Page 43 of Orc's Claim
“I swore to protect you, from all dangers. Mating…” He shakes his head. “If you are not ready, Lily, then the gods may not accept the mating at risha. And you might regret it… regret me.”
“I could never regret being with you.”
“Do you truly want this?”
My face must betray my hesitancy because he quickly adds, “You do not.”
The more I think about marrying with everything and everyone against us, including Ryko in this moment, the more I doubt myself. “I don’t know what you want, Ryko. One secondyou say we should mate and then you say we shouldn’t. Do you…” I want to ask him if he loves me, something he’s never said even though I’m crazy in love with him.
“Stop trying to give me what I want, Lily,” He says, raising his voice. “Demand what you want. As any female orc would.”
“I’m not orc.” A part of our relationship he blissfully ignores.
His fingers fly over my forehead, my nose, and finally my tuskless lower lip. “Your body is human, but you have the heart of an orc, my Lily. Strong and determined. And I will always protect you, even against yourself.”
I fling myself against his chest. “I just want to keep you from getting hurt!”
“Hurt?” he laughs. “No one can hurt me.”
“Not even your grak?”
“My grak can kill me. But he cannot hurt me. Not as long as you are mine.”
I melt at his words, then tear up. He face falls.
“I can’t lose you, Ryko. I want to be with you. That’s all I know, deep in my heart. Maybe we should run away where no one can find us.”
“Running away will mean a life of solitude.” He shakes his head. “No. You will have better.”
“I’ll haveyou. That’s all I need.”
“And when I’m gone for days or weeks at a time, hunting? No, my Lily,” he says so softly his voice lulls me. “I will not condemn you to that lonely life.” With a caress along my face, he adds, “My grak is negotiating with your leaders because my people need females. This is why he thinks he will have you.”
What Ryko’s saying, everything Jessie said, finally sinks in. New Earth’s council is going to give women, especially the unruly ones, to the orcs. And they won’t give any of us a choice.
No one is safe. Not me, not Jessie… none of us. The orc king could take me, if that’s what Council agrees to.
“If we formally mate, that would prevent your grak and any other orc from taking me?”
“Yes.”
“We should mate,” I say, hating how verypracticalit sounds, like a business transaction, or worse, like I’m trying to avoid being given to another orc. I am, in part, but most importantly, I want to be with Ryko.
“Are you sure?” His eyes narrow as he scrutinizes my expression.
“I want you, Ryko. We mate, protect ourselves, and then the rest we’ll figure out in time,” I say with certainty because ready or not, he’s my future.
With a nod, he slides his hands under my butt and lifts me as if I weigh nothing. I wrap my legs around his waist. He’s so massive that my ankles can’t reach all the way around, but they don’t need to. Our eyes lock together and Ryko carries me up the path without saying a word.
We’re really going to do this. I’m nervous and excited. We’re doing the right thing, but there’s a tension between us, one I don’t understand.
“Back there, when I suggested I tell my people about us, you sounded mad, as if you’re looking for a fight.”
“I am orc.” His grin does something to me. Maybe it’s that self-assured confidence of his. Either way, I’ve fallen for him. I’m helplessly head over heels in love with him.
“Is fighting all you warriors think about?” I joke as he carries me deeper into the woods.
“I enjoy fighting. Though there is one thing I enjoy more.” With one thrust, he presses his cock against my skirt-covered core.
