Page 71 of The Orc's Eager Captive

“Is he?” I hummed and glanced at Lillian. “Please do not ask me to be polite to yer father, love.”

She pushed the fur out of the way and snaked her arm around my waist.

“Mayhap by our third or fourth kitling…”

The thought of Lillian bearing our children, the fact she spoke of more than one, the fact that after months of bleakness, I finally had a future filled with love…all of it combined until I couldn’t contain myKteer’sexuberance.

Throwing my head back, I allowed my joy to spill out.

“Bloodfire!” I roared happily.

Behind me, dozens of voices took up the call.

“Bloodfire! Bloodfire.”

Drakolt began to chuckle, and as I met his gaze, he accepted the challenge.

“Bladesedge!” he bellowed, only for his men to echo it.

“Bladesedge!”

We were both grinning as we clasped forearms again.

“We might as well make camp here,” he announced. “I ken for a fact my brother has some of the finestuisce beathaye’ll ever taste.”

“Impossible,” I told him succinctly, “because my cousin doesnae leave home without a flask of our grandmother’s brew.”

“’Tis a drinking contest then!” Drakolt declared happily. “By the way, is that the Battleborn colors I see?”

He pulled away to investigate—he seemed determined to meet the Stormseeker—and I turned to wrap my arms around Lillian.

“Ye dinnae mind staying a day here? To solidify our new alliance? Bloodfire, Battleborn…and now Bladesedge.”

“Not at all.” She grinned shyly up at me. “But Vrogul is going to need to find his own Mate, because I have run out of sisters.”

Chuckling, I lifted her so our noses were almost touching.

“I would no’ wish yer father on him.”

“Me neither,” she whispered. “But Idoinsist ye send someone back to the village so the women willnae worry over their Mates.”

‘Twas a brilliant idea, and one I would not have thought of.

“How did I get so lucky when I found ye?”

“I found ye, as I recall.” She kissed the tip of my nose. “Freezing to death in my father’s dungeon.”

“Och, aye, how could I have forgotten?” I teased.

But her expression turned serious. “I do not know. Kragorn, you lost an eye, your scars?—”

“I am no’ dead,” I told her gently. “And I will no’ leave ye, no’ for many years. I will see our sons and daughters find their own Mates, and we will die happy in our auld age.”

Her lips twitched. “You can predict the future now, Mate?”

“I have declared it to be so.” My tone was arrogant, of course. “And I am the Bloodfire chief.”

“Och, aye,” she mimicked, “and the future would not dare disobey you.”