Page 11 of Bread with the Orc
“Paltry burns,” I muttered. “I am fine. Go make some tea.”
“Two oolongs, coming up!”
She was so cheerful all the time, and I couldn’t help but love it, despite the chaos she’d brought to my life.
The next day, she started painting the east wall of the open room, and by the end of the day, had even recruited some neighbors to help. She knew everyone—I suppose a benefit of living here her whole life, and I liked how she didn’t seem to see the difference between monsters and humans.
There was Sebastian and Aspen and their kitling, who had begun to beg for a cinnamon roll after his first visit. Now I snuck him one while his parents helped Laney sketch out plans for a kids’ corner near the big window.
Ogram and Hope, who now ran the Harmony Market together, had a lot of opinions about color combinations, and Laney got into a lively debate about something calledeggplant luster, which sounded ridiculous.
Liana and Rourke actually helped paint, which I appreciated so I didn’t have to leave the kitchen. I’d always liked the big lionmale, and when he finished, I nodded in gratitude and handed him two wrapped loaves of milk bread, which I knew he liked.
And of course, Feydin and Dazy, who had become our most devoted customers—or rather, I suspect Dazy was just addicted to my cheese Danishes—came by each morning with fresh flowers for the tables.
In no time, my austere bakery had turned into agathering place for the community, and I only had to look at Laney’s pride to see this was what she’d hoped for.
After years of people just coming into my shop, buying bread, and leaving, it was strange to hear so many voices echoing around the place. Thank the gods that Laney was willing and able to handle the front of the bakery,andcould somehow tell when I became overwhelmed with all the people. If I were dragged into conversation with the customers, more often than not, she’d ask for something that gave me an excuse to escape to the kitchen.
She was really learning my habits, and although I hadn’t thought it possible that myKteercould grow smugger…it did.
And then, two weeks after our lives had merged—successfully, it seemed—Laney asked me to meet her at the park on Wednesday afternoon. My bakery had always been closed on Wednesdays, and I thought she also appreciated having a day off. I did not, however, appreciate having a day when I couldn’t inhale her scent, and thus I was grateful for the opportunity to see her, to touch her.
Maybe I arrived an hour early, just to wait for her. And maybe, when she arrived and saw me and her smile bloomed, turning the crisp fall day into something magnificent, it was all worth it.
“Thanks for coming Dorvak—heh,that’s what she said.”
From the way Laney winked and nudged me with her elbow, I could tell this was a joke I was supposed to understand. However, all I could focus on was her warmth next to mine.
“Hello.” I resisted the urge to scoop up her hand and cradle it. “Why am I here?”
“Because you’re nice and you wanted to humor me.” She smiled and slipped her arm through mine, pulling me toward the fountain. “ButI’mhere because I wanted to talk to you about the Harvest Festival.”
To be honest, a meteor could have hurtled toward us at that moment, or Feydin could have started singing, or something equally horrible, and I wouldn’t have noticed. Because Laney was touching me, her curves pressed up against my side as we strolled and all I could think wasmine mine mine.
I wanted to sink into her in all ways. I wanted to bring her more pleasure than she could imagine. I wanted to make her scream my name loud enough for everyone to know. I wanted to place my mark on her. I wanted the world to know Laney Wong wasmine. I wanted her to bear my kitling?—
What?
But as suddenly as the thought appeared, I couldn’t get rid of it.
I wanted to see Laney’s stomach swollen with our child. I wanted to blend the two of us until it was impossible to tell us apart. I wanted our kitling to be the sign to the world that we were one.
What the actual fuck, idiot? You’rebusiness partners. You can’t breed her just because you think she’s supremely fuckable. Get your cock under control!
No, I didn’t want to breed her because I desired her. I wanted to breed her because she wasmine.
In that moment, I knew the truth I couldn’t deny: Laney was my Mate, and from the way myKteerthrummed, there was no doubt.
“Dorvak?”
When I blinked and glanced down at her, I realized Laney was chewing on her lip, looking up at me in worry. “We don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”
“Oh, I want to.” My lips tugged down as I realized she was most certainly talking about something different than I’d been thinking. “Do what?”
“The Harvest Festival.”
Each year since monsters had joined humans in Harmony Glen, the town had marked an autumnal celebration of the surrounding farms with a Harvest Festival. It was a time for coziness and crafts and contests. Was it any wonder I’d avoided it?
