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Kargorr

A ssembly of the parog was almost complete, much quicker than he had anticipated. Good. Then they could move on to the next part of the plan and refill their diminishing food and supply stores.

Lord Kargorr felt relaxed as he returned to his tent, ready to eat and then fuck, and then likely fuck some more before he slept. He’d never slept better than when he did with Cedar curled under his arm, her small face against his chest.

But when he slipped inside, she wasn’t there. His heart stilled, and his body turned cold. He wondered if she’d run off, or if someone had spirited her away.

He stormed out of the tent, searching this way and that for her. His fear had morphed quickly into anger. Kargorr was ready to shout for his warriors when a familiar giggle came from nearby. He’d only heard the sound once before, when Cedar’s face was in the furs, but he recognized it.

She came around the corner, a small orcling running behind her. A few paces away, poor old Rathka was following, her lip curled in disgust. His woman paused to lean down and tickle the orcling under the armpits, and he ran away yelling with delight.

She froze when she saw Lord Kargorr there waiting, and must have taken in the state of him, because she approached warily.

He’d forgotten about assigning Rathka to chaperone her. He was so accustomed to her being there, waiting for him?—

No matter.

“It’s time for supper,” he said, taking Cedar by the arm. He shooed away Rathka. “Thank you for your service today.”

With a grunt, she waved him off and departed.

“I don’t think she cares for me,” Cedar said as they ducked through the door.

Kargorr had to chuckle at that. “No, I don’t think so, either.”

They ate in silence, while Kargorr sorted through the reaction he’d had. It was natural for an orc to grow possessive after coupling, and that they had done many times. But he’d been ready to tear off someone’s head at the thought she had left him.

That was not becoming of a kazek .

After they ate, Lord Kargorr made sure to take Cedar from behind, so he didn’t have to look at her soft face. Still, filling her up with his seed didn’t fully slake his need, so he rolled her over, hiked her legs up over his shoulders, and slowly fucked her again while looking right into her brown eyes.

She didn’t look away, and he felt himself getting lost in them. It would be so easy to sink his sarga inside her right now. He swelled up and unleashed everything he had, his balls squeezing up tight, her sweetly fluttering cunt milking him of all he had to give.

Still, her eyes were riveted to him. As he lay there panting, still sunk deep in her warmth, something even hotter than his bare desire for her began to burn for the small human tangled in his arms.

Her lips were a dark brown-pink, and they looked so lovely spreading apart with each of her labored breaths. Life shone in her bright eyes, and when she still didn’t look away after another heady moment, he leaned down closer to her.

Kargorr’s relief at finding her safe today, the tiny seed of pleasure he felt at watching her play with that orcling, all built in his throat until he had no choice. He closed the distance between them and crushed his lips to hers.

Cedar

Why was he kissing her?

Cedar had simply assumed orcs didn’t kiss, that it wasn’t something they did. It’s not as if she’d had much chance to interact with any others outside Kargorr’s tent. So when he pressed his lips to hers, she squeaked into his mouth, thinking perhaps he’d fallen on her. But then he circled her head with his hands, bringing her even closer until his tusks pressed into her cheeks, and she was spun up in his whirlwind.

His lips were solid, and they tore into hers with abandon, pulling her apart, his tongue tracing the seam of her mouth. When she allowed him in, his cock twitched inside her, and she answered by flexing her walls around him. Kargorr groaned, then invaded her mouth with his whole battalion, gently reeling his hips back only to glide in once more, his way made easy and slick by his own seed. Cedar didn’t realize she had given herself over completely until he was sucking on her lips, nipping them with his teeth, and his cock was sliding in and out in a perfect, humming rhythm. Her back arched, her legs hooking over his hips to bring him in deeper, while her arms wound around his neck.

Their bodies moved as one, and Cedar fully forgot who she was. He was a beast, a monster, a creature of death who had snapped Lissa’s neck in front of her, and that meant nothing to her now as he caressed her ass, her hips, her breasts. Still his mouth never relented, and soon she was fully delirious, drowning in him. She couldn’t tell one peak from another as she swooped up and down, one tossing her under while another carried her up.

Then, they were both spent, and she shivered as Kargorr finally withdrew.

“I will be leaving in the morning,” he said as she curled up under the furs, his arm slung over her waist. His finger absently skimmed over the softened curve of her hip bone.

“Leaving?” she asked, falling still. He had just stolen her and brought her here, and now he was leaving?

“For a few days. There is a village—we will return with fresh supplies.”

Cedar knew what he meant, of course. They would raid another town and kill everyone in it, just as they had hers.

She thought she should probably care more. What if they found the village where she grew up, where her family lived? None of them would survive.

Those people sold her away, she was keen to remember. They had turned over their daughter to a wicked old woman in exchange for a single cow. Cedar’s own mother, who birthed her and bathed her, who told her old stories and taught her to cook and clean, had traded her away like a few pieces of silver.

“And so I get Rathka instead of you,” Cedar said, too tired to cultivate what came out of her mouth.

To her surprise, Kargorr chuckled. “Yes. For a few days. But she doesn’t have a cock, so I will not worry.”

Cedar snorted at this. As she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, she wondered if perhaps something was changing—if the wall built tall around him had a top that she could see over. What would be on the other side?

This time when she dreamed of the orc covered in blood, the air filled with the sound of wails, she was no longer standing in front of him.

She was in his arms, her body limp, swaying with the sound of his agonized roar.

Kargorr

He should not have kissed his concubine.

It may not have been the same as using his sarga on her, but it was still an act of intimacy he ought to be avoiding. But her lips had tasted sweet and succulent, and they had given so easily under his, pliant and yet eager, letting him invade and plunder her small mouth. The way she had come undone, all of her passion pouring out, her body clinging tight to his as he claimed her over and over—it had almost undone him, too.

Perhaps it had, and he wasn’t willing to recognize it.

Lord Kargorr awoke to the low, reddened light of dawn trickling in the top of the tent through the smoke hole. Cedar was burrowed deep into his side, her tiny hands curled up between them into fists. Her eyelids fluttered as she dreamed, and she let out a tiny sound of discomfort that unsettled him.

What was she dreaming about that upset her? He wanted to chase it away, because it had no place in the bubble of quietude that surrounded them in his furs.

Kargorr smoothed down some of her tangled hair, and Cedar jolted awake, her body stiffening in his arms. She let out a few startled breaths, then settled back down so her head rested on his bicep.

It was time for him to get ready, and rolling in the furs with her again was not an efficient way to do that. With a gruff grunt, he disentangled himself and slid out of bed, leaving her curled up there alone.

Cedar didn’t speak as he put on his sling, then his pants and undershirt, before pulling down his thick hide armor with the steel shoulders. The dagger he had given her lay out on the table, so he snatched it up and returned to the bed with it.

“Keep this close to you,” he said in a low voice, leaving it on the top blanket. Then he slid his axe into the belt on his left, his sword on his right, and left the tent before he could change his mind about abandoning that warm, soft place at her side.

Orgha was waiting outside, along with his yapira . She had breakfast in her hands, and when Kargorr emerged, she wore an expression that was clearly displeased. Rathka slid into the tent without another word, leaving them behind.

“Did you sleep on the floor last night?” Kargorr asked Orgha with a chuckle. He probably shouldn’t take amusement in his right hand’s personal suffering, but Kargorr was in a good mood. There was bloodletting in his future.

The other orc gave him an odd look. “Yes. But Rathka will forgive me when I return with a fat turkey for her.” It was customary for a warrior to bring a prize back to their mate, something to show off a strong victory, but Orgha’s yapira had never been one for trinkets.

At the edge of the camp, Lord Kargorr summoned his cat with a whistle. Liga looked dirty and angry as she approached. He hadn’t put too much thought into how she might receive life in the lowlands rather than among the powdery snow of their home. He hoped they wouldn’t have to adopt horses, like the humans did, for travel.

The other warriors had gathered, too, luring in their reticent cats with slabs of raw meat. One of the younger grrosek was negotiating with a cat that didn’t belong to him, and the cat was snarling and quite willing to put up a fight rather than go with an unfamiliar rider.

Kargorr strode in, snarling right back at the big animal, and it instinctively shrank away from him. Then he turned to his warrior.

“What is the problem? Where is your own cat?”

“She gave birth.” The orc sighed and gestured to the livestock pens, where the mother cats would build their dens. “I have no way to ride.”

This piqued Lord Kargorr’s curiosity. “A new litter?”

“A few weeks old. Born right before the move.”

Perhaps this was just what he’d been searching for: another reason for Cedar to want to stay. Something to keep her from running, something to keep her from growing lonely. Something that would bring to life her motherly instincts, perhaps, and prepare her for his orcling.

Oh, yes. This would be perfect. And then she would ride her cat alongside his when the parog moved again.

He snapped at the stablemaster to retrieve one of the kittens and bring it to his tent while he was away.

“This kitten is young, kazek ,” the stablemaster said with a careful amount of uncertainty. “It will have to be fed.”

Even better, Kargorr thought. It would be helpless and small and need Cedar’s constant attention.

“Bring my concubine everything she’ll need to care for it.” He smirked at the warrior, who was now without a cat to ride. “You have served your parog well. Stay behind and keep guard. We are still unsure of our surroundings, and an extra set of eyes will be useful.”

The stablemaster emerged with a small, snow-white kitten in his arms, the big fangs only just starting to grow. The creature whimpered as Lord Kargorr bid him to take it to his concubine.

He had made a very smart decision today, and it was barely dawn.

“For the taste of blood,” he called out, holding his axe high into the air, “and for the spoils!”

When he howled, all his warriors howled with him.