Chapter Nine
Rok
My mate is perfect.
I carried her like I would eventually carry our younglings—safely tucked in my arms with no intention of letting her down until we were somewhere I could protect her. It helped that she was a tiny thing and weighed almost nothing.
Her squeak of fear when we’d entered the cave had surprised me. I didn’t expect my female to be afraid of the dark, but when she’d clutched at me, staring into it with worry etched across her beautiful face, I felt pride swell in my chest.
When presented with something frightening, she clung to me to protect her. Already she knew I would be the barrier between her and anything that threatened her.
I scented beings all around us—even inside the forest—but this was one place I knew we’d be safe. The cave was going to become our home. I would fortify it for us and ensure that my female was cared for before building the appropriate traps in front of it to keep anyone else from entering.
I could tell that it had been occupied a long time ago, but I didn’t scent any animals or beings near us. The soil here was rich and dark and would make a sufficient bed for now. My female could use my body heat to keep herself warm. Any fire that we lit would have to be close enough to the entrance for the smoke to exit and that was something that I didn’t want to do until we were cooking.
I didn’t want to draw attention to us until I had a chance to scope the area and see what type of land I’d ended up in. Communication with my mate was my utmost priority.
She was mine and she needed to know it. It helped that her scent carried no hint of a male. My lip curled at the thought.
I scented water a little further in the cave, so I stopped us well ahead of it, burying the torch in the floor. That was all the lighting we would be able to make do with for now. It lit a good few feet around us and at the movement my female lifted her head from my throat—a vulnerable spot that only she was allowed to explore—and looked around.
She swallowed hard, biting her luscious lower lip as I lowered her to her feet. She turned to peer up at me, searching my face and I took the time to explore hers. She pointed to the fire and said a few words that I didn’t understand.
I shrugged, reaching out to tuck her long hair behind her tiny ear, caressing it again, still in awe of the female I had been gifted. She blinked up at me, tilting her head and reaching up to touch my hand with hers.
I froze as the intimacy of the moment filled me. We were alone and my female was touching me. The banked heat that had been simmering inside me since I saw her for the first time flared out of control. I stayed perfectly still as she pulled my hand into hers, uncurling my fingers until they were spread wide. She placed her own into mine and we both stared down at where her dainty hand settled against my calloused skin. There was a huge difference in size, but the pairing seemed so right. Her brown skin against my green. Her delicate touch against my strong fingers.
I would make a sacrifice of thanks to the fates before the day was out. Perhaps another metal beast, since they seemed plentiful in her land.
I closed my fingers over hers and she looked up at me, those eyes that held the sparkle I’d been enchanted by when we first met staring up with confusion. The tug of emotion in my chest told me all I needed to know.
I was staying here—with her—and no one would ever take her from me. I leaned down and she blinked at me, trying to pull away. I kept her close with our twined fingers, running my tusk gently along her jaw and neck.
Her sweet gasp was music to my ears. My female might be tiny, but she was as lusty as any female orc I’d ever met. The scent of her arousal tingled in my nose, swirling in my brain and making me dizzy.
She stumbled away from me, licking her lips but keeping a distance that I respected. The mating heat could be overwhelming and we’d only met a short time ago.
I swept my gaze over her, from head to toe, praying that she would acclimate to my touch soon. I didn’t want my rut to be triggered without getting her tiny body ready for me.
My gaze snagged on her bountiful breasts and my hand stretched out without my permission. The smack of her hand against mine was loud in the cave, her gaze narrowed as she said, “No.”
I could already tell that I detested that word in her language. Releasing an aggrieved breath, I retracted my hand. I watched in fascination as she reached into a hidden compartment of her skirt and retrieved a shiny box.
She tapped at it while my ears twitched at the little sounds it was making. It emitted a light and my lip lifted in a snarl.
Magic .
Was my female one of the witches that I heard about? I’d never met one, but orcs were taught to be wary of what magic had to offer.
I tilted my head, giving my female an appreciative look again. If she was a witch, then I could be convinced to get used to her magic.
When a tiny voice left the box, my eyes narrowed on it. My female lifted it to her ear and spoke in that lovely, lilting voice that made my eyes go droopy.
A communication device?
I moved toward her and she hurried backward, but stopped at the edge of the flickering light from the torch, not entering the darkness beyond it. With a smug grin, I took the little box from her, turning it over in my hands. It didn’t look threatening, but I held it a bit away from me in case.
“Who is this?” I demanded and there was a long silence on the other end before a female voice carried over from inside the tiny contraption.
“Good morrow,” she said and I quirked an eyebrow at it. Even I wasn’t that formal when speaking.
“Good morrow,” I responded, my ears twitching at the crackle of noise from the little box. “Who is this?”
“Penelope,” the female in the box said. “You have baked my friend.”
I tilted my head again at the box that contained the mad female. “I haven’t baked anything. What do you do for my mate? How do you work?”
I tilted the little box this way and that, giving it a shake to see if a minuscule female would fall from it. My mate held her hands out and I realized she wanted me to be careful with her toy.
I stopped shaking it, sending her an apologetic smile.
“Mate?” squeaked the female from inside the box.
“Yes, my mate,” I snarled, my lip curling.
Was this female going to challenge my claim? I was certain I could crush it between my fingers without much issue, but it would upset my mate who was staring at the little thing like it was a lifeline.
There was a sound of a scuffle on the other end of the line and then a deep, male voice said, in flawless modern orcish, “Who is this?”
I narrowed my eyes at the box, my fingers twitching with the need to crush it. Who was this male and why did my female carry him around in her pocket? The snarl left my throat before I could stop it.
“I am already mated,” the male said with a hint of amusement and the threatening growl that I hadn’t realized was sounding in my chest stopped. “The female that you’re with. That’s my mate’s best friend.”
My eyes met my female’s and I gave her a smile while she looked at me with a worried expression. “Becca,” I breathe the name.
“Yes. Becca. She told my wife that you kidnapped her and took her to a cave?”
My brow dipped low right away with annoyance. “I didn’t kidnap her.”
I might have kidnapped her.
“Then why did you take her to a cave?” the male in the box asked.
“She’s my mate,” I said with pride. “And I needed to take her to safety. This was the safest place I could find. We have things to settle between us,” I huffed.
The grunt from inside the box reminded me of my father’s and a pang ached in my chest.
“We’re coming to meet you,” he said and I peered down at the box, wondering how he would appear from inside it. “Keep her there. She might run,” he said.
But my female wasn’t running. She had her arms crossed over her ample chest and her hand held out imperiously.
A growl of contented pleasure rolled through my chest as I held out the tiny box to her.