. It was so kind and gentle and consuming. It drowned out the burning blaze the Fades used. Her sunlight flooded his magical energy until it started to ease away.

"I have you, Govek," she whispered into his ear. "I have you. I'm not going to let you go. I will always be by your side. I will always defend you and support you, just as you have always defended and supported me."

Fuck, his guts twisted, and his voice was so thick he barely managed, "I couldn't protect you from them. From Wolvc and Rogeth and all of them ."

"You did, Govek." She wrapped her arms around his head, his face nestled firmly into the warmth of her chest, and he went boneless. "You made it to me in time. You heard me call, and you came. You did everything right."

He let out a half sob, half laugh that made his frame shudder against Miranda and she tucked her cheek into his hair. Grounded him. Soothed him.

The tide of emotions ebbed. The light of the Fades was replaced with her. Miranda.

"We're going to get through this." She stroked his hair, running her hands down his back. "Together. I promise."