Chapter 9
Seven months into my pregnancy, I woke to Vorak's mouth between my thighs. This had become his morning ritual since my belly grew too large for other positions.
"Again?" I gasped, fingers tangling in his hair as his talented tongue circled that sensitive bundle of nerves. "You insatiable orc—oh!"
He growled against me, the vibration shooting straight through my core. His tusks grazed my inner thighs—he'd learned exactly how to use them to drive me wild. The slight scrape followed by his soft tongue was a combination that never failed to undo me.
"Can't help it," he said, pulling back just enough to speak before diving back in. "You're so ripe. So perfect. Carrying my young. My mate. Mine."
His tongue found that spot while two thick fingers worked inside me, curling to press against my inner wall. The pregnancy had made me so sensitive that I shattered within minutes, crying out loud enough to wake the entire wing.
"Good morning to you too," I panted as he crawled up beside me, careful of my large belly.
"Morning, my treasures." He kissed me deep, letting me taste myself on his tongue. "How are my girls?"
Last week the shaman proclaimed I would bear a daughter. The healer had been shocked, not just at the pregnancy itself, but that the child was healthy, strong. The first half-orc girl in a generation.
"We're fine. Though your daughter thinks my ribs are drums."
As if responding, the baby kicked hard. Vorak's face lit up like it did every time. He pressed his hand to my belly, feeling the movement.
"Strong already."
"Stubborn like her father."
"Perfect combination."
He positioned himself behind me as I lay on my side, entering me slowly. Even seven months pregnant, my body craved his. The healers said it was the bond, strengthened by pregnancy, but I knew it was more. It was love, need, the desperate desire to be one with him always.
"So beautiful," he said, moving inside me with easy thrusts. One hand cradled my belly while the other found my clit. "Round with my child. Claimed. Mine."
"Yours," I agreed, then gasped as he hit that angle that made me see stars. "Always yours."
"And I'm yours. Your beast. Your protector. Your mate."
The combination of his words, his touch, his cock filling me perfectly. I came again, clenching around him. He followed, groaning my name as he filled me with his seed.
After, we lay, his arm around my waist, my head against his barrel chest.
"The peace treaty signing is today," I reminded him.
"Historic moment."
Six months of negotiation had led here. Trade routes would open. Borders would be respected. Marriages between species legally recognized.
My public appearance had changed things. The pregnant human thriving with her orc husband. Seven human women had already come seeking orc mates. All survived the claiming, and six the rut.
"Think more will come?" I asked.
"After seeing you thrive? Definitely." He traced a faded bite mark from his rut. "You started something."
"We started something."
I turned in his arms, my belly making movement difficult. "I need you again."
"Kaela, we just—"
"Pregnancy hormones. Please. I'm so empty."
He groaned but was already hardening. "How?"
"Mirror," I said, gesturing to the full-length mirror. "Want to see us. Want to see you claim me with our daughter between us."
He helped me up, positioned me on hands and knees with many pillows supporting my belly. When he entered me from behind, we could both watch in the mirror.
"Look how beautiful you are," he said, meeting my eyes in the mirror. "Taking me so well. Pregnant with my child. Claimed. Mine."
Seeing us, his massive frame behind me, my swollen belly, the expression of possession and love on his face, was intensely erotic.
"Touch yourself," he commanded. "Let me watch."
I reached between my legs, circling my clit while he thrust. Watching my own pleasure, seeing his reaction to it, pushed me over fast.
"Beautiful," he growled, following me over, his knot starting to swell.
That afternoon, Silas arrived as our first official human ambassador. The secret passages he'd used to infiltrate the Keep would be sealed after this. Vorak had insisted.
I was in our quarters, Vorak having left to prepare for the ceremony, when Silas stepped out from behind a tapestry.
"Hello, Kaela."
I didn't reach for a weapon this time. The pregnancy had enhanced my senses, and I'd smelled him coming. "Hello, Silas."
"You knew I was here."
"Orc senses."
He moved closer, taking in my swollen belly, my marked skin, the way I moved like a claimed woman. "You really are carrying his child."
"My husband's child. My mate's child."
He was quiet. Then: "That day in the armory. When we were fifteen. Before Mark found us."
"That was a lifetime ago."
"Sometimes I dream about it. What might have been if we'd run that day instead of staying."
"We were children. We wouldn't have made it far."
"Maybe. Maybe not." He moved to the window. "Do you know Mark's dead?"
"The messenger said—"
"No, I mean really dead. I was there. He died cursing your name."
"Good."
Silas turned, surprised at my vehemence.
"He took twelve children and turned us into weapons. Only four survived to eighteen. He killed Elena to teach me not to care. He sent me here to die. So yes, good."
"You've gotten harder."
"I've gotten free." I moved closer. "You could too. Stay here. Be our ambassador."
"Your orc would kill me."
"My orc would grumble and accept it. Eventually."
"You've changed."
"I've become myself."
The door burst open. Vorak entered, saw Silas, and had him pinned to the wall in moments. "Give me one reason not to snap your neck."
"Vorak, wait—"
"He's in our quarters. Again. Near you. Near our child."
"He came to accept the ambassador position."
"I came to see if she was happy," Silas gasped. "She is. That's enough."
Vorak studied him, then released him. "You loved her."
"I did. Once. But she was never mine." Silas straightened. "She's yours now. Anyone can see it. Smell it. Feel it in the air around her."
"Then why keep coming here?"
"Because I needed to know she was safe. Happy." Silas looked at me. "You are all those things."
"I am."
"Then I'll take the position. Ambassador. Try to bridge our worlds as you have."
Vorak growled softly. "One chance. Betray her, you die. Slowly."
"Understood."
"Get out. We'll discuss terms after the signing."
Silas left through the door this time. As soon as he was gone, Vorak had me pressed against the wall.
"Mine," he growled, his control slipping, eyes flashing black.
"Yours," I agreed, understanding his need. "Only yours. Always yours."
He lifted me—pregnant belly and all—and entered me standing, my back against the wall, my legs around his waist. The position should have been impossible seven months pregnant, but his strength made it easy.
"No one else," he snarled between thrusts. "Never anyone else."
"Never," I agreed, then bit his neck hard enough to mark, making him roar. "You're mine too. My beast. My mate. Mine."
We came violently, reaffirming our bond, our claim on each other.
After, he carried me to the bed, arranged me comfortable with pillows.
"Too possessive?" he asked.
"Perfect amount of possessive." I pulled him down for a kiss. "I'd react the same if an orc female got too close."
"Good. Want you possessive. Want you to claim me as thoroughly as I claim you."
"I do. Every day."
"Show me."
They held the treaty signing in the great hall. The human King Aldwin himself had come, looking older and tired. War had aged him.
"Lady Kaela," he said as we approached.
"Your Majesty."
"You look... well."
"I am well. Thriving." I placed a hand on my belly. "As is your grandchild's playmate."
He started. "My what?"
Silas stepped forward. "What Lady Kaela is diplomatically saying is that Princess Catherine has been corresponding with several orc warriors. She's expressed interest in following Lady Kaela's example."
The king went pale. "My daughter would never—"
"Your daughter is eighteen and tired of being a pawn," I said. "The orcs would treasure her. Protect her. Love her."
"This is your influence."
"This is the future." I gestured around the hall where humans and orcs mingled. "Peace through unity. Through love."
The king sighed. "Perhaps you're right. Gods know the old ways brought only death."
The signing itself was simple. Names on parchment. Seals in wax. But as the ink dried, everything changed. The war was over. Peace—real peace—was possible.
That night's celebration was genuine. Humans and orcs in the same hall, not killing each other. Some even talking. Dancing. A few human women had arrived, eyeing orc warriors with interest.
During the feast, I felt the first pain.
"Just a cramp," I told Vorak.
Twenty minutes later, another. Stronger. Then another.
"We should—"
My water broke.
"Now!" Vorak bellowed. "The healer! Now!"
Chaos followed. Vorak carried me to our quarters, refusing to let me walk. The healer and midwives descended. Vorak looked terrified.
"Fathers wait outside," the healer said.
"I'm not leaving her."
"Vorak—"
"I stayed for the conceiving and carrying. I stay for the birth." His tone brooked no argument.
The healer sighed but didn't argue further.
Labor was long. Intense. Vorak never left, letting me crush his hand, wiping sweat, whispering encouragement and orcish endearments.
"Can't," I gasped after ten hours. "Too tired."
"Yes, you can. You survived assassins. You survived Mark. You can do this."
"This is worse!"
"I know, treasure. Almost there. Our daughter's almost here."
One final push, tearing me apart and remaking me.
Then, I heard crying. Perfect, beautiful crying.
"A girl," the healer announced, placing her on my chest. "Healthy and whole."
She was perfect. Her green skin was lighter than Vorak's. She has my nose, his eyes. Tiny tusk bumps already visible. Her black hair had a streak of brown.
"Beautiful," Vorak whispered, tears running down his face. "Perfect like her mother."
"Ours," I corrected. "Look, she has your scowl."
The baby was indeed frowning at this bright, cold world.
"Sendra," I said. "Her name is Sendra."
"Sendra," he agreed, touching her tiny fist. She grabbed his finger with surprising strength. "Our little bridge."
"Our little warrior. Feel that grip."