CHAPTER 27
Krusk
“I’m with Krusk,” Zara said with a shrug, taking a bite out of Rudgar’s cake as she pointed at me with the fork. “We should kill him.”
Rudgar shook his head, sending his eyes heavenward in a silent prayer. “I don’t know that killing is the right move here. The human is a part of the Bureau. If he goes missing, then—”
“Then who would rightfully care to check in on such a blatant asshole, really?” Zara asked, her hands thrown out in front of her. “I could lure him here on the pretext of our coven needing to meet with him and—”
“You don’t even know what department he works in,” Rudgar argued and she shot him a glare before continuing.
“After finding out what department he works in so that our request seems legit. Then we shank him when we have the chance and off him to Hellplane,” she finished with relish and a feral grin that even I was terrified of and she was on our side.
“I agree,” I said with a firm nod, slapping my palm on the table in front of me.
“We don’t even have your mate’s agreement that we should be involving ourselves in the first place,” Dristan sighed, running his hands over the base of Pen’s stomach soothingly.
“But if we did, then we could think of an intervention. What seems like the best thing so far is to get her permission for us to look into this. Then we can find a way to deal with it. But we’ll need everything she has on him. Everything he’s done so far.”
He was looking at me with that annoyed expression that was always just his face. I knew he was more annoyed at the male than he was at anything that was happening here, but I also knew that he wanted to kick us all out and have alone time with his mate before his youngling was born.
“Oh,” Pen gasped, gripping her stomach over Dristan’s hand.
The male peered down at where their fingers were linked, his eyes crinkling with awe and joy.
“That was a big kick. He loves when Daddy puts his foot down,” she laughed, leaning back against her mate.
“But I agree. You orcs have the tendency of running forward without looking. Let’s involve her.
If she needs us, we’ll be there, but we also have to give her the opportunity to deal with it on her own.
Now that she doesn’t need the job, it seems like she’s willing to take the steps. ”
She turned to me, a grin spreading across her face. “Thanks to you, Krusk, she has the flexibility of deciding whether she stays or goes after giving him a big old fuck you report to HR. If she likes the job, that’s great. But now she has the choice.”
I felt heat rise to my cheeks, but I didn’t know what to say, even as Enka slapped me across my back with a smile.
“Other than that—” Pen gasped, her brow furrowing as she stared down at her stomach. Dristan straightened behind her, his own scowl deepening. “Oh! Something’s happening!”
We all stood then, surrounding her, and it was probably overwhelming, an entire group of orcs and females around her, but she barely noticed us, her eyes closed as her hands pressed against Dristan’s on her stomach.
“Ow, ow, ow,” she chanted, and Becca was on her knees next to her, looking at Dristan with a stern look.
“Contractions?” she asked, and Dristan nodded, entirely focused on where his hands were on his mate’s stomach.
“Yes, feels like it,” he said, and his firm, calm words belied the sheer panic flashing across his expression.
“Good. Then we’re going to call the midwife. We knew this was going to happen soon, Dris, remember?”
His nod was robotic as he stared down at his mate, frozen in place as she squirmed in his arms. Becca was already dialing on the phone, her hand pressing against Pen’s stomach as well, feeling for the God’s only knew what while the rest of us stood around like idiots.
“Okay,” Zara said, clapping her hands, startling us all out of our frozen positions. “Let’s get out of here, give them all some space. Parents and birthing support only.”
We all nodded, but we were still frozen, staring in horror and fascination as Pen leaned back in her mate’s arms, starting the breathing that she’d been practicing for months.
Enka’s mate had also moved to kneel next to her and Zara began shoving at us until we were shuffling out of the room and into the hallway outside.
“Now I know I don’t need to tell you guys your roles, because you’ve already been briefed,” Zara said, her arms folded over her chest as she gave us all firm looks. Rok, Enka, Savla, Rudgar and I blinked at her before nodding.
“Gabbi duty,” we repeated in unison.
“Good. We’ll let you know how everything goes,” she said, shooing us toward the elevator, already pulling potions from her pockets before striding back into the room.
“Thank fuck they know what they’re doing,” Rudgar sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I’d do—” he looked over at Rok who had paled significantly. “No, no, man. Now’s not the time to faint—”
“Is it going to be like that for my Becca?” he demanded, grabbing Rudgar by his shirtfront and shaking it. The seams threatened to rip, but he didn’t even falter.
“She’s strong,” Rudgar said, gripping his shoulder, and we all nodded doing the same.
“One of the strongest females we know,” I agreed, even as the elevator doors opened. “It’ll be a breeze.”
The last was a lie because Rok was bigger than all of us, and Becca was a human. His youngling was going to take up all the space she had in her womb and then some. Still, as he gave a stiff nod and Rudgar had to walk the male through breathing exercises similar to Pen’s, I hid a smile.
I couldn’t wait to share this blessed news with my mate.