Page 8 of The Orc's Innocent Plaything

How many times in the last months had I stroked myself like this, thinking of her? Thinking of my Mate who wasn’t mine? Thinking of Myra’s dark skin and lithe curves and rare smiles?

If I couldn’t have her in my bed, I’d have her in my dreams.

I wasn’t proud of the way I came into the cloth I’d used to clean earlier, grunting her name quietly. But it wasn’t the first time, either.

With a sigh, I tossed the cloth into my wash pile and went to heat some water.

I needed to go to bed.

And hope I would dream of something besides her.

Myra

Oh God.

Was I really doing this?

Of course. You deserve this. Your sister agrees. We all agree. Just knock on the damned door!

Instead, I stared at the wooden panel, lit by the half-moon glinting off the snow piled around the walkway. The forge was never completely cold, and thus Vartok’s cottage was never completely dark.

Mayhap tonight was the exception. Mayhap tonight he’d gone to bed at a reasonable hour insteadof allowing the stress and pressure of running the clan in his brother’s absence keep him awake all night.

Are you hoping that is the case, or dreading it?

Mayhap I should not have had that extra ale.

I swayed forward, and before my good sense could stop it, I’d knocked.

On Vartok’s door.

In the middle of the night.

I told myself I would give him ten seconds. If he didn’t answer by then, I would assume he was asleep and slink away to my bed—to try to satisfy this ache with my fingers yet again—and pretend it never happened.

But by the time I reached “four” I heard footsteps, and then the door was being yanked open.

“Myra,” Vartok blurted before he could even fully see me. “What is it? Is Avaleen well?”

How had he known ‘twas me? Wait, what had he asked? The ale had muddled my thought processes, surely.

“I…she is fine,” I managed, swallowing past a dry throat. “Sleeping soundly with your cousin snoring at her side.”

Sharing a cottage with my sister and her Mate had been…an education, if naught else.

At my announcement, Vartok’s large shoulders loosened, and I realized he’d been worried for Avaleen.

Logical. Why else would you be at his door this late at night?

Now he was eyeing me speculatively.

“Come in.”

Telling myself I was only agreeing because it was freezing outside, and to do otherwise would be rude, I accepted his invitation. When the door shut behind me, my heart sped up.

He stepped away from me, making no move to take my cloak. Good, I told myself. Good. I didn’t need to be here long.

Did I?

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