28. Katar

As much as I wanted to claim my mate in every available location within the library, we had to eat. Sleep. Then we could get back to the claiming.

After my knot released, we dressed and left, me scrunching into her tiny car. I needed to buy a truck.

Bailey pulled the vehicle up to an intersection and waited for the light to change color. Such a strange concept to me. Why red for stop and green for go? If anything, red should give someone a sense of urgency and push them to make the vehicle go faster.

She shot me a smile that made my cock perk up and pay attention. "Everything okay?"

Other than the cramp in my right thigh and the crook in my neck, yes.

"I'm fine," I said as she started moving the vehicle forward again. "I was thinking."

"About what?"

Thankfully, her smile held. She didn't doubt us, and I didn't either, but . . .

"Where will we live?" I asked.

"Ah, now that's an interesting question." She lifted the lever beside the wheel and a clicking sound rang out along with yet a different light flashing before her eyes on the car's viewscreen. So many lights. "My job is here. I live here in the house Helga's father built and she bequeathed to me, but I understand what you're saying."

That was good because I wasn't sure what I was saying.

"Would you ever consider moving?" I asked.

"To the orc kingdom?" Her brow tightened. "Maybe. You have books there, so you must have libraries and librarians to curate them."

"We do."

"I'm not opposed to going there with you and seeing what it's like. Would I be welcome there? Orcs seem to be fitting into human society seamlessly."

Now, they were. Things were a little tight in the beginning. We looked completely different from them. We had tusks. Some of us stomped around, growling a lot.

And we were big, towering over even most of the males who played a sport called basketball.

"Would you consider living here if things didn't work out for us there?" she asked, driving the vehicle onto the road that led to hers. Lights came up close behind us, remaining there, and she squinted, shooting a wry look over her shoulder. "Maybe back off there, buddy, and I'll be able to see." She shook her fist in the air. "We're having a conversation!"

My growl rumbled in my chest. Even someone irritating my mate was enough to make my spine stiffen. The rest of me couldn't do so at the moment since I was curled into a ball on her passenger seat.

"I'm not sure," I said, frowning into the blaze of lights behind us.

"Are you saying that if we don't live in the orc kingdom, our mating is over?" she carefully asked.

"Never that," I vowed. "We'll talk and figure this out."

"Alright. I'm open to talking about it."

She turned onto her road.

The engine of the vehicle behind roared, and it raced closer, slamming into the back of Bailey's car. She yelped. I was thrown against the front of the car, ramming my knee into the glass. Fortunately, the glass held. My knees screamed.

"Let me out," I snarled, yanking on the handle that should release the door.

"Sorry. Child locks," she said, slowing the car.

The other vehicle hit us again, and Bailey yanked the wheel, turning the car onto a lawn on our right with the other vehicle right behind us.

"Watch out," she cried, her wide-eyed gaze focused forward.

A tree loomed ahead, and we smacked into it, coming to a shuddering halt.

While Bailey panted and clutched the wheel, I smashed my fist through the window and brushed aside the tiny specks of glass. I crawled through the opening, landing hard on the ground as a male rushed out of the nearby house exclaiming about his tree. Leaping to my feet, I ran toward the back of Bailey's car.

The truck that had hit us—blue—squealed its tires and flew past us, down the road. It turned a corner and disappeared from view.

"Did you get the plate?" Bailey asked, running over to clutch my arm.

"Plate?"

"The number on the back of the vehicle."

I shook my head.

"Then did you see who the driver was?"

"Tall. Shadowy. It was hard to tell in the lights."

"Male or female?"

"I don't know," I growled, tugging her into my arms. "I'm sorry. I didn't get a good enough look at them."

"It's okay. We're okay." She looked up at me. "You're okay, aren't you?"

I nodded and held her tighter.

All of this was connected—somehow—and I was going to rip this world apart to find out who was after Bailey.