Page 8 of Loved By The Orc (Monster Orc Brides #4)
Varguk:
“AND WHAT DO YOU think of our bridge now that you’ve met her?” Bakog asks.
Tok hands him a dampened cloth so he can wipe more dried blood away.
“She’s pure. And good, deep inside where it counts. Outwardly, she’s the most beautiful goddess who ever existed.”
“Hmm,” Tok says. “You should have seen her as a teen. Mouthy and knobby-kneed, aye?” He looks over at Bakog.
“Aye. But then they all were. Hisa especially.”
Tok glares at him, which makes Bakog snicker, then leans in to make his point. “Shalia went through a stage where she’d go get her ‘daddy’ every time anyone wouldn’t give her what she wanted.”
Bakog winces. “Aye. Uncle Latsil was a beast sometimes. It forced a male to run to Aunt Jo-Jo for help.”
There’s silence while we all ponder the meaning of that statement.
“Let’s not ever say that again,” Tok grunts.
I feel my lip twitch.
Bakog clears his throat. “Aye, well, we were young. Anyway, we wanted to tell you a story about Negan. ‘Twas a few years ago, right before winter hit.”
“If it would have been a few turns later, Oshin would have died,” Tok cuts in, and his voice sounds dangerous.
“Not all the males who come from that clan are honorable,” Bakog continues.
“Three of them had their eyes on Negan. She has never given them the time of day. It rankled. It can’t be proven it was them, but one day Oshin ended up unconscious in a pit.
Pushed from behind. Then the three idiots taunted Negan with the fact that once her father was out of the way, it was up to her mother to give her to a mate.
And you can suspect what happened—she ran off to find him. ”
“Not an easy feat,” Tok interjects. “Rain was heavy that season. Blackhearts have more than one pit dug to thwart invaders to their territory and while they know the general vicinity of each hole, these males had dug a fresh one.”
“Without telling anyone else in their clan?” I ask.
“They claimed they’d just finished it late into the night and planned to tell King Jacovi that day. No one expected Oshin to head out that early, despite knowing the male frequently headed that way on his own,” Bakog says.
“How did Negan get him out?”
“Our girl is clever. She made a ladder and climbed down into the pit, strapped him onto a board made from a side barn door and used both horses to work in tandem to gently pull him out. Not an easy feat, I assure you. Oshin’s steed was already spooked.
Knowing it wasn’t safe in her village, she strapped him across the two massive beasts and they trotted side by side all the way to our village. ”
A lone female? By herself, with an injured father, traveling that distance?
“Why didn’t she barricade herself into her home until he was better?”
“She didn’t trust that she’d be safe. That a fire wouldn’t break out in the barn, drawing her away from her father.
You see”—Bakog leans in, his eyes dark— “if something ‘accidental’ had happened to Oshin, the mother who never even looked at her twice would be her only parent and would have the right to mate her to another. Her mother is best friends with someone in the Blackheart clan and I’m sure they would want their son to have access to the bridge. To our Negan.”
“While Negan was always close to her father, they have an unbreakable bond,” Tok says. “Don’t put her in the middle of a squabble between you and him. He’s a fair male, for a Blackheart. Obviously, if our own King has grown to trust him.”
“I would never ask her to go against her own father—”
“We’re mentioning it because you don’t have an honorable father,” Bakog says smoothly. “So you have nothing to compare her relationship to.”
Again, I come up lacking where Negan is concerned. It’s never been more obvious. I feel my jaw tighten.
While it’s true I’ll never be worthy of this female, I can’t let her go. I have to figure out a way—
“We’re not telling you this tale to point out that you don’t deserve her.”
“It’s obvious you don’t,” Tok says. “But then again, not sure Bak deserves Shalia. Good thing the addled female has forgotten much about him.”
“Nor does Tok deserve Hisa.” Bakog’s lip twitches as he mentions his friend. “But my sister has always had a penchant for older males.”
“Aye. She likes to call me daddy .”
He topples over when Bakog’s palm smacks him upside the head. “I told you never to mention that. I heard it once and it’s sickened me ever since.”
Tok rights himself, a huge grin on his green face.
“Just pointing out that none of the females are normal,” Bakog says.
“Work that to your advantage. It helps to sway Oshin that you are a good protector. While Negan is strong, Oshin will want someone to take care of his daughter. Make sure nothing happens to her while under your care. The Blackhearts are tricky, but the West Mountain orcs have no choice but to band with them.”
“In other words, fail her and we’ll make an example of you whether it was your fault or not,” Tok growls.
“If I fail her, I’d make an example of myself,” I grit.
“Well, let’s get you fixed up so you don’t bleed all over our fair Negan, eh?”
Cleaning the stitches don’t take long. There’s no dragging it out, and Bakog isn’t as heavy handed as some.
I take a quick shower and find by the time I come out, someone has sewed my tunic and washed out the blood from the bottom half.
Bakog hands me a bag of ice to place over the wound for a few minutes and applies a dressing.
“The celebration has ended. Many have ended up in the tavern,” Bakog says.
“Make sure you don’t over exert that wound,” Tok says. “Give it a few days before moving it excessively.” To show me what he means, the male swivels his hips in the mimic of a dance act.
Or a sex act.
My jaw drops. He’s actually very graceful for such a beast.
“Quit showing off,” Bakog grunts.
By the grin on Tok’s face, I think mayhap he was.
These two males are not what I expected at all.