Chapter Thirty-One
Dristan
I took Penelope’s tiny hand in mine as we climbed down the stairs to the tarmac. My brow furrowed as I looked around.
I knew from the pictures Rudgar had dug up of her when she was younger that she came from a small town but this… Hadn’t been what I expected.
A scraggly rooster clucked its way in front of us, giving us a baleful side-eye that seemed meaner than any bird with that many missing feathers should look. Behind him, a rickety building stood on its last legs and an older centaur stood in front of it, waving cheerfully.
Fuck me. Not the friendly neighbors.
“Hi Yarrick,” Penelope called, waving with enthusiasm and I watched my carefully planned seduction fall apart in front of me.
I’d hoped to get her in and out of the bank, ensuring everything was done and her home was securely back in her and her parents’ name before taking her straight to my bed.
“Hi, Pen!” the male centaur called, cantering up to us with a wide grin. “That’s quite a plane! I didn’t think we’d be seeing you back so soon.” He didn’t pause at all before continuing. “And who’re these young orclings with you?” He peered at us before continuing again without a response.
My eyes narrowed, but Pen just smiled up at him, a patient expression on her face. She looked like she was used to the verbal deluge that was coming at us, but I was not . I parted my lips and a breath wheezed out as she shoved her elbow straight into my gut.
“Bless you, son. Now, as I was saying—” The male droned on, not bothering to pause to hear any responses for what felt like an hour but might have been closer to five minutes, before Penelope interrupted him.
“I’m so sorry, Yarrick, but I have to get home to see my parents,” she told the male, her smile apologetic.
“Oh, of course,” Yarrick said, reaching down to pat her shoulder and ignoring my scowl as if I didn’t exist. “I have to come around to visit your mom. I haven’t had the time, what with that new app I downloaded to my phone. Did you know—” The male lost himself in another few minutes of conversation before we followed Penelope’s lead and eased away from him.
By the time we made it to the car that Rudgar had rented—a much smaller SUV than I was used to—My head was about to explode.
“How the hell does he talk so much?” I groused, pulling Penelope against my side in the back seat while my brother drove.
“He’s friendly,” my mate laughed, cuddling against my side and soothing most of the ire that I’d built up while being forced into the one-sided conversation. “But he means well. He just doesn’t have much of a chance to interact out here.”
I grunted, nuzzling my face into her hair and basking in her sweet scent. “Don’t forget to drop us off first,” I told Rudgar and I watched as a frown formed on Penelope’s lips.
“How do you know where my house is?” she asked and I tried pasting the most innocent expression I had on my face.
“I looked it up in your file before we left so everything would be ready when we got here,” I lied, not wanting her to know the depths of my obsession with her quite yet.
She gave me a narrow-eyed look before shrugging and I released a relieved breath that I hadn’t known I’d been holding.
“I don’t know how my parents are going to react,” she said, biting her lip as she looked at me. “But with everything going on, I was hoping we could be…” she trailed off, glancing at Rudgar before pulling away from me. “Discreet.”
My eyebrow quirked, and I grunted my disagreement before yanking her against me, letting her know with my touch that I would do no such thing.
“It’s going to look bad,” she argued, but I didn’t respond, snuggling her close. I took another hit of her scent, rubbing my chin against the top of her head.
She huffed out an annoyed breath, but still, her little arms wrapped around me and I relaxed after a few moments. There was no way I was going to meet my mate’s parents for the first time with any pretense between us.
Other than the fact that you haven’t told her she’s your mate yet.
My jaw clenched at the thought and the arm around her tugged her a little closer. The omission was necessary for now. I wasn’t going to force her to accept me by using the fact that we were mates. She needed to do that on her own first.
“Looks like we’re here,” Rudgar called as we pulled up to a cute bungalow-style home.
It was the type of home I could see my Penelope growing up in—running around like a tiny feral beast in the well-maintained front yard while her parents watched from the big front windows. Next door, even now, a young child with huge eyes watched us from an almost-identical replica of the home.
When I stepped out, I heard the little one gasp. I flinched, knowing that I was intimidating to anyone—but to a child I would look like a giant. I opened Penelope’s door and the little one seemed to forget all about me as he screeched a welcoming cry before catapulting himself at my mate.
She laughed, dropping to her knees in the grass in front of her house, her arms held wide-open in welcome. A vision immediately popped into my head. I saw us as we were, returning home after a long day and a tiny green-skinned mixture of both of us would race to greet us.
The longing was so visceral that I felt my throat tighten.
The little human boy slammed into my mate, almost throwing her down and I steadied her with a palm on her shoulder. She gave me a grateful look as she stood, squeezing him tight.
“Oh my Gods, Marley,” she gushed, “You’ve gotten so big.”
“I grew two whole inches since you left, Pen,” he pulled back in her arms—somewhere it was obvious he was used to being—as he held up three fingers.
“It shows,” my mate pressed a kiss to his cheek and he wrapped his arms around her neck, grinning under her attention. He blinked those owlish eyes up at me.
“Who’s the scary orc?” he asked and I hid a laugh as I held my hand out to him.
“My name’s Dristan,” I told him, and the little one took one of my fingers into his hand, shaking it with professional gusto.
“I’m Marley,” he said, his chest puffing up. “And one day I’m going to be as big as you! I eat my spinach!” His announcement was met with coos from my mate and I watched as a human couple—who held a good resemblance to the little one in my mate’s arms stepped out of their home. They had a huge grin on their face when they spotted Penelope, but the look turned tentative when they saw me.
Rudgar stepped up behind me, and I regretted that we hadn’t worn something more casual for this meeting. Two orcs in suits didn’t scream here for a family visit.
“Pen,” the female called, waving at her. “It’s so great to see you.” The couple moved closer, still not taking their eyes from us.
“Hi Liz, hi Mike.” Penelope walked over to them and I followed close behind her. “It’s so great to see you guys. Marley’s grown so much.”
Their strained smiles gave my mate pause and she turned and gestured toward us. “This is…” She trailed off, her eyes going wide as she wondered how to introduce me. Marley fixed that with a simple,
“Bristan.”
Amusement curled inside me at the sweet mispronunciation of my name. “Dristan,” I corrected, attempting a friendly smile.
“That’s what I said,” Marley told me with a firm nod.
“We’re having some issues with the developer. He’s here to help,” Penelope told them and the couple nodded with understanding.
“We already sold,” Liz sighed, reaching for Marley. The little bundle went to his mother without an issue before squirming down to stand on his own. “We just couldn’t fight them anymore. I’m so glad you guys are still holding out.”
“Did they pressure you into selling?” Rudgar asked, taking a step closer.
Liz nodded, turning to her husband who hugged her around the shoulders. He nodded also, jerking his thumb toward the quaint home behind them. “We’d never have sold if they didn’t keep hounding us. It got to the point where it just wasn’t worth the hassle. They were calling us at work, at home, showing up at weird hours.” He shook his head, adjusting his glasses. “They aren’t even paying that much, but we figured we should get out before they got worse.”
“They visited my parents a bunch of times too.” Penelope shook her head, reaching out to squeeze Liz’s hand in commiseration. “That’s why I’m back. They’re telling Mom that the house is already theirs, but that’s just not possible.”
With that, I glanced back at Rudgar and he nodded, turning to return to the car after waving at everyone. A tug on my pants had me looking down at Marley. He held his hands up to me in a gesture that even I understood meant that he wanted me to pick him up.
With a hesitant glance at his parents—who didn’t throw up an immediate protest—I lifted the tiny form, replicating what I had seen Penelope do earlier. I hadn’t held a child in a long time. Not since Rudgar had grown up. The muscle memory came back without much fuss and Marley cheered.
“I’m so high up! Look, Mama!”