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Her scent clung to my skin and although I usually showered in the morning, I didn’t want to wash her off me. I smelled of my mate. And while I knew we were miles away from declaring love, I already felt it. It made my heart beat a little faster, thinking about seeing her though I’d just left her side.
In the kitchen, I prepared a pot of coffee and started a hearty breakfast. All of us had spent some extra energy last night, and I’d planned on spending a lot more today. Plus, last night, there had been nothing between us, so there was a chance Ilya was already carrying our son inside her soft womb.
She would need to consume nourishing things. We didn’t eat much junk, but orc babies were fast growers. Human females needed all the help they could get in growing a tiny orc inside them.
“Morning,” I heard as I stirred the pot of oatmeal sometime later. I had made eggs and sausage along with toast, keeping it all warm in the oven until she woke up. She and Draven had been awake for a while, whispering and giggling in the bedroom. I let them have their time. I’d thought that maybe once we were all together that some jealousy would rear its head, but there was nothing but love and an ease of sharing I didn’t expect. If my friend made her laugh in the mornings, then I was overjoyed that she was happy.
“Good morning, Ilya,” I said.
She walked over and sunk into my embrace as I turned, careful so she wouldn’t burn herself on the stovetop. I nuzzled my nose against her temple, taking in her scent though it was still all around me. In turn, she rubbed her face against my pecs.
“You weren’t there when I woke up. Menace, either.” Her hands splayed along my back.
Draven came in and poured himself a cup of coffee but only after pouring our mate one. We hadn’t talked about it, but if she was my mate, she was most certainly theirs. He set it on the table and placed a kiss to the top of her head as he passed. “Coffee, female.”
“Mmmm.” She broke away from my embrace and sank into the chair at the table. A moan that rivaled the ones she made the night before resounded as she took the first sip. “Stronger today. It’s good.”
I huffed out a laugh through my nose, and my chest puffed out. Over a silly thing like the strength of the coffee of all things.
Pleasing my mate was front and center.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. “I’m sure you are after last night.”
A tiny noise came from her before she blushed brighter than a cranberry.
“Oh, are we being shy about it now?” I bent to put my lips near the rim of her ear. “I’m not. I’m starving this morning.”
Her gaze danced to the stove and then to me and Draven and back to the stove. Humans weren’t usually so candid about sex or, at least, from what I’d seen in movies. But orcs were open and honest about the topic. Life was easier when everyone was open and honest. “I’m really hungry.”
“That’s my girl. Let me fill you a plate.” I served plates for all three of us and we tucked in as soon as I sat. Neither Draven norI missed the way her eyes darted to Menace’s chair more than once.
She was our mate.
I didn’t know if my friend would ever admit that to her. Getting her hopes up seemed unfair.
“This is his way,” Draven spoke. Sometimes we read each other’s minds.
“What?” Ilya said. “Menace?”
She was hurt. It was veiled in her tone, but I could feel it as though it belonged to me. “Yes. Menace. He left early this morning. It’s not my story to tell but he was a warrior. We all were but Menace—he works things out physically.”
“So he’s out there working shit out by punching or attacking things with swords instead of being in here with us—with me?”
“Yes,” I answered. “Last night was powerful. I can only speak for myself, but that wasn’t simply sex to me. I know we said no feelings. No romance. But last night was more than physical.”
“To me as well.” Draven put his hand over hers across the table. “It’s okay if it wasn’t more for you but, for me, that wasn’t merely sex, Ilya. That was something most orcs can only dream about. Wish for. Pray to the gods that they will be blessed with.” He dropped his spoon into his oats. “We all need to be careful here.”
She pushed her breakfast away. “Be careful? I’m not going to hurt any of you. If anything, I’m the one who stands in the most danger here, guys. My life and my heart are on the line at least as much as yours.”
I reached under her chair and slid it so that she was next to me and wrapped her up in my arms. She relaxed into my hold, but there was a stiffness about her. Her walls were going up. I could almost hear the mortar and the clinking of the bricks as she built it within her.
“Your heart is safe with us, Ilya. You are as safe now as you were yesterday before we mated. Everything is going to be okay. I swear it. We just need some time. We are orcs, after all.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Ilya
I should have known better. Maybe orcs could have relationships like the one we agreed to, but the moment they laid their hands and lips on me, my practical side fell away to reveal feelings completely out of the realm of possibility.
