Simon (Promised Mates of Monktona Wood #3)

19. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Simon

As my mate’s breasts pressed against my back. The scent filtered through my nose. Her body’s involuntary response to me. Her arms enveloped my stomach, creating a comforting embrace that I had craved.

“Who is Calliope?” she growled.

My ears perked up at her voice. She sounded… possessive. Possessive of me!

Sugha smirked. “What is going on? I have stepped into another realm.” He rubbed his hand across his forehead. “I didn’t know humans could growl like that.”

“I said—” Lucy snarled.

I whirled around and wrapped my arms around my mate, cutting off her words. She huffed when I put her face up to my neck, and she took in a deep breath.

“No one to concern yourself with,” I whispered to her. “You are my mate and no one else.”

Lucy let out a deep sigh and nestled even closer to my neck, her soft breath brushing against my skin.

Please, faun sausage , do not fall out of my pouch.

Sugha approached, and I jerked my head towards him.

“You can speak? Last I heard, you were unable, and you haven’t even visited—”

I growled and bared my teeth again. This male spoke too much, and he was purposefully upsetting my mate.

“Silence! Don’t say her name.”

Sugha’s eyebrows furrowed, and he shook his head. “You know Calliope has been upset you haven’t been around. You could at least—”

A loud snore came from my arms. I sighed and hoisted my mate into my arms.

I knew Calliope would be upset that I had not visited. I, at least, let it be known that I was around every few days or so. I did not go near her, though. She didn’t need me, not anymore. She had her mate.

“I know I have not visited Calliope, but I have found my mate.” Lucy snuggled deeper into my neck again. “Calliope has a mate of her own, and he detests me.”

Sugha frowned and shook his head. “He doesn’t detest you. It’s Valpar. Besides, Valpar would do anything to make Calliope happy. That means letting you near their home.”

I grunted as I stepped away from him. Valpar did not like me there when I was more of an animal, and he would not like me now– especially now. He liked no male near Calliope, but I would not cause her distress or make her choose between the two of us.

She would choose him, anyhow.

“He said he would eat me.”

Sugha’s eyebrows rose, and he let out a bark of laughter. “Valpar doesn’t even eat goat. He prefers a redder meat. Besides, he would never eat his female’s pet.”

I scowled and let out a bleat. “Heeey, I was not a pet. I was her companion, and I watched over her!”

Sugha eyed me, taking my form up and down. “Calliope is just worried, and now I am worried for Lucy. The search party is looking for her, and she needs to return. Since you say she is your female, you can come with us.”

I growled. “I will go nowhere with you or those useless wolves. They have failed to protect her. I fed, sheltered, and healed her when she was sick. The goddess gave her to me and no one else! She will never leave here!”

The fear that she could leave me gripped me like a vice. I had been so caught up in our paradise that I forgot about the outside world. The search party, the ogre, they could all take her away and push me aside. What if they thought of me as an animal, a monster, and hunted me? Punished me for taking her?

They were poor excuses for males. I saved her when they couldn’t.

“Her father knows she is missing. You cannot hide her here.” Sugha sat down on a boulder near the stream. “He’s worried, and the king and queen are traveling with him. You do know the king of the Cerulean Moon Kingdom, right? He’s brutal, a worthy opponent to even an orc. He gave Lucy’s father his word he would bring her back. You do not want to be hunted by him.”

I turned my head and sniffed into my mate’s hair. I wouldn’t give her up; I refused. If she knew her father was coming to find her, would she leave me? I did not want others to know where I was or what I was. I was alone, and I would not have people see me as an animal. I did not want to feel that pain in my chest.

Only Lucy saw me as, well, me.

I wouldn’t give her up.

I stomped my hoof. “It’s dangerous. The ogre is hunting her. The ogre must be gone before my female can see her father, and only him.”

Would her father reject me? Tell me I was not a good enough male? Tell her to leave?

“And I must be with her.”

Sugha sighed heavily and settled his bag on his thigh. He shifted through the contents and pulled out a bag. “This has yellow cress in it. Hide her scent.”

“I already have that.” My face turned a deep shade of red.

“You need more; I can smell her. If I can smell her, so can an ogre.” Sugha snickered and threw it toward me. “How about you tell me what’s going on with her? I don’t know Lucy well, but I know she would not act the way she did, showing her tits and all.”

“Breasts!” I barked. “She calls them breasts; it isn’t proper to call them anything else!”

Sugha rolled his eyes. “Now that sounds like her. What did you do, anyway? Is she drunk?”

My mate snored again, and I placed my hand on her head to keep it steady. “No, she didn’t start doing it until I bit her—”

Sugah stood to his feet, and the weapon on his back shook behind him. “You bit her? Like shifters and fae do? Does that mean you are mated? I do not smell the bond?” He came closer and took a sniff. Instinctively, I backed away.

“Don’t smell her!” I petted her hair. “I bit her, but I don’t know how to bond her—yet. I will figure it out soon.” It felt right that I should bite and rut her. I did not have the confidence to do so. Not when she didn’t insert my dick inside her.

Sugha rubbed his hand down his face. “I hear females like to be bitten. I cannot wait to experience it myself.” He licked his lips and stared off into the distance. “Yes, I have many things I want to try after getting hold of a Karma Sutra book from Queen Melina. There were notes in it that I found most fun.”

I’m sorry, what?

I continued to back away, giving the orc some space. He was the strange one, and I did not want my mate near him at all. I’d seen her laugh with him, and I would not have her laugh at his jokes any longer.

Mine.

“Lucy acted strange after you bit her? I am wondering if it could be a partial bond. Not that I am an expert or anything, but you being so different from everyone else, who knows what it means.”

I tilted my head.

“You see, shifters and fae bite and fuck to seal their bond. Orcs, we brand our mates.”

I shivered in disgust. I saw too much of that the day when Calliope was claimed by her male. I had actually seen far too much before that day as well, but it was so terrifying I couldn’t look away.

Like when Calliope’s male crushed a pixie with his bare hand—you just can’t look away.

I internally gagged.

“How-how will I know what to do to claim my female, then?” I rubbed my hand up and down Lucy’s back. She let out a snort and wrapped her arms around my neck.

Sugha shook his head. “I do not know, especially because of your predicament. I’ve never seen a creature like you, especially after that potion spilled onto your goat form. You are a brand new species.” The orc rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Are you sure she is your fated? Or did you just pick her?”

I growled out again, and my female’s head perked up. “I said he’s mine!” Lucy yelled.

I patted Lucy’s back and shoved her head back into my neck. She took a deep breath and promptly fell back asleep with a snore.

I did not have to explain myself to this orc. He doesn’t have a mate himself yet. He would not know how it felt to know that a female or male was his.

I narrowed my eyes at the orc, and he raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, she’s yours, then. It isn’t fair. Why can’t I have mine?” He kicked the dirt with his bare feet. “Anyway, bonds, you need to find that witch that keeps helping all the human females. Her name is uh… Starla. Yeah, Starla. Ellie talks to her all the time, my brother Thorn’s mate. Calliope has been visited by her as well, perhaps you should go—”

“I will see Ellie,” I quickly added. I didn’t want Lucy to see Calliope, not yet, especially if Lucy was being so… jealous. Which already had me hardening at the idea.

I only cared for Calliope as a friend and nothing more. I worried Lucy might do something unpredictable, especially with how she was acting now.

Once my mate was better, maybe they could be friends? My ears twirled with excitement.

But then that meant I had to talk to Calliope.

What if she didn’t like my voice? What if she got angry that I didn’t learn to speak to her first?

Sugha cleared his throat. “If that is the case, then go see Ellie. I assume you know the way since you wandered these woods and have stolen meat from me and my brothers.”

My mouth dropped.

Sugha let out a playful laugh and came forward. “We all knew of your struggle. You must not take things seriously. We always make extra. Calliope made sure that we made more than we needed, just in case. She sees you as not only her friend but her brother. Now that you are half-human, that makes more sense.”

I did not know what to say. Calliope thought of me as her brother? Me?

“You think too much. She is fine. Valpar keeps her busy. Just know Valpar will not hurt you, especially when you look half-human. Now go on, I’ll tell the others Lucy is fine and make sure we camp near the entrance of the Wood. We need to keep her father safe.”

I nodded in thanks and stepped away.

“Ah, and Simon. Fated mates are made for each other. Do not let her be afraid of you entering her. Give her a bit of stretch, make her come—”

“Staaaahp!” I bleated out. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m trying to help. As I watched from the foliage, it seemed your mate was dominating you. Females like dominance too, or so I’ve read.”

I huffed. “She enjoyed doing things to me. I will let her do what she wants.”

“Hmm, I guess it could go both ways, then.” Sugha turned his back and walked back into the brush. “Give her a good release, for me, when you shove your cock inside her!”

I roared and stomped my feet several times toward him.

He chuckled until I no longer heard his footsteps stomping away from us.

That orc is strange.