Page 18

Erik

I’m drifting in that warm and lovely place between sleeping and waking with Inessa’s rounded backside curled into my lap and her breast cupped in my hand when my phone starts to buzz.

Snickers makes an irritated little grunt and stands, turning in elaborate circles before resettling.

With a groan, I detach myself from Inessa and hurry to answer it before it wakes her. I press the answer button and lift the phone to my ear, sneaking into the living room and shutting the bedroom door behind me. “Mom?”

“Oh my goodness, Erik, we thought you were dead!”

I roll my eyes at my mom’s dramatics. It’s been a few weeks since I called. You can always count on her to blow things up as big as possible. That includes problems, feelings, and people through sheer force of will and excessive feeding.

I blame her for the fact I was head and shoulders above even all the other orcs in the village by the time I was fourteen .

“Mom, you know I’ve just been busy.” If I’m honest, I haven’t worked out how to tell her that I signed up for a foreign mail-order bride. It’s just not the sort of thing I can see her accepting easily.

She groans. “You’re always busy. Ever since you moved to the big city. I tell you it’s no good for you there.”

“Mom, I’m fine.” It’s always the same thing every time we talk. I find it’s best to react as little as possible. “How’s everyone?”

This opens a tirade about my father’s bad knee and how he strained it the other day herding the wyverns after my little brother left the gate open. In Lob’s defense, he’s only twelve. He’s the baby, and he will get away with being the baby for the rest of his life.

I’m sitting with my elbows resting on my knees, so I don’t see the bedroom door open. Mom is on a tirade about the neighbors and how their weeds are encroaching on her garden, and I’m just nodding and waiting for a chance to tell her I’ve got to go.

“Will I make the breakfast this morning?” Inessa’s voice startles me and I jump.

On the other end of the phone, my mom stops mid-sentence. “Who is that? Erik, do you have a female there?”

Unfortunately, her voice is loud enough to be audible even though I don’t have her on speaker.

“Yes, Erik. Who is that?” Inessa’s eyes narrow and I have a moment to appreciate how adorable she is when she’s jealous before my mom launches into the biggest scolding I’ve had since I was my brother’s age and totaled my dad’s car .

“Erik! Is this why you haven’t been calling? How could you? I am your mother and I’m entitled to know if you’re seeing someone. To think that she’s in your apartment, for breakfast no less, and you haven’t even brought her home to introduce her to the family.”

The outraged expression on Inessa’s face clears and pretty soon she’s laughing as Mom keeps going and going.

When I finally extract myself from the call with promises of visiting soon, she’s in the kitchen chopping fruit. “You did not tell them about me.”

I lift a hand to scratch at the back of my head. “I meant to... It’s just...” How do I put this without sounding like a weirdo? Or worse.

“I am foreign.”

“You’re human.”

Her eyes widen.

I sigh. “My mom would have fixed me up with a nice orc years ago if she’d had her way. Only I’ve always been more attracted to humans. Back home, that’s not exactly something you just come out and say. In fact, I think you’re the first person I’ve ever said it out loud to.”

“Ah.” There’s a pause. Unexpectedly, she smiles. “Well now I have met you, I think I’m more attracted to orcs, so I understand. My family would never have accepted a monster even if I wanted to keep in touch with any of them.”

My chest swells to about three times its usual size, and I’m grinning. “Then you don’t think I’m weird. Or, um, objectifying you? My first human girlfriend told me I only liked her because she was human, but that’s not it. And now I’ve gotten to know you, I’m not sure I’d be attracted to anyone else, orc or human.”

“I do not know this word, but I think it is natural to have preferences. I do not think you should have to apologize for them.”

We smile at each other for another long moment. I kinda wish we could go back to bed. I’d sure like another opportunity to hold her, but she finishes the fruit salad and starts frying my bacon, and my stomach rumbles like crazy.

We sit at the counter side by side in comfortable companionship as we eat.

“So how would you feel about a visit to my hometown?” I try. “It’s only orcs. There’s no humans around for miles, and I’m afraid it’s pretty small and basic, but we don’t have to stay long.”

She looks around at me. “You mean we would be staying in a village full of monsters with no humans? And you would introduce me to your family?”

I wince. “Yeah.”

“Then I would love that.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. I really thought that would be a harder sell. In fairness, she hasn’t met my mother yet. I’m already celebrating the victory, and OK, maybe I get a little cocky. “You almost looked jealous back then. Back when you didn’t know who I was talking to.”

Her smile turns into a glare, and even though I’m ninety-nine percent sure she’s not serious, I still quiver a bit. “Watch it!”

“OK. OK, but, um... were you?”

“Of course. You’re mine now. You can’t be talking to other women without me knowing. ”

Oh, that does gooey things to my insides. And firm, pressing things to my cock, which I ignore for the moment.

Heart thudding in my chest, I clear my throat. I can’t believe I’m going to do this, but it’s too good an opportunity to waste given the way things have been going between us. “Actually, it’s funny you say that. I had this crazy idea. Well not crazy. I just—” I break off. What if she doesn’t like it?

What if it’s too far?

Instead of wrestling with the words, I unlock my phone and quickly open the page I was looking at a few nights ago. When I turn the screen so she can see, her brows raise.

I want to snatch it back, but it’s too late now.

She’s already seen it.

“Interesting. It’s for male chastity, yes? To stop you from...” She makes a gesture with her hand like she’s jerking off a cock, and I groan. Why is that so hot?

“Yeah. There’s a key. You could lock me up and keep me like that as long as you wanted.”

There’s another moment of agony while my cock stiffens in my sweatpants, and I study her face closely to try to gauge her reaction.

Then the corners of her lips turn up. “And I would have the key?”

I nod.

“I like this. Let’s buy one.”

I cough. “I, um... I might have bought one already. After the first time. I just had a hunch you might like it.”

“Show me.”

Turns out a cock cage is almost impossible to put on, especially with a beautiful woman handling my unruly cock. It refuses to go soft enough to stuff into the small metal contraption with her anywhere in the room.

After several failed attempts, she eventually leaves me to try on my own and I finally manage it. I have a rush of emotions the moment I pull the key from the lock. My cock is already straining against the bars, and the feeling is strange and erotic and makes wearing it that much harder. Every time I think I’ve calmed down again, I think about wearing it for her and the smile on her face when she saw what I had in mind, and I’m right back to agony again.

It’s the sweetest feeling though. Almost as if she’s actually touching me.

When I finally emerge from the bathroom, I’m feeling a little sheepish. I never expected it to be that hard.

But when I hand her the key and she slips it onto a chain around her neck, I nearly burst through the bars. I curse under my breath. “This was either a really good or a really bad idea. And I can’t tell which. I was going to suggest I could wear it for the visit to my family, but I’m not even certain I can last that long.”

Inessa gives me a mock pout. “Aww, you could last that long for me, couldn’t you? I think that is a brilliant idea.”

I could probably fly right now if she told me to, so I and nod and we go into the bedroom to pack some things .

We’ll leave tomorrow after I finish work.

I think I’m in for the longest three days of my life.