Chapter 10
KHALA
The ribbon was far from the most expensive or extravagant gift I’d ever received. But it was without a doubt the most precious one because I knew it came from the heart. Grat was still staring at me with a dreamy smile on his face, as if the sight of me wearing his ribbon was something magical.
“Thank you.” I lifted my arms to him, and he grabbed me into a hug that lifted me from the ground. “I have something for you too.” I gestured at the tub behind us.
He squinted at the system of ropes and buckets I had rigged above it.
“I tested it today, and it works great. The tub is half full already, and I have the fire going in the oven below. You can have a bath right now if you want,” I said quickly, suddenly afraid that my project might displease him.
What if he didn’t want any changes to his way of doing things? Maybe I should’ve asked for his permission before building something like that?
“What is it?” He blinked in confusion, coming closer to inspect the system of grooves that carried the water from the creek to the tub.
“Oh, it’s a water wheel with a pulley system,” I rushed to explain.
“See that wheel on the bank of the creek? You turn it with that lever handle on the side. The buckets will fill with water, then dump it into the groove, which would then take it to the tub. So you don’t have to walk back and forth to fill it by hand every time.
I tested and tweaked it, so it works great. Let me show you.”
I ran down to the creek.
“Careful!” Grat rushed after me. “There was a water dog here earlier. Those things are vicious in the wild.”
“Oh, she’s fine. She won’t hurt me,” I said, coming to the large wheel at the water edge.
“She?”
“Yes. She’s a mother. She has puppies. I’ve been giving her some food.”
“You fed a water dog?”
“Only until she gets better after giving birth. She looks so skinny.”
“And she didn’t bite you?” he asked, incredulously.
I decided not to mention the dog’s initial attack yesterday since she’d caused me no harm.
“No. She’s pretty sweet, actually. I was giving her some dinner when the toad’s balls on legs showed up.”
“Balls on legs?” He laughed.
I shrugged. “What do you call those nasty things? And what are they, anyway? The toad’s babies?”
“Not the babies, just parts of its body. We call them mockheads. They don’t grow bigger, don’t reproduce on their own, and can’t survive outside of their host for long.
Mud toads are too big and slow to hunt. So they grow these mockheads that jump around, hunt, and swallow whatever prey they find.
The toad then swallows them, digests them along with the contents of their bellies, then grows new mockheads on its back. ”
I shuddered. “It’s kind of gross, really.”
“Mud toads are gross,” he agreed. “Their legs are pretty tasty though. But tell me, my fearless woman, how does this contraption work?” He pointed at the rope with buckets over the creek.
My nerves vibrated with anxiety again.
“Alright. Here. See?” I turned the wheel, plunging the bucket attached to it into the water.
“You rotate the wheel, filling and moving the buckets along the rope. The handle here works as a lever, so it takes little effort to turn the wheel even with the buckets full. The difference in sizes between the wheel and this gear here also makes it easier. Even a child can use it. This way, you can spend less time filling your tub and more time enjoying your bath.”
He followed the buckets with his eyes, watching the water being transported first to the groove track, then into the tub.
“Hm.” He scratched the back of his neck. “You did all this work just to fill the tub?”
My heart thudded with concern.
“But it’s not that much work at all,” I rushed to explain. “I mean…well, building it took some time. But it’s done now. And I like making things like that.”
“It’s not the first one you made, is it?” he said.
It didn’t sound like a question, like he knew it couldn’t be my first project. Nervous about his reaction, I let go of the lever and fidgeted with the end of the ribbon he’d tied around my head.
I didn’t want to lie to him. The purpose of this entire project was to show him the truth.
“No,” I confessed. “I’ve been doing it for years. I—”
He gathered me into his arms.
“Thank you for making it for me, my wild thing.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Only you aren’t a wild thing at all, are you?”
I wanted Grat to know everything about me, the whole damn truth, no matter how much it scared me. But his words still seized my heart with apprehension. I’d lied to him. I did it to protect us both. But I had still lied to him during all the time he knew me.
“No, I’m not an ape woman. I’m a human,” I admitted in one breath.
He didn’t look as surprised as could’ve been expected.
“I should’ve known,” he said, shaking his head. “You’ve always been too bright for an animal, even back when you tried to steal my sausage.”
“Thanks,” I exhaled with a nervous laugh. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”
He remained serious, staring at me intently. “I’m afraid you’ve stolen something far more precious to me than a sausage, sweetheart.”
“What is it, Grat?”
“My heart.”
Breath left me in a gasp. The tenderness of his confession gutted me.
His honesty disarmed me. I’d never felt so vulnerable with a man before, like he could destroy my heart if he so wished.
At the same time, I trusted him to keep me safe—all of me—my body, my soul, and my heart if I gave it to him.
“Oh, Grat,” I breathed out, wrapping my arms around his thick neck.
My mouth fitted perfectly between his tusks when our lips connected in a soft, warm kiss.
It was all so new to me, and not only because Grat was a bog orc, a species I’d never even seen before meeting him.
Grat was the first man I truly wanted. Before him, intimacy had been either an obligation or a threat that I’d do anything to avoid.
Now, I couldn’t keep my hands off him as I cupped his cheek to deepen our kiss.
He groaned, pulling back to catch his breath.
“Fuck, Khala, sweetheart. Kissing you is even better than I dreamed it’d be. But I want more. I always want more with you.”
He slipped a hand under my tunic, stroking my bare thigh underneath. His hands trembled with restraint.
“Let me, Khala. Please. I promise, I’ll be gentle,” he rasped.
“I thought you didn’t do ‘gentle,’” I teased.
“For you, I’ll try. I’ll do anything to have you.”
It gave me a heady feeling to be wanted so desperately, more so because Grat wanted me for me, not for my family name or what it could give him. He took me as I was, with nothing to offer him but the clothes I was wearing, and even those were his.
“Then have me, Grat. I want to be yours.”
I lifted my hands for him to take my tunic off over my head. With a soft hum of appreciation, he buried his face in my bare chest.
“I dreamed about this, Khala,” he murmured against my skin. “I dreamed about being with you. Just like this.”
He dragged his tongue over my nipple, sending ripples of tingling anticipation along my skin.
“What a wonderful dream that must’ve been,” I exhaled.
“It sure was. I came three times last night, harder than ever,” he said so earnestly, it made me laugh.
Grat didn’t waste time on pretenses—a trait that made it so refreshing for me to be with him.
“Do you fantasize about me?” I murmured, tracing the side of his face with the tips of my fingers.
He turned his head to place a quick kiss on my caressing hand.
“All the fucking time,” he groaned, carrying me to one of the chairs by the fire pit.
“I can’t sleep, can’t think about anything or anyone but you.
I couldn’t even stay at the keep for as long as I’d planned.
I just wanted to be here with you. It’s a good thing I came early too.
” He tossed a glance at the dead toad that lay like a brown heap of mud on the side of the clearing.
“We should clean that up.” I winced.
He jerked his head impatiently. “Later. I have something far more important to do first.”
Lowering himself into the chair, he placed me on his lap, then raked a hungry stare over my naked body.
Excitement bubbled inside me, pebbling my skin with a rush of goosebumps.
“These are by far the smallest tits I’ve ever licked,” he marveled out loud before swirling his tongue over my hard, tingling nipple.
“Do you normally prefer large breasted women?” I asked, curious.
Grat made me feel desirable in every way. I refused to give up even a smidge of this new found confidence, but I wanted to know everything about him.
“I used to. The bigger the better,” he admitted with brutal honesty. “But now, I prefer them the exact size that yours are. I just want you, Khala, and I love everything about you, every single fucking thing.”
With his tusks pressed to each side of my breast, he raked his teeth over my nipple. Pleasure trickled through my belly, pooling with heat between my legs. I moaned, hugging his head to me tighter.
“You like it,” he hummed approvingly. “Admit it, you like me nibbling on your cute little tits.”
The vibration from his words resonated through my chest with a wave of desire. He looked up into my eyes, watching my face while playing with my nipples.
“Let me see how much you like it.” He slipped a finger between my thighs to find me dripping wet already. “Beautiful,” he murmured, spreading my arousal over my clit. “Just what I thought. You like having my big hands all over your nimble little body, don’t you, my sweet thing?”
“You talk a lot…” I managed to squeeze out breathlessly between the needy whimpers as he slipped a thick finger deep inside me.
“It’s because I feel a lot when I’m with you,” he explained. “Would you rather I fuck you in silence?”
The word “fuck” struck me as crass. Coming from him, however, it sounded illicit, naughty, and irresistibly arousing.
“No… Don’t stop. Keep talking. While you still can,” I added with a wicked grin and yanked at the laces of his pants.