Chapter 37

The sweet aroma of pie lingers in the kitchen as I clean up my station. Morga bustles around, her hands a blur as she puts the pots away. She hums an unfamiliar tune that a group sang earlier during dinner.

It's late enough that there's only the two of us left. My heart is content for the first time in forever.

"Good day, wasn't it?" she asks as she unties her short hair and lets it drape around her pointy ears.

"Yeah. People seem to be warming up to me." I smile. "The elders smiled at me today."

Morga laughs out loud. Her eyes twinkle mischievously as she glances over her shoulder at me.

"Remember what I told you? Nothing convinces orcs more than food. I gave them your coconut snacks the other day. They loved it and cheering up the elders is the quickest way to gain trust around here."

My eyebrows rise. I had no idea she had done such a thing to help me. "Morga!" I laugh, shaking my head in amazement at her cleverness. "That was amazing. Thank you."

"All I did was make sure you had a fair chance." She smiles back at me just as the kitchen door creaks open.

The only other human in the clan walks in. Nell's long blond hair dances over her shoulders, her green eyes crinkling in a gentle smile. Morga's face lights up.

"Nell! Did you meet Violet?" Morga folds an arm around Nell's waist. Though Morga is female, she's still taller and overall bigger than us, humans. Nell looks like a doll next to her. "Violet, this is my partner, Nellwyn, our hard-working healer."

"We met," Nell says, her smile widening. "I haven't had the opportunity to talk to you, but Morga says you're fitting right in."

"Violet was just marveling at how quickly she's winning over the clan," Morga quips. "Of course, it helps that Thorn is head over heels."

Heat floods my cheeks and I nearly drop the stack of plates I'm holding. "W-what? Thorn? Head over heels? For me? Of course not!"

We haven't talked about it at all. It feels like every time Thorn and I are by ourselves, we do nothing but make out. As if we've been holding back for years, waiting for the other.

I have to change the subject. "So... when you say that you're partners..."

"We're together," says Morga, "the same way Thorn wants to be together with you." She wiggles her brows.

It only makes my cheeks hotter. "Oh, I thought outsiders were kind of taboo."

Morga curls her nose and squeezes Nell to her side. "They are," Morga says, her voice somber. "You are. But little by little, things will change; I know it." She looks at Nell with soft eyes.

Nell's green eyes cloud slightly and she leans against Morga. "You must understand, orcs can be very hesitant," she tells me, "even hostile toward outsiders at first. When I arrived, it took ages to gain even a shred of acceptance."

Morga nods, her expression strangely solemn. "It's true. And even though we keep it low-profile, one thing that helped was marking her. Nothing like marking one's mate to force the others to accept them."

"Marking?" I ask, cocking my head. "Like, a tattoo?"

Morga chuckles. "No. With our smell. One of the ways orcs show their mates are off-limits is by marking them with their scent. You know, the way Thorn is marking you."

Time slows down. I blink several times, staring at her in confusion.

"What?" I blow out, my mind reeling. Thorn's been doing what to me? Marking me? Like some kind of territory?

He hasn't even fucked me. How does this make sense?

Just as I open my mouth to demand an explanation, the man himself strides into the kitchen. Thorn's massive frame fills the doorway, his black hair swaying in his ponytail. My stomach flips at the intense, unreadable expression in his onyx eyes as they meet mine.

"Violet," he rumbles, stalking closer, "the children were begging you to bake ‘Cram-pus' cookies." He raises one thick brow in doubt. "Care to explain?"

For a moment, I'm still confused with the marking thing. Then laughter bursts from my lips at the baffled look on his handsome face. "Krampus, not Cram-pus," I giggle, covering my mouth. "I may have described Santa Claus to them and compared him to Krampus."

"Krampus, the lord of the woods?" he asks, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We have some stories that connect him to Christmas back…" I almost say back home, but for the first time, it doesn't feel right. "Back across the portal. He punishes children who misbehave."

He frowns. "You sure do have strange stories." And his lips stretch into a smile.

And it's this smile that makes me put everything else on hold. It's the way Thorn smiles at me, promising to keep me safe. Promising to always have my back.