Page 15 of The Orc's Wife

She paled, an involuntary shudder going through her body. Urgan put his hands on her shoulders, trying to reassure her, but he didn’t regret making her relive her fear. The reality of her situation needed to sink in.

“You are precious to me,” he said, his voice low now. “You are my mate. I swore to protect you, Una. If anything happened to you, I couldn’t go on living.”

Some emotion returned to her eyes, and they were now wide open and glittering with tears. He could tell she felt moved by his words and could finally see what he meant. What she meant to him. Urgan’s lips twitched in a smile he immediately suppressed. She was coming to her senses.

And all it had taken was for her to be almost kidnapped and murdered.

“I not go out without you,” she said at last. “I obey you from now on. When I act as I want, it only bring disaster.”

She chewed on her lip while Urgan considered her. She was agreeing with him, but something in him recoiled at her surrender.

“You know,” Una continued, looking uncertain now. “Mina tell me your grandmother Oriana in the city. Maybe she could keep company with me when you not here? Only a little?”

Urgan nodded, his face splitting into a wide grin now, his fangs flashing white. No, he couldn’t stay angry with her. Not when she could finally see what he meant.

And she wanted to meet his grandmother.

He should have thought about bringing Oriana to meet Una himself, but he had been much too preoccupied from the moment they arrived.

“We have a deal,” he said. “I’ll ask Oriana to keep you company and teach you what you need to know. It’s the perfect solution. She used to duel with orcs and win when she was in her prime. I’m certain she’ll have a thing or two to teach you. How to be a more obedient wife, for example.”

And maybe she would have a solution for Una’s penchant for getting herself into dangerous situations. If Una continued as she was doing now – and as she had been when he first met her, pretending to be fearless, standing up to orcs twice her size – she would be dead soon.

Oriana has survived among orcs to reach ripe old age. That was enough qualification to recommend her as Una’s teacher.

Now that Una had finally agreed to act like a proper mate and let him protect her, Urgan’s anger dissipated. He stepped closer to her, watching her carefully. That dull look was still in her eyes. Probably just a residue of the terror she had experienced.

She sighed when he approached, leaning against the wall, her hands clasped in front of her, her lower lips trembling. Their fight had taken all the energy and fortitude she had left, and she was spent now. The events of the day were finally taking their toll.

Urgan put one claw under her chin and raised it gently.

“I was afraid you were dead,” he said, forcing the words out. There it was. His greatest fear – that he had failed to protect her. She had made him experience this fear.

Una’s eyes glittered with tears, which she quickly wiped away with her sleeve.

“I was afraid I not see you again,” she confessed in a hoarse whisper. “And I really sorry. I do my best to obey you now, Urgan.”

A low growl escaped him. He had thought this was what he wanted. Her instant, blind following, much the same as he expected from his soldiers.

But Una wasn’t a soldier, nor was she an orc.

She was a brave soul trapped in a frail body, and it was that soul he respected her for. He chuckled now, reveling in the feel of her so close to him, her trembling just for him to see. Knowing her, she would soon regain her rebellious streak.

But right now, they both needed to wipe away the terror and forget about what had happened. Desire stirred in Urgan’s loins as he watched his wife’s heaving breasts, the one bearing his mark uncovered now.

All that fear and anger needed to find an outlet, and Urgan had just the right thing in mind.

“You are mine,” he said, his voice so low it vibrated in his throat. “And what I said when I claimed you still stands. You are my reward.”

He picked her up, cradling her tiny form to his chest, and she curled into him without hesitation, her tears finally flowing. Urgan just held her, sitting on the bed, ignoring his hard erection and letting her cry out all her fear and tension.

He could be patient when it mattered.

When her sobs quietened, she wiggled out of his arms and sat in his lap, looking up into his face. She weighed next to nothing, and again, Urgan was struck by how fragile she was.

But that fragility could be deceptive. Even now, her soul could have been bruised like a delicate flower, demanding days of rest and gentleness to bloom again after the ordeal of the day.

Yet when she caught his mouth in a fierce kiss, tangling her tongue with his, there was nothing gentle about it.

---