Page 17 of His Orc Warrior (Human Omegas for Monster Alphas #1)

Lucas

Thrain and I had been together for a few weeks. I’d met his parents. We were practically living together. We’d mated, and everything was going great.

But there was one milestone we hadn’t crossed yet. Neither of us had confessed our love. It was there and palpable, but formally we hadn’t crossed that line.

And I was going to change that tonight.

Maybe it was a human thing, and I was getting all weird about it, but I wanted it to be special. Like storybook, woo the pants off of him, make him teary-eyed special, and I had a plan to do exactly that.

I went to the store, grabbed some supplies—including something I had custom-ordered—and went home to set up the perfect date night.

Or at least, the perfect date night for us.

I had a lasagna in the oven and had turned the living room into the perfect spot for Go Fish. I was recreating our first date, which was probably silly, considering it wasn’t that long ago. But I thought it would be fun and the ideal time to share my feelings.

And the perfect way to give him his gift, the one I saw and had to order, while I told him I loved him for the first time.

He came over at our normal time, and of course, the first one to greet him was Bolg. If that little furry ball of adorableness had his way, it would be all Thrain, all the time. And with a dog as fabulous as he was, I didn’t even mind that I was playing second fiddle, once again.

It was absolutely adorable watching how much my scaredy cat of a dog was all about my huge green mate.

“I missed you.” I pulled Thrain down for a long kiss once Bolg let him have a moment’s peace. “So very much.”

“I’ve only been gone a handful of hours.” He wrapped his arms around me.

“Yes. Hours. Not minutes. Hours.” As if logic had any place here.

I thought the need to be around him would lessen over time, but it hadn’t. I still preferred to be with him every second of every day. Not that that was ever an option. But if it became one? I was there for it.

“What smells so delicious?”

“I made some lasagna. And I thought maybe we could stay in tonight.” We stayed in a lot, partly for the dog and partly because I was a homebody.

His brow lifted in curiosity.

“I picked up a new game.”

That piqued his interest.

“It’s on the coffee table.”

I knew the second he saw it, because he barked out a laugh so fast. “How did you find orc-themed Go Fish?”

I smirked. “I have my ways.” And by ways, I meant that I got every orc-themed pop-up ever, and one of them mentioned this new release.

“Sexy ways?” He squeezed my hands.

“Very sexy ways.” If sexy ways were googling recipes.

We ate dinner, and, of course, I gave him a couple of bites of mine. How could I not when he responded so viscerally from the simple act?

And then, as we sat down to play cards, I took out the gift box I’d hidden behind the couch and set it on top of the deck.

“I got these for us.”

He tilted his head.

“You got these for us?”

“Yeah. I know mating is deeper than marriage and all of that. But I saw some of this artist’s work on social media, and I thought… Well, it reminded me of you.”

He opened the box, and inside were two rings. There was nothing innately special about giving someone a ring, especially when they were already mated. But these rings were special. They looked almost identical to the bracelet he wore.

His lips parted. “How did you—”

“Lucky, I guess.” I swallowed. “What do you think?”

He exhaled, his eyes never leaving the box.

“I think…” He took one out and rolled it in his fingers. “I love you.” His voice was soft, and that somehow made it more powerful. “And I’d be honored to wear your ring. That way, everyone, including humans, know that you are mine, and I am yours.”

The possessiveness of his words and tone did things to me. I held up my hand, and he slid the ring onto my finger, followed by me doing the same to him.

“I love you, alpha mine, more than anything. And wearing something that reminds me of you makes your absence just a little less difficult.”

Melodramatic? Absolutely. But also true.

He traced his finger over the band he’d placed on my hand. “If you want, we can get married. I know that’s a pretty human thing, and I’d hate for you to miss out because you chose me.”

He squeezed my hand.

“There’s no commitment greater than what the two of us have.” I didn’t need or want a wedding. I wanted Thrain, and I already had him.

I rubbed my cheek against his, his tusks grazing my jawline.

“I love you so much.” His voice was a whisper, a promise.

“Thank you for having your meet and greet. I’d been dreaming of you my entire life, not realizing that’s what it was. Meeting you that day made all of my dreams come true.” I smiled against his skin.

“That’s where you are wrong, sweet mate. It was me who had my dreams come true that day. It was me.”