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“I was ready rather quickly.” A twinkle bloomed in her eyes. “As in all matings, I imagine you’ll also be ready rather quickly as well.”
I refuse to beg—so far—but how long would it take before he was impossible to resist?
Chapter19
Jaus
Striding along the cobblestone streets toward our home with my mate tucked against my side, I snapped my tusks at any orc who came within an arm’s length of her.
“Thank you for my new clothing,” she said, looking up at me with an expression I couldn’t discern. Thanks, most likely.
Not the affection I hoped . . . I bit back my growl. I didn’t want her to love me, did I?
“You’re welcome,” I said gruffly, shifting our sack of food on my shoulder. “We’ll go back when she has more clothing in stock.”
“You bought me five outfits already!”
“You deserve three times that many.”
Shaking her head, a smile flitted across her lips. “I can only wear one per day. I’ll wash what’s soiled in between. Realistically, two will do fine.”
Two? I scoffed. “That’s not enough clothing formymate. And I’ve thought of hiring someone to do the wash for you.” Now, where had that thought come from?
She stopped and orcs streamed around us, studiously avoiding looking at her when they caught my stern eye. “Why would you do that? I can wash and keep our home clean. Prepare our meals as well.”
“Ourhome?Ourmeals?”
Her shoulders curled forward. “Yourhome, that is.”
I tugged her close and just held her. “It’s your home. Your food. My possessions are yours. Always consider it thus.” I couldn’t resist kissing the top of her head.
The tension fled her body, and I beamed so brightly inside, I was surprised my pendant didn’t reflect the feeling.
“Take care,mate,” she said wryly when we started walking again. “Or I’ll begin to suspect you have some cinnamon roll inside you.”
Perhaps I did—when it came to her.
As we left the main marketplace, she peered around, oblivious to the attention she drew. “Your city is amazing. So many beautiful buildings. So many beautiful people.”
She found orcs attractive, did she? It shouldn’t matter to me, but I couldn’t stop my heart from expanding three times its normal size. It was getting squished against my ribcage.
“I told you many orcs live here.” I struggled to sound neutral. “That we built our homes from steel for protection from the dresalods.”
When had I started softening toward my pretty mate?
From the moment I met her.
“Eleri told me there are six orc clans altogether,” she said, seemingly oblivious to my undying attention. “Do they all live in the city?”
“Mostly just the Azuris Clan,” I fingered my pendant, “and some of the Lumen Clan, though most of those living within the city walls are part of the royal family.”
“Where do the other clans live?”
“One chose to live in the forest, another in an intricate cave system deep within the mountain range. All travel to the city by vox.”
As if to punctuate my words, a flight of mounted vox soared overhead. The large group split, some flying toward the sea, others landing on various buildings including the seaside palace.
Had my father arrived? I didn’t recognize his vox among the others, but the sunlight glinted off the scales of a few resting on the balcony built into the side of the palace tower. His vox was ruby red, and I spied that color among those on the balcony.
