Page 41 of Pursued By the Orc
He stared at me for a long, thoughtful moment, his lips pursed, and I let him think. I knew my brother well, and he was the most stubborn among us. He took his time to move and act, but when he did, he did it with his entire being—including his heart.
“Mates are like music,” I told him, slapping him across his shoulder. “If you don’t know about it or you never heard it? I’m sure you could live a regular life. Butwithmusic? It just… it makes life so much better. So much more worth living. You know what I mean?”
Savla gave a thoughtful nod before looking away. I wouldn’t be able to convince him of much more than that, so I left him alone, turning and focusing on what I was doing instead.
“Do you love yours?” he asked, and I sighed, still crouched next to him, peering off into space.
“Yeah, I do, but it’s not because of the bond. I think…” I sighed, scrubbing my palm across my face, not sure how to articulate everything that was swirling in my head and heart. “I thinkthe bond is meant to be biological. It shows you the person that you’d have the most optimal younglings with. But… that’s not why I love her,” I explained with a simple shrug. “She’s everything that I’d ever hoped to find and more. I’ve dreamt of this bond my entire life, Sav, and when I met her she still blew me away.”
Savla hummed, nodding, but I knew he didn’t fully understand. And he wouldn’t. Not until he was feeling the same confusing mix of emotions and swirling fears of losing her.
“One day, you’ll see. I want that for you,” I told him, squeezing his shoulder, but he looked away, a flash of guilt in his eyes that I didn’t understand. “Now let’s go congratulate them.”
He nodded, standing with me before we strode across the room to join the hugs and laughter.
CHAPTER 27
Krusk
“I’m with Krusk,” Zara said with a shrug, taking a bite out of Rudgar’s cake as she pointed at me with the fork. “We should kill him.”
Rudgar shook his head, sending his eyes heavenward in a silent prayer. “I don’t know thatkillingis the right move here. The human is a part of the Bureau. If he goes missing, then—”
“Then who would rightfully care to check in on such a blatant asshole, really?” Zara asked, her hands thrown out in front of her. “I could lure him here on the pretext of our coven needing to meet with him and—”
“You don’t even know what department he works in,” Rudgar argued and she shot him a glare before continuing.
“Afterfinding out what department he works in so that our request seems legit. Then we shank him when we have the chance and off him to Hellplane,” she finished with relish and a feral grin that evenIwas terrified of and she was onourside.
“I agree,” I said with a firm nod, slapping my palm on the table in front of me.
“We don’t even have your mate’s agreement that we should be involving ourselves in the first place,” Dristan sighed, running his hands over the base of Pen’s stomach soothingly. “Butifwe did, then we could think of an intervention. What seems like the best thing so far is to get her permission for us to look into this. Then we can find a way to deal with it. But we’ll need everything she has on him. Everything he’s done so far.”
He was looking at me with that annoyed expression that was always justhis face. I knew he was more annoyed at the male than he was at anything that was happening here, but Ialsoknew that he wanted to kick us all out and have alone time with his mate before his youngling was born.
“Oh,” Pen gasped, gripping her stomach over Dristan’s hand. The male peered down at where their fingers were linked, his eyes crinkling with awe and joy. “That was a big kick. Heloveswhen Daddy puts his foot down,” she laughed, leaning back against her mate. “But I agree. You orcs have the tendency of running forward without looking. Let’s involve her. If she needs us, we’ll be there, but we also have to give her the opportunity to deal with it on her own. Now that she doesn’t need the job, it seems like she’s willing to take the steps.”
She turned to me, a grin spreading across her face. “Thanks to you, Krusk, she has the flexibility of deciding whether she stays or goes after giving him a big oldfuck youreport to HR. If she likes the job, that’s great. But now she has the choice.”
I felt heat rise to my cheeks, but I didn’t know what to say, even as Enka slapped me across my back with a smile.
“Other than that—” Pen gasped, her brow furrowing as she stared down at her stomach. Dristan straightened behind her, his own scowl deepening. “Oh! Something’s happening!”
We all stood then, surrounding her, and it was probablyoverwhelming, an entire group of orcs and females around her, but she barely noticed us, her eyes closed as her hands pressed against Dristan’s on her stomach.
“Ow, ow, ow,” she chanted, and Becca was on her knees next to her, looking at Dristan with a stern look.
“Contractions?” she asked, and Dristan nodded, entirely focused on where his hands were on his mate’s stomach.
“Yes, feels like it,” he said, and his firm, calm words belied the sheer panic flashing across his expression.
“Good. Then we’re going to call the midwife. We knew this was going to happen soon, Dris, remember?”
His nod was robotic as he stared down at his mate, frozen in place as she squirmed in his arms. Becca was already dialing on the phone, her hand pressing against Pen’s stomach as well, feeling forthe God’s only knew whatwhile the rest of us stood around like idiots.
“Okay,” Zara said, clapping her hands, startling us all out of our frozen positions. “Let’s get out of here, give them all some space. Parents and birthing supportonly.”
We all nodded, but we were still frozen, staring in horror and fascination as Pen leaned back in her mate’s arms, starting the breathing that she’d been practicing for months. Enka’s mate had also moved to kneel next to her and Zara began shoving at us until we were shuffling out of the room and into the hallway outside.
