Page 52 of The Orc Who Hated Christmas
“No.” Graal shook his head. “That’s not possible. No. Are you sure?”
“Graal!” Cas beamed. “Yes, I’m sure. I love you.”
“But what about the incubus?”
“Xavi.” Cas made a face. “The arsehole came to the bakery. He told me he made a mistake, that he still loves me, and that he wanted me back.”
“And you didn’t want that?” Graal didn’t understand. “You don’t want him back?”
Cas gave him a lopsided smile. “A few weeks ago, I would have. But today, when he told me he’d made a mistake and when he kissed me. It all just felt wrong. Everything about him was wrong. All I wanted was to be kissing you. I love you, Graal. You. So I pushed him away and told him to fuck off!” Cas laughed.
But then the laughter seemed to drain away from Cas’s face. Cas dropped his gaze. “Honestly, he treated me badly when we were together. I didn’t tell you this, I didn’t tell anyone this, but he cheated on me. I walked in on him fucking someone else.” Cas gave a harsh laugh. “Then he broke up with me and acted like everything was my fault.” He frowned. “And somehow I believed him.”
Graal growled low in his throat. “You deserve better.”
The sadness disappeared from Cas’s face, and he smiled at Graal. “Being with you made me realise that. You treat me so well. I feel safe with you. And you make me feel like I’m always enough. You make me feel loved.”
“That’s because I love you,” Graal said, matter of fact.
“And I love you.” More pixie dust glittered around them. “And you know what else is wonderful?”
“What?” Graal could not imagine anything better than the knowledge that Cas loved him. Which he still struggled to believe.
“We’re mates!”
Graal blinked at him. “Mates?”
Cas nodded. “Briar told me. I was in a rush to find you, soI didn’t really listen, but he read that an orc’s scent and semen are an aphrodisiac to their mate. Did you know that?”
Graal shook his head. “No. But I wasn’t raised by orcs.” He paused, brows furrowing. “I have been told that an orc’s scent attracts mates. But I just thought they meant mates as in someone to fuck. Not like an actual mate or anything like that.” Graal needed to ask Briar more questions. And perhaps Graal should read up on orcs too.
“Well, yours is an aphrodisiac for me. So that makes us mates.” Cas laughed. “And that’s so weird, Graal. Why would semen tell you who your mate is?” Cas shook his head. “But I don’t care, because it means we’re mates! You and me.”
Graal couldn’t speak. He couldn’t fathom that Cas wanted and loved him, and on top of that, they were mates too. So Graal wrapped his arms around Cas and kissed him, never wanting to let his pixie, his lover, his mate go.
CHAPTER 32
Graal carried a table across the room.
“Hey! Stop that, you two,” Cas yelled from the back of the bakery.
Graal paused and turned. He spotted Cas pointing at Jasper and Leo, who were bent over howling with laughter.
Today, Cas dressed in a silver outfit with matching makeup and nails. He wore a white sash draped with baubles. And to top it off, little silver bauble earrings dangled from his ears. Graal’s mate looked stunning. He took Graal’s breath away. As always.
Cas wore the exact same thing he’d been wearing the first day Graal had heard Cas refer to himself as the Christmas pixie. That day, Graal would never have believed he and Cas would end up together. He smiled, watching the pretty pixie he loved more than anything in the world.
“Don’t fuck with me,” Cas snapped at Jasper and Leo. “Not today. It’s Christmas, and I’m the fucking Christmas pixie!”
Graal heard either Jasper or Leo say something, but he couldn’t make out the words.
Then everyone, including Cas, burst out laughing. Pixie dust shimmered in the air. Chuckling, Graal returned to moving the tables the customers usually ate at together. Whilst the bakery had been open for a few hours that morning, they’d closed for the day and now prepared for the family’s Christmas Day festivities.
Once Graal had made one giant table out of small tables, he moved the chairs into place around it. Then he laid out the tablecloths. The Berry family didn’t have one giant tablecloth. So Graal had been instructed to just overlap the ones they normally used.
After that, Graal took out red candles and set them up on the table, lighting each one. Finally, he grabbed the basket of baubles Cas had given him and placed them in small clusters on the mismatched tablecloths of different shades of white and cream.
The scent of food drifted in from the back area, and Graal’s mouth watered. Almost everyone was out back preparing for the feast. Voices and laughter bounced off the walls. He set out plates, bowls, glasses, and cutlery.
