Page 31 of My Orc Contract Husband
And I straightened my shoulders, my attention flying back to the door through which Sami—my bride—would soon step.
She was going to be my wife.
Not my Mate.
And that was okay.
“You’ll notice he didn’t answer,” murmured Aswan.
“That’s because he’s not sure what he’s doing.”
I’d asked Aswan to stand beside me for my wedding because apparently it was a human tradition to pick favorite friends and honor them by making them wear uncomfortable suits and possibly marry the bride if you chickened out. Aswancouldn’tmarry Sami, since he’d Mated Hannah months ago, but he was the most supportive of the males I knew.
I’d asked Sakkara because he was responsible for me being on Eastshore Isle…and because he already owned his own damn suit.
Abydos owns his own suit.
Yeah, but Abydos had made it clear what he thought of me marrying a human.
I shifted uncomfortably in my new suit—Sami had insisted I buy one, and I figured if she was willing to marry me, this was the least I could do—and did my best to ignore the doubt my friends were trying to instill.
Or maybe not.
“Sakkara, surely you have access to some property for Tark?” Aswan really did sound concerned. “He’s only going through this because she’s his realtor.”
“Not true,” murmured Sakkara in return. “He’s going through it because the bank won’t loan him enough without a second income, so he had to find and marry the richest damn woman on the island?—”
Forgetting the organ music, forgetting the dozen or so people scattered through the church, forgetting the holy man who’d been waiting patiently all this time, I whirled on my friends with a snarl.
“Why do my reasons matter so much to you?”
Neither one of them reared away from my anger.
“Because we care about you,” Aswan said gently, one hand reaching up to rest gently on my shoulder. “And we don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
Like marry the most stunning woman I’d ever met? A woman who made myKteerpurr and had my cock throbbing with need, just thinking of claiming her? A woman whose dry sense of humor made me laugh, and who was willing to take a chance on a future—no matter how temporary—with me?
A woman whoneeded me?
Maybe the other male read something in my expression, because Aswan gently squeezed my shoulder, then dropped his hand with a nod. “Never mind.”
Sakkara shifted his weight. “This is about the foster system, isn’t it?”
My lips tipped into a slow frown. The foster system? I… It had been years since I’d given up on that dream.
Shaking my head, I turned back toward the pathway Sami would soon walk down.
When Aswan hummed in question, Sakkara explained under his breath. “The state foster system prioritizes married couples?—”
“Shut up,” I growled, not sure I wanted them to dredge up old plans or examine my reasons right before I made such a big change in my life.
“But you took Emmy—” Aswan began.
“That was different, because she was half-orc,” Sakkara explained. “Tark feels as if he needs?—”
“Shut up,” I hissed again.
The holy man, the one in the ill-fitting suit behind me, cleared his throat, just as the music swelled.
