“I’ve missed you, too,” he murmured, and Alwyn couldn’t even bring himself to be annoyed at the laugh in his voice. He let out a deep sigh of relief, and Krujha squeezed him tighter—pulling him toward the bed. The mattress was thin and lumpy, but was long enough for Krujha.
“We shouldn’t,” Alwyn panted, even as Krujha pulled them both down. “I—I haven’t bathed in days, and who knows how many guards are outside.”
“Just be quiet, and it’ll be fine,” the orc replied, already pushing his hands under Alwyn’s clothes. “There was only one guard. And you don’t smell. Even if you did, I like your scent. But I’ll bring you soap if you want.”
Heat flooded Alwyn’s face, but he couldn’t bring himself to protest any further. Krujha’s hands on him were familiar now, bringing a strange sense of relief—something real and tangibleand familiar in the midst of so many unknowns—so he let the orc continue to undress him. He shivered at the cold air on his skin, but Krujha’s hands were warm where they touched.
Krujha had kicked down his trousers, so Alwyn straddled him, pressing their cocks together. The stark size difference between them was never more apparent than it was when they were like this, which had made him feel strangely embarrassed at first, but now only sent desire racing through him. More than anything he wanted to feel Krujha moving inside him—a thought that had frightened him at first, but now felt desperately urgent.
Maybe they would get the chance later, but not today—a cry of pleasure or pain would mean discovery and likely death. So he closed his eyes and rocked against Krujha’s hard cock, the skin-to-skin glide making him shiver.
“You’re perfect,” Krujha breathed, encircling them both with one hand. Alwyn bit back a groan at the tight heat around his length, his own slick easing the way. Everything about what they were doing was so dangerous, so foolish—but the thought of being discovered like this only brought him closer to the edge.
“I’m close,” he panted, barely above a whisper. The mattress was right on the ground, so it made no noise as Alwyn thrust his hips harder into Krujha’s hand, only the soft rustle of cloth and the sounds of their skin against each other.
“There you go,” Krujha purred. “You just needed someone to take care of you, didn’t you? You’ve been so good, little spitfire.”
Alwyn had to clap a hand over his mouth to muffle the needy whine erupting from him as Krujha’s words set him over the edge, his hips stuttering to a stop. He panted through his orgasm, the wet heat of his own seed surrounding his cock. Krujha stroked him through it, still whispering encouragement.
When his eyes fluttered back open, Krujha gently released his grip to drag his fingers through the mess of slick and come thatAlwyn had made. Embarrassed heat rushed through his face—then the orc started to stroke himself, biting his lower lip.
“Feels so good on me,” he panted. His other hand, which had been holding Alwyn’s hip, snaked further back to squeeze his ass. The orc’s fingers pressed against his slick hole, just barely dipping inside. Alwyn stifled a groan as Krujha made a soft noise of pleasure.
“Next time,” Alwyn breathed, rocking in time with Krujha touching himself. “Next time I want to feel you come inside me.”
Krujha made a soft, strangled noise as his hand stuttered around his cock, his eyes squeezing shut. Pleasure curled in Alwyn’s stomach as he watched Krujha come just from the possibility of being inside him, adding to the mess he’d made on his toned stomach.
“Fuck, Alwyn,” he finally panted, all the tension in his body draining away at once. “You can’t just say things like that to me.”
Alwyn had to stifle a laugh at that. “Try and stop me.”
When they’d wiped themselves clean, Alwyn’s head felt much clearer. This had been needlessly risky, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Krujha had said the tent was only being guarded from the front, and he’d been able to sneak in from the back easily enough. As long as they were quiet, maybe they could do this again. And he could always silence them with his magic if he needed to, though that had its own risks, too.
“I know you didn’t come here just to—well, just forthat,” he said wryly, making a small magical light and turning to face Krujha. The orc was now dressed, sitting on the edge of the thin mattress and smiling softly at him. His cheeks were still flushed a darker, almost ruddy green in the afterglow of his orgasm. “Have you found anything out?”
At that, Krujha’s expression faltered, grimacing. Alwyn’s heart sank—that couldn’t be a good sign. The warm cocoon that hadbeen enveloping them so quickly fell away, revealing itself for the illusion of safety that it was.
“Well, they have me working in the kitchens, so there’s lots of gossip, but I’m not sure how much of it might be true,” he said, rubbing his hands, as if even the mention of the work made them ache. “This camp hasn’t been on the move for a few months, so everyone was expecting to wait out the winter here. But now that Zesh is here, no one is sure anymore. Some say he came here because of spies in the camp where he was before, but I don’t know if that’s true. Others are saying he came here to prepare for a siege, but I don’t know how realistic it is that he would make that kind of move in winter—and we aren’t exactly close to Drol Kuggradh, either.”
“So no one knows what’s going on,” Alwyn sighed, his shoulders sagging.
“Not really. But it seems like most of the orcs here are excited by Zesh’s presence, so no one’s too worried about what it means. They have faith.”
Alwyn considered that for a moment, wondering how much of this rebellion was really about Zesh at all. Was he just the rallying point for orcs who opposed the alliance with the elves, or was this a cult of personality that he’d built up around himself? Alwyn would have expected the first, but if there were rebels here excited at the mere prospect of being near Zesh, maybe it was more of the second.
“And our contact? Any information on that?” he asked. From Krujha’s dismayed expression, he could already guess the answer.
“I haven’t been able to track him down yet,” Krujha sighed. “Not that I’ve had much chance to go looking. I had to report for my cooking duty all afternoon, and as soon as I was done, I went looking for you. I’m hoping tomorrow I can make some headway on that.”
“Good,” Alwyn said, nodding. Krujha looked at him for a few moments longer, as if there was more he wanted to say—but then he only sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair as he stood up.
“I shouldn’t stay long,” he said, and Alwyn felt his heart sink, but tried not to show it on his face. “And I can’t promise I’ll be able to come each evening, but I’ll try to make contact with you as often as I can. I’ll bring you soap next time, like you asked.”
“One more thing,” Alwyn blurted out before he could think better of it. “In my bag—there were two books. Can you bring me the smaller one?”
Krujha blinked, surprised, then a chuckle split his features again. “Sure. I suppose you’re probably bored out of your mind here.”
Alwyn nodded, glancing away. He hated anyone knowing about his adventure novels—his guilty pleasure—but somehow he knew Krujha would understand, or at least wouldn’t judge him. And he very well might lose his mind without something other than his thoughts to occupy him.
