Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Brakkor
“Married? Have you gone jarnel?” Incredulously, I blurted the word our mother used to use as I stared at my twin brother. “You’re marrying the female?”
Korrad didn’t look up from where he was wiping down the kitchen counters in his brand-new house. “Yep. We signed the contract last night, the two of us. Jay and Milo have already started planning. Kid says he’s always wanted to see a sunset beach wedding, so—”
My palms slammed down on the counter. “So you’re marrying the female, so your son can experience a beach wedding? Listen to yourself, brother!”
One of my twin’s most irritating habits was his ability to get calmer in the face of my frustration. It never failed to piss me off more.
Huh. Maybe that’s why he did it?
Now, he merely tossed the sponge in the sink and lifted calm eyes my way. “I am listening. I listened to all the pros and cons and decided this was the best course forward.”
I shook my head. “Is it because you’re horny for her? You can just fuck her—”
“I’ve never met her in person, Brak.” Damn his even tone. “And we can’t all go through life fucking females and walking away from them.”
My heart hammered against my ribcage, my breathing coming too fast, as I glared at him over the kitchen island. This was an old argument; my brother didn’t approve of my lifestyle, one our younger brother shared. Well, fuck Korrad: we didn’t approve of marrying a female he’d never met before!
“You’re going to marry her and what? She’ll move in here?” I tried to keep my tone even, tried to convince him he was making a mistake.
“Her and Milo, yep.” Korrad turned away from me, flicking the faucet on and sticking his hands under the hot water, then rinsing off the sponge. “Jay wanted to share a room with him, but agreed to help me set up the guest room for—”
“This place was built to orc dimensions,” I growled.
For the first time, my brother seemed surprised.
I watched him blink, then glance around the kitchen and sigh.
“You’re right.” The counters had been built taller than human builders usually planned, and the cabinets wider.
One of the benefits of going with our construction firm: a house built for and by orcs.
“Well, we’ll figure out something. Maybe I can redo the kitchen. ”
Clicking my tongue in disgust, I shook my head and crossed my arms in front of my chest. “Brand new house, you’re already talking demo? Over a female you’re going to marry on a whim.”
“Not a whim, Brak,” he said quietly, blowing out a breath as he crossed to the fridge. “Jay and Milo are best friends. I’ve gotten to know the kid too, and I really like him. When I found out the trouble he and his mom are in, this seemed like the best solution.”
He straightened, holding a beer out to me. I scowled, but opened my palm, inviting him to toss it to me. When he did, I caught it, propping my hip against the counter and allowing the cool liquid to ease the tension in my chest.
Why the fuck did this matter to me so much? Yeah, Korrad was making a stupid move, I knew that. Marrying a female just to take care of her kid?
Well, actually, I suppose that didn’t surprise me too much. My brother always was too noble for his own good.
“What does she get out of this?” I grumbled around the beer.
Korrad shrugged, his gaze going out the window. Now that the days were getting longer, our habit of me joining him and Jay for dinner seemed to last longer. Summers in Eastshore Isle were fucking hot and humid, but so far, I liked them better than winters in the Colorado mountains.
Our younger brother Kardok had been born for ice and snow, and his career as a professional hockey player proved it. Me? I hated that winter meant I couldn’t use my heavy machinery.
“Milo needs the kind of individualized attention Eastshore Elementary is known for—he’s already been held back once. And when he’s on my health insurance, we can work on getting him the medications he needs.”
Fucking noble, see what I mean? I drained the last of my beer with a grunt. “And what about you? What are you getting out of this?”
My twin shrugged again. “Jay gets a mother. Hockey practice on the mainland has kicked my ass, getting him back and forth—”
“Shit, Korrad, if you just need another driver, I can—”
But he cut me off with a shake of his head.
“This has been a long time coming. Jay has wanted a mother for years and talks about Milo as if they’re already brothers.
I know they’ve never met in person, but he’s a good kid, and they were already planning a trip out here this summer anyhow.
” He shrugged again. “We’ll just make it official. ”
Fuck me.
Fuck him.
“Marrying her,” I grumbled, crushing the can. “Tying yourself down. For what?”
“For the chance at stability.” My brother’s tone was even. Serious. When I looked up at him, he was watching me intently. “Jay needs that. I need that. It’ll be good for us.”
Good. Right. I snorted. “Marriage isn’t the same as Mating, Kor. If you marry her, you’re giving up the chance—”
I bit down on the words before they could escape, but judging from the flare of triumph in my twin’s eyes, it was too late.
“Giving up the chance to find my Mate? You know I only got one shot at that.” He rolled his can between his palms, even as he grinned at me. “Besides, I thought you didn’t believe in Mating, Brak.”
“I don’t.” I don’t. I tossed my can overhand into the recycling bin. “Hunt. Catch. Fuck. Serves me just fine.”
“Sure,” he snorted softly. “I’m not as shortsighted as you.”
I swallowed down the urge to throw a punch at him, and stomped out of the kitchen instead.
Shortsighted? Hah! I wasn’t shortsighted, I just knew what I liked.
I didn’t need attachments, didn’t need commitments.
One and done, that was my thing; it was easier that way, for everyone involved.
I didn’t need to get tangled up in feelings and shit, and she didn’t need to deal with an asshole like me.
That’s why I liked MonsterSmash so much. There’d been plenty of females out in Colorado who were fine with my terms; some of them I even met up with more than once. I made sure they had no complaints about our hookups, and I was the one to leave in the morning.
Not last time.
No, not last time, and I suspected that was why I’d been dealing with this itchy irritation in my chest since the morning I’d woken in that hotel room to find my arms empty and the ghostly scent of Jocelyn all over.
She’d left me.
Why the shit are you complaining? You leave her, she leaves you, what does it matter? It’s over and done, and it’s not like you weren’t satisfied.
Hells yes, I’d been satisfied. Over and over again, even when I hadn’t come. Just watching—feeling—Joss coming apart on my fingers, my tongue, my cock…it had been fucking magnificent, and I guessed that’s what was pissing me off so much; I wanted to experience that again and again.
So maybe one and done hadn’t been the truth here, huh?
Shortsighted.
My Kteer was rumbling as I jammed my feet into my shoes and scooped my keys off the hook by the front door. It wasn’t until I straightened that I felt the pain in my chest: My claws were digging into the thin cotton of my shirt like I could rip my ribcage out.
“You’re leaving, Uncle Brak?”
I whirled around to see my nephew staring up at me. When did he learn to move so quietly? “Yeah, kid, lots to do at home,” I managed, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Damn, you still haven’t stopped growing? What’s your dad feeding you?”
“Mainly pizza,” Korrad said lightly as he leaned against the doorjamb to the kitchen. “Although he has to eat a carrot with every slice.”
“Oh, yeah, that’ll fix all the nutritional problems there,” I deadpanned, not looking at my brother. Not knowing if I wanted to. He was getting married? Idiot. “I hear you’re getting a brother, Jay.”
And just like that, the kid’s face lit up. He’d turned twelve a few months back, and I remembered that there’d been a handful of kids from his class at the party. It wasn’t like he was lonely, yeah? So why did this Milo matter so much to him?
“Milo’s a year younger than me, but he’ll be in fourth grade. He’s my best friend, and now we’re going to be brothers! How cool is that?”
My throat closed up, thinking of all the shit I’d been through with Korrad and Kardok over the last decade and a half.
Moving to the human’s world. Seeing Kardok settle into his new team, the Teal Terrors.
Losing Sharra. Watching Korrad take on the responsibility for an infant, rebuilding our world.
Working together at the mine. That nightmare of an explosion which had trapped us, both of us thinking we were going to die down there in the darkness, leaving Jay.
The decision to pack up and move to Eastshore.
Together.
Always together.
Fuck.
I swallowed, glancing at my twin brother, then nodded tightly to Jay. “Pretty damn cool, buddy,” I managed. “I guess I understand why your dad is doing this.”
Korrad would do anything for his son, including tying himself to a female for the rest of his life.
Stupid noble idiot.
It wasn’t until later, when I was in my truck heading home, that I realized the twist of heat in my stomach was jealousy.
What the fuck was that about? I didn’t believe in shit like happily ever after.
Yeah, Garrak had found Stevie, and Sylvik had hooked up with Brooke, but that was their choice, wasn’t it?
They’d fallen in love, found their female, and settled down.
They could call it Mating if they wanted, but that was bullshit: There wasn’t some unseen force that was going to control me.
I didn’t need a Mate or whatever, didn’t need a wife. I didn’t need a female to be complete. Just needed the chance to fuck one, every once in a while, and that was good enough for me.
Jocelyn is probably still on MonsterSmash. You could look her up.
Nope, I couldn’t.