Chapter 12 The Summoning
The Summoning
It was hard focusing on the game knowing my mate was in the stands so close to me, wearing my team colors. Well, they weren’t exactly my normal team colors, but the sentiment was the same.
She was claiming me.
Right here in front of everyone.
You couldn’t tell my orc brain anything other than that simple fact.
Mine.
Bite.
Claim.
Rut.
It was more difficult each day to be around Stevie without giving into my impulses.
It’d been less than a week since I laid eyes on her for the first time and only hours spent at the gym every morning kept me centered enough to see her in the evenings for little visits.
I only hoped when I got around to telling her why I was interested, she’d understand why I tried to ease her into this and not run away in fear of the mating bond demanding me to claim her.
I’d done well at keeping the physical touching minimal, only slight brushes here or there, and absolutely nothing close to what happened in the truck on the way to my place that first night.
It was driving me slowly mad.
But it wouldn’t last forever.
I had a plan. When Dolly and Declan got back to town, which I assumed would have to be sooner rather than later—I mean how long could an avalanche really keep a vampire down?
Away from his kids? I knew Declan well enough to know that he’d already called in every favor to get out of there even if their cells weren’t working.
So as soon as they returned safe and sound, I’d pounce and whisk Stevie away for a weekend in the mountains so I could confess everything about the mating bond, about orc courting rituals, about me…
anatomy that might be new to her. Then, praying to all the goddesses known for luck and love and hope I’d learned about in school, I’d claim her in every way she allowed me.
She’d never not smell like me again.
“Up yours, Herald! That was right in the zone!” Sofia Castillo chastised our ump from the pitcher’s mound.
Seeing a four-foot-something senior citizen going toe-to-toe with a seven foot tall minotaur made me chuckle.
But everyone, or at least every Maplewickan, knew not to mess with Sofia if you wanted to leave with your balls intact.
The wolf matriarch of the Castillo pack could take on anyone who dared try.
I’d seen it firsthand and never wanted to again.
“Yeah, yeah.” Herald shook his head. We were playing slow-pitch softball, so he’d forgone his usual umpire mask allowing us to see the annoyance on his face. He was grumpy, and Sofia was adding to it each time he made a call she disagreed with.
We only had one inning left and neither team had scored. Tensions were high, or as high as they could be for a charity softball game between old folks that spent most of the time on and off the field catching up about town gossip.
I’d been trying to not stare at Stevie in the stands too much. I knew she was with Briar and the kids, surrounded by folks I’ve known my whole life. She was safe, but the urge to have her by my side was hard to ignore.
I gave myself permission for a glance and a growl sounded low in my chest before I could stop it. Jeb—that fucking slimeball—was leaning over and talking in her ear. My mate looked less than impressed that he was invading her space, her face was a mask of indifference or maybe even annoyance.
Briar slapped Jeb’s upper arm, motioning for him to back off.
Good. Now I don’t need to embarrass everyone by leaving the field to have a word with Jeb.
Jeb lifted his hands up in the same “my bad” gesture he always gave when being an ass or trying to push me to make his kid a catcher.
Why was he so hell-bent on putting Mav in a position he didn’t even want to play?
Mav loved third base. He told me every chance he had that he didn’t want to be a catcher.
I hated family drama, which was unfortunate since I coached teenagers for a living.
“Whoa there, buddy,” Lyle muttered. He was on third base waiting patiently for Sofia to get one across the plate. The growl still rose steadily in my chest.
“You see that?” I motioned behind me with a nod of my head.
Lyle looked around me, shaking his head in disbelief before his eyes widened in shock.
“You mean the one putting his grubby hands all over your girl?”
“WHAT?” I turned around, giving less than zero fucks if my question boomed across the field louder than I intended.
Sure enough, in the minute I’d turned my back, Briar had apparently taken the kids somewhere, leaving Stevie alone. Except now Jeb was next to her, wrapping his soon-to-be-removed arm around her shoulders.
My mate was so stiff and the sight of her almost in pain at his grip on her arm as she tried to get away from him sent me toward the stands.
“Oh shit,” I heard someone mutter but couldn’t make out who it was.
“Mine,” I snarled, fully in a protective mate mode leaving niceties aside. I leaped onto the top of our dugout and scaled the fence to save my mate.