Simon (Promised Mates of Monktona Wood #3)

12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Simon

My mate was playing hard to get.

I did not see that with Calliope when she found her mate. She threw herself at him and gave into him willingly.

I did not know what I needed to do to prove that she was mine. Did she not feel the same fire I felt when I touched her?

I knew her body wanted me. I could smell her more times than others. When I came closer to her, her aroma only grew. Her body trembled, and I felt pride rise within my chest when that sweet scent rose between her legs.

I tugged at my horn. She was wary of me because of what I was.

I have watched the orcs do games and tasks to prove their strength and worth, to show their ability to care for a female. I would do the same for her because I knew she was worth it.

I had already saved her from an ogre. I already showed I could protect her. Now, I would keep her fed and healthy, all while asking permission to touch her. She would come to me—I would make her want me until she could not stand it.

She ate little the night before, so as the light sources rose further into the sky, I stepped away from her even though it hurt me to do so. I watched her while I pulled fruit and bread from the bags to see if she would run again. The dried meat that I had hung and dried myself, I pulled from the rope where I prepared meals .

Lucy watched me intently and came closer.

“Eat,” I said as I laid it out on the table. I didn’t have cups or plates, but it was clean enough. I was used to eating grass, rotten food and even paper in my previous life, so sitting at a table was a step in the right direction.

It was still strange to me, preparing a table for her. This should be normal for a human or anyone with arms and legs. I instantly felt shame come over me, not having at least a plate to put her food on.

My mate looked over the wooden surface. She didn’t think twice as she reached for one of my favorite fruits and took a plentiful bite. I watched the sweet juice run down her chin and licked my lips.

After she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, she spoke, “How did you make the bread? You don’t have an oven in here.”

Heat burned my face when I shook my head.

“Simon, what’s wrong? Did you take it from someone?”

I cleared my throat and nodded.

“Simon, we are going to use our words. I know you know them. Take your time, obviously, I can’t go anywhere,” she muttered. “I’m going to help you the best I can.” My mate sat back in the chair and rubbed her forehead. “In fact, this all works out in my favor anyway, being up here with you.”

My ears perked up, and I felt my tail wag behind me.

“This will be great to put down in my report. I’m here in the Wood to record species of plants and animals for research. You can be the first big project I write about.” Her eyes lit up, but I remained skeptical.

I didn’t want to be recorded as if I were an animal that lived here.

I huffed and put the loaf of bread next to the fruit she had put on her side of the table. Then, sat on the other side.

“What? Why did you get all huffy?” She tilted her head. “And start talking, even if it is a yes or no . You will get used to using your tongue.”

I want to use my tongue in other ways, but you won’t let me.

Instead, I was faced with the idea that my mate thought of me as an animal. I had to prove to her that despite my looks I was good enough to be her mate.

“I am not an animal,” I drawled slowly. “I was animal. Not animal anymore.”

I fidgeted in my seat when she said nothing back right away. She just stared.

“What do you mean you are not an animal anymore?”

“I am not an animal. I think.” I pointed to my head. “I...” I wanted to say I didn’t eat grass, but grass settled my stomach if I ate food that disagreed with me “I have dis-ires. W-ants. Not be lone-ly. I do not get hard for anyone else but you.”

My mate let out a strangled cough. “For someone who doesn’t talk, you talk awfully blunt.”

I let out a bleating laugh. “If one is s-silent, it does not m-mean they are s-stupid.”

“Why haven’t you tried to speak with me before, then?” Lucy crossed her arms and scooted away from the table.

How did I tell her I had listened my whole life and never uttered a word? I was a goat. I did not have the ability or desire to. My tongue was short, but I knew I was different when I did not follow the herd. I had no way to communicate. Calliope was the only one who understood I was different until that potion fell onto my head.

“I just st-start-ed… pra-practice… practicing.” I wiggled my lips, getting used to using the muscles.

“Why? Why practice now?”

“B-because of you.”

My mate’s face turned bright red, and I smiled in triumph. She wiggled in her seat after silence hung between us and then stood up.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but I really need to use the ladies’ room.” Her head darted side to side and then glanced over at the bed.

Ladies’ room? I rubbed my chin, then realized what she was looking for.

She had to piss.

“Cooome?” I bleated and slapped my hand over my mouth.

My mate smiled, and I groaned. I sounded like an idiot to her. I tried to be a good male, but I sounded stupid. She would never see me as more than just an animal.

“Hey, don’t be ashamed.” She ran toward me and hooked her arm in mine.

She was touching me all on her own. My heart skipped and my ears twitched.

When she realized what she did, she pulled away.

“I think it’s cute. And I’m sorry about calling you an animal. It’s just what I saw when I first met you. I didn’t know you yet, and when you didn’t talk, I worried—”

“Dat I was m-more animal than what I am.”

She nodded and looked away from me in shame.

I couldn’t blame her for thinking that. If the positions were reversed, however, I do not think I would think like her. My cock and the bond knew she was meant to be mine.

I just needed her to see that, instead of seeing me as something to record in her book.

I would break her. Just as her friend said. The bond would become stronger until it snapped and she would come to me.

I suppressed a groan in my throat. When she did sleep, all I could think about was rutting her in the bed I had made just for her.

I led her outside when I felt my shaft try to escape my pouch. I would not have her be upset with me. She may still think of me as an animal if it continued to come out.

But I could not help it around her.

We rounded the cave to a small path that passed between the cliff and the rock face. I motioned for her to follow behind me to the tall grasses she could use.

“Nope, not going over there.” She shook her head quickly. “I don’t have to go anymore.”

I huffed out a breath. The path was wide enough for my hoof, and when I saw her bare feet, I realized that she was not equipped with good footing.

Humans were soft. From being around a human before, I knew they could get sick and hurt themselves easily. Why had I not noticed that she had no shoes?

My mate getting hurt in my care sent panic through my body.

“Will carry. Lucy touch?” I held out my hand, but she shook her head again.

“No, we will fall. How the heck did you get us up here? That path isn’t wide enough for the both of us!”

She doubted me.

“N-not let my mate fall.”

Something passed over her face. Was it longing? Did she want me to be her mate? When I’d blinked, the look was gone, and she bit her lip.

“How are you going to do it?”

“Lucy touch?” I reached my hand out, almost touching her. As soon as she motioned her head to the first nod, I swept her off her feet and took the few steps over the path.

She didn’t scream, but she wrapped her arms around my neck. Within seconds, we were on the other side. When I put her feet to the soil, she let out a breath and kept her hands on my forearms to hold her steady.

“We can’t do that again.”

She would have to if she wanted shelter. This area was barren, only tall hay and a tree that grew on the other side of the cliff that swayed in the breeze. There wasn’t much room to do anything here but stare up at the stars, but enough where she could relieve herself.

“Alright, turn around.” She wiped her hands on her dress. “You can’t watch; don’t be pervy.”

Pervy?

“I watch. Dang-er.”

She scoffed. “It won’t take me that long. You can’t watch! And great job using your words. Have to say, you are doing better than I thought. Maybe you have been lying the whole time.”

I frowned. Does she want me to talk or not!? I knew my speaking has improved, a lot better than I imagined, but when the motivation is a mate in my nest, who wouldn’t want to speak.

Lucy moved away, her footsteps were muffled by the soft earth as she vanished into the thick brush.

I remember Calliope spoke to her orc about not watching her use the bathroom. I understood what the orc felt like now; I did not want to lose her.

“Faaaaast!” I yelled, turning away while I crossed my arms.

When I heard the stream finish, I turned and she squealed in surprise. I came up next to her, pulled my shaft out of my pouch, and urinated right where she had been.

“Ew, gross!” She stepped away. “What are you doing? Why are you urinating right where I was!?” She turned away to give me privacy.

Once finished, I turned and kicked dried grass behind me. “To cover your ss-scent. Dang-er.”

“And what, you have alpha urine?”

A low, guttural growl rumbled in my chest, the vibrations traveling up into my face as my lip curled into a snarl. “I am not an alpha. I am a f-aun. I protect Lucy. No one will s-smell you but me.”

I took my hand and rubbed it over my mouth to soothe the aching muscles. I would rather place them on her slit to massage her scent on my face.

I still had much work to do, but I was a stubborn goat.

“Interesting,” she whispered under her breath. “So, would you urinate on another female’s spot if she was ready to become pregnant?”

I blinked at her several times. What was she talking about?

“You know, if they were”-she tapped her finger to her lip-“in heat. Like how animals get when they are ready to have a cub or pup. Shifters and mammals, they go through heats, right? A prime time to get pregnant. Say there was another female with us. Would you pee on their pee-pee puddle, too?”

Where was she going with this?

I stepped up to her. Taking a long, deep breath of air, I could smell her arousal. She may say she did not like the idea of me covering her scent, but perhaps she was more animal than she realized.

“I ooonly protect what is mine. You are my femaale. I urinate to hide your scent. No others.” I leaned into her ear, but not touching her. “Do you like that I protect you? Only you?”

Her lips, soft and inviting, parted slightly, revealing a glistening sheen that beckoned me closer. I could almost taste the sweetness in the air, as my eyes fixated on them with an insatiable hunger, and the sound of her panting breath filled the silence.

Then, an idea.

“Or, are you in a hu-man heeat, Lucy? Is thaat why you smell so good?”

A blush of pink spread across Lucy's face, giving her a rosy glow. I inhaled deeply, the crisp air filling my lungs, and in that moment, understanding dawned.

I stepped closer, not touching because I did not ask, but my breath fanned her cheek. “You want my s-scent?” Her whimper sent a shiver down my spine, and the muscles in my back tightened, like a bowstring. “To be protected from other males, I mark you with my scent.”

Her body went rigid, and I backed away.

“Y-you,” she whispered, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and excitement. “You put a scent on me. That is what everyone was smelling the other morning.”

A low growl rumbled in my throat, making her gasp in surprise.

“You were in my tent.”