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“Not all the time.”
“My home is small.”
Madr smirked. “Your bed is big enough for two.”
“He’ll be stacked on top of her most of the time anyway,” someone else said.
Low laughter rang out, though I doubt the sound reached the forest floor.
“I’ll capture her if you don’t. Rut her not long after.” Viskeete rose to a crouch, his feral gaze locked on where the woman had disappeared into the forest. “I don’t need love to plant an orcling in her belly.” A female wouldn’t fare well under his touch. I’d already caught him kicking a chall. After driving my fist into his tusks, I told him if he did anything like that again, I’d kill him.
I suspected I’d soon have to carry out my threat.
“You will not take her,” I snarled, straightening. I slid my mace from the sheath on my back and hefted it.
“In case you didn’t know, you don’t claim her withthatweapon,” someone said. “Perhaps use the one between your legs?”
“Go.” Madr nudged my side. “I promise I won’t allow anyone near enough to harm me.”
“I cannot leave you.” It was my sworn duty for tonight, not chasing after a female I didn’t want.
“I also promise I’ll fly home with the others,” Madr added.
Two of my clansmales pressed their fists against their chests and nodded solemnly.
“See? I’m perfectly safe.” The grim look in Madr’s eyes told me he’d be safe even if they hadn’t volunteered to accompany him back to the castle. His father needed to realize his precious son had grown up into a hardened warrior who was more than capable of handling himself in battle.
My growl ripped out. Duty was my life, but the flare of my pendant told me my wishes meant nothing in this matter.
I cocked my head, making out the subtle pads of her footsteps a clik or so away.
When the cry of a shayde rang out from that direction, my pulse roared. No shayde would harmmymate.
“It stalks her,” Madr snarled.
I leaped to the ground—a solid, thirty-foot drop, and with my mace lifted, raced after her.
Chapter3
Rhoslyn
With the bag Kael had thrown down clutched in my hand, I stumbled through the forest. Hopefully, the fates would be kind and show me a place where I could hide. So far, I heard no one chasing me, but the orcs may not have arrived in this area yet.
The bag contained clothing. We left two beside the gate on the morning of the hunt. Over the past ten years, the orcs had claimed twenty women from our village. With over a thousand people residing behind the fortress walls, the hunt didn’t deplete our numbers by many.
No, it just damned those twenty to a lifetime with an orc.
My lungs raging from running, and with sweat coiling down my spine, I slowed my pace to a walk. If only the moon would rise, then I might be able to see. I peered around, but other than a long berry bramble on my right side I couldn’t see through, I hadn’t found a place to shelter. Would the orcs find me if I climbed a tree?
If I could wait out the night, they’d return to wherever they came from, and I could make my way home to the fortress. I’d avoid Eamon and be there for my sister like I had been since the shaydes killed our parents seven years ago when I was eighteen. Back then, I’d thought of marrying, but a woman’s place was with her husband, and I worried whoever I chose might not accept Lyneth along with me.
I’d scorned all offers until they ceased asking and gave everything I had inside me to my sister. It was worth it.
I didn’t need love other than hers.
A subtle sound behind me made my stomach drop to the center of the world. With fear twisting my belly into knots, I peered over my shoulder.
A shayde stood on the path, its red glowing eyes locked on me. Its long, scaled tail whipped back and forth as the creature snarled.
