Page 6

Erik

“It’s because I’m an orc, isn’t it?” I whisper into the phone.

I don’t think Inessa can hear me, but I don’t want her to catch me talking about her. As if I haven’t already made things worse than bad.

On the other end of the line, Loren is quiet. Eventually she sighs. “I guess you can’t rule that out, but if it is, then she’s the asshole. She knew what she was getting into. I mean she literally signed up to be a mail-order bride to a monster.”

I twist the tassel on the cushion in my lap until there’s an alarming ripping sound. I quickly set it aside. “But what do I do? She’s so beautiful, Loren. I just want to make this work.”

Loren makes a little humph sound. “Beauty isn’t everything, Erik. Don’t let her be mean to you. Unless you like that. But I don’t think you do.”

“You mean like Kivrayn is mean to you?” I say, forlorn. Loren has an interesting relationship with her dragon mate that I can’t say I understand.

She laughs quietly. “Oh, Erik. One day when you grow up, you’ll understand.”

“I am fully grown!” I protest. “Orcs have the same lifespan as humans.”

“I know that, silly. I just mean sometimes you’re very... innocent.”

There’s a pause filled with questions I don’t ask.

Finally Loren makes a sympathetic noise. “Listen, just be patient. It’s probably just a lot to take all at once. Be your lovely self and she’ll come around.”

“Yeah. ’Cause that’s worked so well for me so far.”

“Hmm? Sorry, gotta go. I think Kiv’s home.” Loren hangs up the phone abruptly, leaving me sitting on the sofa with cushion stuffing spilling out over my knee and no better idea of how to get to know my future wife than I had before calling her.

The apartment feels so empty without Snickers. Which is the whole reason I got her in the first place. Well, that and because Loren said it might help me to find a mate. Apparently women like dogs.

That’s it!

I need Snickers back. She’ll help me win over Inessa. I jump to my feet, almost send the vase of flowers I bought Inessa flying and catch it quickly, setting it carefully back on the coffee table.

They’re a bit squashed, but I can’t bear to just throw them away.

I hurry to the bedroom door and tap softly. “I’m going to go for a drive. Would you like to come with me?”

There’s no answer .

Hesitantly, I crack the door open and peek inside. My fiancé is sitting on the bed in the dark room. The light from her phone screen illuminates her face oddly, so it highlights her cheeks and nose and makes her look almost like a monster herself.

“I’m going out,” I repeat.

She doesn’t look up. “Yes.”

With a sigh, I trudge to the cupboard and retrieve my sneakers. “What do you want for dinner?”

From her phone, a pleasant female voice says, “Tomorrow I am going to the shop. What will you be doing?”

“I would go to the park,” she says after a pause.

“Will,” I tell her.

Now she looks around. “What?”

“I will go to the park. In English.”

Her brows draw down over her eyes. “Is not easy! I will like to see you try it in Russian!”

I swallow down my correction of that sentence and shift uncomfortably. My Russian is terrible and I know it. I guess I haven’t tried as hard as she is.

Maybe that’s a good sign. She’s learning English so we can communicate better.

With that thought in mind, I stand a little straighter and bump my head on the ceiling light. I wince. “What would you like for dinner?”

“Whatever you will like.” She goes back to her English lesson, and I leave with a heavy heart.

Loren and Kivrayn live on a huge property about an hour outside Heartstone. She’s told me in the past I can call and borrow a car from Kivrayn to get out there, but I always feel awkward. I mean, he is my boss after all. I call a rideshare instead and spend the drive out thinking of nice things I can do for Inessa.

She said she would go to the park tomorrow. Does that mean she’d like to go for a walk in the park? Maybe we can take Snickers for a walk tonight. There’s a gelato stall down near the dog park and they even have doggy ice cream. I know Snickers would like that. And Inessa and I can have people ice creams.

Snickers is so excited to see me she jumps and yaps and slobbers all over me in the fancy vestibule of Kivrayn’s country manor home. Eventually I pick her up and tuck her under my arm.

“Thank you so much for looking after her for me. I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”

Kivrayn scowls and Loren laughs. “She’s a complete brat, Erik.”

A tendril of smoke escapes from my dragon boss’s nostril. “I prefer brats who don’t chew on the furniture.” He squeezes Loren’s ass and I have to look away. Is it weird that I could never see myself doing something like that to a woman but that I like it way too much?

When I imagine what it might be like to have a lover, I always imagine being the one getting squeezed .

My cheeks heat at the appropriate path of my thoughts. Snickers yaps. “Ah, I’d better take her home I think. Before she gets in any more trouble.”

Loren insists on lending me a car and a driver, and I have to admit it’s a relief to be able to save the extra cash. Anything and everything I can, I’m tucking away into my future fund. I’m still going to buy that lovely nest for my mate. It just might take a little longer than I hoped.

I’m extra inspired now that I’ve met Inessa because I can’t imagine a mate more lovely.

I just have to show her I can give her a good life here.

With Snickers wriggling in my grasp, I climb into the car and we take off. She’s distracted for a while when I crack the window. She sits up on her hind legs and pokes her nose out the opening, her long ears flapping in the breeze and a huge grin on her face. It makes me smile to see her so happy. Her little tail whips back and forth and her tongue lolls out.

She’s not worried about anything. She’s just happy in the moment.

I should be more like that.

Nothing was ever achieved by worrying. That’s for sure.

So I sit back and watch Snickers and think of all the things I’m grateful for.

I’m grateful I spotted Inessa’s ad. I’m grateful I’d saved enough to afford the fees and the cost of her airfare.

I’m grateful for my good friend Loren and my job and having a roof over my head.

There’s a lot to be grateful for.

I don’t have to rush things. Loren’s right. Maybe if I just be myself, that will be enough .

Only I should probably try to be a little less clumsy and a little bit smarter. Maybe I should try to be more assertive. Plenty of people have told me I’m too much of a pushover.

Loren tells me all the time.

The trouble is, I’d much rather make other people happy than get my own way.

Half the time I don’t even really know what my own way looks like. I’m just happy to go with the flow.

I guess maybe I could try figure out what I want and ask Inessa for it. Maybe that’s what she’s waiting for.

I think for a while. What I want is to take her out on a date and have a nice time. I resolve to go straight home and ask her to go out with me tonight.

Simple as that.