Her Orc Warrior: A Monster Fantasy Romance (Black Bear Clan Book 3)
Her Orc Warrior: Chapter 16

I stand and wrap Vark’s heavy cloak around my shoulders. For the first time, I notice the black bear emblem stitched at the collar, barely visible against the deep brown of the wool. The mark of the clan that Vark belongs to. One that might become my own, too, if everything goes as planned.

The cloak is too long, dragging on the floor behind me, so I pick it up at the bottom and sling it over my arm. It’ll still keep me warm and dry for the short dash across the courtyard from the main door of the inn to the stables.

Tiptoeing to the door, I pull it open, and replace myself face-to-face with Ritta. She gives my outfit a quick perusal, then meets my gaze and grins.

I can’t help the flush that rises to my cheeks. “I’ll, um, only be gone a short time. Can you please watch Wren? She’s asleep, and I think she’ll be out until morning, but if anything happens, you—you know where to replace me, right? I’ll be back soon.”

Ritta rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Hopefully, not too soon, or we’ll have to have a word with Vark about how to take care of a woman.”

I stare at her, and a horrified laugh tears its way out of my throat. “What?”

She gives me a pat on the back. “You will get used to orc ways. I will guard your youngling.”

With that, she nudges me down the corridor, and I leave, too stunned to think of a good reply. I will get used to orc ways? Did she mean that orcs discuss their—their intimate relationships with others?

And do I want to do that, too?

I shake my head. Not yet, I don’t. But maybe it wouldn’t be horrible to replace a female friend there. I haven’t been close to anyone since Wren’s mother died. So maybe this is another aspect of our new life that will change. It’s unexpected, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.

I hurry down the stairs into the hallway leading to the main taproom. There must be people still in there, judging from the voices filtering through the door, and I think for the first time that they’ll surely notice me sneaking past them to the main door. And if they’re still here when Vark and I return, they’ll see us entering the inn…together.

I pause in front of the taproom door, holding my breath. This feels like an acknowledgment of what I’m about to do. It was different with Ritta, because she knows how things stand between Vark and me—she knows we’re fated mates, and that this thing between us is fresh and very much tentative. But the people in this room are strangers, and if they see me walking out to follow Vark, they’ll make their own assumptions for sure.

But why should I care?

The thought shoots through me, defiant and powerful. Why should I care about the opinion of these strangers? Or the crew I left back in Ultrup? None of them ever did anything to help me, and they are not my friends. I don’t owe them anything, least of all my private life.

Lifting my chin, I push open the door and stride into the taproom with confident steps. I nod to the serving maid drying tin mugs behind the bar and head straight for the entryway, and beyond it, the main door of the inn. Even though I can feel several pairs of eyes watching me, no one says anything, which has me lowering my shoulders. Maybe people in these parts of the country are more used to orcs—and their culture.

I’ll have to learn all about them. The last thing I want to do is insult someone because of my ignorance, like I’ve done before.

I’ll start tonight. Vark has made it clear that having a mate is special, and his reaction earlier was telling—he wants to impress me, I think, as well as protect me. My heart flutters at the thought, because no one has ever made it their mission in life to take care of me like that. At the same time, Vark’s behavior is stirring my own instincts, and I want to give him what he needs, too.

But first, I’ll have to figure out what that is.

I run across the courtyard in the heavy rain, holding the hood of Vark’s cloak over my head. The stable door is barely visible in the gloom despite the lanterns that hang on the walls of the courtyard. The front door of the inn closes behind me, cutting off the light from the entryway, and I stumble over a cobblestone, cussing as my toe throbs with pain.

But even though it’s dark, I’m not afraid. I’m running toward safety, into Vark’s arms.

I reach the stable door and slip through. The creaking hinges have me wincing. Inside, in the warm space filled with many snuffling animals, I pause and let my eyes adjust. I remove Vark’s damp cloak and hang it on a tack hook by the door, then take a cautious step forward.

“Vark?” I call softly.

A shadow moves in the corner of my eye, and I swivel in that direction, facing what my brain perceives as a threat. But it’s only my tall orc, hidden in the shadows.

“I’m here,” he says, his voice gruff. “You came.”

I smile at the relief in his words. “Of course I did. I said I would.”

Vark comes closer and wraps his arms around my waist, caging me in. “And you always keep your promises?”

He smells different, of the same soap I used earlier, and I realize he must have found the time to wash. I’m oddly touched that he did that in the short amount of time he had to get ready. I squint at him through the darkness. Do I always keep my promises? I’ve lied often, that’s true, but…

“I’ll always keep them for you,” I say, meaning it.

He hums, his chest vibrating from the sound. “All right. Then I want you to promise me something.”

“What is it?” I ask.

Vark towers over me, his arms around me and his back straight. I go on my tiptoes, trying to press a kiss to his jaw, but he holds himself out of reach. Finally, I drop back on my feet and look him in the eye, waiting for him to speak.

“I want you to promise me that you’ll tell me if I do anything that you dislike tonight,” he says. “Or any other time we’re together.”

Oh.

My throat closes with emotion, so I nod, touched that he’s thinking of me like this.

“I need your word, Hazel.” He’s still so serious, so rigid. “I’m so much larger than you, I could hurt you easily. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”

“I promise,” I croak, then clear my throat. “I’ll let you know. But I know you won’t hurt me, Vark.”

It’s a knowledge I feel deep in my chest, a kernel of glowing affection I can’t explain, not after only knowing him for a handful of days. Not after a lifetime of mistrust and bad experiences. But I trust him completely.

Vark kisses me, his arms tightening around me. I fall into him, my chest against his, and hold on. I never want to let him go. The mere thought of having to give him up fills me with a feral sense of urgency, and I kiss him deeper, showing him how ravenous I am for him.

He lets out a low groan, then picks me up, and I hike up my nightgown to wrap my legs around his waist. He’s so solid, so hard all over, my body reacts instinctively, my belly warming.

“Did you really…” I start to say, then lose my nerve and hide my face from him.

Vark nudges my chin up. “Did I really what, Hazel?”

I think of the evening when I’d found him naked in the river and what he’d said to me. “Did you really, um, make yourself come every day, thinking of me?”

His fingers dig into my ass as if he can’t help himself. “Aye. Sometimes twice. I couldn’t wait to have you in my arms, to finally taste you.”

My mind goes wild with the images his words paint. I remember him standing in the water, stroking his soapy hand over his thick cock, and my belly thrums with need. “I want you to do that again while I watch. But with better lighting this time. Not-not today, but soon.”

Vark hisses in a breath. “Anything you want. Just tell me, and I’ll do it.”

I want to tease him and ask whether he always keeps his promises, too—but somehow, I know he does. He really means what he says. He would show me whatever I want.

“Hold on, pet,” Vark mutters in my ear, then gives my neck a quick nip that he soothes with his tongue. “We have to climb up.”

I wouldn’t care if he took me against the hard wood of the stall beside us, but he seems to have other ideas. Supporting my weight with one hand, he strides to the ladder leading up to the hayloft. Instead of putting me down and letting me climb on my own, he carries me, and I use the opportunity to explore him.

When I lick the shell of his pointed ear and run my teeth lightly over the soft lobe, he gasps and shudders.

“Do you want us to plummet to our deaths?” he growls, then climbs the next rungs faster.

I laugh, burying my face in his tunic. “Do you like it?”

He heaves himself up to the hayloft. “Aye, I like it. Too much.”

I make a note to tease his ears more often in the future, but before I can test this newfound knowledge on Vark’s other ear, my gaze falls on the scene in front of us, and I stare, struck silent.

Vark has transformed the plain country hayloft into a pleasure den.

The heaps of hay have been leveled, covered with blankets. On top of those, he layered clean sheets, as well as several pillows. A lantern burns in one corner, the glass protecting the candle flame inside so we don’t burn the building to the ground, and the effect is startling, throwing cozy shadows through the room. The air isn’t exactly warm, but it’s comfortable enough, the heat of the animals underneath rising to the rafters.

“Vark,” I breathe. “This is perfect.”

He kneels on the blankets and lays me down gently. “You like it?”

“Yes.” I palm his cheek. “This is better than a private room at the inn.”

He smiles, his scar pulling on the skin of his face. I sit up and reach for it, tracing my fingertips from his chin up to where his eye patch covers his eye. I glance over the leather patch and follow the scar from his eyebrow to his hairline.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” I whisper.

He lowers his head slightly, leaning into my touch. “I’m sorry you got a mate like me.”

He sounds so genuinely dejected, his demeanor so different, that I scowl at him.

“You mean a mate who takes care of me?” I bark, my voice sharper than I intended. “A mate who accepts my daughter without question? One who feeds me, keeps me safe at night, and respects me? Why would I want a mate like that, I wonder.”

Vark sits back on his heels, blinking at me in stunned silence. My breaths come fast, and embarrassment trickles in at my outburst.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean—well, I did, but what I wanted to say was that I don’t care about your scar, Vark.”

He closes his eye, and a shudder goes through him.

“I don’t care about your missing eye,” I whisper, going on my knees and closing the distance between us. “Or the fact that you’re not a warrior anymore. You’re good to me.”

He looks at me then, raw vulnerability shining in his gaze. “You are not here because you pity me?”

I smack his chest lightly with the back of my hand. “Stop it. You know that’s not why I came.”

A spark lights up his eye. “Tell me why, then.”

He reaches for me, and in a maneuver too quick for me to follow, he rolls to his back and sits me in his lap so my knees fall on either side of his hips. I shoot out my hands to catch my balance and place them on his chest. His hard muscles flex under my palms.

“Well…” I give him an exaggerated wink. “Apart from everything I told you, I’m hoping you’ll show me more of what we did on the wagon today.” I lean down and press a kiss to his cheek, speaking from the heart. “I’m here because I like you, Vark. Because I like how I feel when I’m with you.”

His big hands come to my waist, and his fingers twitch, gripping me. He swallows, his throat working. “That’s—that’s a good answer.”

“I know,” I whisper.

He grins up at me. Then he rolls us over, dumping me in the soft blanket-covered hay. I squeak as my nightgown rides up. Embarrassed at showing my naked ass while Vark is still fully clothed, I shove the fabric back down, but Vark catches my wrists, stopping me.

“Will you let me see you?” he asks.

I bite my lip, staring up at him. I’d sort of thought we’d be fucking in a rush, half-clothed against the wall, but Vark is staring at me with such hunger in his expression, I can’t deny him this. The way he tracks his gaze from my face to my barely covered pussy, to my naked legs and back again… An answering heat builds in my belly, turning my limbs soft and ratcheting up my heartbeat at the same time.

“Can you—” I motion at his tunic. “Can I see you, too?”

Vark vaults to his feet so fast, it takes me completely by surprise. He pulls on the back of his collar and strips his tunic off in one quick tug. A seam rips, the sound loud in the quiet loft, but Vark doesn’t even pause to check on it. He throws the tunic on the floor and bends to untie his boots. He toes them off and reaches for the laces of his leather pants.

At that, I sit up and lean forward. “Um, can I do that?”

He pauses, his eyebrows rising. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

I go to my knees in front of him. With trembling fingers, I unlace his pants and push them down past his taut ass and muscular thighs.

His cock bobs up at me, thick and hard already. I pause, gasping at the sight of it. My mind refuses to picture how we’ll fit together, but my body reacts all on its own, tensing and warming at the same time.

Leaning forward, I push Vark’s pants all the way down. My lips are a breath away from the dark-green column of Vark’s cock, and he hisses as I brush my cheek over it by accident. He steps out of his pants and looms over me, magnificent and so different.

The thick scar tissue on his thigh captures my attention. I’d noticed him rubbing his leg when he was deep in thought, and I know it must be another injury he’d suffered in the attack that left him without an eye.

Without thinking, I press my lips to it and close my eyes. The skin there is warm, even though the texture is different, and I caress it gently, not wanting to cause him any pain.

Vark’s sharp inhale brings tears to my eyes, but I force them away, not wanting to ruin this moment.

“Hazel…” he murmurs. “Look at me.”

I lift my gaze to his and replace him staring down at me with such a raw, open expression, my heart thumps harder. He’s had his fingers in my pants, his tongue in my mouth, and yet this is more intimate than all of that.

“Tell me what to do,” I whisper.

It’s not pity driving my desire to make him feel good. I wouldn’t do that to him—it would ruin this fragile bond between us. I care for Vark. I’m not sure I want to call it anything more than that yet, but the spark of attraction in my belly has spread all over my chest now, glowing bright.

“Will you touch me, pet?” he rasps, his voice deep.

I glance from his face to his cock—it’s difficult not to stare at it, because it’s so very insistent, the broad, rounded tip pointing up, the bulbous knot at the bottom bulging. His long shaft is dark green and veined, and I’m not certain at all that I’ll be able to take all of it—let alone the knot.

But I can’t stop myself from reaching forward. It’s part curiosity, part arousal that has me wrapping my fingers around the base of his shaft. My fingers barely touch as I circle them around the hard length. My inner muscles clench around emptiness, a sensation I’ve never experienced, as if my body is so ready to draw him in that it’s doing a practice run all on its own.

“That’s it,” Vark murmurs. “Do you like it? The knot will lock inside you when we come. It will feel so good once your pussy takes it all.”

I glance up at him, embarrassment shooting through me. “You can’t talk like that.”

“Hmm.” His voice deepens to a sensual purr, and he flexes his hips slightly, pushing forward into my hand. “That’s very human of you, Hazel. Do you want me to shut up?” He leans over me and brushes his thumb over my cheek. “Do you want me to fuck you in silence, without telling you how beautiful you are with your hand wrapped around my dick and the scent of your wet pussy perfuming the air?”

I gape at Vark, shocked at this side of him. He can scent my—? Oh gods. I squeeze my thighs together, but all that does is give me the tiniest bit of friction between my legs, taunting me. I instinctively tighten my hand around Vark’s cock, and he groans, the sound muffled by the blankets and hay.

Do I want him quiet? Do I want this to be an anonymous, meaningless fuck?

“No.”

Vark frowns down at me. “No?”

I clear my throat and force the words out. “I don’t want you to fuck me in silence.”

To punctuate my words, I run my palm up his shaft to the slick head where creamy white precum is leaking from his tip. I smear it, coating my hand in it, and give him a bolder stroke, from tip to the base and back up again.

Vark sucks in an inhale, then focuses on me. “What do you want, Hazel?”

Licking my lips, I whisper, “I need you to talk me through it. I want you to make it good for me.” Then I add, “Please.”

He stares at me, his forehead furrowed. I expect him to tell me how to suck him off, how to make him come from where I’m kneeling in front of him. I fully expect to enjoy it, too, because I’m dying to get a taste of him. He smells so fantastic, I want to confirm that his taste is just as addictive to me.

But Vark takes my hand away from his cock, then swoops down, dumping me gently onto the pillows. I land with an oof, and he looms over me, naked and so imposing.

He captures my mouth in a kiss, thrusting his hot tongue between my lips. I open for him and wrap my arms around his neck. His warm hands land on my naked thighs, and when he pushes my nightgown up, I don’t resist. He uncovers my pussy, then my belly, and finally my breasts. He draws the nightgown over my head, and I help him, lifting my arms. But instead of tugging the garment free of my hands, Vark tangles it up and uses one hand to pin my wrists above my head, exposing me in the most vulnerable way.

“Vark—” I let out a startled gasp as I try to break away from his hold and get nowhere. “What are you doing?”

He leans down and nuzzles my neck, peppering slow, scratchy kisses over my collarbone. “I want you to let go. If you touch me, you’ll be thinking of my pleasure instead of yours.”

I want to protest, but he’s right. He already brought me to a climax once today, on the wagon, and I’ve been wanting to reciprocate.

“But I want to make you—” I start to protest, but he kisses me again, cutting off my words.

“Later,” he promises. “All right?”

I nod, breathless, and he returns his attention to my neck, where he sucks the tender skin between his teeth and gently bites down. His tusks offer a strange but not unpleasant sensation, their cool, smooth texture gliding over my skin. When he reaches my breasts, I inhale sharply, my nipples already painfully tender.

“Your skin tastes like cream,” he murmurs, then blows a cool stream of air over one nipple. “So sweet.”

Then he takes the nipple into his mouth and sucks, pulling on the sensitive peak. I cry out, arching my back. Exquisite pleasure rolls through me. If Vark wasn’t holding down my hands, I’d try to shove him away—or maybe I’d grab him and hold him close so he couldn’t stop doing this. He switches to my other breast and licks the nipple with the flat of his tongue, then flicks it, grinning at my squeak.

He kisses the tender undersides of my breasts, as if he’s trying to learn my entire body, explore every hidden part of it.

He reaches my belly, and I squirm under his touch. He laughs, tickling me on purpose until I’m giggling, so much more relaxed with him than I ever was with anyone else.

“Will you behave if I let go of your hands?” he asks.

I nod frantically. “Yes! I’ll behave.”

He lifts one eyebrow but loosens his grip on my hands. I shove off the sleeves of my nightgown but remain in the same position, with my wrists crossed above my head.

“Good girl,” he rumbles. “Now keep them there.”

I tremble with the effort of holding back, but I don’t want him to stop, so I grit my teeth and resist. Vark kisses his way down to my right hip, where he licks the sensitive spot right under my hip bone, sending goosebumps over my skin.

His palms land on my thighs, and he spreads my legs, making room for his broad shoulders. I move, lowering my arms, then lift myself on my elbows.

Vark stops kissing me and sends me an admonishing look. “You said you were going to behave.”

“I’m not touching you,” I say, my voice lower than usual. “But if you think I’m not going to watch this, you’re mad.”

He laughs, his breath fanning right over my spread pussy. I’m slick for him, and I know he can smell it, but somehow, it’s not as embarrassing as I thought it would be. He’s still hard and leaking precum, too, so why should I be ashamed of my body’s response to him? I love how affected he is by me—so it stands to reason that he likes my wetness just as much. I spread my knees wider for him and receive an approving hum in response.

Then Vark closes the distance between us, parts my lower lips with two fingers, and licks me from the bottom of my pussy right to the top, where he swirls the tip of his tongue over that sensitive button.

I let out an indecent moan, then bite my lip to keep the sounds inside. Vark grins up at me, licking me again, and keeps his gaze on my face. After a moment of shyness, I realize he’s trying to gauge what I like, so I let him know exactly where his tongue feels amazing. He licks me slowly, building up my pleasure, and when the climax hits me, I cry out in surprise, shocked at the intensity. It’s different from the one he coaxed out of me on the wagon, sweeter and lighter, and my arms collapse under me as I tremble in Vark’s care.

I lie on the blankets, staring at the rafters of the barn. Vark kisses my inner thigh. A trembling sigh falls from my lips, and my eyes sting with tears. I dash them away quickly, so Vark won’t notice, but nothing escapes him.

He rises above me, his expression uncertain. “Did I hurt you? You promised you would—”

I rear up, nearly knocking my head into his chin. “You didn’t.” I take his face between my palms, pull him closer, and kiss him deeply. “It was just that good.”

I lick into his mouth again, tasting myself on his tongue. Vark cups the back of my head and returns the kiss, voracious. But when I reach down to grasp his cock, he moves out of my reach.

“Not yet,” he growls.

I stare at him, confused, but he pushes me down gently and sinks between my thighs again. He fits a long finger into my pussy, then adds another, pumping them in and out in a steady rhythm. My body wakes up, and I shift restlessly on the blankets.

“Vark,” I complain. “Come here.”

He shakes his head. “I need to make you wetter. You need to come for me again, Hazel. Once more, and I’ll give you my cock.”

I sigh and lie back, as if this is a terrible hardship, but when I meet Vark’s gaze, we both grin. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and I try not to think too hard where he’s learned it all. Thinking about him with another woman fills me with an almost uncontrollable urge to scratch and bite and make sure everyone knows he’s mine.

Vark chooses that moment to lean in and suck my pearl between his lips. I cry out, sinking my fingers into his thick black hair. I pull on his braid, and he hisses, then picks up his pace, fucking me deep with his fingers.

“Gods,” I cry out as he reaches a spot inside me that has my vision blacking out. “This is so—ah!”

I shatter, pulsing around Vark’s fingers, my pearl throbbing as he licks it again and again. My muscles contract, my body trembling with release, and I clench my fingertips in Vark’s hair to hold him in place.

Gradually, the world rights itself, and I let out a shuddering exhale. I’m limp and sated, and Vark hasn’t even put his cock inside me. The way he treats me is incredible, and I decide—now that I’m no longer in the throes of a jealous rage—that I’m grateful to the women who taught him all he knows. We’ve both lived our lives before we met, and I can’t blame him for something I’ve also done in the past.

Vark climbs over me, his hips settling between my open thighs. His heavy cock rests on my belly, the tip leaking precum steadily now. It’s hot and sticky, and I get the strangest impulse that I should smear it over me and cover myself with his scent.

I shake my head to chase away the thought. What am I thinking?

But Vark is staring at me just as intently, as if he wants to devour me whole.

“Are you ready, Hazel?” he asks quietly.

I could say no. The male hovering above me would grit his teeth but move away from me and escort me to my bed if I said I didn’t want more from him tonight, I know it. Which is why I raise my legs and wrap them around his waist, hooking my ankles over his ass.

“I’m ready,” I breathe.

Vark supports himself with one arm and reaches between us with his other hand. He grasps his cock and guides the head to my slick pussy. His precum flows over his fingers, showing me how much he wants me.

But it brings something else to mind, and I bite my lower lip. I realize we haven’t talked about protection yet. With him leaking so much, pulling out early won’t do anything to prevent a pregnancy, and given what he told me about his knot, I don’t even think it would be an option.

Vark quirks his lips to the side. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll ask Ritta for the tea.”

“What tea?” I ask.

“The one that’ll let you decide when you want children,” he explains. “Or if you want them at all.”

My heart thumps at this. He’s giving me all the control, letting me decide what happens to my body. I smile up at him, letting him see how much this means to me, and he blinks in surprise.

Then he brings a hand up to my face and strokes the backs of his fingers reverently over my cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”

What I am is a glowing, happy mess, but I don’t tell him that. Instead, I flex my leg muscles, urging him closer.

He laughs, then reaches for his cock again. “Aye, pet, I know what you need.”

He fits himself against me and pushes forward. I gasp at the pressure of his cockhead nudging at the opening of my pussy. It’s broad, much broader than I realized in comparison to me, and he works it forward with short, insistent thrusts. At first, my inner muscles resist, especially as I lift on my elbows again to watch the thick green shaft at my pussy.

Vark groans softly and leans down to kiss me. “Lie back down,” he instructs. “And let me take care of you.”

I want to protest, because surely I should be doing something to help him get his cock inside me, but then I did ask him to talk me through all of this, to make me feel good. So I lie on my back and let out a long exhale, ordering my body to relax.

It’s not as easy, especially since Vark keeps up that steady pressure against my pussy. I’m starting to think this won’t work at all—that the fates were wrong to pick me as his mate. Once again, the fear rises that he’ll be sorry it’s me, not a strong orc woman lying here with him. But Vark reaches between us at that moment and puts his fingers on my pearl, rolling it lightly under his fingertips.

My muscles turn to jelly, and Vark slips in, filling my tight pussy. I clench up again, and he shouts my name, his back bowing. His hips roll as if on their own, and he sinks deeper inside me, the slide of him almost painful.

He stills above me. “For gods’ sake, woman, are you trying to kill me?” he demands. Then he grins down at me. “Actually, this would be the perfect moment for you to try and stab me. I’m putting all my focus on holding back and not rutting into you like an animal, so I wouldn’t notice even if you stuck your blade in my neck.”

I burst out laughing. “It’s a pity then that I had nowhere to hide a knife in my nightgown.”

This moment of humor is enough to get me to relax. I place my palms on Vark’s broad chest, admiring the shifting of his hard muscles under warm skin. He fucks me with tiny, shallow thrusts, but each one is enough to send sparks of pleasure shooting off in my belly. I glance down between us and replace that he’s not even halfway in yet, but somehow, with the sensations he’s already wringing from me, I don’t care.

He sinks in deeper, and we both groan. I dig my fingernails into his shoulders, and Vark leans down, kissing me again. Every kiss, every seductive caress has me softening more under him, and inch by slow inch, he works himself inside.

“You feel so good, pet,” he rasps in my ear, then runs his tongue over the sensitive lobe. “Do you feel me filling you? Do you like it?”

“Yes,” I admit. “But I need you to move, Vark.”

He bites out a rough curse, then lifts himself off me on straightened arms. “Are you sure?” he asks. “I might not be able to hold back if I let go of control. Being inside you is…”

A shudder racks his body, and he hangs his head, breathing through his nose. His nostrils flare wide, and when he lifts his face again, a fire burns in his gaze. He’s barely keeping himself in check, and I want him to unleash all that passion on me.

“I’m sure,” I say, drawing him in with my legs. “Show me more.”

Vark sits back on his heels, palms my ass from below, and hoists me up easily, changing the angle between us. In this position, I can’t so much as roll my hips to chase my own pleasure—he’s in complete control.

The first thrust shows me just how deep he can still go, almost reaching the end of me. He sets a steady pace, and for a moment, I think he’s unaffected—until I see the rigid set of his jaw, his flared nostrils, and the way he clasps his fingers on my hips, hard enough to hurt. The pressure inside me builds, each slide of his thick shaft over my sensitive walls the most pleasurable torture.

“Vark,” I beg, “I need you.”

He reaches down to palm my breast and pinches my nipple, sending shivers of desire through me. “I’ve got you, pet.”

Vark trails his fingers down my belly, to the thatch of curls between my legs, and touches the spot where we’re joined, as if he wants to feel himself sliding into me even better. He groans, his rhythm stuttering. Then he replaces my pearl and rolls his fingers over it in insistent, quick circles, and I shatter.

I cry out, my back bowing off the blankets. The world around me blackens out from the shocking pleasure shooting out from my core. Wave after wave of bliss pours over me, and Vark sees me through it all, muttering words of praise as he prolongs my pleasure. My tense muscles relax, and it’s then—at the moment when I’m floating in joy—that his knot finally slips inside me.

It’s fullness like I’ve never experienced. Vark growls my name, then bows over me, fucking me with shallow, powerful thrusts, unable to move far but pushing deeper inside me all the same. His knot locks us together like he’d promised. I couldn’t imagine it exactly until it happened, but it’s incredible. The swelling bulge fits into me perfectly, and every single move Vark makes rubs his hardness over the sensitive inner walls of my pussy.

“Oh gods,” I gasp as he ruts into me, “Vark!”

On instinct, I squeeze my muscles around him, and he gives a hoarse shout, then his hips buck, and he spills inside me, hot spurts of his thick cum coating my pussy. He shudders above me and kisses me, his lips desperate, as if he can’t get enough of me. I climax again, a weaker, trembling climax that sucks out the last of my energy. I melt into the sheets, panting, and Vark curls over me, shielding me with his body.

“Are you all right?” he asks, running his nose along my temple.

“Absolutely,” I murmur.

He scoops me into his arms and sits back, cradling me in his lap. I wind my legs around his waist and press my cheek to his chest. Locked together, we just breathe for a while, and I listen to Vark’s slowing heartbeat. It’s so comforting to hear it thudding under his warm green skin.

Then I shiver, and Vark curses softly.

“I forgot that humans get cold more easily,” he says.

He reaches for a blanket to wrap around me. But the moment he leans to the side, our position changes. His cock twitches inside me, and I moan.

“You’re still hard?” I ask, incredulous. “How can you still be hard?”

Vark puts his hands on my hips. “I will be hard as long as my knot is locked inside you.”

I stare up at him. “So you can…”

“I can come several times in a row,” he says, a proud glint in his eye. “I can give you more cum if you want.”

I choke out a laugh. I’m not sure it’s his cum that I want, but after a minute’s pause, I wouldn’t mind seeing if what he’s saying is actually true. So I roll my hips experimentally, sliding up as much as I can, then sinking down again. The movements are tiny, and each one strains the connection between us in the most delicious way.

Vark grins down at me. “You want more, pet?”

I nod, breathless, and he palms my ass and helps me grind down on him, impaling me deeper with each small thrust. We rock our way to another climax, until we’re sticky with sweat and my lips feel bruised and swollen from Vark’s kisses.

He wraps that blanket around me and holds me close as we come down from our high. His arms are like steel bands circling my body, but I feel safe, not trapped.

After a while, Vark’s knot loosens, and I climb off his lap. I’m a mess—the proof of my orc’s pleasure trickles down the insides of my thighs, warm and sticky.

I glance up to replace Vark watching me with an almost feral expression.

“What is it?” I ask.

He moves closer and drags his fingers through his slickness. “To see you dripping with my cum is unbelievable.” He swallows thickly. “I heard about matings, and I’ve seen how happy our king and my friend, Steagor, are with their mates. But I never imagined…”

He trails off and shakes his head as if words have failed him. My throat hurts all of a sudden. This male sees me as his perfect fated mate, and I want to be that person for him so badly. But I’m not certain that I can be. I will mess up, and he’ll see we’re not that good together. Or he’ll learn the truth about my past and realize I’m not who he thinks I am.

Nothing good in my life has ever been permanent, except for Wren. I need to remember that and not let my heart get too involved. But even as I think that, I know it’s already too late.