Grat

Chapter 7

KHALA

Cold, muddy water closed over me, sharp claws tore into my flesh, a monster with nine heads rose from the bottom of a swamp, ready to devour me. The nine heads then turned into the face of the man who had been pursuing me for fourteen years now, since my sixteenth birthday.

Mud rolled off his raven-black locks, leaving not a single smudge on his sun-kissed skin.

“You’re finally mine, Khala,” he said with a cold glint in his beautiful gray-blue eyes.

Horror rolled through me in a paralyzing swell…

I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out, leaving me helpless and utterly alone.

“There, there…” a deep voice rumbled softly.

A warm, large hand patted my back, then drew a cozy, fluffy cover over my shoulders.

“It’s just a dream, my poor little thing. A bad dream. Nothing more,” the voice said.

And before I even opened my eyes, the fear eased. This wasn’t a swamp or a palace, but the bog orc’s cabin—the safest place of all.

“Grat…” I mumbled, snuggling closer.

He tucked me into his chest.

“It’s just you and me here, sweetheart. No one to be afraid of. No one will hurt you. I won’t let them.”

“No one to be afraid of.”

The words reached my very soul, soothing it like balm on a wound. And I slept. For the first time in months, I actually had a good, restful sleep.

The next morning, my rash had paled and the itching was gone.

After breakfast, Grat took me to check the traps again.

Almost every one of them had something in it, which pleased him.

He hummed a merry tune on our way home, with a big bundle of rabbits over his shoulder and a fat goose under his arm.

Back at the cabin, he dumped the rabbits on the chopping block and tossed the goose down by the fire pit.

“Well, we’ll have a busy afternoon, Khala. I’ll need your help to clean them, so we can be done by dinner time. You’ll pluck the bird while I skin the rabbits. Alright?”

I stared at the wild goose at my feet, unsure where to even begin to do what he told me.

Grat looked at me closely.

“You’ve never plucked a bird before, have you?” he guessed, and my heart dropped with dread.

Now that he’d discovered how useless I really was, would he kick me out? Would I have to hide in the tree again, terrified of every sound in the swamp?

He crouched beside the goose. “Come here. I’ll show you.”

Relief gave me speed. I promptly got down on my knees next to him as he turned the bird over on its back.

“Start from here.” He pinched a few feathers on the bird’s chest and plucked them out.

It looked simple enough. I grabbed a handful of feathers and pulled, too, but didn’t get a single one out.

“Not so many at once or you’ll risk tearing the skin. And make sure to pull in this direction, like that.” He corrected my grip. “Now yank hard. There you go,” he murmured in approval when I managed to pull the feathers out. “Good girl. You learn quickly.”

Pride spread through me. Never in a million years had I thought I would pluck a wild bird. But I’d do anything for Grat to keep me around. If he needed a servant, I would earnestly attempt to be that for him rather than going back into the swamp.

Except that Grat didn’t treat me as a servant. He didn’t make me work for him, he was working with me.

While I was striving to pluck the goose to the best of my abilities, he skinned and cleaned the rabbits, then set water to boil for our tea. It took me forever to rid the bird of all its feathers. Even when they all seemed gone, I kept looking for more, trying not to miss a single one.

“Good job,” Grat approved after inspecting my bare goose. “Hard to believe it’s your first time.”

“Thanks.” I beamed proudly.

“Now that you know how to trap and clean a prey, you’ll never go hungry again, Khala.”

I realized what he’d been doing all day. Grat hadn’t just made me help him, he’d been teaching me the valuable skills of survival in the Wetlands. While taking care of me, Grat also made sure I was able to take care of myself if needed.

When going to bed that night, I sat on the edge of my bunk, bracing myself for another inevitable nightmare while Grat was getting ready for bed too.

He liked to sleep naked, and he certainly didn’t feel the need to change his habits for my sake. Taking off his clothes, he folded them neatly on the short, wide log that served as his nightstand.

Moonlight filtered into the cabin through the cracks in the window shutters, highlighting his bulging muscles, shining off his bald skull, and glistening in the golden hoops in his ears.

My curiosity about him never eased. Everything about Grat fascinated me.

His kindness attracted me first, and his “ugly” looks failed to repulse me.

The more I studied him, the more attractive I found him.

I appreciated the inhuman strength of his body as much as I admired the firm control he held over it.

He lifted the covers to climb under, then noticed I was still sitting on the edge of my bunk.

“What is it, Khala?” He dropped the cover.

The moonlight tangled in his thick chest hair that tapered into a thin trail below his belly button. I followed it with my eyes down to the nest of dark curls between his legs. His thick cock grew hard under my stare, rising higher.

He caught me staring and promptly climbed under the covers.

“Go to bed,” he barked from under the blankets.

Why did he get so shy all of a sudden? I’d seen him naked a few times by now, and it’d never seemed to bother him before. Or was it his erection that he didn’t want me to see?

“Are you still afraid of nightmares?” he asked, since I hadn’t moved from my spot.

“Yes,” I admitted.

He heaved a long breath.

“Fine. You can sleep in my bed one more night.” He tossed back the cover on the opposite side of his bed.

Relief spurred me across the room, as if giving me wings. I climbed into his bed and sighed contentedly.

“I’m not cuddling you again, though,” he warned. “Just stay where you are.”

“I will,” I assured him, snuggling into the covers and feeling warm and sleepy already.

The nightmares still came. But every time they woke me up, I knew Grat was close, looking after me, and keeping me safe.

Another night came and went. Then another one, and another. And every night, I found my way into Grat’s bed. After a while, he had stopped asking and would just turn the covers down on both sides for him and me.

True to his word, he hadn’t cuddled with me anymore, keeping to his side of the bed. But on the fifth morning, I woke up with his leg tossed over my thighs and his hard-as-rock cock pressed to my backside.

Heat radiated from his large body, seeping through the thin material of the tunic I slept in. I held my breath, but trepidation was quickly swept away by a warm wave of desire.

“Khala… My sweet wild thing,” he murmured, rocking his hips into me.

His hard cock rubbed against my ass, eliciting a tortured groan from his chest. The desperation in his voice spurred my desire. Heat pooled low in my belly. Lust throbbed between my legs.

I’d never felt like this with a man before. But I’d never been with anyone who had Grat’s touch, his care, and his patience.

He cupped my breast from behind, drawing me closer, and I turned in his arms to face him.

“Morning.” I raked my fingers through his chest hair, enjoying every moment of being this close to him.

He blinked at me, looking confused, as if he hadn’t expected to find me in his arms.

“Khala?” He let go of me and rubbed his eyes, looking like he’d just woken up.

Apparently while I had been plagued by nightmares every night, Grat was enjoying some far more pleasant dreams. Unfortunately, now that he was awake, he didn’t look too eager to turn his dreams into reality.

Normally, it was easy for me to read him. Unlike the people of my past, who were raised to hide every genuine thought or honest emotion, Grat’s face openly displayed all his feelings.

This time, however, so many expressions changed on his face in rapid succession that I couldn’t keep up. Confusion, affection, worry, guilt, and more, all seemed to war inside him.

“This isn’t right,” he muttered, shifting away from me.

“Why?” I sat up.

The too large for me tunic slipped off my shoulder, revealing my left breast, but I didn’t fix it, sitting in front of him with my hair undone, my chest rising and falling with my rapid breathing, and my exposed left nipple hardening in the cool morning air.

“I want you, Grat,” I said, relishing the fact that among all my lies, I could at least be honest about this one thing.

For the first time in my life, I wanted a man, and I didn’t want to pretend otherwise. I trusted Grat when I had never trusted anyone before. Apparently, trust proved to be the biggest aphrodisiac for me.

I had a feeling he wanted me too. His erection bobbed right in front of me, urging me to touch it. The oval sapphire of the ring he wore on his cock glistened so tantalizingly close. But he hesitated.

“Khala…” He ran a hand over his head, then rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t…You and I… You see? Our brains don’t work the same. I’d be taking advantage of you, and it isn’t right.”

What was he talking about?

My mind reeled as I struggled to process his words.

Regardless of his reasons, though, one thing was clear—Grat was rejecting me. The first man, who’d woken desire in me, didn’t want to have anything to do with the consequences of that.

I had nothing to say in response, letting the awkward silence stretch between us.

He grabbed his pants from the log by his bed and retreated toward the exit.

“I’ll go get the fire going,” he muttered, hurriedly shoving his feet into his pants. “We’ll have to pack up the meat right after. We should be heading back to the keep before noon if we want to make it there by nightfall.”

Alarm shot through me, immediately dowsing my arousal.

“To the keep? Do you want to leave the cabin?”

He nodded, not looking at me.

“The hunting has been going great lately. We’ll have to take the meat to the folks at the keep before it spoils.

They will smoke, can, and cure it for the winter.

” He backed all the way to the door. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you will have to find another way to deal with that.

” He gestured at my exposed breast. “I can’t take care of it for you again. There is just so much a man can…take.”

Air puffed from his chest with a groan as he left, still not meeting my eyes.

I yanked the tunic back up and over my shoulder, running out of the cabin after him.

“Grat. Wait. I can’t go to the keep.”

He grabbed an ax and propped a log on the chopping block. There was no need to chop wood if he planned for us to leave. We had enough for today already. Yet he swung the ax, splitting the log in two.

“Don’t worry, they’ll love you there,” he grunted, lifting the ax again.

It wasn’t about me being loved. I couldn’t have that many people—whether orcs or humans—know about me. The more people knew, the bigger the chance was that word about my whereabouts would reach Reizon.

“We have plenty of humans at the keep, too, now. Agor, our chief, is even married to one. You look almost like a human too. You’ll fit right in,” Grat reassured me while energetically chopping wood.

If he thought that proximity to humans would help, he was sorely mistaken. With humans living in the keep, I absolutely couldn’t come anywhere near it.

“I can’t go,” I said firmly.

“It’s just for three days. I’ll have to return to the cabin after. But it’s probably best for you to stay at the keep, with the others, instead of coming back here with me.”

Was he trying to get rid of me for good now?

I shook my head resolutely. “I’m staying here.”

He tossed the ax, embedding the blade into the chopping block, then straightened out to his full height and stared down at me.

“I’ll wait here for you,” I said, meeting his eyes straight on.

He drew in a breath, as if ready to argue, then released it in a sigh.

“I keep forgetting that you’re a wild thing, skittish as your kind are,” he muttered, scratching his pointy ear. “It’d be hard for you to face so many strangers at once, wouldn’t it?”

I nodded, grateful for his thoughtfulness. His assumptions were all wrong, but he didn’t know the truth about me to correctly guess my reasons.

“I’ll do the traps while you’re gone,” I promised, relieved that I could stay after all.

“No. No traps,” he cut off firmly. “No hunting. No fishing. Don’t go into the woods at all by yourself. Stay around the cabin, where it’s safe. If any swamp creature comes too close, run inside and lock the doors. I’ll be back early the day after tomorrow.”

“But you said you wanted to stay there for three days.”

“That was when I thought you’d be coming with me. Now that you’re staying, I’m not leaving you alone for that long. I’ll just drop the meat off, take a short rest, then head right back.”

That was good to hear, and not just because I’d get to see him again soon. The less time Grat spent with the others, the less chances he had to speak to anyone about me.

He propped his hands on his hips. His brow furrowed in worry.

“I’ll leave you weapons, just in case,” he said. “A mace is too heavy for you and so is my sword, but I have some lighter daggers. Fuck, I should’ve taught you how to use a bow and arrow.” He shook his head, looking crestfallen at that oversight.

“Don’t worry, Grat.”

I smiled and reached out to touch his arm but stopped myself at the last second. He’d been keeping me at arm’s length this morning. It pained me, but I didn’t want to push his boundaries.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I survived in the Wetlands for weeks on my own, remember?”

My words didn’t seem to convince him at all. He paused his gaze on me, probably remembering the sorry state he’d found me in.

“Just stay in the clearing until I’m back. And run into the cabin if something happens…” He ran a hand over his bald head, his fingers trembling slightly. “Are you sure you’d rather stay? I…I really hate parting from you.”

His voice dropped, and he stared at me in wonder as if discovering the truth of that statement for the first time himself.

I hated seeing him go too. Under any other circumstances, I would’ve come with him. But I couldn’t put him or the people he cared about in danger.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be right here when you return,” I said, coming closer.

To my relief, he scooped me into a hug, and all the awkward tension that had been hanging heavily over us this morning melted away.

“I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to you, my wild thing,” he murmured, kissing my hair.