Chapter Four

Raisa

We’re standing two feet inside my apartment. I’m so close to him that if I took one step closer, my breasts would graze his belt buckle.

The shelves on my wall are filled with romances, yet I’ve waited my whole life to meet someone worthy of my affection, much less my love. I’ve never, not once in my life, felt a spark of magic.

Until tonight.

This odd thought arrows into my brain that the big guy, I still don’t know his name, didn’t come into my life by accident. Maybe he didn’t drop to Earth as a fluke. Maybe those teenage assholes didn’t show up at the playground at three in the morning by accident. The thought becomes stronger that this orc is in my house for a reason.

So what am I going to do about it?

“I’m Raisa.”

I don’t move. Not an inch closer or an inch farther away. I just wait to get his name before I propose the impossible.

“Durga.”

“What do I smell like now, Durga?” I cock an eyebrow, my gaze never leaving his, although part of me wants to run and hide.

A different person might make a joke or evade the answer altogether. Durga isn’t a different person. He pauses, his nostrils flaring as he seeks the answer to my question.

“Fear. Sweat.” His eyes flick up and down my body as he takes another sniff, then spears me with an unreadable look. “Arousal.”

“I don’t know shit about orcs or their sense of smell. But isn’t there more?”

Something shifts. I don’t know what brought the Others to Earth. Everyone calls it the Rift and no one understands it any better now than when it happened a quarter of a century ago. Whatever that shift was couldn’t have felt more cataclysmic than what happens right now. Because everything changes.

His body transforms, almost imperceptibly. His impossibly wide shoulders lift, as does his chin. His gaze somehow penetrates mine more deeply. I can almost feel something unleash inside him as he decides something crucial.

“Interest, Raisa. You’re interested in me. There’s one more thing, but I can’t put a label on it.”

I give him a tight smile as I admit, “I can’t put a label on it either, but…”

Although perhaps it doesn’t last long in real-time, I have a lengthy debate in my head. I’ve been a cautious person my whole life. Having a mom who was high half the time made me grow up fast.

I’ve never felt normal, never felt as though I belonged. My relationships haven’t been plentiful or successful. Maybe because of my questionable parentage, or the fact that my mom was, well, still is, promiscuous, I’ve been the opposite. My best friend called me a prude once. I didn’t talk to her for a week after that.

That’s why I’m confused about my urge to have him stay. No, let’s call a spade a spade. It’s not an urge, it’s stronger than that. I’m eager.

And I don’t just want him to stay, I want to have sex with him. I can’t really figure it out, but the desire is so strong it pushes me out of my comfort zone.

Maybe it’s the moonlight or that it’s three in the morning, or that this seems more like a fairytale than reality, but I want to share my bed with Durga. Want to share more than that.

“Though I can’t put a label on all the things I’m feeling, one thing is certain. I’d like you to stay here tonight. I’d like to get to know you a lot better by the time we wake up in the morning. Maybe we can put a name to it by then. What do you say?”

My boldness surprises him, though his only tell is a quick eyebrow flash. I wait for his answer, but when he still seems to be weighing pros and cons and doing difficult mental calculations in his mind, I ask, “I’m no orc, Durga. But if I was, what would I smell on you right now?”

He gives me his first smile. I’d like to see more of these, and I’d like to know I’m the one who put them on his face. Gently gripping my waist, he lifts me as though I’m a doll.

Instead of tucking me close and having me straddle his waist, which sounds divine, he sets my feet on the low wooden coffee table so my face isn’t far from his. I may not have to tilt my head so hard, but I feel as though I”m performing on his personal stage.

“You’d smell surprise. Make that shock.”

“At what?”

His eyes narrow for the swiftest moment. Did he think I’d just listen to his explanation without asking follow-up questions?

“You want the whole list? Shocked that I’m here, that we kissed, and that you want me to stay till morning. Those are just the highlights.”

I smile at him and only now realize it’s the first smile I’ve bestowed on him. It wasn’t lost on him. He looks pleased.

“What else would I smell?”

“Just a whiff of worry. About the assholes. I can’t think of a reason they wouldn’t have followed us here.”

“Just a whiff of worry?”

“Yeah. Orcs’ hearing is good, too. I don’t hear them.”

“What else would I smell?” I press.

“My arousal.”

His gaze pins me as he flicks his black tongue across his lips. Will I ever catch a glimpse of that tongue and not think about all the naughty places I want it to explore?

His amber eyes give me a challenging look. Is he daring me to question his veracity about the level of his lust? All I need to do is slide my gaze down a few feet to see the enormous bulge in his jeans.

“What do you propose we do about that?” I wanted my question to come out sexy, like I’ve watched a thousand times in TV and movies. How it came out, though, was almost like a challenge. It made him laugh.

“Humans have different rules than orcs. I don’t want to shock or offend you. I certainly don’t want to terrify you, so I’m not going to propose we do anything. You’ll have to make a proposal.”

His worry that he might terrify me is the only thing he’s said or done since I’ve met him that is, indeed, terrifying. He wants me to make the proposal, be in charge? I’ve never even read a book about the fem-dom thing. That doesn’t float my boat.

“I’m in charge?”

“You know nothing of orcs, Raisa? Orc males are always in charge. Always in command. Always. Completely. You have to tell me the boundaries. I’ll take it from there.”

For that brief moment when I thought I might be in charge, my interest wasn’t even slightly piqued. When he said he would be completely in charge, my libido sparked on fire. I’m terrified and horny in equal measure.

No. Who am I kidding? Horny is definitely in first place.

“Define the words in command, always, and completely, Durga.” I like the feel of his name on my lips.

He steps between the couch and the coffee table where I’m standing, slides his arm around my waist, and uses his lower body to nudge the table toward the center of my tiny living room. Now that I’m in the middle of the room, he stalks around the table, circling it as though he owns the room, owns me.

His arms cross his chest as he assesses me like I’m a possession.

“What’s your date of birth?”

Although in any other circumstance it would be an odd question, I imagine I know what he’s getting at. It’s reassuring, I guess, that he wants to ensure I’m not jailbait. He didn’t ask my age, which is easy to lie about. He asked my date of birth which, at three in the morning, requires a bit of higher-level mathematics to calculate. When I tell him, he instantly does the math and nods his head.

“In charge means I call the shots. All of them. If you understand that, there’s no need to define always and completely.”

He’s still circling, appraising, until he stops short, stands taller, and tips his chin up. He shakes his head as though he just realized something, then says, “Orc females fight back. It’s how we mate. Males just keep pressing until the female gives in. I’m afraid I’ll do something you won’t like, but I’ll just keep pressuring.”

He moves toward the door, letting me know the discussion is closed.

“So…” I wait for him to turn and look at me. “If we go farther, no doesn’t mean no?”

“To an orc, no means chase harder.”

“Maybe that’s true for both of us, Durga. The more you tell me no, the more I want you to stay. What about red? A code word that means I don’t want you to do what you’re doing. Would that make you press harder?”

His cock is still twitching beneath his jeans. It’s a behemoth, a goliath, gargantuan. If it could talk it would definitely vote for pushing the boundaries. Durga, on the other hand, is giving this deep thought.

“That will probably work. I worry that I might get in a dominant headspace and not remember the rules.”

Every time he uses that honorable tone, making sure he can protect me, it just makes me forget all my good sense and want to erase all my boundaries.

“Can you agree to no blood?” I ask. “It’s my hard limit.”

“Blood? Why would I draw blood?”

The fact that he’s gobsmacked by the question is very reassuring. After another glance at what’s lurking behind his zipper, I ask one more question. “And can you agree to no anal? I’ve never…”

“I would never force that, Raisa.”

Although by the way Durga Junior started doing jumping jacks underneath the denim of his jeans when I said the word anal, I don’t think he’d be opposed to it.

Although I’ve always been cautious about bedroom partners in the past, this is different. I’ve never been so ready to tear off anyone’s clothes before.

“Do you… protection?” That was awkward.

It could be a smirk, but I think the way his lips twist it”s closer to an apologetic wince, “They don’t make Orc-sized condoms.”

“Okay, Durga. Good thing I’m on the implant. We have tonight. Red means stop, no anal, and no blood. Otherwise, you’re always and completely in charge.”

“Starting now.”

I’ve never heard that low, firm tone before, nor seen the hard glitter in his amber eyes. What have I gotten myself into?