14. Hail
Hail
A fter we finished eating, I cleared the table while Allie sat quietly, her hands wrapped around her empty tea mug. Washing dishes gave me a feeling of domesticity that settled into my bones like a warm hug. This was a glimpse of what life could be if she stayed.
But she wasn’t here forever. This was temporary while we dealt with whoever was hunting her. The reminder sent an ache through my chest that I tried to ignore.
The contradiction tore at me. My orc nature saw her as permanently mine, marked and claimed by fate itself, while my rational mind understood that humans didn’t view bonds the same way.
To her, this arrangement was practical, a shelter from the storm.
To me, it was the beginning of something eternal.
Each domestic moment, from her clothes in my drawers to her scent on my pillows felt like pieces of a future I wanted but couldn’t assume she’d share.
“I’ll sh-show you where you can put your things,” I said, picking up her suitcase after.
She followed me down the hall to my bedroom with Tressa padding along with us. Heat crept up my neck at the sight of my unmade bed, my clothes tossed over a chair. I’d never had anyone in this space before, and it felt intimate in a way that made my palms sweat.
After straightening the bed, I tossed the clothing in the basket where they belonged. I opened two drawers in my bureau, quickly moving my own belongings to the lower ones to make room.
I stepped back to give her space. “You can use these.”
“Thank you.” She began to unpack her possessions.
I watched her place each item in the drawers. Everything she owned fit easily in the area I’d cleared, with room to spare.
The sight did strange things to my heart. Her simple cotton shirts one drawer above my pottery work clothes. Her single pair of pajamas near my socks. It looked like we belonged together.
“I’ll, um, I’ll be in the living room.” I backed out of the room before I could do something foolish like tell her how right this felt.
I’d just settled on the couch with my sword sheath removed and the blade leaning within reach when a knock came at the back door. Tressa’s ears perked up, but she wasn’t alarmed. I went to check.
Dungar stood on my back porch, looking grim in the moonlight. I unlocked the door and stepped outside, closing it softly behind me.
“It’s quiet out here,” my brother said. “Becken says it’s quiet in town too.
Maybe her room being searched was a random thing.
” The sharp look in his eyes and the concern in his voice told me he didn’t believe that any more than I did.
“How is Allie?” His gaze drifted toward the house.
“She was pretty shaken earlier, and now we know why.”
“She’s alright. Sc-scared, of course.”
Dungar nodded. “It’s to be expected. We’ll keep the patrols going tonight. Don’t worry about anything.”
“Thanks, brother.”
“Family,” Dungar said simply, the same way Greel had. He melted back into the darkness, and I went back inside, locking the door.
I found Allie in the living room, sitting on the couch with Tressa curled up beside her. She was stroking the wolf’s fur, and Tressa was practically purring from the attention.
“She’s beautiful,” Allie said without looking up. “I’ve never met a wolf before. I only saw pictures.”
“She likes you. Tr-Tressa doesn’t warm up to people easily.”
“Maybe she knows I need a friend.”
The quiet sadness in her voice made me want to sit beside her and pull her into my arms. Instead, I stayed standing, fighting the urge to touch her.
“I have extra tusk-brushes,” I said, then felt my face heat. “I mean-mean, if you n-n-need one. They’re probably bigger than what you’re used to.”
Allie looked up at me with the first real smile I’d seen from her since we left the hotel. “Tusk-brushes?”
“What do you call them?”
“Toothbrushes. Because humans have teeth, not tusks.”
I touched one of my tusks. “Right. Human t-t-teeth are different.”
“I think tusk-brushes is cuter.” Her smile made everything inside me flame.
While she rose to follow, I backed out of the living room, arguing with my cock, telling it to behave. She hadn’t meant anything sexual by her comments. She’d only smiled.
For my body, that appeared to be all it took.
We got ready for bed like it was the most natural thing in the world.
She used my oversized bathroom, taking one of my tusk-brushes and washing her face with soap.
I undressed and donned a loincloth in the bedroom.
I didn’t know any orcs who wore clothing to bed, but I knew humans did.
I tried not to think about the fact that she’d be sleeping close beside me.
I liked having her here too much, and that scared me. This was temporary. She wasn’t moving in forever, no matter how much I wanted her to.
Just because orcs fell in love fast didn’t mean humans did.
When she emerged from the bathroom wearing a simple cotton top and shorts, I had to remind myself to breathe. She looked soft and sleepy and perfectly at home in my space. She only paused to study me dressed in my loincloth.
Her perusal felt like a caress, and it was all I could do to suppress my cock from responding.
I eased past her to use the bathroom, grateful to have the chance to splash my face with cold water and give myself a talk in the mirror.
When I returned to the bedroom, she was sitting on the end.
“Which side do you prefer?” she asked, nudging her head back toward the bed.
“Either. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
She chose the left side, climbing under the covers with careful movements that suggested she was as nervous about this arrangement as me. I shut off the light and got in as well, maintaining a careful distance between us.
“Good night, Hail,” she said in the dark.
“Good night, Allie.”
I lay there listening to her breathe, acutely aware of every small movement she made. The rustle of sheets when she shifted position. The soft sigh she made as she settled into sleep. The warmth radiating from her side of the bed.
Every instinct I had wanted to reach for her, to pull her close and hold her while she slept. The mate bond might not be something she could feel, but it was driving me out of my mind with the need to touch her, to claim her properly.
But she’d said platonically, and I was a gentleorc. I’d respect her boundaries even if it killed me.
It took hours before I finally fell asleep, and even then my dreams were full of her.
I woke before dawn to find Allie still sleeping peacefully beside me, her hair spread across the pillow and one hand curled near her face. She looked younger in sleep, less guarded, and beautiful in a way that made my throat tighten.
Not wanting to wake her, I slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom. She was waiting in the hall when I emerged, already dressed and looking alert despite the early hour.
“Morning,” she said, and there was something shy in her voice that made me think she was remembering our sleeping arrangement.
“Morning. We’ll eat and get something to drink in town.”
“I thought as much.” I caught her looking at me before quickly glancing away.
Had she watched me sleep the way I’d wanted to watch her? The thought made my body flame.
She looked up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, and I found gratitude mixed with fear there.
I was falling harder despite every attempt to protect my heart. This sweet, brave female who’d been through so much was trusting me with her safety, her secrets, her every concern. How was I supposed to keep my distance when she looked at me like I was her everything?
“I’ll wait for you in the kitchen.” I stepped back before I did anything foolish.
“Alright.”
She didn’t take long.
Tressa followed us outside and over to the barn.
My whoop-whoop-whoop was followed by the thunder of Calli’s hooves. She rounded the barn and trotted over to us, snorting, smoke drifting from her nostrils in the misty morning air.
“I still can’t get over how big they are,” Allie said, staring at my sorhox.
“Much larger than your horses, but so are orcs. She won’t hurt you.”
I boosted Allie up onto Calli’s broad green-furred back and leaped up behind her, tugging Allie against my front while securing an arm around her waist. She felt good here. She’d felt good lying beside me in my bed. On my sofa. And sitting sharing a meal with me at my kitchen table.
If only she wanted to stay forever.
“This is incredible,” Allie said as Calli turned at my command and started toward the forest. We’d take a back trail, skirting around to approach Main Street from the side. “I can see for miles.”
“There’s something very freeing about riding.”
“There sure is.”
I guided Calli along the edge of the forest with birds calling to each other from deep inside the trees. Under other circumstances, this ride would’ve been perfect. As it was, having Allie pressed against my front, her fingers warm on my arm, was complete torture. My damn cock kept trying to rise.
We reached the back of the bakery as the sun was beginning to lighten the eastern sky. I helped Allie down and sent Calli off to find a pasture where she could graze.
Allie nodded toward the warm light spilling from the bakery windows. “People are already here.”
“My family doesn’t waste time when there’s a problem to solve.”
I led her to the back entrance, Tressa beside us. Inside, the scent of fresh bread and tea filled the air, along with the low murmur of voices.
The sight that greeted us in the front area of the bakery made my chest tighten with pride and affection. They’d dragged all the small tables in the front room together and lined the outside with chairs.
My entire family had gathered including my brothers, their mates, and even Becken, Aunt Inla, and Jessi’s grandmother, who we all just called Grannie.
“Sit,” Dungar said, his voice carrying the authority of both sheriff and eldest brother. He pointed to two empty chairs that had been left for us.
Tressa settled beside my chair as Allie and I took our seats. The weight of so many eyes on her made Allie sit straighter, her hands folding carefully in her lap.
It was time to figure out how to keep my mate safe.
Humans might have their syndicates and their weapons, but they knew nothing of the unbreakable bonds forged through generations of orc warriors who’d survived the harshest conditions by standing together.
For the first time since learning of the danger hunting Allie, I felt not just protective, but confident. These were my people. This was our land. And anyone who threatened what was ours would learn exactly what that meant.