Page 8 of His Orc Warrior

While he inspected his hand, I filtered through the noise inside me. My chest hummed. My veins burst into flame, the starting point right where he’d touched me. If I could see myself in a mirror, there would be no doubt my cheeks had gone dark green. We orcs blushed not pink or rose but a deeper green. My ears heated. My cock bobbed under my loincloth, trying to get free of the small patch of fur.

“Well, how many tickets did you sell? I’m sure everyone is just late.” A sunshine outlook if there ever was one.

“I only sold one ticket.” I shrugged. “I was hoping to have some walk-ins.”

The human looked around. “You worked so hard… I’m sorry, how rude of me. I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Lucas.”

Lucas. A lovely name for a lovely omega. I took a long drag of air in through my pierced nose. He smelled like morning and a sunny day and the wind at the exact point the day got too hotfor your skin. None of that made sense, but that was how he smelled.

And this orc wanted to wallow in his rays.

“I’m Thrain.”

His cheeks flushed with a rosy hue. “Yes. It was on the event announcement. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Duh. Of course he knew my name.

“Do you have questions? About orcs or anything else?” I needed to tell him he was my mate. Immediately. But I found myself wanting to ease him into the matter. Let him find out more about me before I sprang that knowledge on him.

“Sure. Um, are there games? I thought you and I could play something while we get to know each other. Is that okay?”

“Games. Oh. Yes. Games.” I rubbed the back of my neck. I’d thought of snacks. Balloons. Tablecloth. The printer. But not games. Silly orc. Humans loved games. And it was on the advertisement.

Wait. This place used to be a nerdy-type shop. There had to be something in the back. Dart game. Bean bags. Something.

“Give me a minute, Lucas. Sorry. I’m unprepared.”

He giggled and nodded. “Sounds good. You’re doing great.”

Soaking up the praise, I rushed to the back room. The shelves were empty. Nothing but posters and a few T-shirts that looked too small even for a human child.

Then I spotted a small box sticking out from the bottom of a shelf in the corner.

A box of playing cards.

Go Fish.

That counted as a game, right?

It would have to do.

“Do you like to play Go Fish?” I said, returning to the main area, holding up the box, hoping he wouldn’t laugh at me.

“I love Go Fish.” He took the box of cards from me. “Oh, these are fancy. With superheroes all over them. Pull up a chair. Let’s see if I can beat an orc at a game.”

I chuckled and did as he asked. “Let’s see, then, shall we?”

Chapter Seven

Lucas

Absolutely nothing about the meet and greet was the way I expected it to be. Not one single thing.

No one was there.

Lunch was a very loose term.

And the game? Go Fish.

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