Chapter Twenty-Eight
Penelope
I kissed Dristan, pouring my gratitude into it. No one except my parents and best friend had ever offered to help me with no strings attached. He was offering his vast power and leverage, but he’d already done so much for me.
By giving me my job, he’d already provided me with the opportunity to fix everything. I was going to pull us out of the hole we were in and when we were out, I was going to grab onto this male with both hands.
I just couldn’t look myself in the eye if I let him take care of everything now that I was able to. I deepened the kiss, burying one hand into his thick, shiny hair while the other cupped his face, caressing the beard I loved so much.
“I want you,” he pulled away from my lips to tell me, the reverberation of his words echoing inside me. “But I’m not going to push you, rega . Tell me when I can have you.”
I snorted out a laugh, swiping away the tears. Even when this male was being romantic, he couldn’t stop the bossiness. “When everything’s settled with my family,” I told him, stroking my fingers through his beard.
He nodded, but his brow was furrowed. “That isn’t an exact date,” he probed, searching my face.
I rolled my eyes, leaning up to smack a kiss across his lips, fitting neatly between his tusks. “I know,” I quipped. “Because I don’t have an exact date.” I bit my lip as I tugged his lower lip between my teeth. “But I want this.”
I filled him in on everything that’s been going on. There was no point in keeping it from him now.
He gave a low grunt before releasing me. “Good. Now stop tempting me with your sexiness,” he grumbled, moving around the table to clean up the dishes that had fallen to the floor.
My eyes went wide when I saw the mess we’d made. I hurried around to him, but he barked a sharp admonishment to stop me, pointing toward the sofa in the living area. “If you get cut, I’ll demote you,” he growled and I hid a smile at the empty threat before backing away.
“Are you sure?” I asked, gnawing on my lower lip.
He grunted again, waving me off and I made my way to sit, my hands twisting as I watched him make quick work of everything. He used his hands to sweep the broken china and then dumped them into the trash.
“Are you okay?” I called, standing and on the verge of running over.
He pointed a thick finger at me. “Don’t even think about it. I have orc-skin and you’re a delicate little human,” he barked.
My jaw dropped at his words. “I’m not delicate,” I gasped, offended.
He raised a brow and used a sharp edged fragment of china to stab himself on his forearm. I squeaked, holding my hands out as if I could stop him from a distance, but when he pulled it away, he lifted the area. It was perfectly smooth, no cuts in sight.
“I’m assuming that if I do the same thing to you, you’d bleed to death,” he drawled. That sardonic eyebrow still high.
I gave him a mighty scowl and huff before dropping to the sofa again, my arms folded over my chest. He continued cleaning, sending amused glances my way, but I didn’t let up on my glare. A ping on my phone disrupted me and I pulled it from my pocket, smiling as I saw Becca’s name.
“Who’s that?” Dristan called, yellow eyes narrowed at me, his lip already curled in annoyance.
“None of your business, since you decided to be mean to me,” I called, sticking my tongue out at him. He grumbled a few things under his breath but kept his eyes on me as he picked up dozens of dishes off the table with ease.
I held in a sigh of appreciation as his muscles moved under his shirt. I was still irked at him. I looked down at my phone, trying to distract myself.
Becca: There’s something weird happening down here, Pen. These development people are saying they own your house, and they have papers to prove it.
My eyes went wide and I dialed her number right away.
“Oh thank the Gods,” she whispered as soon as she answered. “I know your work schedule is weird so I didn’t want to call you, but you might need to come home.”
“Why are you whispering?” I asked her, my entire body stiff with worry. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m trying not to worry your parents,” she said a little louder as I heard the sound of our screen door close behind her—the familiar sound sending a rush of nostalgia through me. “But I saw the papers they keep sending them in letters. They look legit. Even Sheriff Burke’s confused.”
“But there’s no way, Becca. I paid the bank. And they would have had to send a notice or something,” I explained. “There’s no way they could own our house.”
I saw Dristan’s head swing up at that, his yellow eyes focused on me now. I bit my lip, wishing I’d taken the call in the bedroom so I could keep him away from the drama happening back home, but it was too late now.
“I don’t know, Pen,” she sounded doubtful. “That deed looked pretty real to me.”
“A deed?” I gasped, my hand going to my chest, covering my heart as a jolt of fear shot through it. “No, something has to be wrong.”
“You have to come home,” she said, regret in her voice. “And I know the timing is terrible with your new job and everything. I get that. But this is important.”
“Of course,” I agreed, standing, my knees feeling shaky under me. “I’ll come home as soon as I can. I should have done it when Mom called. When those men showed up.”
“That’s why I came over,” she responded. “When I heard they’d been over here, I knew something was going on. Don’t you worry, Pen. No one’s kicking your parents out of this house if I have anything to say about it.”
“I love you,” I told her, a tear sliding down my cheek and I swiped it away. I watched Dristan’s face transform into a dark glower. “Take care of them until I get there, okay?”
“I will, don’t you worry about it,” she assured me. “But come soon. I don’t have any legal say on this place. We need you.”
“I’ll leave as soon I can,” I declared. “I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up the phone, standing and hurrying toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms. I wasn’t prepared to be lifted off my feet and spun to face Dristan. I batted at him, in a hurry, but he held firm on my shoulders until I focused on him.
“First,” he growled, “who the hell was that on the phone?”
“Becca, my best friend,” I answered—still trying to escape him—and he nodded, his expression clearing slowly.
“Good. And where are you going?” He kept me still with one giant hand clamped on a shoulder while he ran the other over my lower back, pulling me close.
“My parents,” I gasped, my heart in my throat. It felt like the words were stuck there, so I shook my head. “I need to go home.”
“Are they okay?” he asked, concern lacing his voice. At that moment, I knew that I’d fallen for this orc. This giant, grumpy orc who’d laid siege to my heart ever since I’d met him. I fought against the need to tell him, knowing that I didn’t have much time before the last train left for my hometown.
“Yes, but I need to get to them,” I told him, trying to escape his hold again.
He nodded, pulling me into a hug and for a moment I allowed myself to be surrounded by his heat and comfort. But only for a moment. I struggled against him, but he pressed a calm kiss to the top of my head.
“We’ll take one of my planes,” he stated and I froze against him.
“No, Dristan—” I started, but he cut me off.
“Now who’s being stubborn? Don’t you need to get there as soon as possible?” He pulled away to grab his cellphone, dialing as he spoke. “Think about it, there’s nothing you can do there at this time of night. Get a bag packed and I’ll make the arrangements. Try and rest a little. We’ll leave first thing in the morning and we can get there within thirty minutes. Well before the bank opens.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “How do you know that?” I demanded.
“I checked the flight time as soon as I found out where your house is,” he told me as if that would be the most obvious course of action in the world.
“Right,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “We’ll talk about boundaries later. For now, I’ll go pack.”
He grunted his assent, lifting his phone to his ear and facing the magnificent skyline outside of the wall of windows.
I hurried into the bedroom, grabbing a handful of clothes and stuffing them into the smallest suitcase in the new luggage-set Dristan had bought for me. I bit my lip as I realized that this male had been proving himself to be the best provider for such a long time and I hadn’t been paying attention.
Maybe that’s why my ovaries are always quivering when he’s around.
I shook my head, dragging my thoughts away from him as I went into the bathroom and grabbed the essentials, cramming them into my bag and then zipping it shut.
In the morning, long before the sun came up, I was ready to go. I made my way to where he stood and he turned to face me, his serious yellow eyes surveying me from head to toe. “You seem to be handling this well.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath. “It’s got to be some clerical error. I’m sure once I get there and provide my receipts, everything will be sorted.”
He nodded before glancing away. “Alright. Let’s get going.”
The niggling sense that he was hiding something from me got pushed to the side as urgency rolled through my veins.