Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
“I never wanted to be mated,” I rumble as Emmie shifts to crouch on her knees, waving away another oyster I hold up for her to eat.
“No more, I’ll burst,” she says, turning to face me kneeling between my outstretched legs. “I’m sorry? I mean, you never wanted to be mated, so, I’m sorry, because now, you say you are. Mated, I mean. To me.”
“Never sorry, little one. Sometimes you do not know what you want until you have it.”
She nods, her pink lips pressed tight. “This is beautiful, you ever had a picnic here before?” There’s a hint of jealousy in her voice and it makes me smile. “What?” She chirps on a little giggle. “You’re smiling. I’ve never seen you smile. You are handsome when you smile.”
“I’m not handsome when I don’t?”
“Well sure…” She reaches out and presses her fingers to my cheeks, making me groan. “It just looked like a lot of effort with the hut, the picnic, the pillows…”
“Your wedding day should be special,” I say, swallowing as I wait for her reaction.
“What?” Confusion drops her hands from my cheeks, which I miss but I must carry out the plan.
I look behind me, raising my arm and waving my hand in an arc, beckoning the waiting surprise I have for her.
A moment later, Fradrock, one of the eldest in our clan, stands next to the hut.
“Who’s this?” Emmie looks frightened but I draw her next to me as I stand, pulling her up and off her feet.
“This is the closest thing orcs have to a priest or cleric. This is Fradrock, he was a friend to my father, and an elder in the clan. He will do this marriage ceremony. I do not want you having to give me milk without buying the cow.”
Her eyes bolt wide. “Who taught you that saying?”
“Raven. She said, human females sometimes do not like to give away their milk if the male is not buying the cow. It means—”
She waves her hand to stop me. “I know what it means, I didn’t know an orc would know is what I meant.”
Chapter
Six
Emmie
“Come.” Fradrock motions for us to stand in front of him. “I did my best to understand this marriage ceremony. I understand some take hours. This one will not. I do not see the need for it, but to honor the Lakktra clan and Tigor, I have agreed. Now, let’s get started. Stand here, you hold her while I speak.”
Tigor sweeps his arms under me, holding me like he’s carrying his bride over the threshold as the elder orc begins.
He holds up one hand, his face lined with scars and signs of age beyond what I’ve seen in orcs before. I’m not sure why I’ve got no protest for what’s happening but if it takes him buying the cow before I can give him the milk, so be it, because I gotta say, I’m ready to be milked.
“You are mated,” Fradrock starts. “That is infinite. No others have you had before…” He pauses and looks at me, raising his eyebrows, then he looks at Tigor and lowers his voice. “She is human, are you sure she has had no others before?”
Tigor looks suddenly worried, his red eyes on mine, a desperation in the tension on his face.
“I’m unsullied,” I announce with more formality than is called for, but when in Rome… They look at each other then back to me, confusion knitting their wide, green foreheads. “Guys, I’ve never been had. Nada, nothing. Pure and virginal, I am.”
They consider this for a moment as I roll my eyes, then the elder seems to catch on and continues.
“Very well.” He clears his throat, raises his hand again over us. “You are mated. No others have you had before, and no others will you have. You are bound, mated and married. Now, kiss and let it be official in the human world and the orc realm.”
Chapter
Seven
Tigor
I press her lips into mine, holding her head in my hand, securing her against me. Our kiss captures all the things I want with this human female. The life, love, mating, family. I knew it the moment I saw her standing in my doorway and now, she is mine. Her flavor tantalizes me once again, my cock full and thick, ready to give her my seed, my passion, my loyalty, my care, my heart and our children.
There is nothing that could have prepared me for this feeling. I will do everything for her. Build her the world she wants and tear down any that threaten what is mine. Our tongues wind and slick against one another as I vaguely register that Fradrock is moving back into the woods, muttering to himself about humans and how the world is going to hell in a handbasket or something.
I ache to be inside my mate. My wife. I carry her back to the hides, lay her head on the pillows and stand above admiring her.