Page 21 of Enchanted with the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #4)

Tasia

T here’s no point in pretending anymore.

The thought had blasted into my chest when I heard that the male had planned a birthday party for my daughter.

In two weeks, I’d been waiting and biding my time for him to show me his true colors.

It was possible to keep it hidden for a few days at a time, but how could a male act the way he did for a prolonged period?

One day we’ll get on his nerves and he’ll snap.

As it turned out, I was wrong. We’d tested his patience in ways that would have driven David straight up a wall, but instead of that, Enka had responded with patient smiles.

He’s not the same as David.

The realization had hit me when he’d fidgeted—clearly nervous—before telling me he’d made plans for his Gruk-ir . I couldn’t act like I thought he was anything like David anymore.

This male was different. I still wasn’t going to be throwing myself all in, but my instincts had finally been right. He wasn’t going to hurt us.

A thought niggled at the back of my mind, reminding me that there was something else that my instincts had been telling me.

True mate.

Shaking myself hard, I tugged on shoes for my daughter. There was no way I was going to think about that until I knew more about him. It was one thing to trust a male, it was completely another to consider him my true mate.

I lifted Gabbi into my arms while she was vibrating with pure excitement. I stroked my palm over her hair, making sure it was still neat, before turning to face Enka, my heart thudding in my chest at the soft smile on his face as he looked at us.

Down girl , I told my heart. We’re not doing this again.

I was okay with being attracted to him. At least he was a decent male. It was entirely another thing to be catching feelings. And I wasn’t .

Swallowing hard, I walked toward him. “Lead the way,” I proclaimed with a grin, keeping my little wiggling bundle close.

He opened the door, gesturing for us to leave first, and I passed by him, trying not to breathe in his glorious, masculine scent that I’d been struggling to become immune to for the past two weeks. It hadn’t worked .

He locked the door behind us before leading the way to the elevator, tapping the button and waiting, rocking on his heels as he wrinkled his nose at Gabbi. She giggled, holding her arms out to him as if it was the easiest thing in the world, and it was.

He took her into his arms, pressing a quick kiss to her little nose that had me melting again.

Stay strong, Tasia.

I looked away, but I could still hear them.

“Is my Gruk-ir excited?” he asked, as the elevator opened. He pressed his huge palm to the doors, ensuring they were opened as he let me step in and followed suit. He told the operator that we were going to the first floor as Gabbi nodded with enthusiasm.

“I love parties,” she announced, arms wrapped around his neck as she kicked her little feet against his chest and stomach. He didn’t even flinch, entirely focused on what she was saying—as if she was the most important thing in that moment.

The pang got even more painful and I pinched my wrist to ground myself.

It would be too easy to see how he was with my daughter—how he was with me, too—and fall.

I wasn’t ready for that, and I’d hoped that she wasn’t either, but she looked so happy with him.

More settled than I’d ever seen her before.

My daughter chattered on, cupping Enka’s face in her palms to make sure that he was fully focused on her.

Something that she didn’t need to bother to do, because when she was talking to him, he never paid attention to anything else.

He did the same for me. Fully focused and involved in a way I’d never imagined someone could be when it came to us.

I looked at our reflection in the silver of the elevator and saw how perfect we looked together.

The big, strong orc held my tiny daughter in his arms while I stood by his side.

My brain filled in the gaps that should be there.

If we were more, he’d have one arm wrapped around my waist while he held her with the other, and maybe there would be a bit of a swell to my stomach…

I trailed off at the thought, snapping myself back to reality, because it sounded phenomenal and I couldn’t afford for that to be in my head. I pinched myself again, and saw Enka’s head snap to the movement, his brow frowning before he met my eyes, censure there for me to see.

“Did you just hurt yourself?” he demanded, worry tingeing his voice. I gave him a tremulous smile, shaking my head.

“Sorry, it’s an old habit,” I explained, and Gabbi shook her finger at me in admonishment.

“Bad Mommy,” she said, and it was everything I could do to look contrite and nod. “Abu doesn’t like it,” she tsked, hugging Enka around his neck, both giving me worried frowns.

I had to smother a laugh, nodding again. “Sorry,” I told them both again just as the doors to the elevator slid open.

We stepped out, and Enka took my hand, lifting it for his inspection.

Gabbi leaned down to look too, although I was certain she had no idea what she was looking for.

Shock filled me when he lifted my hand to press a gentle, soft kiss to my wrist. I looked up into his dark eyes that were brimming with something I couldn’t name—and maybe didn’t want to name—when Gabbi dropped a kiss to my wrist too.

I was still staring up at Enka, not sure what to say, but Gabbi squealed with joy.

“Uncle Darak!” she crowed, wiggling madly until Enka lowered her to the ground. She rushed at the big male who was making his way closer. She launched herself at him and he caught her up in his arms.

I marveled at how gentle these huge males were with her, ensuring that she never hurt herself.

“Hello, little one,” he told her, as solemn as ever. I don’t think I’d ever seen this male smile in the two weeks we’d known him .

“It’s my birthday,” she announced, and I swore I saw the corner of his lips twitch.

“Yes, I heard,” he said, looking over at Enka, amusement brimming in his gaze. “The playroom’s ready for you,” he told us, turning to face double doors that had a giant pink sign in front of them.

Gabbi’s Birthday Party

A grin crossed my face as he opened the door. The loud sound of laughter filled the room and I was startled by the blast of sound.

Children of all ages were inside, all over the room.

There was a huge mix of tube mazes, slides, ball pits, video games, as well as tables for eating.

There were pink and purple balloons all over, being tossed between children and over heads.

I looked around in shock, but my daughter had no such problem.

She squealed with joy as Darak’s voice boomed across the room. “The birthday girl’s here!”

The announcement was met with cheers, and most of the children ran in our direction. Darak lowered Gabbi and she ran straight toward the children, meeting them halfway. Tiny little humans, goblins, orclings and a mix of tiny beings.

“How did you do this?” I breathed, my fingers pressed to my lips and making me wonder if they heard me.

I shouldn’t have worried. Enka was watching my daughter, but his focus encompassed me as well.

“We sent an invitation to the rest of the hotel. For any parents with children who wanted their children to attend a supervised birthday party,” he told me, looking as though he was ready to snatch Gabbi up from the rambunctious group of children.

Especially when she was grabbed into a hug by a little centaur boy who pressed a kiss to her cheek. I grabbed him by his wrist as he lunged toward them, and I shouldn’t have been able to stop him. He was too big, too immovable, but he stilled right away, looking back at me with incredulous eyes.

“He kissed her ,” he snarled, and I’d never seen him annoyed before. It should have frightened me, but instead, I laughed.

“She’s fine ,” I told him, delight clear in my voice. “It was a kiss on the cheek. She’ll survive.”

“He shouldn’t do that,” he told me, as the little centaur led Gabbi off with her hand in his, toward the ball pit.

“He’s being friendly,” I explained, trying to be soothing.

“ Too friendly,” he groused, narrowing his eyes on the tiny male.

“Come on,” I chuckled, tugging him in the direction of the tables, just noticing the adults scattered inside the room. They were all wearing uniforms, and were ensuring that none of the children were hurt as they played.

I looked over at Darak, noticing that he was leaning against the closed doors of the playroom. Gratitude filled my chest as I realized we were protected here as well.

“Thank you for this,” I told Enka in a low voice as he took a seat next to me at the table, covered from end to end with food and snacks. “You don’t know how grateful I am. I’m always worried she isn’t getting enough interaction with other children her age.”

He nodded, his brow furrowed before he said, “We can set up weekly play dates.” He still hadn’t looked away from where Gabbi had climbed onto the little centaur’s back as he cantered around the room.

They were both laughing raucously, and I smothered a laugh at Enka’s deep scowl. “With everyone except him .”

I smothered my laugh, nodding as if I was taking him seriously—when I definitely wasn’t. “I’d really like that,” I murmured, realizing that I still had his wrist in my hand. I looked down at it, sliding my palm until I was touching his hand instead .

That distracted him, and his head turned sharply, looking down at where our hands were joined. He looked up at me, something that was close to hope brimming in his gaze. And I couldn’t do anything but give him a tentative smile.