Page 20 of Orc’s Promise (Knotty Monsters #3)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

TANSEY

“ V erig?” I call after him as he races off. He looks like he’s going for a run, which I’ve seen him do many mornings. But this is different. He’s upset, though not at me. For me, I think.

Maybe I was wrong about him. He seemed sincere when he said he never meant to tell me to forget Ethan—that I should never listen to anyone who tells me to forget him.

I follow his footsteps until they completely disappear in an area of woods I don’t know.

I’ve ventured in many directions, never going too far from the main camp because I feared getting lost, or worse, being caught by Baloq alone.

As determined as I am to return to New Earth, I have to be smart about how I do it.

Kovos is an untamed, undeveloped planet with strange flora and fauna that can kill. I’m no good to Ethan dead.

But right now, my concern for Verig drives me farther into the gloomy woods. The treetops touch one another, forming a blanket that blocks out most of the sunlight, leaving the area cool, dark, and foreboding.

I hear a high-pitched, crisp cracking sound, followed by a slight thud. The sounds repeat, drawing me in .

This is foolish. I’m foolish for chasing after an orc, but that’s the crazy part. I’ve never been drawn to another person, never cared about another. Only Ethan. And here I am, ignoring my intuition that says to return to the settlement because I need to find Verig. Need, not want.

Like I need to be with Ethan.

I’m not precisely torn between the two. I can’t be.

I’m Ethan’s mother. No one will ever love or look out for him like I will.

But Verig…Damn, there’s this vulnerability to him that he’s trying so hard to hide.

I’ve seen the goodness in him, the male who strives to do what’s right for all his people… and me.

Why would he want to bond me when there are a few unmated orc females here?

They are gorgeous, probably more so to an orc’s eyes.

Tall, lean, muscular bodies, with long dark hair and tusks that are, dare I say it…

sexier than a male’s even. Something about how the tusks curve near the tips gives the orc women a greater range of facial expressions.

I guess that’s nature’s way of enabling them to tease and attract a male.

And I’ve watched those females do just that as they pass Verig.

His eyes never remain on them. They gloss over the women as if they are nothing more than numbers to be accounted for, people for whom he’s responsible as their leader. His eyes always, and I mean always, settle on me. And stay there. Since the first time I saw him…while I ‘belonged’ to Baloq.

The sharp cracks and dull thuds grow louder with my every step until I break through a dense area of the woods. I nearly gasp at the gorgeous sight before me.

Verig has removed his harnesses and stands in nothing but his loincloth as he chops wood.

Splintered logs fall into a growing pile as he lifts the ax high and lets it fall with enormous power and precision.

Thick, hard muscles gleam with sweat, a testament to his power, his ability to take down any other male.

I’ve never been attracted to muscular men like him before, maybe because I never saw them as ‘real’ men, only men who spent hours in a gym just to score.

Verig’s physique is carved from hard work and dedication to his people, not vanity.

There’s nothing false about him. He’s as human as anyone I know, maybe more so.

“I know you’re there, watching me, female.” He lifts the axe and brings it down again.

“I’ll never be able to sneak up on you, will I?”

“Why would you wish to?”

“To observe. Like when you watched me. Every time I turned around, it seemed you were watching me.”

“I was. And I still watch you, every chance I can. You’re all I think about.”

Oh. I didn’t expect him to say that. I’m not quite sure what I expected, and this is not a conversation I’m prepared to have.

“I should not have left you unprotected.”

“You didn’t. You left me in camp, surrounded by a ton of people, including very well-trained warriors.”

“You no longer fear us?”

“I’m not sure I ever did. Not really. Not even Baloq, at least not until the day he attacked me. I’ve known true evil, Verig. Your people aren’t it.”

He stops chopping wood. “Will you accept me in risha?”

I hesitate, tempted by the need in his voice and my own desire.

“I can’t, and you know why.”

With one fell swoop, he drives the ax into the stump and turns to me.

His massive chest rises and falls rapidly, accentuating the definition of every muscle in this powerful male.

From the size of the wood pile, I suspect he comes here often, working out his frustration or anger in a way that aids his people.

Unlike Nash, who worked out his issues on everyone around him, including me.

One enormous leg steps toward me, and I step back. Not from fear. Verig’s eyes glow with an intensity that wakes the part of me I thought no longer existed, at least not since Nash. The woman who needs to be seen and recognized for who she is.

Which is why I step back.

Verig has become a weakness for me at a time when I must stay strong.

“This will change nothing.” I continue backing away. Another massive thigh flexes as he stalks toward me. My back strikes a tree, trapping me.

“I will have you, Tansey. The question is when.”

My heart races as his hand wraps around the back of my neck. All that power radiates down his fingers to the grip he has on me, but it’s not crippling or painful. Firm. Demanding. And full of a promise I’m not ready to accept.

“Why?” I ask. It’s a stupid question, but I want to understand where he thinks this can go when he knows my answer. Ethan comes first. He has to. I’m not sure Verig fully understands that.

“I’ve let the past control me for too long. It is time I move forward, but I can’t, not without you.”

I search his eyes. I’ve never been key to anyone’s goals or dreams before. “There are other women here, including orc females. Why me, Verig?”

“You suit me,” he says, his voice falling off.

I need more than that. A lot more. I wish I didn’t, but I do.

Before I can tell him that, his lips capture mine in a heat-searing kiss that shuts down my brain. At least that’s the only reason for the position I find myself in next. With my dress hiked up and his legs parting my thighs.

He unties his loincloth, revealing a very long, thick, impossibly hard cock.

There are no more words between us, just heavy panting as he places his hands beneath my ass cheeks, lifts, and impales me with his cock in one swift move that has my legs locking around him.

I have long legs, but fuck me, I can barely reach around this huge male.

Not that I need to support myself. We’re fused together, except where his cock pistons in and out of me.

The first orgasm strikes, traveling up my spine until I throw my head back.

With my neck bared to him, Verig runs his tusks along my throat to my ear.

Shivers travel through me, like tiny aftershocks of a 6.

9 earthquake back in L.A. Except they don’t end as he hooks a tusk in the top of my collar and slices down my dress, rending it in two.

I wore no bra today, as I intended to wash it later, and I only have the one.

“This is how you should dress,” he finally says. “With nothing between me and these lovely teats.” As if my nipples weren’t hard enough, his tusk grazes one of my tips. The sensation of a cool, smooth tusk takes my breath away, and another orgasm rises within me.

“You wish me to walk around naked in front of all the warriors?” I’m so fucking bad, intentionally goading him, but I love that I can let my guard down with him and have fun.

With a pop, he releases the nipple he was sucking on and stares into my eyes. “You will stay covered around other males. Your body is only for me.”

“I could just wear one of those loincloths like you,” I tease.

His eyes darken. “You are trying to anger me.”

“No,” I say softly and run my fingers through the hair at the back of his neck. “I don’t like when you’re angry. It scares me.”

His thumb caresses my cheek and then drags along my jaw. “Your former mate hurt you.”

It’s a statement, not a question. He’s seeing a part of me I’ve tried so hard to hide. Not sure what to say, I lower my eyes.

He tips my head up. His ridges rise, and his eyebrows purse as his cock stills. “I would never hurt you.”

“But when you’re angry, it still scares me. It means something is wrong, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“My problems are not for you to fix. ”

“You’re wrong about that. I mean, if you were mine, then your problems would be mine as well.”

“I would never burden?—”

“You want a female to fuck. Just like Nash.”

“Never compare me to that vekker again! I would never hurt you or your youngling.”

“Why do you want me? You have to realize I’ll never give up on seeing my son.”

“You are a strong female.”

“I’ll destroy what’s between us. I already have.” My hand wanders down his chest to his cock that’s still buried deep in me. “You haven’t even come yet.”

With no warning, he spins me away from the tree and places me on all fours on the ground, then drives back inside me. “I will come. In and on you. And one day we will repeat this during risha.”

My walls contract. Whether it’s his dominance or being fucked while half naked in the woods, I have no idea, but I push back into him, wanting more with him, from him.

“Yes, female. Squeeze my cock,” he says, then slides from me and spurts cum onto my back. He’s marking me.

Fuck, if that doesn’t thrill me.

I lower my head to the ground, reveling as his cum slides toward my neck while my ass rises high in the air like an offering. He’s drawn out the animal in me, and she’s not ready to be caged.

That’s when Verig spreads my ass cheeks open and works his cum into my back hole with two fingers. The head of his cock pushes against me there. Virgin territory. For the orc who’s slowly stealing my heart.

Verig wraps my hair around his hand, holds me steady, and eases into me. He takes it slowly, treating me like the virgin I am there. To my surprise, my body pulls him in, eager for whatever he has in store for me.

“You were made for me, female,” he says as he goes deeper.

The fullness astonishes me. There’s a closeness, a dominance in how he controls me that makes me feel treasured and protected, not small or insignificant like…

No, I won’t think of that asshole ever again.

I won’t let him ruin what I could have with Verig.

Verig withdraws slowly, waking nerves I didn’t know existed. Pulling out creates an intense pleasure that travels down and through to my pussy. Two fingers slide inside as his hips rock in and out of me, gaining speed.

Grunts and the sound of his balls slapping my pussy fill my ears and instill a need to respond in kind, but I cannot move from this position. One final thrust, and he shoots his seed inside me. This time, he doesn’t withdraw, and I wonder if he only did so before to avoid pregnancy.

With his hands playing with my clit, an orgasm strikes. I throw my head back and scream my release.

He presses his ear to mine. “One day, you will be mine. In every way possible.”

He’s been telling me that for weeks. But now, with his cock buried deep in me and his body draped over mine with his lips pressed to my ear, whispering words in Orcan, a language I don’t know, I fear he may be right.