Chapter 10

Karnak

Nothing would be the same.

Iwouldn't be the same.

Jess's scent was on my skin, coating my tongue, caked deep in my chest. I couldn't get her out of my soul if I wanted.

I'd tried so hard, that night I found Muffins. I hadn't intended to claim Jess that night—of course not. But catching the damned cat had my instincts on overdrive, and my senses were on high alert as I tried to figure out why the animal smelled different than it ought to.

And then Jess was…was there, slamming into my senses just by being herself, and I was struggling so hard to hold myself in check.

Perhaps I should've grabbed a shirt when I picked up the box to serve as a temporary cat carrier.

It was the way Jess had looked at me, that was it—

No. It was the way she'd touched me. The way she'd kissed me as she cleaned my paltry wounds.

It was the way her pussy had flooded with desire and I had felt it deep within me.

My Mate wanted me, and when she asked—pleaded… Well, I stopped fighting instinct.

By all the gods of my ancestors, it had felt so right to sink into her welcoming body.

What we'd done that night wasn't fucking. It was making love.

And I'd made love to her again after we'd cleaned up and had dinner—I finished the chicken, but she'd just giggled and patted my chest and told me to keep up my stamina—and fussed over the cat.

Her bed was smaller than mine, but sleeping in it, her curled atop me, was the most comfortable I'd been in the last ten years.

I woke her up with my mouth on her pussy. She screamed my name as she came.

In the two days since, I'd spent each night in her uncomfortable bed, being completely comfortable with her in my arms. But despite the contentment of my body, finally having claimed my Mate as my own, my soul wasn't quite so peaceful.

Now it was Thursday, and she'd invited me to her house again, blushing when I kissed her goodbye that morning. I could still taste her on my tongue, which lasted me through the day.

When she met me at the door, the air was scented with cat fur and her arousal.

Unbidden, my gaze dropped to her crotch. Jess giggled and slapped my shoulder. "I can't help it, okay? I just see you, and…"

When I lifted my gaze to hers once more, she shuddered and trailed off.

My Mate wanted me, and it was my responsibility to please her.

When I lifted her, she squealed and wrapped her arms around me. I could tell she was pleased, despite her playful insistence I put her down.

I put her down alright. On the couch, covering her body with mine. Kneeling between her legs, I put my mouth on her pussy, right on top of her yoga pants, and inhaled deeply.

Mine.

"Karnak, you—oooh."

She'd taken to wearing bras which snapped in the front, and I appreciated the convenience, although I still couldn't seem to work the ridiculously tiny hooks. Besides, when I got this way around her, my claws were more likely to emerge, and I needed to concentrate so I could use the delicate touches she liked on her clitoris.

I'd never been with a female before my Mate, but I was a fast learner. It was my duty to pay close attention to her cues, understand what she liked, what brought her pleasure. It was my responsibility to bring her that pleasure, several times, long before I found mine.

Jess seemed to appreciate the little quirk of evolution which meant she orgasmed as soon as I entered her, and I loved the look of wonder which crossed her face whenever it happened.

She made short work of her shirt and bra, thank the gods, and I helped her shimmy out of her pants. Normally I would've stopped to enjoy the view of that ass in that tight material, but I'd just learned my Mate wasn't wearing underwear, and the knowledge she'd done that for me…

Well, my cock couldn't get any harder, and now strained against my shorts in vain.

Down, Kteer. This is for Jess. I will bring her pleasure.

And I did.

I loved hearing her little mewls and whimpers, the way she moved beneath my tongue. In a short while I'd learned how much pressure and where and now now now. I rolled her nipples between my thumb and forefinger, and stroked the skin of her sides, and caressed her inner thighs, and above all, feasted.

Oh, how I feasted upon my Mate.

Jess was the best thing I'd ever tasted. I could die happy with that scent, that taste, on my tongue and in my soul.

"Karnak!" she gasped as she came around my fingers.

It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

With a growl, I pulled her off the couch to straddle me, and she was as eager as I was. Her hands fluttered around me, trying to pull my clothing off, but I didn't manage to get fully naked before she was seating herself atop my cock, shuddering with that instant orgasm.

I swear to you, there was nothing more perfect in the world than that sight.

My Mate rocked atop me, her glorious hair falling down around her shoulders like a red waterfall, her breasts swaying in rhythm to her movements. She kept her weight on her knees, bracing her hands on my shoulders, and I thought I could live the rest of my life right here on her floor.

It was intoxicating, to let her lead, to allow her to set the pace. I wanted to flip her over and take her hard…but the pleasure on her expression—the way she gasped in delight with each movement…

I could only watch in fascination.

My cock ached, each of her movements too small to satisfy me, but to my surprise, her orgasm—"Karnak!"—triggered mine, and I gasped as my seed flowed into her tight, hot body.

Yes.

She collapsed against me, and I took her in my arms. "That's my good girl," I murmured against her hair.

And she patted my chest in exhaustion. "My orc. My Karnak."

That feeling of not-quite-right flickered in my chest again.

Later, in the shower, I washed her hair. The sounds of contentment she made as my fingers scratched across her scalp sent a shiver down my spine, so I turned her around, spread her hands against the tile wall, and dropped to my knees behind her to lick her while I jerked my own cock.

It was…beautiful.

But I couldn't ignore the small grain of doubt in my mind.

She called me hers. But she said My orc, my monster. And when I'd first claimed her, I'd told her I was bigger than human men, and she snapped, that's the point.

Was it the point?

Was that why she was with me? Why she'd allowed me to put my hands on her, to put my scent on her?

"Hey. Hey, Earth to Karnak!"

I startled. I was standing in the middle of her bedroom, wearing only a towel, my pants dangling from one claw.

Jess was holding the bigger of the two black cats, stroking it while wearing that fluffy bathrobe I remembered her wearing in her backyard weeks ago. She grinned at me. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Nothing important," I was quick to assure her.

Was I?

"Well, look, I know we joked about a haircut for you, but since tomorrow's the council meeting and you're going…"

When she trailed off suggestively, I just shook my head, confused.

"Want me to trim your hair? I have scissors in the bathroom, and it'll be quick, although you might have to pop in the shower after to wash the hair off your shoulders or whatever."

I stared at her.

A haircut to make me look less like a beach bum, as she called me? Or less like a monster? "You…want the council to accept me. To think I'm civilized."

She scoffed as she turned for the bathroom, setting Pickles on the carpet for the animal to dart away. "I want them to think you're you, silly. You don't need to change. I'm just offering the haircut because we talked about it before."

If she thought I needed one… "Okay."

Which is how I found myself kneeling on the floor of her bathroom—it was the only way she could see the top of my head—while Jess cut my hair. I watched her expression in the mirror, the way her little tongue poked between her lips in concentration. She said her only experience had been with cutting her mom's hair when the poor woman was too ill to go to the stylist, but Jess seemed to know what she was doing.

The way my body shuddered with pleasure as she scraped her fingernails along my scalp? That was almost better than sex.

Almost.

"I made lasagna," she offered, not looking up from the hair she was attempting to style. "I hope you like it."

I'd only ever had the frozen stuff, and I was discovering everything tasted better when Jess prepared it. "I'm sure I will." My eyes followed her movements in the mirror. "I should've brought something."

"You brought yourself." She glanced up briefly and met my eyes in the mirror, smiling. "And I think you're quite delicious."

I felt myself flush and my cock stir. "I promised I would cook for you." I just needed to go catch some fish. I'd been too wrapped up in Jess these last few days to worry about swimming.

"And I can't wait." She bent back over my head. "I can leave this longer if you'd like. I mean, you could always pull it into a ponytail or something. Or I could cut it short."

I'd always cut it myself, so I didn't care. I shrugged, careful not to disturb her. "What do you think would look best?"

"I don't know. I like your hair long like it is, so maybe I'll just trim the ends even. Or we could go super-short on the sides—like Geoffrey wears his."

Geoffrey.

Geoffrey A. Harrison wasn't an orc. He'd never been told he scared women. In fact, just the opposite; the man was slick and charming and wealthy.

She'd said she didn't want Geoffrey. But she called me a monster.

"Is that what you like?" I asked carefully, watching her expression in the mirror.

"Hmm? Oh, it doesn't matter to me." She ran her fingers through my hair again. "I guess if it was up to me, I'd say to keep it long. It looks more like you then."

My tongue flicked across my tusk. "What does that mean?"

She shrugged, her attention still on my hair. "Makes you look…I dunno, wilder?"

Like an orc.

I'd claimed her. Jess was my Mate, part of my soul now. She'd agreed, when we'd first made love: Yours, she'd said.

But why? Was it because I was an orc? Did she like that I was a monster?

I swallowed, uncertainty rising in my chest, refusing to be silenced by the pleasure she brought me.

Tomorrow I would stand before the town council, and convince them I was—despite being an orc—a model citizen. My friends who wanted to move here, they'd be model citizens too. I would speak about Sakkara—his intelligence and his devotion to little Emmy—and how we could be trusted not to turn into the monsters of nightmares.

And I would do it for Jess.

But was that all she wanted from me? My cock and my support at her meeting?

Or, like me, was she yearning for a forever?

I vowed I would find out.

Tomorrow.