Page 6 of Marked by the Wild Orc (Heat & Ink)

Chapter 6

Talon

T he front door of Heat & Ink bursts open. Glass shatters and wood cracks.

Luckily, I’d already sent out an email and text blast that we would be closed today.

I look up and see Kavin has blown through the door and lower my head with acceptance. There was always the very real possibility of this happening. I stopped by his house to tell him face to face about my need to keep his sister away from me, but Mia was stubborn and wouldn't tell me where he was. I assumed he was on shift, but when I went to the firehouse, he was out actually working on a fire.

And now he got to Krissy before I could.

He stomps inside, ready for battle. “I placed my sister here with you because I promised she’d be safe,” he snarls. “She told me you fired her today, and that, in fact, this was the second time, but she hid it from me the first time. You're lucky that happened.”

“You don't understand, Kavin. I wanted to tell you.”

“I put my sister under your care, only you, not anybody else. I don't have any other family besides my father and this sister. You have lots of family and I have none. She's the same, all she has is me, and I put her under my best friend's care. I told you that she needed to be treated well. You knew what I expected.” He cracks his neck and lifts his fists. “And I warned you what would happen if you didn't.”

“You did,” I acknowledge.

“I found her crying.”

Shame settles in my chest. “I had to fire her,” I tell him.

“You did not.” He steps forward and slams a fist in my face.

I feel the crunch of bone and nearly fall.

My tusks are longer lately, but then so are his. I feel more strength than I normally have because my body is making itself ready for mating, which has never happened before. In ancient times, we sometimes fought against each other before a female was taken, but the moment she physically or verbally declared her mate it was over. We battle against each other for dominance and prestige or positions within our communes. And friends settle disputes with battle. Also, we've had to historically fight our claim off from other humans.

Kavin and I have fought before, and we are equally matched in both strength and skill. I am older than him but also slightly bigger. But this time, I understand that I deserve all his rage. I hit back but pull my punches. He grabs onto my horns and slams me against the wall. I grab onto his waist and rush him.

And we fall against the counter. My friend pounds on me again and again with rock hard fists.

Shadow shrieks and leaps onto his back, trying to shred skin.

Kavin bats him away. “Your animals will not save you. You need to pay for the pain you have caused to my sister.”

I roll to my side and take deep, painful breaths, blood dripping from my lips. “I am wrong,” I agree. “That second day when I could tell how she felt about me and then I knew something was wrong, because I wasn't rejecting her as I should—that was the day I should have fired her by giving her a good bonus so that she could find something else. But I was weak.”

“My sister does not want you as a mate.”

“She does.”

He grabs for me and punches me in the face again. “If this is true, why do you play with her feelings?”

“Because I am weak. And I also want her.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.”

“You are angry at your body’s reaction towards my sister and are trying to resist because you hate her and are angry at the fact that your body chooses her?”

“No. I am confused at the fact that my body must’ve healed her so she can become pregnant.”

He punches me again.

“And I am angry because my body and mind wants her fully now, exactly when the first snow starts. I fired her because you and I both know I won’t be able to treat her with respect until springtime.”

Finally, Kavin lets go and steps back. “You love her?”

“I do,” I whisper.

“Kavin?” a female voice cries out. “Talon?” Krissy of course arrives, probably because Kavin had first stopped at her apartment and she’s here to talk him down. She steps over the debris. “Oh my god, what are you two doing?”

A growl rumbles in my chest as my body reacts to the sound of my bride’s voice. Primitive instincts take hold and I struggle to move past the large orc in my way so I can grab my bride.

Kavin looks over at his sister. “Get out,” he bellows. “Stay away from Talon and this store. He is right. Orcs claim their brides in the dark of winter so you must go.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Get out and go home.”

My troubled bride throws her hands up in the air. “You are both assholes,” she declares, lifts her chin and marches with as much pride as she can muster, back out the ruined door and returns to her car.

A growl rumbles in my chest. “And now you are the one who makes her cry.”

Kavin slides down and sits on the ground. “I will fix it.”

“No, she is no longer your responsibility. I will fix it.”

“She is my sister.”

“She is my bride.”

“Yeah and maybe neither of you assholes thought of the possibility that you might want to ask Krissy what she wants.”

I look over at Mia, Kavin’s glowering bride, who has her hands on her hips. “You have been gone for too long, so I came to take you home. Let him fix it,” she orders. “I need you home. My feet are killing me.”

Kavin smiles wide, gets up and staggers over to her. “Yes, my bride. One foot massage on the way.” He scoops his heavily pregnant bride into his arms and is gone.

Later that night I return to the shop and attach a sheet of plastic to the gaping hole in front of Heat & Ink.

Oreg and Doril have already hired a team of orcs who will clean all of this up tomorrow and have it fixed like new. But I need to keep the snow and rain out overnight to decrease the damage. No one will try and commit theft because this is an orc establishment, and they know the consequences of such an endeavor.

I hear a crunch of glass and look up. “Krissy,” I growl. “Two more months. You must wait two more months.” I take a step back because even while upset, she somehow grows more beautiful each time I see her lately.

She wears simple, thick sweats and snow boots and a jacket. Her hair is pulled back from her face. “I know it’s kinda crazy for me to come back again, after being kicked out of here two times already today, but…I can’t help it, I saw the light on from my apartment window and I had to drive over and tell you…I really don’t understand. I feel like you and my brother came to some sort of weird understanding today, but the only one who doesn’t understand anything is me. Kavin texted me earlier and said something again about how it’s the dark of winter and so you can’t talk to me until spring and how in spring everything will be fine. He said I did have to remain fired until the spring and to wait and get my job back? But, Talon, spring isn’t until almost the end of March and that’s two months from now. Who is going to work the front counter for the next two months?” Her voice cracks. “Who is going to take care of the cats?”

I swallow hard and clutch the doorframe. I am exhausted with all this denial and without Kavin’s presence to block my baser urges I know I will fail and claim her in a rough manner. She has stepped into the lion’s den. “You need to leave and ask all these questions to either Oreg or Doril until…”

“March?”

“Yes.”

“What happens in March? What am I waiting for?”

I take a deep breath, which doesn’t help matters because I inhale the scent of her arousal. “You are waiting to become my bride.”

“I am?” Her features brighten. “Talon, are you asking me to marry you?”

“I’m asking you to become my mate, which is very different from that stupid, flimsy human construct of marriage. A mating can never be broken and will last the entire lifetimes of both human and orc.”

“Why do we have to wait to see each other until March for this?”

“Krissy, you can see with your own eyes that I am not the same. My tusks are longer and my horns are sharper. I am hard and leaking whenever you are near. In the dark of winter orcs have historically claimed their brides. This is the time when I cannot remain sane. I will possibly take you roughly. I might, even now, not let you leave and instead grab you and take you to my home and keep you there, not checking for consent.”

“What if I give my consent to all of that ahead of time?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. I perfectly understand what you’re saying and I appreciate that you’ve been trying to protect me. Yes, I could leave right now and you’ll never see me until the end of March and we could start all of this over again…but I don’t want to wait. It will hurt me too. There’s no need to wait. I want you as you are right now. I’m not scared.”

I let go of the doorframe and take a step closer, my voice deepening with desire. “You should be.”

She stands her ground. “I want you too. You’ve known that since you met me.”

I pull her close and bury my nose in her neck and give a deep inhale, which calms my mating frenzy. It helps that she is not running from me, lighting up ancient kidnaping instincts. “I will impregnant you with my orc son. Can you stay with me your whole life, having only orc sons and never giving birth to daughters?”

“Are you certain that I will be able to…”

“Yes, you will.”

I lick her neck and pull her in tighter so she can feel how hard I am for her. “If you remain with me tonight, you are deciding that you will be marked.”

“Marked? Where?”

I reach around and grab her ass. “I will mark your ass with my brand so that I can always see it when I take you from behind.”

Her eyes darken and the scent of her arousal intensifies. “Do it.”