Page 31 of Enchanted with the Orc
It didn’t help that I was completely eager for every bit of herself that she gave me. She showed me what she wanted to show me, and hid so much for me.
Peeling away her layers required patience and time and I had both in spades. My Gruk-ir on the other hand, was settling into our life here as if she’d been born into it.
She enjoyed every single gift that I showered on her, and even though I knew that Tasia didn’t approve, I wanted to give her everything. And I was ruthless. I would let Gruk-ir see the gifts first, before her mother did.
That way I could pretend that it was already one of the gifts that I had previously given her. If Tasia noticed, she hadn’t said anything yet. I was pretty sure she was putting up with me for now.
But I wanted so much more than that. Being this close to her for two weeks was slowly killing me. Being so close to her, and not being able to touch her was absolute torture.
I was surrounded by her scent, the sight of her, the sound of her and on occasion—very lucky occasions—she would touch me. This typically happened when our Gruk-ir was around. Then she would initiate touch to take her from me for something they needed to do, or it would be an accident. I never pushed for it. I wanted all of her touches to be voluntary.
For this little while, it was as if we were a real family. And I was gonna treasure every moment of it.
As it turned out, it was my Gruk-ir’s birthday. I knew that the birthday party had been early, but I hadn’t been aware of exactly when her birthday was until Tasia had asked me to put Gruk-ir’s papers into the safe. Her birth certificate had been one of the papers that had been put away, and I had spotted the date of her birth
I wanted her birthday to be special. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do it, especially since her coven wasn’t here. But I’d tried anyway.
I had some ideas, and Darak helped me put some things together.I didn’t want to override what Tasia had scheduled—not that she’d mentioned anything to me—but I didn’t know how to approach it without letting her know that I peeked at the documents.
I’d also taken a look at the name of the father on their certificate. David Wright. The fucking name haunted me.
He was the monster who had traumatized my mate. I just knew it.
I started looking into him, and based on his history, I knew he was trouble. He hadn’t been arrested for anything, but there’d been complaints against him.
None of the complaints had been substantiated, and it worried me that the victims had never followed up. It made me wonder if they’d gone missing.
I had already asked Darak to start looking into it for me. While I was focusing on wooing my mate, and getting to know my daughter, I was entrusting him with the background search of the asshole who had hurt her.
It was more than I was used to doing. With something this close to me, I usually handled it myself or with my brothers. But Darak was proving to be trustworthy. He was quiet and intense in a way that reminded me of Dristan, but more withdrawn than grumpy.
Yet he’d been quietly helping me with everything I needed. The male was a good one, and I appreciated everything he’d done for me and my tiny family. He hadn’t given me an update yet, and that worried me, but I knew we’d be safe as long as we didn’t leave the hotel. That was all that mattered for now.
I strummed my fingers against my thigh, watching Tasia out of the corner of my eye as she stretched to reach the top shelf in the mini-kitchen pantry that we’d set up. She was grabbing oatmeal for our daughter, but my eyes were latched onto where her back arched and her ass stuck out atjustthe right angle.
It was everything I could do to not growl low in my chest. My female wasperfect.And I had to lasso my self-control so that I didn’t touch her.
I was jarred from my lustful thoughts as a little missile launched itself onto my head. Startled, but aware that these sneak-attacks were a regular occurrence, I kept very still, hooking my hands over my blunted tusks. I’d been filing them regularly, but I didn’t trust them around our Gruk-ir’s tender skin at all.
“Did I get you, Abu?” our daughter crowed, giggling from her perch on my shoulders. “You were too busy staring at Mommy,” she added.
I felt heat rush to my face, but laughed it off as if nothing was wrong with that. I saw Tasia turn to send a quirked eyebrow my way, but I pretended not to see.
“You got me,” I told Gabbi, ensuring she was securely perched and wouldn’t fall. “And you’re getting better and better,” I added, making her wiggle with pride.
“Mommy, I scared Abu!” she squealed and it still struck me with awe every time I realized how comfortable our daughter was with me. She laid her head on top of mine, giving a huge yawn, just as I heard a ping on my phone.
“Breakfast time,” Tasia called, moving behind me and lifting Gruk-ir from her perch so she could cuddle her close.
“It’s my birthday,” Gabbi announced at the top of her lungs and then smothered another yawn. It took a little while for our daughter to wake herself up fully.
“It is?” I asked, pretending to be surprised, and she nodded with enthusiasm while Tasia sent an awkward smile my way.
“We’re not making a big deal about it since she’s already had her party,” she told me, settling Gabbi into her chair and setting her up with oatmeal, toast and yogurt.
She went straight for the yogurt, dunking her fist into it and thensucking on it. I watched as Tasia rolled her eyes but didn’t admonish her—probably because it was her birthday.
I cleared my throat and Tasia turned to face me, her gorgeous hair falling behind her. She’d wrapped a scarf around her head to keep her hair back, but I wanted to set it loose and bury my face in it.
