Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Maya
Normally the nature reserve calmed me, but today? My soul wasn’t at peace, and I wasn’t sure why. I suspected it had something to do with the silent male at my side.
Something was bothering him, and I didn’t know how to ask him what it was.
He’d practically pulled me from his apartment, but as we walked, his strides had slowed, then began to stutter as his limp became more pronounced.
I glanced up to see his lips tight, his brows drawn in.
Could it just be that he was in pain? My heart ached for him.
Since the shop was closed on Sundays, I’d become used to taking that day off, and I’d unconsciously fallen into that routine in the last two weeks. Had I been working Memnon too hard?
We reached the preserve—the walkway looked great—but we both turned toward the little deer path that would lead us to the creek on the Gary property.
When I glanced at him, Memnon shrugged. “I’ve had enough of the saw grass.”
Ah. “You have to admit, it looks good lining the walkway like that,” I offered, as I followed him to duck beneath a live oak’s bent branches. “But I don’t blame you wanting to avoid it for a bit. Maybe I should have chosen a different plant…”
“It’s perfect there,” he assured me without looking back, his large hand enveloping mine. “Native grasses and flowers, remember? I just don’t need to see it for a few weeks.”
He had gotten rather badly cut up when he fell, didn’t he?
Poor guy.
I was feeling quite sorry for him when we reached the little bank over the river. The fallen tree was our favorite place to sit, so we settled on the grass with our backs to it to gaze out over the water and marsh.
It was high tide today, which meant there was less life visible, but the view was prettier. Sighing, I rested my temple against his bicep, my hand falling to his right thigh.
“Better?” he murmured.
It did feel better to be here, surrounded by so much life and calmness…but something was still off. Memnon wasn’t relaxed. A few weeks ago, I would have thought it impossible to be so attuned to someone else that their moods would affect mine, but here we were.
Humming, I squeezed the tight muscle of his thigh, thinking of how much it must’ve hurt to walk this distance. He let out a breath as I did so, and when I began to knead the tightness, he actually groaned and dropped his head back.
“Better?” I echoed him.
“Feels good,” he grunted.
“Hmmm.” I shifted so I could use both my hands to rub his right thigh. “You’ve been working so hard.” Hard was the key word there; I could see the outline of his cock pushing against the inside of his jeans. “A few weeks ago, your poor leg was just about handling the back staircase.” I remembered the night I surprised him, and how his voice had been tight with pain. “And now I’m making you work long days.”
“’S okay.” His eyes were closed, his jaw slack. I took that to mean he liked what I was doing. “’S good for…therapy.”
I hummed again. It was impossible to deny he was moving better than he’d been weeks ago, but there was still something off about him.
Maybe it was the way his eyes flared green almost constantly these days, or how he seemed on edge. Or the way I sometimes caught him watching me, wearing an almost feral, desperate expression.
I wanted him, and he wanted me, judging from the bulge in his jeans. How many times over the last week had I tried to touch him, only for him to pull away and focus on my pleasure?
Well, today was going to be all about him .
Here we were, surrounded by beauty and peace, and I wanted to make him feel good.
I pushed myself up on my knees and faced him completely, so I could really lean into the massage I was giving him. But…
“These jeans are in the way.” When he made a little inquisitive sound without opening his eyes, I elaborated. “I can’t really get to the muscle with you wearing these jeans.”
He didn’t answer, but his hands dropped to his belt, then his fly. He had to lean first in one direction, then the other, but he wriggled out of them after kicking off his shoes.
Now he sat in the grass wearing only his t-shirt and a pair of boxers that did nothing to hide his erection and watched me with an intense stare.
Wondering what I was going to do next?
Well, I was going to pretend nonchalance, that’s what I was going to do next.
I leaned back over him, kneading the muscles with my thumbs and the base of my palms, trying to loosen the tightness…until he groaned again and closed his eyes.
Allowing myself a little grin, I climbed my hands higher on his thigh, until the tips of my fingers were brushing against the length of the bulge in his boxers. When he sucked in a breath, his eyes flashing open once more, I pretended like I was focused on the massage, and hadn’t even realized what had happened.
But that didn’t stop it from happening again. And again.
When his cock jumped, I smiled, knowing I was teasing him, and squeezed my own thighs together to try to ease the ache in my core.
“Maya,” he growled.
I arranged my expression into one of innocence and shot him a glance. “Yes?”
He was scowling at me, but I could see something else in those green depths. “Remember what I said about orc’s senses?”
My breath caught. “You said…you could tell when I was horny.”
His chin lowered, as did his lids, in a lazy sort of acknowledgement. He was teasing me?
Well, I could play his game.
Smirking, I bent over his thigh again. Only this time, I didn’t hide the way my fingers crept toward his cock. I even nonchalantly brushed it out of the way so I could knead the muscles of his inner thigh through his boxer shorts, taking care to stroke the back of my fingers along the underside of his ridges.
It worked. With a muffled groan, Memnon shifted under my ministrations.
Taking pity on him, I wrapped both my hands around his cock and squeezed , gratified to see a spot of moisture appear on the cotton of his boxers as he released a long, low groan.
This was too tempting.
In one movement, I yanked down his boxers and pulled out his cock, exposing it to the noon sunshine. It was just as beautiful as I remembered; a darker green than the rest of him, the concentric ridges growing in width as they reached his base. And at the head, he was already weeping pre-cum.
I knelt over him and dragged my hands down his length, spreading that moisture along his ridges, my pussy clenched at the thought of taking his thickness inside of me.
Oh God, yes . I’d been ready for so long.
Unable to help myself, I bent over him, my mouth opening to taste him. He growled as my lips enveloped his cock, and his hand went to the base of my braid…although I wasn’t sure if he was going to push me down or pull me off.
I hurried to push his thickness past my tongue, but when I did, a flavor burst through my mouth. Cinnamon?
Orc cum tasted like cinnamon ?
I made a mental note to ask about that.
Later .
Oh God, later.
I couldn’t fit too much of his cock in my mouth, but that didn’t stop me from trying. The first three sets of ridges passed my lips, and I used the back of my tongue to tease his tip as I stroked the rest of him with my palm.
His fingers tightened through my hair.
“ Fuck , Maya,” he groaned, and I felt his muscles tense, as if he wanted to thrust upward into my mouth.
Yes .
I tried to murmur my agreement, but all that emerged was a kind of garbled groan. Which, admittedly, fit what I was feeling, especially when his other hand rose to cup my ass. His fingers brushed aside my skirt to rest against my wet panties.
“Such a good girl,” he rasped. “Wet already. Wet for me.”
I hummed in agreement, my head bobbing, desperate to bring him the same pleasure he’d brought me…
“Wet for your Mate,” he groaned, his fingers brushing against me. “Taking your Mate’s cock so deep? You’re showing me how you want it.”
I arched my back, pushing my pussy against his fingers, trying to show him exactly where I wanted his cock.
“Dammit, Blossom, you’re killing me.”
I felt… powerful . Powerful and sexy and in control, which was amazing, considering he was twice my size. I wanted this. But I had to make certain he wanted this for the right reasons…
Memnon tugged my hair to pull me off, and I didn’t fight it because I needed to hear him consent.
“Maya, if you don’t stop—” he began, but I interrupted by rising far enough to clamp my hands around his cheeks and pull him to face me.
“I want this, Memnon,” I began seriously, breathlessly. “God knows how much I’ve wanted you . But you have to tell me you’re not just letting me do this because you feel obligated?—”
He cut me off with a growl, pushing up and away until he was on his knees as well. “This isn’t obligation , Maya.” He grabbed the hem of his shirt and ripped it upward, revealing those amazing muscles. “Here and now, you’re not my boss.” He spread the huge shirt over the grass. “I’m not your—I dunno, landlord,” he bit out, reaching for my sundress. “You’re my Mate , Maya, and I’m yours.”
Landlord?
Wait, Mate?
That’s what he said earlier, isn’t it?
I confess, I hadn’t been paying attention, what with the mouth full of cock and all that.
My confusion—and focus on his words—had startled me into stillness, so when he pulled my dress over my head, I was suddenly kneeling there naked for all the world to see.
No.
For all of him to see. All of nature to see.
Even though my skin went all prickly, I found myself grinning, rising to meet his challenge. I’d never thought of myself as an exhibitionist, but there was no one to see us but the herons and the finger mullet.
I reached for him at the same time he reached for me, and my breasts—nipples already hard little pebbles—were crushed against him.
“Do you understand, Maya?” he rumbled, his fingers running through my long hair. When had he pulled the tie from my braid? He spread the locks across my back and over my shoulders. “ Mate .”
No, I didn’t understand, I was half-mad with need! But I did my best to focus, even as I rubbed my breasts back and forth across his skin. “Mate,” I repeated in a murmur. “Like…Giza and Harper. Jess and Karnak.”
“Yes.” His finger clasped my chin, lifting my gaze to his serious one. “Humans have marriage, but orcs have Mating. It is a knowing , Maya, deep inside.” He released my chin to gather my hand and press my palm against his chest. “Here. I know you. I know I belong to you and…”
“I belong to you,” I finished in an awed whisper. It was… It was true. “Mates.”
“You understand?” His eyes flared green. “Mine. Mate .”
It was somehow more powerful than a declaration of intent, or trust, or even a proposal of marriage. It was just…a certainty. “ There is a knowing ,” I whispered, relaxing against him. “It’s true. It’s all true.” I knew him. I knew Memnon, and I knew we belonged together. All that worry about obligation or workplace romance? Irrelevant now.
“Maya, I want you,” he murmured.
Since I could feel his cock pushing against my stomach and could still taste him on my lips, I smiled shyly up at him. “I want you too. I—I love you, Memnon.”
With a wordless growl, he lowered his nose to my hair, inhaling as his hands pulled me closer. “Love you too, Blossom. But this? More than that.” His touch roamed my body as we both knelt there, sending my need higher and higher. “The Mating bond is…biological. My Kteer …” Another growl, then his mouth dropped to my shoulder. “Claim you,” he rasped.
Primitive. Primal.
Here, among the glory built by Mother Nature and preserved by man, it seemed fitting.
“ Yes .” I arched into his hold. “Memnon, yes .”
“Mate,” he rumbled again as he turned and lowered me onto the shirt he’d spread atop the grass.
My hair spread out around me, and when he reached for my panties, I lifted my ass up so he could pull them off. Then he kissed his way up my body, even as his hands caressed my skin. The breeze was cool, but Memnon? So very hot.
He settled between my legs, and I thought he was going to cover me with his body. But he wrapped his hands around my knees and lifted until my ass was in the air, my weight resting on my shoulders, and I was staring up at him in shock…
Until he lowered his mouth to my wetness, and then I’m pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head. “Memnon—” I began, wanting to tell him not to bother with this and just get to the whole claiming thing.
But then his tongue slid inside me as his tusk scraped against my clit, and I jerked against him. “Memnon!”
I felt his lips curl, then he nuzzled against my clitoris as his tongue found my g-spot, and I exploded.
Too quickly .
Before I could decide if I wanted to be disappointed or breathless, Memnon was lowering me. My legs were still twitching, my core still spasming as the orgasm throbbed through me, when he braced one palm beside my head.
“Mine, Maya,” he panted.
And I knew I was finally going to get what I wanted. Grinning, I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. “Yours. And you are mine.” Mate .
“Do you know what’s about to happen?”
Actually, I did, thank you very much. Contrary to current evidence, I actually do think things through and research shit, and after that first night where he’d made me come on the couch, I read up on what to expect when we finally got this far.
“Orcs have an evolutionary adaptation that forces their female partner to orgasm as soon as they enter her,” I shared, a little smugly. “The monsterfucker groups on social media call it an Insta-O.”
Had I thought myself smug? The smirk that came to his mouth was practically screaming smug.
“I meant, Blossom…” He lowered himself until I could feel his cock probing my entrance, “that I’m about to make you mine. Here and now, we’re going to be joined in the oldest of ways.”
It was fitting. I smiled and shifted beneath him to clasp his thighs with my knees. “ Yes , please.”
He was huge, bigger than my dildo, and as he slid into me, I felt stretched in the most delicious of ways. Each ridge caused a shudder to run through me, and when he was almost completely seated, Memnon froze.
Squirming beneath him, I frowned. “What?” I panted. “Please. Now?”
I knew I wasn’t making any sense, and from the way one corner of his lips twitched, he knew it.
“Ready, Blossom?”
Whimpering, I arched up toward him, and he took the hint. With a groan, he pushed all the way, and Oh my God it was true .
Immediately, an orgasm burst over me, so much stronger than the earlier one. With a sort of keening wail, I grabbed onto Memnon as tightly as I could as he began to move.
Oh God, he moved!
I hadn’t even reached the apex of my pleasure when he began to move, and each thrust pushed and pulled those incredible ridges in and out of me. The sensations wrung my orgasm out longer and longer, until I was rocking my hips in desperation, riding the crest.
“Maya,” he gasped. “ Dkaar .”
My pleasure was finally beginning to dip, and I could breathe properly. “Love you,” I gasped out, anchored in the certainty.
He froze, staring down at me, and I watched his eyes flare green for a moment before he jerked in my hold. The noise he made as he came, spilling inside me, wasn’t a roar, but a sort of intense grunt, coming from deep in his chest. I felt his warmth fill me, felt it leaking from inside me, but I didn’t drop his gaze.
After a long moment, he exhaled, and I felt him relax. If I hadn’t been watching him so intently, I would’ve missed the way the color of his eyes slowly faded from green to black. But eventually, he shifted, pulling his cock from me, and another flood of his cum spilled from me.
It should have felt disgusting and dirty.
It didn’t.
Yes, it was primal. Yes, it was barbaric. But it was how his people—how my people—had been joining for thousands of years. Surrounded by the glory of God—the gods of his ancestors and mine—and the natural world.
It felt right .
“Memnon,” I whispered, pulling him to me.
He rolled, pulling me with him, so we ended up curled up in the grass together. Summer was still a few months away, but the sun warmed us.
We laid there in silence for some time, and I thought he might have fallen asleep. I was becoming drowsy, listening to his steady heartbeat. But eventually he stirred, and I lifted my head to see him watching me intently.
He looked as if he was about to say something important, so I surged upward to kiss him. His expression eased, and I felt his lips curl beneath mine.
When I lifted my mouth from his, his smile was still there, although slight. “Mate,” he murmured, his large fingers brushing my hair away from my face. “ Dkaar .”
“What does that mean?” I propped my chin on his chest. “You called me that before, and Giza called Harper that.”
His lips curled further. “ Beloved , in the language of my mother.”
Beloved . It was better than I love you . It was a promise. “ Dkaar ,” I whispered, wishing Tati had been able to teach me my ancestral language so I could share it with Memnon. “How do I say I love you in your language?”
When he shrugged, I had to brace myself so I wouldn’t roll away. “My ancestors knew many kinds of love. To you, to a Mate, a male would say, I know your heart . Tlak’dkam.”
I did my best to repeat the words.
And his smile? His real smile, the one that lit his face and told me he appreciated my attempt? It made me vow to practice the phrase.
Wow.
A few weeks ago, Memnon was just the guy living upstairs. And here I was, learning another language and…what? Making vows of forever to him?
Wow .
But this? What we were sharing? It was right .
But of course, it couldn’t last.
A buzzing sound came from behind us, then again. I twisted in his hold, and realized it was his jeans making the noise. “Your phone?” I guessed.
Memnon merely groaned faintly and dropped his head back to the grass. “Just ignore it.”
“Ignore it?” I pushed off from him to scramble through his pockets. “It could be important.”
“It’s not.”
When he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back, I couldn’t help the little squawk of protest. “How do you know ?” I smacked his shoulder as he nuzzled at my neck.
“Because I know who it is, and I don’t want anything to do with her.”
I stiffened. “Her?” I blurted involuntarily.
When he sighed, it ruffled my hair. “Kelly Willis,” he mumbled against me. “Simbel must’ve given her my number, because she won’t stop texting me to set up a meeting.”
Oh yes. Ro had told me all about it—I guess she got it from Jess. I relaxed and felt a smirk building.
“She’s not trying to meet with you, Memnon. She wants a date .” I wriggled on top of him, not at all ashamed to gloat in our nakedness. “I heard she wanted your brother, but you were just as good.”
“She told me I was almost as handsome,” he grumped.
Giggling, I dragged my fingers through his hair. “Then she’s blind, I’m sorry to say.”
The phone buzzed again, and something rumbled deep in Memnon’s chest. With one smooth movement, he rolled us over until he was looming over me.
“Shouldn’t you get that?” I asked, all innocence.
“Maya, I just finished claiming my Mate. My Kteer is finally at peace, and all is right in the world.” He lowered his lips to the honeysuckle tattoo on my shoulder. “Why in all the hells would I fuck that up by texting another woman?”
Humming, I wrapped my arms around him. “I suppose so.”
Then his mouth found my breast, and I arched against him.
Yes. Yes, he was right. Everything was perfect in the world.