Page 6 of Grumpy Pucking Orc
He clutched the program and pen to his chest, his smile telling me all the things his voice couldn’t. As I went to walk away, I glanced at the male standing next to the child. “Thank you,” he said as he gathered the boy close to him. “Thank you.”
There was nothing to thank me for. Children were a precious gift, no matter if they were orc, or human, or even fae. I’d meant what I’d said to the boy. If he ever found himself in our lands, all he’d need to do is say that Ozar of Clan Heregut had given him clan rites, and he would be welcomed.
He’d be welcomed regardless. Our clan had no children. Few clans had more than two or three at the most. There wasn’t an orc in the realm that wouldn’t embrace Mike Miller and call him brother. Or son.
My heart ached after the encounter with the human child, but my mouth ached even more, so I kept walking until I’d reached the parking area. It was still half-full of vehicles, but there wasn’t a human to be seen. Leaning against a blue sedan, I felt the bruise on my cheek, then explored the holes where this morning two teeth had resided.
The bruise would be gone in a day—two at most. We orcs healed fast. The teeth? I wasn’t the only orc to have lost a tooth or two, although the injury upset me. After a hundred and twenty-two years I still had all my teeth, and it was something I was proud of.
Had. Past tense.
At least it hadn’t been one of my tusks that had been knocked out. An orc’s tusks were their pride and joy. And while there was honor in a battlefield injury that resulted in a disfigurement, orcs with only one—or no tusks—were still regarded with pity.
I might have claimed we were going into battle tonight, but we weren’t. Losing a tusk in some silly game against humans would have been mortifying. Maybe Eng was right. Maybe we should refuse to play this stupid game. Maybe I should stand against the wall and scowl, biding my timeuntil I could convince an eligible human female to return home with me as my bride.
The idea flitted away with only a second of consideration. I’d made a commitment when I’d accepted this job, and I took my responsibilities seriously. Eng might refuse to play, but I couldn’t do that. I’d give this team and this sport my sincere efforts until I could return home with my bride.
Jerking my head up at a noise, I saw a human standing close to me. The female eyed me with big eyes and a set of keys gripped tightly in one hand. She was scared, just like most of the humans I’d encountered since I’d come here. Legends said that humans, females in particular, were always afraid of us, but that after we kidnapped them and brought them home, they changed their minds and became wonderful spouses and mothers. None of that gave me comfort. I didn’t want to start out my marriage with fear. Even if the angels hadn’t forbidden us from snatching unwilling human females, I wouldn’t have done so. I wanted a wife. I wanted children. But there were lines I was unwilling to cross.
“Sorry. This is your car?” I pushed away from the vehicle, unwilling to move much farther in case the female thought I had ill intent toward her.
Then she stepped forward and asked me if I was okay.
How was I supposed to respond to that? Our team had suffered a humiliating defeat, and I was trying hard not to care since no one else on the team, including our owner, did. I’d lost two teeth. I hadn’t yet found a human female willing to be my bride. I hated this place with all its loud noise, lack of trees and wildlife, and tall buildings. I was homesick. Lonely. And seeing that little boy outside of the stadium brought an arrow to my heart, reminding me of all we had lost.
But I doubted this female cared about any of that. I wished she did. I wished someone did, outside of my clan back home.
Wiggling my loose tusk, I shrugged. “I am not dead. That makes me okay.”
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could continue to do this. So far, none of the human females I’d met were at all interested in becoming my wife. Bwat had suggested I might have better luck if I didn’t broach the topic of marriage within the first five minutes of meeting them, that I should try wooing the female for a few days before telling her I intended to marry her and fill her womb with as many children as possible.
I’d been wallowing in pain, simmering anger, and self-pity when this small, slim woman had suddenly appeared. And under the glare of the buzzing parking lot lights, she seemed to have a glow about her.
Something clicked deep inside me—something I’d given up hoping to ever experience.
“Don’t do that,” she told me.
I frowned, wondering what I wasn’t supposed to do. Die? I’d always done my best to avoid that.
The human female took a few steps closer to me. She had silky brown hair, was wearing what humans here considered casual attire, and had a satchel slung over her shoulder.
Purse. Bwat had said it was called a purse.
“Stop doing that,” she insisted, striding purposefully right up to me and gripping my wrist in her small hand.
Her touch sent an electric current through me. Rooted in place, I sucked in a deep breath and smelled a citrus and floral scent that complimented the warm, complexaroma ofher.
It was as if everything that lay deeply dormant inside me came alive. I vibrated from her touch, stepping in to her and breathing in her scent. Her eyes widened, their stormy-gray irises flecked with gold. I felt invisible chains twist around my heart, tying me to her with deceptively delicate bonds.
With a gasp, she jerked her hand away and took a step back.
“I am sorry,” I said. But I wasn’t sorry. There was nothing to be sorry for and everything to celebrate.
A mate bond. I’d just experienced a mate bond. With a human female.
Impossible. Yet it was exactly as my father and other males with my clan had described.
I’d come here ready to wed and bring home any female who was of an appropriate age to breed. It was a cynical view of marriage, but I’d had no choice. It was that or watch as my clan died out.
