Page 10 of Bread with the Orc (Harmony Glen #6)

Chapter Nine

Dorvak

On Tuesday night, I took Laney out to Ming’s Garden for dinner.

It wasn’t our first time dining out together, and we’d had dinner together each evening since last Friday, when she’d spent the night with me.

Every day, more of her things arrived at my apartment, and I was beginning to feel as if this was her home as well as mine.

Yes, we’d eaten together, but tonight I wanted to do something special.

I wanted to feel as if she was mine : Mine for the whole town to recognize.

So I made reservations at a place I thought might make her feel at home and paid special attention to what I wore.

I even rolled up the sleeves on my button-down shirt, knowing she liked to admire my forearms.

But throughout dinner, Laney picked at her food, her gaze darting around the restaurant restlessly. I caught her looking at me from the corner of her eyes a few times, as if she wanted to say something…but didn’t.

I could feel my Mate’s confusion and anxiety, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that I couldn’t fix it for her, couldn’t crush it or bite it or stomp it into submission, the way my Kteer urged me to do.

I needed to know what was wrong.

So after I paid—and we packed up her leftovers to take home—I suggested a walk.

“A walk?” She was surprised. “I assumed you would want to go home and…”

She trailed off in a blush, and I put my finger under her chin to raise her eyes to mine.

“As much as I love that you call the apartment home , Laney, I think we both need to clear our heads a little. Something’s bothering you, and I would very much like if you could trust me enough to share it with me. ”

I saw the hesitation in her eyes, and prayed that she’d let me in. Finally, she took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, okay. I want this to work, Dorvak.”

One corner of my lips twitched. “You have no idea how much I want”— need —“this to work, dkaar . So please tell me?”

Another nod. “Let’s walk down to the beach?”

Since home was only two blocks from the boardwalk, we stopped into the bakery. I ran up to grab my coat and her scarf, while Laney made some fragrant tea and poured it into a thermos. We did it all without speaking— we didn’t need to speak, because we understood each other so well already.

Once ready, I looped the scarf gently around her, took her arm in mine, and we strolled toward the lake.

In the autumn evening, the lakefront was almost deserted, a good place for a private conversation.

Still, I led her down to the sand, toward one of the bonfire sites I could smell had been used recently.

There was no one about, so I settled Laney on one of the logs as I crouched in front of the fire and blew it back to life, feeding it with the stacked kindling and logs until we had a cozy little fire rumbling before us.

Then I let out a breath, urged my Kteer to shut up and be still for once, and settled myself on the sand with my back resting against the log where my Mate sat.

Where to start?

I should have guessed Laney would make my job easier.

“I like you, Dorvak. I like you a lot. I’ve…I’ve wanted you for a long while.”

Was it easier to confess such things when we were staring at the fire? I shifted but didn’t turn to look at her, hoping I wouldn’t scare her into silence.

Please keep telling me how you’ve lusted after me, Mate .

“You know my father is kinda a jerk, right?” I could hear her fiddling with the thermos.

“He doesn’t like monsters—well, he doesn’t like that monsters have moved into his town.

I think maybe I started noticing you—noticing monster guys in general—just to irritate him.

But then, once I started watching you… ”

Unable to help myself, I tipped my head sideways just enough that I could see her staring at me.

“I chose the building next to yours for my tea shop because I wanted to be near you, Dorvak,” she whispered, and deep in my chest, my Kteer ignored my orders and crowed.

“I have watched you, dkaar ,” I confessed. “You were the most intriguing, most beautiful human I could imagine.”

The firelight flickered on her features as she studied me. “What does that mean? Dkaar . You’ve called me that before.”

I didn’t hesitate to explain. “ Beloved . It means beloved , because that’s what you are to me.”

Laney took a deep, shuddering breath, held it…and turned away.

“Love!” I reached for her, pulling her down onto the sand beside me. “Don’t hide from me. Tell me what’s wrong. Tell me what you’re worried about.”

Her gaze was locked on the thermos in her lap. “How could I be your beloved,” she whispered, “if you won’t share all of yourself with me?”

I frowned, switching my attention back to the fire, trying to decide what she meant. “Laney, you are my beloved. You are my Mate.”

“Yes, I know we’re mating, and I’m enjoying it?—”

“No.” I interrupted her with a short huff, perhaps a chuckle in another male. “ Mate . You are my Mate. ”

She unscrewed the thermos top, her motions contained and irritable. “So what does that mean? That we’re going steady or something? Exclusively fucking?”

“It means, dkaar , that I will never look at another female for as long as I live.” She’d frozen and was now watching me with wide eyes over the top of the thermos as I continued to explain.

“When I was young, the elders told me there is a knowing . That’s how I felt when I joined with you, Laney: a knowing . I am with you, and I just know .”

“That sounds…serious,” she whispered, the steam from the tea wafting around her face hiding some of her expression.

I reached over and pulled the thermos from her hand. Fortunately, she didn’t release it and came with the metal container. I lifted it to my lips, and she followed, pressing up against my side.

“You’re cold,” I murmured, wrapping my free arm around her after I sipped. “Here, warm up.”

She drank from the thermos as well, but her gaze didn’t leave mine.

“Do you know your eyes are still glowing?” she whispered, her nose inches from mine. “They’ve been glowing since…you know.”

Deciding to make her squirm, I raised a brow. “Since when?”

“Since you made me come. Since we started fucking.”

“Oh, dkaar ,” I murmured, lowering the thermos between us. “What we’re doing isn’t fucking. I’m making love to you. ”

Her lips formed a little “oh” of surprise, and I couldn’t resist the urge to pull her closer and kiss her until she was half-sitting on my lap.

When we finally straightened, I was breathing heavily, and her hair was askew. The sweet scent of her arousal perfumed the night air, along with the crackling of the burning logs.

“My body is still fighting the Mating Heat, dkaar .” I nuzzled her neck. “I need to claim you, and my eyes will glow until they do.”

“Claim me?” She leaned back so she could give me the cutest glare. “Does that mean…you know. Having sex? Or is this about your pleasure?”

“What?” I rumbled.

Her little hands pressed against my chest. “Dorvak, did you think I hadn’t noticed? For days now you’ve been basically dehydrating me with the amount of orgasms you’ve given me?—”

“I’ll bring some electrolyte water tonight,” I interpreted.

But she smacked my chest in exasperation. “I’ve come, like, three hundred and forty-seven times since last Friday?—”

“Is that it?”

“But how many times have you come?” She scooted back further to glare at me in the dying firelight. “Zero times, Dorvak. Is there something wrong? Is there something wrong with me ? If being inside me doesn’t make you come, then that’s okay, we can try something— eeep ! ”

This last yelp was when I knocked the thermos aside, grabbed her legs, and swung one thigh over mine so she was kneeling in the sand, straddling me.

With our noses almost touching, I growled, “You think I can’t come inside you? You think being squeezed by your pussy isn’t the most amazing torture I’ve ever experienced?”

She blinked. “I mean…yes? You’ve had your cock inside me multiple times, and you wait until I climax, then pull out and cuddle with me until I’m ready to go again. I can see you’re aroused?—”

Her words broke off with a gasp when I grabbed her ass and pulled her up against me, so her core was grinding against my hardness.

“You can feel it too,” I growled.

Her hands fell to my shoulders in exasperation. “Then why aren’t you orgasming, Dorvak?” she blurted. “How come you haven’t given me all of you? If we’re dating—if we’re Mated , then I want to bring you pleasure the same way you bring it to me .”

“You want to know why?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

My hand moved from her hip to press against her stomach. My fingers were big enough to stretch across her body, covering all of her abdomen.

“Because we’re Mated, dkaar . When I claim you—fully claim you, your body will swell with my child. I’ve been dreaming of breeding you since I first smelled your arousal. ”

She’d stopped breathing. I could hear her, feel her shock.

“Breeding me?” she strangled out. “Like…you want to get me pregnant?”

“Oh, love…” My touch turned to a caress.

“The thought of you carrying our kitling is a dream come true, but there is no choice in the matter. Once we’re fully Mated, it will happen.

Likely not right away, but once I claim you fully, you will eventually bear our son or daughter.

” I leaned forward enough to scrape my tusk along her jaw.

“I haven’t been holding back because I don’t want to spill, love.

I’ve been holding back because you weren’t ready yet. ”

She’d begun to breathe again, thank fuck, but her breaths were coming in tight gasps. “Not ready. To be a mom?”

“You’d have nine months to get ready for that,” I reasoned. “Orcs and humans have been interbreeding for generations—our elders believe that human females are the only reason the orc race has continued this long. But I wasn’t going to claim you until I knew you were ready for me.”

“For you to breed me.”

Gods below, just hearing my Mate speak of such things…

I nuzzled her neck. “I had to wait until you were ready to hear my commitment. Once I claim you, once you bear our child, my life will be devoted to you, and only you. Forever.”

Her, “ Wow ,” was more a breath than a word, but I felt it against my skin .

Unable to help myself, I rocked my hips on the sand, sliding my cock—still trapped in my trousers—along her hot core.

Her whimper was enough to make me smile.

“See, dkaar ? Your pleasure is all I need, for now. I love the sounds you make when you come. I love the way your body grips mine. I love making you happy.”

“But,” she gasped, “I want to bring you pleasure.”

“Oh, you do.” I gathered her close, protecting her. “I have never, ever felt more alive than I do with you in my arms.”

She was silent for a long time, long enough that I would have worried if I couldn’t feel her heart beating next to mine.

The fire died to embers, the tea slowly soaked the sand and my trousers, and the gentle lapping of the waves on the lake filled the night.

In the distance, the sounds of cars and conversation filled the autumn evening, but here and now, it was just my Mate and me.

I had to believe that one day I’d be able to claim her fully, to find my own pleasure in her body. But for now, bringing her pleasure was good enough.

Long after the embers ceased spitting, Laney finally stirred, her chai-scented exhale wreathing us in clouds.

“I’ve always thought of having children as a sort of far-off possibility. I want them.”

“I remember.” I scraped my tusk over her temple, making her shudder.

“Perhaps my seed won’t take right away, but you will be a fine mother one day, dkaar .

You will teach our children of their grandmother’s love of tea and their ancestors’ strength and bravery, and I will teach them of the way their mother brings life and joy to everyone around her. ”

Slowly, Laney pushed away from me. I could hear her mind whirling as she rolled to her feet, unfolding to stand over me in her high boots and cute little dress.

I knew all I would have to do would be to pull her closer, and I could nudge that dress aside, pull over her panties, and bury my face in her wet folds.

I wouldn’t though, not here.

My Mate was mine , and mine alone.

Laney held out a hand to me, and I took it. Her fingers were small in mine, and I marveled that someone so perfect had allowed me to protect her. Cherish her.

“I’m ready now, Dorvak,” she announced primly.

I tipped my head back to study her in the darkness, not understanding. “Ready for what, dkaar ?”

“I’m ready for you to breed me.”