Page 31 of Bread with the Orc
“Why did you come,Baba?”
Her father visibly settled himself, straightening his cufflinks. “I came to see this new venture you’ll fail at, like you failed at the old one. You’ll continue to fail without my help.”
Well that was the last straw. I wasn’t going to sit there and let some asshole insult my Mate, even if I was fucking proud of her for standing up to him.
“She’s not going to fail,” I growled, striding out from the kitchen. “This place turned a profit in the first week we opened jointly.”
The look of disgust the man shot me told me everything I needed to know. Dismissing me, he glared at his daughter. “You’re just using someone else’s shop to fail this time.”
Fuck him. I placed my hand on Laney’s shoulder, felt her sway toward me, and I let my tusks gleam. “She told you, this isourshop. The new sign will be up next week—Harmony Tea and Treats.”
My Mate sucked in a breath and twisted to stare up at me. “You didn’t tell me that!”
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” I bit out, still glaring at her father. “Maggie’s making the sign for us.”
I risked a glance down at her, and was relieved to see her smile. “That’s beautiful,” she breathed, leaning against me for just a moment. “Thank you.”
Her father’s eyes had narrowed. “This little venture isn’t making you enough to have found a new apartment, Lan-Yee. You haven’t found a new place.”
He’d been…what? Watching her? Following her? I shook my head. “Laney’s name is on the lease for this place now, and that includes the apartment upstairs. What’s mine is hers.”
It was a declaration, and more than one of the townspeople gathered around sucked in a breath when they realized what that meant.
In retrospect, watching Mr. Wong’s face go suddenly purple, maybe I could have worded it differently.
“Baba,” Laney began, but her father cut her off.
“You’re—you’repaired upwith this monster?”
Fucking, living with, loving—take your pick. Instead, I put my arm around her waist and tucked her up against my side. “Laney is my Mate, and I’m hers.”
Her father looked close to apoplectic when he swung his sneer to her. “You’re playinghousewith thehelp?”
I didn’t understand the insult, but from the way Laney suddenly stiffened, she did. “Dorvak isnot—what you said. This is his bakery!” She was shaking now, and I suspected half of it was fury, half panic. “He’s a staple in this community! He’s given back to the people of Harmony Glen in a way I only hope to!”
To my surprise, there were murmurs of support around me, and I glanced about to see a number of townspeople on their feet, glaring. The realization that this bastard thought I would be insulted by such a claim made me want to laugh.
So I did.
From the sudden shock I saw on the faces around the bakery, no one had heard me chuckle before.
“Look, Mr. Wong?—”
“Youdon’t get to talk to me!” The man swung on me, jabbing his finger in my direction. “Do you know who I am?”
Calmly, I shrugged. “You’re my Mate’s father, and the grandfather of my future son.”
The older man sucked in a breath so quickly I thought he might fall over. In fact, he stumbled backward a step, his hand on his chest, his expression panicked. “A son?No.”
Good. Let the bastard suffer.
“And if you want to be part of your grandson’s life,Baba, you’re going to have to wise the hell up. Monsters are here to stay in Harmony Glen, but you’re welcome to leave.”
“This is my home!”
“And now it’s our home too,” I bit out. “More importantly, it’sLaney’shome. Now, I know, deep down, you love her. Well, guess what?” I snarled. “I love her too. And her heart’s big enough to love both of us. So you’d better get used to the idea of me being in your life, because I’m most definitely going to be in hers.”
The older man just stared, wide-eyed.
