Page 19 of Marked By the Wild Orc

I look over at Mia, Kavin’s glowering bride, who has her hands on her hips. “You have been gone for too long, so I came to take you home. Let him fix it,” she orders. “I need you home. My feet are killing me.”

Kavin smiles wide, gets up and staggers over to her. “Yes, my bride. One foot massage on the way.” He scoops his heavily pregnant bride into his arms and is gone.

Later that nightI return to the shop and attach a sheet of plastic to the gaping hole in front of Heat & Ink.

Oreg and Doril have already hired a team of orcs who will clean all of this up tomorrow and have it fixed like new. But I need to keep the snow and rain out overnight to decrease the damage. No one will try and commit theft because this is anorc establishment, and they know the consequences of such an endeavor.

I hear a crunch of glass and look up. “Krissy,” I growl. “Two more months. You must wait two more months.” I take a step back because even while upset, she somehow grows more beautiful each time I see her lately.

She wears simple, thick sweats and snow boots and a jacket. Her hair is pulled back from her face. “I know it’s kinda crazy for me to come back again, after being kicked out of here two times already today, but…I can’t help it, I saw the light on from my apartment window and I had to drive over and tell you…I really don’t understand. I feel like you and my brother came to some sort of weird understanding today, but the only one who doesn’t understand anything is me. Kavin texted me earlier and said something again about how it’s the dark of winter and so you can’t talk to me until spring and how in spring everything will be fine. He said I did have to remain fired until the spring and to wait and get my job back? But, Talon, spring isn’t until almost the end of March and that’s two months from now. Who is going to work the front counter for the next two months?” Her voice cracks. “Who is going to take care of the cats?”

I swallow hard and clutch the doorframe. I am exhausted with all this denial and without Kavin’s presence to block my baser urges I know I will fail and claim her in a rough manner. She has stepped into the lion’s den. “You need to leave and ask all these questions to either Oreg or Doril until…”

“March?”

“Yes.”

“What happens in March? What am I waiting for?”

I take a deep breath, which doesn’t help matters because I inhale the scent of her arousal. “You are waiting to become my bride.”

“I am?” Her features brighten. “Talon, are you asking me to marry you?”

“I’m asking you to become my mate, which is very different from that stupid, flimsy human construct of marriage. A mating can never be broken and will last the entire lifetimes of both human and orc.”

“Why do we have to wait to see each other until March for this?”

“Krissy, you can see with your own eyes that I am not the same. My tusks are longer and my horns are sharper. I am hard and leaking whenever you are near. In the dark of winter orcs have historically claimed their brides. This is the time when I cannot remain sane. I will possibly take you roughly. I might, even now, not let you leave and instead grab you and take you to my home and keep you there, not checking for consent.”

“What if I give my consent to all of that ahead of time?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. I perfectly understand what you’re saying and I appreciate that you’ve been trying to protect me. Yes, I could leave right now and you’ll never see me until the end of March and we could start all of this over again…but I don’t want to wait. It will hurt me too. There’s no need to wait. I want you as you are right now. I’m not scared.”

I let go of the doorframe and take a step closer, my voice deepening with desire. “You should be.”

She stands her ground. “I want you too. You’ve known that since you met me.”

I pull her close and bury my nose in her neck and give a deep inhale, which calms my mating frenzy. It helps that she is not running from me, lighting up ancient kidnaping instincts. “I will impregnant you with my orc son. Can you stay with me your whole life, having only orc sons and never giving birth to daughters?”

“Are you certain that I will be able to…”

“Yes, you will.”

I lick her neck and pull her in tighter so she can feel how hard I am for her. “If you remain with me tonight, you are deciding that you will be marked.”

“Marked? Where?”

I reach around and grab her ass. “I will mark your ass with my brand so that I can always see it when I take you from behind.”

Her eyes darken and the scent of her arousal intensifies. “Do it.”

Chapter 7

Krissy

Ican’t help but scream as the heat of the brand lands on my ass. Because it hurts like hell. And then he immediately licks my skin and the pain is gone. I look over my shoulder and see that Talon gazes proudly at his work.

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