Summoning the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #2)

Chapter Twenty-One

Becca

It was hard to stay upset when someone was so happy to see you. It was as if he’d been waiting for me to return all day.

A girl can get used to this.

When I’d returned home and he hadn’t been here, I’d been filled with utter panic, thinking that the worst had happened and they’d found him. A coven was a powerful thing and if they had their eyes set on my male, I wasn’t sure how long I could keep him.

With that thought, I tightened my fingers in his hair, letting him make me dizzy with kisses. I didn’t think I could ever remember anyone ever being happy when I came home.

The group homes that I’d lived in and the foster families were nice , but they weren’t mine . When I’d found Pen, it was the closest to a home I’d ever had, but even then, it wasn’t. I had to leave it every night and make my way to my own place.

The way Rok’s eyes had lit up when he spotted me made my heart melt in my chest. Years of empty, noiseless rooms were filled in one moment with the grin on his gorgeous face. I blinked away the tears that filled my eyes, drowning myself in his taste instead.

“Rok,” I murmured against his lips, “I can’t lose you,” I told him, knowing he couldn’t understand me.

He whispered something in Orcish, moving me backward, and I had to force us to stop moving, prying myself away from him by sheer force of will.

“Wait,” I gasped, my breathing erratic.

Noticing that he was wearing something over his brawny chest, I pulled away to survey him. My eyebrows swung up as I took him in.

A suit?

He glanced down at himself before meeting my gaze, his cocky grin telling me that he knew he looked good.

Hell yeah, you do.

The tailored masterpiece fit him perfectly, and I bit my lower lip as I surveyed him from head to toe. If Rudgar thought he was softening the rough edges of Rok, he was wrong. This suit made my tough orc look even more dangerous.

“Ready to run your own gang, big guy?” I asked him, smoothing my hands up his lapels.

He beamed at me, preening in his new suit. While it made him look delicious, I was also grateful that Rudgar had had the forethought to get him into something that would help him blend in. Nothing said I’m not from here like two leather straps for a shirt.

“I’m shocked you gave up your axe,” I told him, and he tucked a lock of hair behind my ears before wrapping his arms around me and holding me close. I pressed my face to the center of his chest and something that had always been just outside of my reach filled me.

Belonging.

I didn’t know how I was so comfortable with this male, but even if we couldn’t understand each other, there was something to be said for the connection between us that I hadn’t even begun to understand. “They’re not going to take you,” I told him, staring at him, tracing my finger across his jaw. He closed his eyes at the touch, and I was smiling at how long his lashes were when the doorbell chimed.

His eyes snapped open at once and he had me behind him in a protective stance the next moment. I pressed my face to his strong back, inhaling his panty-melting scent, worry washing through me.

They couldn’t have made it here so soon. There was no way.

“Wait in the bedroom,” I told him, tugging on his hand and he turned to me, confusion etched across his face.

I pulled him harder and he allowed me to lead him to the bedroom with eagerness. When I tried to leave, closing the door, he refused, shaking his head at me.

“Please,” I begged, “just stay here for now. I’ll be right back.”

His brow held a deep furrow and a low growl left his lips, but he allowed me to close the door. I hurried to the front door, glancing around to make sure any orc-related items were secured. As it turned out, it was as if I was the only inhabitant of our new apartment.

I frowned, making a mental note to go shopping for Rok, before I opened the door with what I hoped was a pleasant, calm expression. In all probability, I looked like a high-strung mess with a feral smile.

“Oh thank the Gods,” I gasped, heaving a sigh of relief.

Rudgar and Dristan were holding bags on the other side, their eyebrows high.

“You look like you were expecting someone else,” Rudgar told me.

“The people at work,” I sighed, moving backward so I could allow them to pass. They lugged in so many bags it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “They’re looking for Rok.”

“I knew they were going to come looking,” Rudgar groaned and Dristan grunted his agreement. Penelope came in behind him, a worried expression on her face as she hugged me. She’d been hidden behind their bulk.

“Do they know he’s here?” she asked, as Rudgar and Dristan began placing bags on the island.

“No, I told them I didn’t know where he was, but they’re hiring a coven,” I told her, chewing on my lower lip.

She looked over at Dristan who reached out for her. She curled against him and after finding Rok, I now knew exactly how safe and protected she felt in his arms.

“A coven?” Rudgar asked, leaning against the island, his lips pursed. “Well shit. Witches would be able to trace him.”

“How? Isn’t there any way we can hide him?” I asked, rubbing my hands down my arms, feeling cold all of a sudden.

Rok chose that moment to appear from the bedroom. I sent him a smile and he made his way over to me, eyeing everyone else with suspicion before he hugged me close to him, cradling me against him. I saw Pen smothering a laugh and I sent her the middle finger as I allowed myself to sink into my male.

“You summoned him from the book,” Rudgar explained, sending a reassuring look Rok’s way. “So that means that he’ll have traces of that magic on him still. If they can get a strong enough coven, it’ll bring them here right away.”

“They can’t just take him,” I told him, turning in Rok’s arms to face him. “He wants to stay here and I—” I trailed off, not sure how I wanted to finish that sentence, but Rudgar didn’t need me to.

“We’ll find a way, Becca, don’t worry,” he told me and Pen gave me a firm nod that filled me with comfort.

“Thank you,” I told them, trying to smother the tears that were sneaking in. My family was the best. Even the big, mean, green, new members. “I know it’s asking a lot—”

“It is,” Dristan said with a shrug and earned himself a smack from Pen. “What? We’re basically hiding a felon,” he defended, gesturing toward Rok. “But we’re keeping him, because Becca.” The last was said with a tilt of his chin toward me and a wink in my direction. “My new sister and the free labor for when we need a babysitter.”

“I love you too,” I told him with an eye roll. “And you better hurry with those promises you’re making about nieces and nephews.”

Rudgar guffawed while Pen laughed and Dristan scowled.

“Enough about us,” Pen said, rubbing her hands together as she pointed at the bags in front of her. “These are some things that Rok will need along with some clothes and food.”

Rok spoke to Dristan, his voice rumbling in his chest where I was still pressed against him. Dristan responded, gesturing to the island.

“I need to learn Orcish,” I muttered, and Rudgar shook his head, holding out a bottle to me with a beaming smile.

“Not for long,” he crowed, stopping Rok from his conversation with Dristan. “We have a present for you.”

I frowned at the stoppered bottle in his hand. It was small and purple, but that wasn’t what was intriguing. It was the glow around it.

Magic .

“What’s in it?” I asked him, my eyebrows high.

“It’s a translator potion,” he said, puffing out his chest. “I got it before my last trip to Harbash to visit the ogres. When I checked with my supplier, he had another in stock.” He passed it to me and I studied it. The bottle itself was incongruous, but when I unstoppered it, the scent of eggs that washed over me was almost overwhelming.

“Oh, Gods,” I gagged and Rudgar sent an apologetic look my way.

“Yeah, it’s pretty gross, but it’s just what he needs. It’s a surefire way to understand and speak the first new language you hear,” he told me, gesturing for me to hand the bottle to Rok. “Of course, you need another for each different new language, but it works. I’ve been having fun watching Pen struggle through learning Orcish, but I got one for her too.”

He tossed the second bottle up into the air before tucking it back into his pocket and winking at me. “I’ll hold onto it for a bit longer. I’m going to make her earn it.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. He considered himself Pen’s older brother and teased her almost as often as he did Dristan.

He said something to him in Orcish and Rok frowned down at the tiny bottle with suspicion. I held it up to him and his frown cleared right away. Without a question, he took it from me, swallowing the contents even though they smelled terrible.

Oh, I’m falling for him so hard.

The trust he already had in me was astounding. And we hadn’t even had a real chance to get to know each other yet. Now was my chance.