Chapter 12
KHALA
Iwoke up with a smile and hugged the pillow that still smelled like Grat.
I loved his scent that was a heady mix of pine in the forest, moss on the ground, and smoke of a delicious meal cooked on a fire—the scent of a man who was not afraid to break into sweat during hard work, a hard fight, or an equally hard fuck.
Grat would never try to mask his scent with some rose water or fancy cologne. He wouldn’t dress up his words to make them sound like something they weren’t either. He was as real as a breath of fresh air, and I loved that about him.
I pressed my face into the pillow, breathing in his scent.
I wished he was here, wrapping his strong arms around me, kissing my lips, and letting his big hands explore my body.
I remembered the amazing sensation of his thick finger moving inside me.
I pressed my thighs together, but without his hand between my legs, I felt empty and needy.
A warm wave of arousal washed over me at the memory of his touch. I knew my own hand wouldn’t feel the same, but I slipped it between my thighs anyway. Before Grat, this had been my only way to experience pleasure from sex.
I cupped my breast, imagining it was his large, calloused hand fondling me. I opened my legs for my hand, pretending it was his finger sliding inside me.
Lust rippled through my body with heat.
“I don’t fuck gently,” his booming voice echoed in my mind.
And now I wondered what sex normally was like for this big, burly man. He’d learned to be gentle with me because I asked him to, but I always sensed his restraint when his muscles tensed and his hands trembled.
What would it be like if Grat fully unleashed his lust?
Curious, I let my imagination run wild.
I imagined his hands gripping my hips, his teeth biting my breasts, and his massive cock pressing against my entrance.
A sharp shot of arousal speared through my body, coating my fingers with it. I pumped my fingers in and out of me with the image of Grat’s massive body covering mine.
He’d lift my hips, arching my back, to impale me on his giant cock.
I almost felt the stretch, the burning pleasure as my body would adjust because, at least in my fantasies, I imagined I could take his cock whole, up to his heavy ballsack, even if my inner organs rearranged and my belly bulged out to accommodate his girth and length.
I dug my heels into the mattress, rubbing my clit furiously.
“Just like that, sweetheart.” Grat’s deep voice rolled through my mind, resonating with tantalizing vibrations though my body. “Take it all like the good girl you are.”
Pleasure burst through me, erupting with a soft cry from my throat. My muscles trembled, rocked by hot waves of an orgasm. I came on my hand harder than ever, wishing it was Grat’s cock instead.
A warm, happy feeling curled around my heart like a purring kitten. I wished Grat was here. Never in a million years would I have thought that I’d find an orc—a bog orc—so irresistibly attractive.
I didn’t know much about bog orcs before coming to the Wetlands, but during the short time that I’d known Grat, he had disproved everything I thought I knew about his kind.
Grat was smart, diligent, and caring. He possessed valuable skills and extensive knowledge, as well as an open mind and willingness to learn and accept new things.
In many ways, Grat was far more deserving than many of the people from my past who thought themselves noble, refined, and above everyone else.
And now, Grat was courting me.
That thought kept a happy smile on my lips all through the morning while I got dressed in a soft cotton blouse with long embroidered sleeves and a sleeveless wool dress. After tying a wide, beaded belt around my waist, I brushed and braided my hair, then put the pretty green ribbon around my head.
The only courting I knew was mostly done through my parents.
I was seventeen when my late husband expressed his interest in marrying me.
My parents accepted his courtship, and he started sending me presents through his servants while calling on me in person once a week.
During his visits, he’d briefly talk to me about the weather, then would go to my father’s study to negotiate my dowry and plan the wedding.
I didn’t want to marry him. The stupid young me would’ve actually preferred Reizon back then.
Reizon was young and beautiful, as opposed to my old and balding husband-to-be, but Reizon’s wealth wasn’t large enough for my parents, his title wasn’t high enough, and his bloodline wasn’t quite as pure and long.
No one asked me what I preferred, of course. In the royal court of the Avilet Kingdom, a daughter’s duty was to obey her parents and bear plenty of children for her husband to ensure continuation of his precious bloodline. And that was what I did.
I obediently married the man my parents had chosen for me and obediently endured my husband’s weekly visits to my bedroom while trying to conceive an heir for him.
After the High Lord’s death, it took years for my body to recover enough to accept even my own touch.
Eventually, I discovered the many ways of enjoying sex on my own, but I never thought I’d want another man to touch me.
I never could’ve imagined that I’d enjoy a man’s touch so wantonly or that I’d miss it so terribly.
Grat had barely left, and I was already counting minutes until his return.
Before going out of the cabin, I slung a quiver with arrows over my shoulder and took my bow with me.
I’d promised Grat to have a weapon on me at all times while he was away.
It might look like overreacting on his part, but after being ambushed by the toad monster, I didn’t want to take any chances either. Best to be safe than sorry.
I started the fire and set a teapot on the grill to boil water for my tea, then took a bowl with leftover fish from my dinner over to the creek.
While Grat was at the cabin, I hadn’t seen the water dog. I believed she still came by but stayed out of sight, because the food I left every night and every morning for her was always gone.
As I set the bowl with the fish down on the ground, the tall grass at the water edge rustled, the familiar head poked through with her long pointy ears flattened against her skull.
“There you are, honey,” I murmured. “Where have you been? Hiding from the big, scary orc?”
At the sound of my voice, the dog paused, eyeing me suspiciously.
“It’s all good, my girl,” I cooed, keeping my voice soft and non-threatening. “I’m not going to hurt you. Grat isn’t either. He just looks big and scary, but he’s very gentle with those he likes, trust me, I know.”
I smiled, picking up a piece of fish from the bowl.
Grat had said that if a water dog was born in the wild, it was impossible to tame.
He believed that this dog belonged to someone before, and since a water dog would always find its way home, this one must have no home and no master anymore.
Her old master had either died or might’ve been cruel to her, forcing her to flee.
“There are many similarities in our lives, sweet girl. We were meant to be friends, you and I,” I said to the dog, offering her the food in my hand.
Holding her head low to the ground, the dog took a tentative step forward. I held still, not saying a word anymore and not moving at all.
She sniffed the air. Her bright yellow eyes shifted, as if she expected an attack at any moment.
I noticed she looked much better now. Her sides had filled in a little, giving her a stronger, healthier appearance. As she recovered, she’d probably been hunting more successfully too.
Maybe she had no need for my food anymore. Yet there she was, taking another step toward me.
She stretched her head toward the fish, and I moved my arm closer to me, luring her to come closer too. She did, and I stretched my other hand toward her, ready to pet if she let me.
Her eyes darted a glance at my outstretched hand. A low growl vibrated in her throat, but it wasn’t loud—a signal of caution, not a warning of an attack.
“I won’t move,” I promised softly. “You come to me if you’re ready.”
At the sound of my voice, her gaze shifted to me again. Slowly, ever so slowly, she brought a front paw forward for another step. Her head moved closer and closer until her cool, wet nose pressed into my palm.
Breath left me in a sigh of relief.
I turned my hand slightly, gliding my palm over the side of her nose and then over her head. Her short fur was wet, probably from swimming here through the creek. She seemed to tremble a little but wouldn’t move away from my touch.
Grat and I wouldn’t stay in the cabin forever. Sooner or later, we’d leave here and move to his house in the keep. I felt a little apprehensive about meeting his friends and family, but also excited. I hoped his people would like me and we would get along. But I couldn’t leave the dog here.
“We’ll take you with us,” I told her in a soft whisper so as not to spook her away.
She didn’t move, letting me pet her.
“You’ll have as much food as you can eat,” I promised, reeling from the fact that she seemed to have accepted me.
I gave her the fish, removing my hand from her to let her eat in peace, but she didn’t seem to mind my presence at all while eating her breakfast. I shifted the bowl closer to her and sat back on my haunches, watching her devour the fish.
“We’ll bring your puppies with us too,” I assured her. “Only you’ll need to show me where they are. Maybe we could take them to the cabin now? It’d be safer and warmer there for them. I could look after them for you while you’re out hunting.”
I kept chatting not because I thought the dog understood me but because I wanted her to get used to the sound of my voice.
She finished most of the fish, then took the last one in her mouth, turning away.
“Leaving already?” I asked with disappointment.