Page 39 of The Orc Outcast's Conquest

She amended that while it was disproportionate to the ratios a human male would have, she didn’t know what the orc standards were.

His skin was smooth and varied in green hues, the knuckles being darker than the surrounding flesh, his palms were much lighter, with many nearly white calluses. She drifted her fingers up to his wrists, to the bulge of his muscled forearms.

“Miranda,” his voice was breathy, almost a warning. She looked up at his face to make sure he was okay with this and found him a little apprehensive.

His ears were pointed, but sat close enough to his head that she wouldn’t have noticed if she wasn’t looking. She reached up to trace the tip without thinking and made him shudder.

“Sorry,” she whispered. He didn’t respond. Didn’t tell her no. She brushed at his hair next. It was short and disheveled, having dried every which way. She scooted closer and found that it wasn’t black, but an extremely dark shade of green. She trailed her fingers down his temples to frame his face.

His eyes went wider. The color was striking. Bright green with golden flecks. His pupils were dilated and almost swallowed the color up. She pressed her thumbs into his cheeks, finding them devoid of any stubble as well. In fact, his whole body was hairless. There wasn’t any on his arms or chest.

She brushed a finger along the crooked break in his nose. “What happened?”

His jaw ticked before he managed, “I got it during my trial.”

“Your trial?” Had he done something illegal? Did they even have that kind of structure here?

“Into adulthood. I took down a great boar. I kept this boon as proof.”

A broken nose was a prize? She sat back to examine it. “It does give you some rugged charm.”

His scowl deepened, and his eyes blinked rapidly, as if her compliment confused him.

She gripped his face again and narrowed in on the little tusks at his lower jaw, teasing her fingers along the bottom of his chin. He was so tense it seemed almost painful.

“We should leave, Miranda.”

She blinked at his mouth as he snapped it shut. His tension heightened. She was certain he was about to spring away.

She wrapped her hands around the back of his skull and scratched lightly at his hairline, hoping it was as sensitive on him as it was on her.

He huffed. His jaw slacked slightly, enough to intrigue her. There was something odd about it. She continued scratching with one hand and moved her other up to tap at the tooth butting out from his lower lip.

“It’s blunt?”

“I’ve... filed it.” He sounded breathless now. As she continued scratching, his muscles released. His relaxation deepened.

She grinned at her newfound power as his eyes shut.

“Do your teeth grow continuously or do you just get the one?”

He blinked several times before his eyes opened. “Uh... both.”

Both? “Will you show me?”

He straightened. “No.”

“Why?”

“You will be frightened.”

She quirked her head, pursed her lips. “I don’t think I will. I’m pretty relaxed.”

“Let us keep it that way.”

Miranda slid her other hand to the back of his head and dug her fingers into the base of his skull, pressing slow circles. He exhaled a strangled sound as she moved toward his forehead.

Much more of this and he would turn to putty in her hands and she grinned at the new power this gave her. She softened her touch at his temples. The short, coarse hairs framing his brow tickled her palms. His eyes closed, his shoulders slumped, his hands were limp at his sides.

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