Page 54 of The Orc's Thief
I told my mate how I feel, and she’s embarrassed because of it. She—she truly doesn’t want me.
But when I look up, I find Tessa swiping at her eyes with her sleeve, just as I did earlier, only there’s no branch to move away, no raindrops falling to wet her cheeks.
“Are you crying?” I nudge Pip forward, then move him across the road so Tessa is forced to stop, too. “Why are you?—?”
She lifts her head, and I see all the telltale signs: the pinkened nose, the flushed cheeks, the tears glistening in her beautiful hazel eyes.
She sniffs, brows scrunched in a frown. “Why do you keep saying things like that?”
“Like what?” I shrug, confused. “You spoke as if you thought making you breakfast was a burden for me. It wasn’t, and I told you so.”
“That’s just it!” She flings her arms wide. “You didn’t even know me three days ago, and now you’ve left your friends and family to follow me. Are you bewitched? Or did that hit to the head damage your mind somehow?”
I laugh at the absurdity of it. “Tessa, nothing’s wrong with me. I’ve been waiting for this my entire life. This is how it is with orcs. You’re my mate.”
She opens her mouth as if to protest, but I lift my hand to stop her, because I’m not done.
“I know you don’t feel the same way. And I don’t love you yet, either. You’re right in saying it’s too soon for that,” I admit. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re in this together. If we’re lucky, if we both wish for it to happen, we’ll become lovers. If we both want it, we’ll have a family. Unless you send me away, I’ll never leave you.”
Tessa’s face crumples, and she buries it in her hands, sobbing softly. I stare at her, stunned, then guide Pip alongside her mare. Reaching over, I lift her from her saddle into mine. She lets out a startled yelp, but I pull her into my arms, tucking her head beneath my chin. There’s a heartbeat of resistance, then she yields, her sobs muffled against my jacket and shirt.
“Hey, hey.” I stroke the back of her head, unsure of what to do. “Tessa, love, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She heaves a deep breath and presses the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Damn it. You’re entirely too nice to me.”
I inhale her sweet scent. “No such thing.”
“It’s…a lot.” She peers up at me, her long eyelashes clumped together from crying. “This whole mate thing, I mean. It might take me some time to get used to. But if you’re serious about-about working together, I can accept that.”
“Aye, we have a deal, then.” I allow myself another few moments with my mate in my arms, then take her waist and set her back on her horse. “Now, let’s get going. We have a fair distance to cover before nightfall, and I wasn’t joking about wanting to sleep in a bed.”
Chapter
Twenty
TESSA
I stare at Arlon’s broad back and try to force my thoughts into submission, but they’re unruly today, painting pretty pictures for me. Things that could happen if what he’s saying is true. That embrace, the warm squeeze of his powerful arms, must have messed with my mind, because I can’t stop myself from wishing it was all possible.
For the last decade, I’ve been living with the consequences of my decisions. I’m afraid that this time around, the consequences of trusting the wrong man will be much more severe if it all goes to shit. When Hugo told me he loved me all those years ago, when he said that he was going to marry me, I chose to believe him despite the doubts I had. He’d been handsome and charming, and he picked me out of all the ladies. He promised me the moon, courted me with the most ardent affection, and seduced me. And I let him. I opened my heart and my legs and accepted his words as truth.
When the fairytale came crashing down around me, what hurt the most wasn’t him leaving—it was the realization that I’d given up everything to be with him, and he’d sacrificed nothing.His life didn’t change after he told me he was leaving, that the lease on our townhouse had run out, and that I should probably return to my parents, given that I didn’t have any money of my own. In contrast, my whole world crumbled, and in the years that followed, I made damn sure that I would never be put in the same position again.
But Arlon hasn’t demanded anything from me. He’s the one who left his clansmen to pursue me, and he hasn’t taken anything, not even a kiss, for his trouble. He has protected me, fed me, and given me all the answers I asked for, and a hug on top of that.
It’s unfair, really, how quickly he’s managed to worm his way under my skin.
It has me wondering if there might be some truth to his claims about mates. It sounds ridiculous, but if there’s a chance he’s right…
I have no idea what that would mean for me. For us. He’s a trained, apparently wealthy warrior from a kingdom up north, and I’m a thief surviving off stolen loot and my friend’s generous donations of day-old bread. We’re a complete mismatch, and if the Fates truly chose us as partners for life, they must have been drunk when making that decision.
“I smell smoke,” Arlon announces in a low voice from up ahead. “We must be close to a village. Or maybe a farm. We can stop and ask for directions to the nearest inn.”
I inhale deeply through my nose, but it takes several more minutes for my human senses to recognize the first signs of people nearby.
“Have you ever traveled through here?” I ask, bringing Clover to walk alongside Pip. “I’ve never been this far east.”
He grimaces. “We might have passed by when we left the old clan, but I honestly don’t remember. I was fourteen at the time and more worried about my growling stomach than the maps.”
