Page 29 of His Orc Warrior

He didn’t say anything, but a glance over showed my omega’s lower lip thrust out in a pout.

“Or maybe we can have Shake Depot tonight and Salad Barn when we get back to town tomorrow?” I suggested. Moderation in all things. “We really did burn a lot of calories with the moving.”

“We did.” His lips turned up in a smile. “And I won’t get a double order of fries. In the interest of moderation.”

It was nearly impossible for me to refuse him anything. Burger today, salad or wraps tomorrow. “And we’ll have oatmeal with blueberries and chia for breakfast.”

In one of the two homes where we lived together.

Paradise.

Chapter Twenty-One

Lucas

If there was one thing I didn’t like about going out on dates with my mate in the human world, it was the way he had to hide who he was. It was like being with him in costume.

Sure, the human side of him was a part of him. I wasn’t saying it wasn’t. But it wasn’t the part of him that he felt most comfortable in. And he always looked just a little bit off, especially in the eyes.

Almost like I was in one of those little sci-fi movies, where you knew the alien had taken over your boyfriend, but they looked just close enough to human that you sometimes forgot.

Normally, I tried to avoid spending too much time doing things in the city, opting to have most of our dates in his hometown. Sure, I was human, but no one there thought humans were fake, which was the opposite of where I lived in the city where no one thought orcs were real.

But today? Today, we were going on a date in the human world, and there would be no hiding. There didn’t need to be any. The two of us were going to a Dungeons & Dragons day at the park.

It wasn’t quite Comic-Con, but it was going to be filled with cosplayers, Bolg could come with us, and there was no need for travel. In my book, that was a win.

I loved that we found a fun activity that where my mate could just…be himself. My guess was that we’d have a lot of people come up to us and talk about how wonderful his “costume” was. Heck, once upon a time, I was one of those.

But aside from that? We were just randos at the park who took the day seriously.

I didn’t have much of a costume—my belly was already getting in the way for anything I had, and buying new for a single date wasn’t my idea of a good time. Instead, I picked up a pair of fake elf ears and some sparkly wings and called myself a fairy.

Close enough.

I really didn’t know that much about Dungeons & Dragons, but they had orcs, and the festival had food, activities, and even craft demonstrations. It was going to be a blast, especially with my sexy mate by my side.

There were live games being played that we could watch, but I still hadn’t figured out how that would be interesting from a spectator’s point of view. It wasn’t as if there’d be enough seats close enough to hear what they were saying. It was going to be cool to see how they made that work.

Who was I fooling? Everything about the day was going to be cool. It was going to be a great day, at least once we found parking.

“This place is packed.” Silly me. I thought the activity was too much of a small niche to fill up. Us parking three fields over determined that was a lie. It was a good thing I was actively working on increasing my steps, and this gave me as good a reason as any.

I intertwined my fingers with my mate’s.

“Let’s try not to get lost.” I was saying that more to myself than my mate.

“Don’t worry.” He tapped my nose. “I can always find you.”

He leaned in, voice teasing. “The larger our baby gets, the sweeter you smell. I’m surprised you don’t have people coming up to you, licking you, thinking you’re a lollipop.”

I rolled my eyes.

It wasn’t the first time he’d told that joke.

And it wasn’t going to be the last.

It was also never going to be funny.

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