Summoning the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #2)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Becca

I can’t do this.

I couldn’t catch my breath. My mate was taken. They’d used the same tome I’d summoned him from and returned him to the book.

When I’d received the call from Rudgar, I hadn’t given one single thought to the dream job I’d been wishing for my entire life.

I’d left running, grabbing the first cab I saw and directing them to the home that I’d shared with my mate.

Rudgar had pulled me from the cab into his arms and apologized, but I hadn’t wanted to hear anything except for him to explain what happened.

When he did, I sank to the floor. He’d lifted me into his arms and taken me to my apartment.

Pen arrived a little while later, but I was in a foggy, fugue state that I couldn’t seem to drag myself out of. All I knew was that my mate was gone and I didn’t know what to do.

Pen was saying something, pacing in front of me and speaking in rapid words while Rudgar nodded and tapped away at his phone. Dristan was there as well, his brow furrowed as he listened to his mate.

His mate.

My chest ached with pain and a whimper escaped me as memories of Rok filled my mind. His charming smile. The way his eyes softened when he looked at me. The way my heart felt full when I was in his arms.

Pen paused her tirade long enough to duck down to hug me. I let her, still swimming in that state that I was trapped in.

She took a seat next to me, rubbing soothing strokes across my back, but it didn’t help the aching hole that had formed inside me as soon as he’d left.

Rudgar had only confirmed what I’d already known. As soon as he left, there was a sharp pain in my chest. A gaping emptiness that echoed with the loss of him.

I felt my breath start to shudder out of me and I struggled to stop it. I couldn’t cry. I needed to focus. I needed a plan.

I need him.

The splash of moisture on my hand where it was clenching my skirt with a death grip was shocking, but I couldn’t focus on it. The movement around me had started as a loud gong sounded.

I flinched at the noise, but I didn’t know what it meant. It was long moments before I heard my name being called and a hand gripping mine with tight security.

I knew that hand. It was Pen. She was trying to get my attention but I was still floundering to find something to ground me.

I flexed my fingers in hers, squeezing them back and focusing on my hold on her. The warmth of her hand. It took long moments, but I was finally able to look at her.

Her face swam in front of me for a second before it cleared. She gave me a tremulous smile.

“Hey, Becks,” she whispered, and I felt the sob building in my throat at the sympathy in her voice.

Gods no, Pen. I can’t deal with this.

“Someone’s here to see you,” she said, rubbing her hand up and down my arm. I sniffled, turning my face in the direction she had looked.

When I saw the female with the red hair, everything screeched to a halt. Fury built inside of me like a lit wick, smothering the sucking sorrow that had been there.

“ You ,” I hissed, standing and almost falling since my knees were still weak. “How dare you come here after what you did.”

She held her hands up, swallowing hard. “I know. I know what I did—” she started, taking a step back as I took one forward in her direction.

“Wait, Becks,” Pen said, gripping my hand in hers and holding me back from charging at the female who’d taken my mate from me. “Let’s hear her out. She said she might have a solution.”

I growled low in my throat—a feral sound that I’d heard from Rok—and bared my teeth at her.

“She did this ,” I insisted, and Pen nodded, squeezing me close and holding me back.

“You can do whatever you want to her after we hear her out, okay?” she soothed and Tasia’s eyes went huge in her face.

“I really just want to help,” she said in a hurry. “There wasn’t anything I could do about the contract. But now that it’s closed, I can scry for your male. We can find him.”

“You can bring him back?” I gasped, feeling dizzy. “Do I need to read from the book again?”

The idea took root in my mind, and I almost ran to the door to go to the library, but Tasia shook her head. “A mate-summoning can only work once,” she said in a sad voice, before smiling. “But I can find him. If we know exactly where he is, then we can find someone who might be able to open a portal.”

My brow furrowed in confusion. “Can’t you open a portal?” I asked, panic clawing at my throat. “I can pay you. I might not have much money now but—”

I gasped, turning and hurrying toward the bedroom I’d shared with Rok. I yanked open my closet, shoving at the clothes there until it bared the tiny safe at the back.

My fingers shook as I struggled to use the thumbprint lock. When it opened, I grabbed the gold coins that my mate had gifted me when he’d first arrived at our home.

I raced back out of the bedroom to find everyone staring at me in shock. I shoved the coins at Tasia and she caught most of them, but two fell in a loud clatter to the floor. I ducked, struggling to pick them up in my haste before handing her those as well.

“Please,” I begged her. “Please take these and open the portal to bring him home.”

She stared down at the coins in awe before shaking her head. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t open the portal. I can only find him. My powers aren’t strong enough,” she told me with sadness pervading her voice.

The hope that had been brimming in my chest died, my entire body sagging with disappointment. She took my hands, passing the gold back to me.

“But I can find someone who can,” she said, her words getting stronger with each word. “I know we can. My coven isn’t the only one in the city.”

A tentative smile spread across my lips as I gripped her hands in mine, squeezing them as the coins dropped from between our fingers. I saw Dristan wince behind her but I ignored him.

“Can you scry for him now?” I asked, fear still clogging my throat. “So I can make sure he’s safe?”

She nodded, giving me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, we sent him back to his home,” she said in a low, soothing voice.

“His home is a feudal land where he has to fight for his life,” Dristan growled, annoyance brimming from every inch of him. “And while you fulfilled a contract, you returned him there without a single weapon.”

My heart froze in my chest the same way Tasia’s smile froze on her face.

“We hadn’t thought of that,” she gasped, shaking her head and moving to the giant dining table that we hadn’t had a chance to use yet. She shoved the place setting off, pulling a drawstring bag from her pocket. She dumped the contents to the table and they clattered as they landed.

Stones and twigs?

I moved toward it with her, my eyes moving between the junk on the table and then to her face. “This is supposed to help you find him?” I clarified, doubt filling my mind.

What the hell kind of witch is she?

She nodded, spreading the twigs and stones into a circle before holding her hand out to me. I took it with hesitation, wondering what the hell she was going to do.

“Okay, I need you to think of him. To feel your bond,” she told me, her expression focused as she lay her hand over the circle she’d made.

I jerked as I felt power thrum through her, sending a jolt of shock through me. Impressed and excited that this might work, I squeezed my eyes shut, picturing my handsome mate in my head.

His chocolate eyes, his long hair that tickled my nose at night, the way his lips curled around his prominent tusks. I loved the little bend in his nose that told me it had been broken once upon a time.

The tug of a connection in my chest let me know that whatever we were doing was working. I heard Pen gasp behind me but I struggled to focus, to do exactly what she’d told me to.

“I have him,” Tasia announced with a little laugh. “I know where he is.”

My gaze snapped open and I almost pulled away from her as I saw that she was glowing, her hand over the circle pouring light onto the table. In the center of the pool, one of the stones had been pulled, floating in the middle, teetering on its edge.

After a few moments the stone fell to the table and the light disappeared. Tasia turned to grin at me, lifting the stone toward me. “This is it,” she squealed. “We have his location. All we need now is someone powerful enough to open a portal to him.”

I huffed out a relieved breath, grabbing her into a hug and jumping up and down with her. Pen joined us, and I was giddy with excitement.

We’re going to find him.