Chapter 7

Becca

A fter the dinner of mushroom soup with Gleb, Faeena, and the girls, I returned to my wagon. My bedtime came and went, but I hadn’t gone to bed. Taking off my armor, I carefully put it into the trunk, where I usually stored it.

In addition to my father’s weapons and our wagon, the armor was all I had left of my family. It felt like a piece of our history had been returned to me. Only the orc who did it for me was now tied up in the hall and waiting to die.

After a long deliberation, the elders still hadn’t reached a final decision, keeping Agor in the hall for the night to be dealt with first thing tomorrow morning.

Restless, I paced inside my tiny wagon. It was safe to assume no one had fed Agor. With food being scarce, no one would waste it on a prisoner—especially on an orc.

I searched through my cupboards, knowing that I’d find nothing. I trained daily, needing to keep my muscles hard and my fighting skills sharp. The rigorous physical activity had me in a constant state of ravenous hunger. As a rule, I devoured any food I had with nothing left to store for later.

Since searching inside was useless, I grabbed my sword and left the wagon, hoping for more luck outside. I descended the three steps of my tiny porch, then circled my wagon, and approached the hall unseen by the guards while keeping to the shadows of my neighbors’ wagons.

Islav and Vlad stood on guard by the hall doors with their weapons in their hands.

Vlad spat onto the packed dirt ground. “The fucking orc is now getting a free lodging in our settlement.”

“We should just go in and end him.” Islav yawned. “Then we can go to bed. I’ve been up since before sunrise today. The baby is teething, and nothing is soothing her.”

“I heard her wailing. Your wife must be exhausted too.”

“The poor thing is barely holding it together. I should be there, helping her instead of babysitting this asshole.” Islav tipped his head at the closed door behind him.

Vlad glanced at the door, too, adjusting the grip on his sword. “What would they do to us if we just went ahead and slit his throat? It’s not like they’d punish us or anything. Elder Kazimir always says that killing an orc is the right thing to do.”

Islav shifted, looking uncertain. “But what if he fights back? He broke a lot of bones today, snapped men’s legs and arms like they were twigs. These bastards are strong.”

“How can he fight us if he’s tied up?”

“Good point,” Islav agreed, his voice lifting. “Let’s do it then.”

Sliding my sword out of its sheath, I stepped out of the shadows.

“Hey, boys.”

“Oh, hi Becca.” Islav stood straighter, as if I was the guards’ leader.

I’d lead both Vlad and Islav into battles against orcs before, on the elders’ orders. But I didn’t hold any actual rank or title that put me above them. According to the elders, women weren’t supposed to have ranks.

“What are you doing up so late?” Vlad asked.

“Nothing. I’m just not feeling sleepy at all right now. I slept in this morning.”

“Did you?” Islav gazed at me wistfully.

I shrugged casually. “The perks of having no kids or husband. I can sleep whenever I want.”

“Nice.” Vlad sighed.

“Hey, why don’t you go get some rest for a couple of hours? I’m wide awake, anyway. I may as well stay here instead of you.”

“Alone?” Vlad inquired, with hope in his voice. He didn’t have a teething baby at home, but it was safe to assume he’d much rather cuddle against his wife’s warm side in bed than stand here in the cold.

“Sure. I don’t need company to stay awake. You know me.”

“I know you.” Vlad laughed. “You don’t need anyone ever. You love being alone.”

He clearly didn’t know me that well then. I managed just fine on my own. That didn’t mean I loved being alone all the time. I didn’t correct him, however, because right now, I didn’t want him to hang around and plot more of his murderous plans.

“Go on. Get some sleep. Come back after a few hours. I’ll guard it here until then.”

I waited for them to leave, then listened for the sound of doors to their wagons closing behind them.

The orcs at the keep probably wouldn’t expect Agor back until later at night or even early in the morning. If he didn’t return, they’d probably come looking for him, thirsty for revenge. That was if he told them where he went. If he didn’t, they would likely still be able to track him to our settlement sooner or later.

Either way, it was not a good idea to keep him here, either dead or alive. Even if I wished Agor dead, I’d still think twice before killing him. His murder would bring us nothing but the wrath of his vengeful clan.

The elders might not realize the danger as fully as I did because they never saw the orcs’ keep with their own eyes. They remained skeptical when I told them how many orcs there were and how well organized their community was. They failed to understand that the bog orcs were nothing like a pack of timid jackals, easily spooked by the smell of their own blood. If they came for us with a vengeance, they’d be brutal and thorough. If we killed their High Chief, it might end with the demise of us all.

The night seemed still. I pried the lock open with my hunting knife, then pushed on the hall door. It squeaked, but only a little. Making sure all remained quiet out there, I slid inside and closed the door behind me.

There was no light in the hall other than some moonlight coming from the only two windows in the entire building. That was how much glass we found among all of us, enough for only two windows in our community hall.

Agor was tied to one of the support posts in the middle, with several ropes holding him upright and his arms above his head. He was awake and alert when I approached. The cloth that had tied his mouth was now down around his neck.

“Becca.” His chapped lips stretched with a smile. He looked triumphant, having learned my name by overhearing it outside. “What a lovely name for a pretty little thing like you. But I still reserve the right to call you my newt whenever I want.”

“Really? Is that what you’re thinking about here? While they were debating the whole evening the best way to kill you?”

“They could try.” He shrugged in the ropes.

“They have tried, haven’t they?” Rising on my tiptoes, I moved a long strand of his blood marred hair away from his face. “It looks like they almost succeeded too.”

“I’ll live.” He seemed unconcerned.

“Not for long, if you stay here.”

With his wrists tied above his head, I couldn’t untie them without a chair or a ladder.

“Why are you so damn tall?” I complained, getting down on my knees to work on the rope that tied his ankles instead.

“I’m getting used to being tied up when you’re around,” he quipped. “So much so that I fear I’ll be getting hard just at the sight of a rope soon.”

“For a severely beaten man, you seem in great spirits,” I muttered. “Can you bend your right leg now that I’ve removed the rope?”

“Bend it? Why?”

“Because I said so.” I rolled my eyes.

“I like you bossy.” His voice turned sultry, resonating with a wave of warm tingles through my body.

“Maybe that’s why we get along so well,” I joked.

However, he sounded serious when he replied, “True, we do get along really well, don’t we? Why are you here, Becca?”

“I thought I’d bring you some food, but then I realized I don’t have any food to spare. So, I figured I’ll free you. This way you can go out there and hunt your own damn food. Maybe you’ll manage to stay out of trouble too.” I slapped his thigh. “Bend your leg, will you?”

He bent his right leg, and I climbed on his thigh to reach his arms.

“Just give me a minute.” I leaned closer, reaching for the ropes around his wrists.

His hot breath seeped through my tunic to my chest. This position brought my breasts right to his mouth. He didn’t waste a moment, using the chance to nip at my left nipple.

“Agor...” My fingers slipped on the rope.

I tried to focus on finding the knot, but he found my nipple again. Closing his teeth over the hardened bud, he sent a sharp jolt of arousal through my lower belly. I stifled a moan, biting my lip, and tried to focus through the haze of lust enveloping my brain.

“Agor, I need to untie the rope or...” I pushed away from him, freeing my breast from his trap.

He growled like a dog that had lost its bone.

“Ugh, the fucking rope.” He turned his arm, his muscles bulging. Rotating his wrist, he yanked on it. Once. Twice. Then, the rope snapped and his arm came free.

“What?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. “How did you do it?”

“I’ve been working on weakening it for a while now, fraying the rope bit by bit. Do you think I would just wait here patiently for them to decide what part of my body to toss under which bush?”

A smile sprung to my lips. “They should’ve used chains like I did. A rope isn’t strong enough to hold an orc.”

“It isn’t. Especially when I want to hold you.” He grinned, wrapping his free arm around my middle.

“I need to do the other one.” I reached for his left wrist that was still tied to the post.

“Me too,” he said, taking my other breast into his mouth.

I unwound the rope from around his other wrist while he rolled my nipple between his lips until it pebbled under my tunic. I wrapped both arms around his thick neck and kissed his head next to the snakeskin tie holding his hair.

An unexpected wave of tenderness washed over me, followed by worry.

“Why did you come here alone?” I chastised. “Ata even wasn’t with you, was she? How could you be so careless as to allow them to ambush you?”

“I got distracted.”

“By what?”

“By thoughts about you.”

He thought about me, just like I couldn’t get him out of my mind, either.

The remaining coils of the rope loosened around him and slid down his torso. He straightened his legs while holding me to him, with my feet dangling in the air.

“What a treat to touch you with both hands for once,” he murmured, nuzzling my neck.

Just seeing him again felt like a treat I didn’t think I’d get. I twined my arms around his neck and hooked my legs around his torso.

“It was you who brought back my armor, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. I overheard you said it used to belong to your mother. Things like that cannot be replaced.”

I pressed my forehead to his. My heart swelled with gratitude for his understanding. My throat tightened. I cleared it, not giving a chance for tears to spring to my eyes.

“Was Nacy upset to give it up?”

“She’ll be fine,” he assured me. “I let her keep it long enough to copy the pattern. She’ll make one for herself.”

Without thinking, I placed a kiss on his temple.

“You are a foolish, careless orc. You almost got yourself killed.”

“It was worth it.” He slipped a hand inside my tunic, but the neckline was too high for his thick forearm to fit through.

“Rip it,” I said.

He growled low in his throat. Gripping the edge of the neckline, he tore the tunic down the middle, letting my breasts spill out.

“Oh, I missed you two,” he told them, making me chuckle as he buried his face in my chest.

Desire coursed through my body. But there was something else mixed with it. Wistfulness? Longing? I wasn’t sure exactly. But it made every touch between us feel more poignant somehow. The feeling unsettled me in a way I wasn’t ready for.

Instead of analyzing it, I demanded, “Fuck me, Agor.”

It was simpler this way—just sex, plain and straightforward, instead of the tangled mess of emotions that stormed inside me.

“Gladly,” he growled. “But first, I want to taste you.”

He turned us around, pressing my back to the pole he’d been tied to before, then heaved me all the way up to his shoulders.

“Must you wear pants?” He groaned between my legs. “Skirts are so much better for this.”

“Let me down, and I’ll take them off.”

“No. I’ve no patience for that.” He bit into the fabric over my crotch, making me squeak, then tore through my pants like a hungry dog trying to get to a treat. “Mmm,” he moaned, dipping his tongue inside me.

I bucked my hips against his mouth. Winding his hair over my wrist, I used it to balance on his shoulders and to guide him. His tusks pressed harder on each side of my opening as he dove deeper. I rode his tongue, taking it all.

He ate me out with gusto, and I realized how much I’d missed this—his unbridled passion, his carefree abandon, the way he gave it all. Fuck, I missed him . And I already knew there was no one else who’d ever match Agor for me.

I bit into my forearm to muffle my screams as I came hard on his tongue. Stroking and lapping at me, he milked every shudder of pleasure before I slackened against him. Then he slid me down the pole.

“You taste better every time.” He smirked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

I hooked a finger around his gold-encrusted tusk.

“How do orcs kiss, Agor? Show me.”

His grin spread wider. “I thought you’d never ask.”

He leaned closer but paused just before his lips could touch mine. His dark-green eyes searched mine, as if looking for answers to the questions he hadn’t asked me yet, and I couldn’t stand the intensity in his stare.

“Just kiss me, Agor, please.”

His tusks pressed on either side of my mouth. His lips slid between mine. I parted them for him, and his tongue immediately invaded my mouth as he kissed me eagerly and passionately. Holding me with one hand against the pole, he slid his other hand through the hole he’d chewed in my pants. I released a soft, needy whimper as my desire sprung high again.

“Wet, needy, insatiable...” he murmured approvingly, pumping a thick finger in and out of me.

I’d been called insatiable by other men before, but I believed Agor might be the one who could fully satisfy me had we ever got at least one full night together.

He slipped his finger out of me, making me cling to him in protest.

“Patience, sweet pie.” He freed his cock promptly. The thick, hot bulb of its tip pressed against my dripping wet opening. “Ready?”

I nodded eagerly, too choked up with anticipation to speak.

“Of course you are,” he drawled with admiration before allowing me to slide down the pole a little and onto his cock.

His hard, throbbing length impaled me. I tossed my head back, making a deep throaty sound at the intense sensation of being stretched and invaded to the fullest.

“Gods...you’re huge,” I moaned as pleasure and pain twisted together into an unforgettable sensation pulsing through my entire body with ever-increasing need.

“Do you want me out?” he asked gently.

I cupped the back of his neck, keeping him in place. “Don’t you dare.”

As my body adjusted to his girth, I rocked my hips against his.

With his hand under my ass, he gripped it tightly.

“Stop wiggling, little newt,” he warned. “Or my cock will blow its entire load right now.”

“That’d be quick,” I teased.

“You have no idea... No idea how many times I imagined doing this to you. I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat... Couldn’t fucking watch where I was going until the humans ambushed me today. All I could think... All I still think about is you.”

I had no words to reply. I thought I knew my self-worth. I felt confident in my own skin. Yet the way Agor spoke about me made me feel higher than I’d ever been.

“I don’t know what it is about you, Becca. I just know that I want more of it.”

He thrust into me so hard, I slid up the post. Heat spiraled inside me as he drove into me again.

“All. I want. To do. Is. Fuck. You.” He pounded harder and harder, punctuating every word with punishing thrusts.

Rocking my hips, I found that perfect angle that allowed my clit to rub against the hard squares of his lower abdomen. My eyes rolled back in my head as intense pleasure surged through my body. I gripped the belts around his biceps, holding on for my dear life as he kept slamming into me relentlessly.

Orgasm shuddered my entire body. I smashed my mouth against his chest to smother my cries of pleasure.

He buried his face in my hair, toning down his roar into a growl, as not to wake up the entire settlement. His hips jerked, his cock pumping his release into me over and over.

With his hand pressed into the post above my head, he leaned into me, and I relaxed against him, catching my breath.

Sparks of pleasure fired through me as my inner muscles spasmed with delicious aftershocks. I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of the night just like this, pressed against his large, warm body. But the longer he stayed, the greater the danger of someone discovering us here grew.

I stirred, making his cock slide out of me. “You should go now.”

But he only held me tighter.

“Come with me,” he said. “I’ll never stop asking.”

I exhaled a long, wistful sigh. Resistance proved harder every time he asked.

“But I’ll never be able to give you a different answer, Agor.”

Even if there was some way in this world for an orc and a human to be together, what he offered wouldn’t make me happy. I was old enough to know that I couldn’t be content to spend the rest of my life as a man’s property. Belonging to an orc instead of a human wouldn’t be any different, no matter how great being in his bed promised to be.

“It wouldn’t work between us in the long run, Agor. There is more to life than just mind-blowing sex.”

“Do you think that’s all there is between us? Just sex?”

“What else can there be? It’s not like we can date properly.” I dropped my legs down, reaching for the ground with my tiptoes, but he heaved me up again, holding me under my butt. I took his swollen, blood-stained face between my hands. “Please, please leave before they hurt you again.”

He stared at me for a moment or two, as if fighting the urge to throw me over his shoulder and drag me into his den like a feral beast. With a deep breath, he finally set me down, allowing me to finally stand on the ground on my own two feet.

“Sooner or later, I will get a different answer from you,” he vowed. “I will claim all of you, little newt, every single part of you, including your heart. And I don’t care how long or how much it will take.”