Page 61 of Enchanted with the Orc
“No,” he whispered, leaning in to my neck to take a deep breath. “You smell like me.”
I hid a smile, curling myself around him, not enjoying the stickiness of our sweat, but loving the heat and comfort his touch brought. He ran a palm down my back, spanning the entire thing with his fingers, which I’d never thought would be possible. I always assumed I was too big. Too much. But here I was, with this male who made me feel like I wasenough. Perfect.
Burying my face against him, hiding the tears that suddenly popped into my eyes, I ran my own fingers down his perfect, green skin. “What are you thinking?” I asked, running my lips over him next.
I could hear the smile in his voice as he murmured, “When I was back on Hellplane, I’d always imagined my mate. What you’d be like. Whatyou’d smell like and look like. But I never…” he released a ragged breath, squeezing me close to him—almost too tight—but I loved the tightness, the easy way I felt at home with him. Safe in the knowledge that no matter what, he’dneverhurt me.
“I always imagined a lot, Tasia,” he whispered, swallowing hard. “Butyou. You’ve exceeded myeveryexpectation and dream. You’ve given me all the things I wanted and the things I couldn’t even imagine.”
I leaned back to look at him, searching his eyes as he stared down at me with what looked close to worship in his expression. I didn’t need to wonder whether it was all words. It was there, in his face. The truth.
“I didn’t think you existed,” I gasped, running my lips across his jaw in gratitude. “I thought I would be alone. That my expectations were too high. But you… You came to me. You found me.”
“I’ll always find you,” he said against my hair, and I could hear the tremble in his voice. “No matter what, I’ll find you. You and Gruk-ir are mine. I’ll never let you go.”
I’d heard those words before.
I’ll never let you go.
And I let myself marvel for a moment at theextremelydifferent context of the words. One from a male who’d only ever sought to hurt me. The other from a male who would always protect me. I huffed out a small laugh against his skin.
“Thank you,” I said against his skin. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
It was another long moment of him running his palm down the skin of my back and over my hip before I asked, “Can I ask you something… personal?”
His low chuckle vibrated his chest under my ear. “Always. You’re the most personal thing in my life. You can ask meanything.”
I raised my face to smile at him, adjusting my position until I wassplayed over him, my face cushioned on my folded hands on his chest. “Can you tell me about Hellplane? About what it was like there?”
His eyes widened with surprise, and I kicked myself. He shouldn’t besurprisedthat I wanted to know more about him. I promised myself to be less selfish and obtuse in the future. For now, I’d take this one piece of information.
“Hellpane,” he scoffed, leaning his head back and staring up at the ceiling, as if considering what to say—or where to start. “That’s the most accurate name I’ve ever heard for it. It was… hell.” He sighed, looking back down at me and running his fingers through my curls.
“I don’t remember much from when I was younger,” he started, shaking his head. “I was younger than Krusk and Savla, and I can only imagine that after our clan died, they struggled. Because when I was old enough to help, surviving washard,” he sighed. “A struggle every day to get enough to eat. To fight for water rights.” He tugged on one of my curls, staring at it as if entranced.
The words were coming out of him faster now, as if he was there in his mind. “So if that was what it was likeafterwe’d established a routine; I can’t imagine what it was like before. My brothers took care of me. They didn’t have to. They could have left me behind. I was a burden to them.” His brow furrowed and I dug my fingers into his chest, holding him close, not able to imagine a world in which he didn’t exist. It was as if all the breath had been sucked from my body.
He didn’t even notice, his eyes unfocused and his brow pinched. “Surviving was the only thought in our minds for so long. So many winters that we’d wonder if we would die and sometimes wehopedwe would.” He shook his head, hugging me close, dragging me up against him, burying his face in my hair.
I ran my fingers over him in gentle strokes as he sucked in a deep breath. “I’m sofuckingglad we made it.”
My throat was tight with tears, but I stayed silent and let him continue on his own, without my input, providing as much comfort to him as I could.
“Rok was the first one to show us any kindness. I think it was because he lost his family too. He was older and stronger when it happened, but he was… nice. It was a big change from the orcs we’d faced in the past. We’d learned everything we had through trial and error. Most of it wasn’t efficient or the best way to approach a situation.” He huffed out a small laugh, nuzzling me and sucking in a deep breath, savoring my scent and using it to comfort himself.
“He showed us what we were doing wrong and how to fix our hunting and water-seeking. He was…is… a male that I owe my life to. And then we came here and Dristan and Rudgar showed us how to survive on this plane.” His fingers were gentle in my hair, but his laugh was rough. “We have a clan now when I never imagined we ever would. I always thought…” He swallowed hard, and I had to wiggle against him to look up at him where there was an odd darkness in his gaze.
“What?” I whispered, cupping his face and stroking my fingers against his high cheekbones.
He searched my gaze, his eyes caressing every inch of my face before he released a pent up breath. “I always thought I’d die there, struggling and suffering every day. If I’d been there when I found you, I wouldn’t have had anything to give you.” He lowered his gaze, shame filling his expression and it was too much.
I moved up his body, plastering myself to him as I pressed my forehead to his, forcing him to look at me. “Being with you is enough,” I told him, staring into his eyes until he saw the truth there. “Youare what I want, Enka. Just you.”
It took him a moment before his disbelieving look cleared and he squeezed his eyes shut, a single tear leaking out. I pressed my lips there,tasting the saltiness.
“You’re mine,” I whispered against his skin. “All mine, and I love every single part of you.”
He released a breath in a huff, squeezing me and burying his face against the side of my neck, hiding from me but when his shoulders shook, I understood, letting my own tears leak out of my eyes.
