Текст книги "Twins for the Wild Orc"

Автор книги: Michele Mills

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I open his drawers and see Whelan’s huge black underwear, his dark pajamas, plaid shirts and blue jeans. I’m unable to fit all my clothes, which means we’ll need another dresser, but I do my best, loving the sight of my small panties next to his huge underwear.

And then of course I remember the feel of his ass in my hands and the slide of his large, thick cock. Now I want him to return as soon as possible.

The need for sleep hits me hard. I have no idea how long it will take for Whelan to return but my eyelids are already drooping. This is my chance and I need to take it. I kick off my shoes and slide off my cardigan, still fully clothed in jeans and t-shirt.

Then I slip into Whelan’s comfortable bed, loving his scent.

And I fall into a deep, exhausted sleep, my head on his pillow.

Chapter 4

Whelan

The edge of the commune comes into focus.

It’s still pitch-black outside with a hint of moon shadow to light the way and only a few hours until dawn. I’m filthy and exhausted. But this state of mind is good because it’s kept me away from subjects best left untouched. Like the fact that a little over a year ago my Bride ran out of my hotel room the moment I fell asleep after fucking her hard and long, doing my best to bring her intense pleasure, and she never looked back.

Which means she took my growing seed with her—my son. And I still have no idea what my mate chose to do with my child. In fact, I may never know.

I’ve volunteered these last six months, hunting nonstop, pausing to eat and rest and then going back out. This schedule seems unsustainable, a shift no one else in their right mind would take on. But for me, it works. It also allows others to take a break from this difficult chore. The other hunters don’t mind my temporary deep dive into orc hunting.

The elders say I’ll stop soon with this self-inflicted isolation, but I see no end in sight.

I like the quiet and the solitude.

Reconnecting with my ancestral instincts, scenting the wind and finding the trail of a variety of wild animals. I hunt using ancient orc weapons and techniques passed down for ages. Traps are made from leaves, branches, and holes I dig with my own hands or whatever is available in the forest. I wash and drink in rivers and rest in front of a fire I made. I enjoy wading into rivers and capturing fish. I also took down a moose recently with my own hands. This is the most honorable way. I bring all I caught back, and it is all eaten and used, completing the circle of life. I’ve been in the back country for three days straight and this time I’m ready for my bed and a shower.

I pause and drop off the large moose carcass and the rack of fish in the walk-in freezer of the lodge. I’ve already done most of the dirty work and I leave the rest for the team to butcher the next morning. I wash up some at the basin and then march back out into the quiet dark. All the lights and fires are out.

The depression returns and hits hard as I make my way to my cabin in the farthest corner of the commune. My mind was focused on the hunt and survival instincts, but now the memories come flooding back. Because I’m about to return to an empty cabin with an empty nursery, even though I’m a male who impregnated his Bride.

I have a son out there, hopefully.

And a Bride who wants nothing to do with me. I don’t even know if she went through with the pregnancy. This is her right. But this doesn’t mean the thought of her choosing to not carry my son and moving on with her life hurts any less. Also, she might’ve indeed chosen to carry and give birth to my son and is out there, somewhere in the greater human world, raising my orc son alone. A son who needs his father in close proximity to thrive.

Both scenarios are torturous and never leave my thoughts.

I met my female, whose name I do not even know, when I left the commune for the wider human world in Maine, for the first time at thirty years old. Prior to that the farthest I’d gone was monthly grocery runs to the nearest town. This time I went to Bangor, alone.

I'm the wildest-looking orc on the commune. Taller than the average orc, my horns sharper, and my tusks longer. I’ve been told by humans that my features are “scary.” If I move an arm to point at something on a shelf, humans squeal and move out of the way, assuming I’m about to hit them. It is nonsensical. Therefore, I normally choose to stay amongst my kind, beginning to believe that I’d never have a Bride of my own or have offspring because simply going to the grocery store in town causes humans to scream and run away in fear. The other Brides I live amongst, who are mated to other males in the commune and who happily choose to stay with their mate and children, avoid me too with fear in their eyes. Only me.

I couldn’t envision a modern human woman wanting to live with a monstrous-looking wild orc on the edge of the wild zone. Every wilder in my tribe is either unmated or a single father. It is a sad situation. Many regular orcs live on the commune with a human Bride who lives at their hearth, feeds them home-cooked meals by hand and loves their sons.

I am jealous.

Many modern orcs, like my cousin Alden, have migrated and now live amongst the humans in their communities. Alden Overlook is an example of a wild orc who taught himself over time to act modern and eventually he found a female who accepted him. She lived next door to him, and she didn't have to leave and come to the commune to stay with him.

But I cannot leave the commune and try to live amongst humans, not only because they will scream in fear, but because I am the eldest son of the leader. It is my responsibility to stay and eventually take on his role.

A year ago, I went on a business trip by myself, trying to be mindful of my effect on humans. I was supposed to go with Rogan, but my father’s Bride fell and broke her ankle, and he needed to drive his mate down the hill for medical care. I wanted to stay or reschedule but my father sent me alone because he called the negotiations “low risk.” And it’s always better to go out amongst humans alone or in groups of two. Anything else can ignite a mob.

I drove a truck past the towns I knew and onto freeways and to Bangor.

For the first time ever, I was taking an overnight trip out in the human world. I ended up at a place called a hotel. There were the requisite gasps of fear when I stepped out of the truck. Screams echoed from small children and senior citizens when I walked into the lobby. I tried to ignore these humans and made sure I offered a smile and tried to appear non-threatening. I simply checked in and asked for the key and paid. Luckily, they knew an orc was checking in and this was an orc-friendly establishment.

I went to the meeting that same day in a tall building. It went well. I negotiated favorable terms for the continued boundaries of the land of our commune. I am an expert in orc law, and even though I look wild I am highly articulate in both ancient orc and human speak; this is why I was sent.

That evening I walked past a place called a bar.

I'd heard of these establishments but had never been inside one. A pint of ale sounded wonderful before hitting my bed. Tomorrow I would return to the commune. I made a fateful detour into that quiet, half-empty hotel bar, hoping to find a pint of orc ale. And immediately found a lone human female seated nearby.

She was simply the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Long, thick brown hair. Sparkling blue eyes. A slender, curvy figure, but not too delicate. She wore a black dress and fancy shoes. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.

I’d met many human females over the years and none of them affected me the way this female did. A few young unmated female lawyers had worked alongside me at the meeting with the government and again, nothing but professional discourse.

I was drawn to this female’s scent and the sound of her voice. I should have run back to my room immediately the moment I realized I was reacting abnormally to this particular female. But the moment I inhaled her scent I was already too far gone. The scent doesn't lie.

I have heard it told that a male can have more than one female match in his life, but it has never been documented that there is more than one at the same time. A male latches on to one female until her death or if she has chosen to leave for so long that eventually over many years her scent fades from that male's body, from his mind and from his senses to the point where it leaves room for another to replace it.

I sat down next to her and expected to hear the requisite human scream. Maybe she'd get up and move away. I began to entertain ancient thoughts of kidnapping and carrying her away by her hair. I could throw her in my truck and take her to my cabin in my commune and fill her with my sons. And in time, after I pleasured her so often, she’d realize that she wanted to stay. I was amazed at how quickly these ridiculous, primitive thoughts entered my mind. But none of my chase receptors clicked and had to be pushed away, because luckily it was not the dark of winter and I could remain sane.

She moved closer and gazed at me with heat, her arousal thick in the air between us.

After this shocking realization that this female wanted me, the Wild Orc with tall horns and hair so long I had it tied up on the top of my head, I was all-in. The mug of ale was ignored and all I wanted was to strip her bare and sink inside of her heat.

Soon she was so close her thigh brushed mine and her forearm touched mine. She looked into my eyes and purred, “Let's go to your room.”

Of course, I said yes. I'm not a fool.

She attacked me in the elevator, pushing me back against the wall and basically climbing me, moaning with desire. I lowered my face, and she captured my lips.

It was my first kiss.

We ended up in my room and I did strip her bare, trying my best to not tear her clothes. Her bare breasts, soft stomach and curved hips caused my shaft to harden and leak. I lost my virginity that night and did my best to fill her with my seed again and again.

I made sure she constantly screamed with pleasure. I was much larger than her, but I worked hard to make sure she was always wet and ready to take my shaft with ease. Finally, I passed out next to her, with my female in my arms, assured she was satisfied, bred and mated. The next morning, I would discuss and explain her move to the commune.

But I awoke the next morning alone in my room, with her long gone, and roared with rage.

I ran half-naked down to the lobby and demanded to know who she was, but no one would tell me, or they didn't know. Because I didn't know her name, nor did I know what room she was staying in. I didn’t even have her cell number.

Had that been her plan all along?

How could I have been so enthralled to have not acquired this basic knowledge? I bred a female whose name I didn’t know, nor did I pause to tell her my own name or what commune I lived on. My trust was that strong. My mind and body that certain that she was my Bride and that she felt the same about me.

I felt I'd been tricked and made a fool.

Had it been a human scam?

The reason why I had acquiesced so easily was because I could smell her arousal too. I knew she felt the same as I did. Why then would she leave?

But this has happened before to many, many a male. I am not the first nor will I be the last. What I'd most feared ended up happening. An orc’s fear is to end up a single father. This is common, as to almost be expected. The worst fear of all, is that a female would run away and not leave the son with the father. And that is what happened to me.

It can't be said she didn't leave me because I kidnapped her, dragged her by the hair or did any of the stereotypical things my ancestors have done. But I must have done something wrong because she didn't stay, and the worst part is she has taken my son with her. Maybe as a human she didn’t understand orcs don’t pleasure mate, we only mate with our Brides in order to fill them with our seed and see their stomach swollen with a son. It is instinctual. I thought she knew that I was breeding her, but maybe she didn’t know? I was so far gone I never explicitly told her I was giving her my son.

Kidnappings have always happened since ancient times. Males took human females into dark caves, far from revengeful mobs of humans with pitchforks and torches, and kept the female long enough to give birth and only then allowed the choice of leaving. I refuse to kidnap a female. My father banned kidnapping when he came into power. It was a difficult transition, and many orcs left our commune for other secret settlements that still practiced the ways of old. But Rogan held firm. If we were to continue living reasonably close to humans in peace, he knew we had to accept human law. Modernize or fail. I agree.

That first morning after she left, I was deeply upset and ashamed that I hadn’t been able to show her that staying with me was a good idea. When I returned home, I didn't want to say anything to my brothers but admitted to my father what had happened. Eventually I opened up and told everyone that I had found my Bride and filled her with my seed but lost her, because I couldn’t hide my anguish.

There was no way to find her. Legally, I was unable to go into human communities to search for her.

As the months progressed, I went through a nesting phase as any orc male would. My brain and body knew I had a growing son even though my female wasn't nearby. I tidied up my cabin and invested in upgrades and remodeled. I even crafted a wooden crib with my bare hands, in the way all fathers have done for millennia. I imagined often that she would arrive just in time, that she would come to her senses and find me and come to my hearth. Finally, when I knew that the time came, and my son would have been born and yet she hadn’t arrived, I concluded that she’d terminated the pregnancy and moved on with her life, considering the whole thing a mistake.

That was when I began to exclusively hunt. This took me into the wilderness by myself because I wasn't good to be around. Depression hit me hard. Tears often filled my eyes. I couldn’t stand to be in the cabin with an empty crib. I began to wonder how I was going to be able to carry on. I wanted my female in my bed as much as the son she was carrying. I want my family at my hearth.

Instead, I am alone.

I pause before I stride up the pathway that leads to the front steps of my small cabin because from this distance, I see a light on inside. What is going on?

There’s a soft whistle and Urdan, the head of security, waits in the shadows.

“What has happened?” I growl.

He steps forward. “Your Bride is right now sleeping in your bed.”

I place a claw on my chest and freeze. “And my son?”

He nods. “They are here too.”

“They?”

“Yes. You will see.”

I throw back my head and let out a thunderous roar of pride and domination.

My friend grabs my arm. “Whelan, calm down, I am here to caution you before you enter and do anything you will later regret. Your female drove up to the gate today with your offspring. Rogan, Kelt and I spoke to her and allowed her into your cabin so you can speak to her too and decide the next steps. I am here to warn you that if you attempt to cause her harm there is a group of us surrounding your cabin and we will rush inside, take you down, chain you up and toss you in the pit. This is not an idle threat. I will not allow you to harm that female.”

“Understood,” I pant. Then I snarl and push him aside and jog up the path and enter my cabin. I close the door behind me and look around. A single light is on in the front room. My chest fills with her scent. My Bride. I slump back against the door with the enormity of this discovery.

Two more scent trails enter my lungs. Two? I have two sons?

I stand back up and race down the short hall and enter the spare room I’ve created for my offspring. I built this addition with my own two hands. Everyone thought it was sad and in fact crazy of me to go through the bother, considering they must’ve all secretly thought it was for naught. That I was preparing for a female and a son that would never join my hearth. But I was compelled by instinct. I had no idea there’d be two of them. She must’ve brought a second crib with her because there’s the one I made and another that is store bought. I snort with disgust. Soon I will craft a second for my other son.

I lean against the wall of the nursery, watching my sons both sleep for a moment in the moonlight, inhaling their scent, enjoying the curve of their faces and their black starter horns. My sons. I use the back of my hand to wipe away the tears that stream down my face.

Then I stride down the hall to confront their mother.

Chapter 5

Drew

“Female? Wake up,” a harsh voice snarls.

I snuggle deeper into my pillow, which smells of Whelan Overlook, and try to remain asleep, despite the disturbance. For once the babies sleep soundly and I’m trying to take advantage of this magical occurrence before I need to awake and feed them again. Also, this bed is so freaking comfortable. “Leave me alone,” I mutter.

Something shakes me awake.

My eyes flutter open.

A huge, menacing Orc growls from above and bares his tusks.

I squeal with fright and reach over to click on the bedside light.

“You are here to return my sons?” he growls.

I sit up straight because I’d know that deep voice anywhere. My body instantly heats up in response to his nearness. I push my hair back from my face, wishing I’d had the foresight to pull it back into a ponytail. “Oh my gosh, it’s you? Whelan? You’re back?” My eyes roam from that familiar face down his chest. I haven’t seen him in a whole year. His wide, green, bare chest is smeared with dirt. He smells like soil, leaves and leather. The long black hair I remember is tied up in some sort of man bun, which I find sexy as hell. And of course, my gaze drops down his amazing muscular chest, past the belt buckle to the bulge of the package down below, that looks just as intimidating as I remember.

A whimper escapes my lips. I’ve missed him so much. I had real, tortured reasons for leaving and then staying away for so long, but right this instant, as I sit in his bed and gaze up at all that is him, those reasons seem silly. Why didn’t I just stay?

A snarl rumbles in his chest. “You’ve learned my name? This is more than I know of you,” he accuses. “And I have two sons?”

Oops. My eyes dart back up to his harsh face and the tusks that erupt past his lower lip and my cheeks burst into flame. “Oh sorry, my name is Drew, Drew Reilly. And yes, I’ve…” I swallow against the lump in my throat, “You have two sons who are identical twins and I’ve brought both babies back to you.”

He gives a curt nod and turns to exit the bedroom. I fly off the bed and race after him down the hall. Whelan enters the nursery and stands next to Owen’s crib. The curtains are still open, allowing a bit of moonlight. He reaches out a hand, like he’s going to try and lift the sleeping baby into his arms.

I let out a squeak of dismay. “How about you take a shower first,” I whisper, “and wash off all that dirt, before you touch the babies.”

He gives a curt nod and points to the sitting room. “Wait for me until I return.”

“I will.”

I stumble into the front room and sit on the couch, grateful that Whelan hasn’t yet attacked like the others said he would. His voice sounds harsh and rough, which is new and different since I’d only ever seen the sweet, sexy side of him. Mainly I’m stunned because I haven’t seen my orc in over a year. And I think he’s more focused on his twins than on me.

The shower starts and I glance out the dark window, knowing the orc guards are out there somewhere but I can’t see them. I’m assuming they saw him arrive and moved in closer than before.

The shower shuts down and minutes later Whelan stomps into the front room.

I look up and catch my breath because the male I remember has returned, even more spectacular than before because now he’s barefoot with only black pajama pants. I love his twisty horns that burst out from either side of his forehead. And I remember how easy it was to still kiss him despite his tusks and how I loved holding onto those horns when he gave me the most amazing oral sex. His hair is long and damp down to his shoulders. And I want to climb him like a tree.

My body is enflamed, exactly as before.

And this time I’m sober.

He holds up a hand and shakes his head. “Don’t.”

“What?” I question.

“I can scent your arousal filling the air, just like the last time at the hotel bar. Despite the havoc your pheromones play on my body, I will not again be tricked into sharing your bed. If this is your intention before you leave, it is wrong.” He reaches down to adjust his thick cock through the black fabric which I can tell is growing in his pants. He points out the window. “They are out there to protect me from you, but I assume they are also protecting you from me.”

My face heats up because it’s true that images of our last encounter continue to fly through my head and that space between my thighs that only he fills the best is heating up too. Plus, it breaks my heart that he thinks I tricked him. “You think I tricked you?”

He crooks an eye ridge. “You are the one who suggested we go to my room. Then you left the very next morning after I’d pleasured you many times. What else would I think?”

“I was drunk. I didn’t know…”

“Don’t… I don’t want to hear the excuses. I only want to know why you finally decided to return.”

His words land like sandbags, but I lift my chin and manage to carry on. “I am here to bring the boys because you need to meet them. Their names are Bran and Owen.”

“You named them without me?”

“Yes, your father said that too, like it’s weird. Of course I named them. What else was I supposed to do, just say ‘hey you’ for the first three months of their lives?”

“You were supposed to remain at my side so that I could be there for my sons’ growth and birth and name them.”

“Orc fathers always name their sons?”

“Yes, this is the custom since ancient times. You named them without me but I do approve of their names so we will not change them.” He crosses his massive green arms. “Why did you give birth to my sons without me in attendance?”

I twirl my hair. “Um, I couldn’t find you.”

“You found me now. Why couldn’t you find me a few months ago? What has changed?”

I wince and decide to tell him the truth. “I…I thought I could raise them by myself. But then I learned they weren’t thriving without you there, so I hired a private investigator to find you and now I’m here.”

He takes a step closer, his face clouded with anger. “You could have remained with me here at the commune during your pregnancy and I would have been with the twins from day one and neither of them would have known a moment’s distress.” He pauses and backs away and runs his thick fingers through his hair. “Where were you living this whole time when you hid from me? I went to the lobby trying to find you after you left, but I didn’t even know your name.” He looks out the windows again. “I could not go after you. Modern law dictates that orcs cannot search for Brides or sons who’ve rejected them and live in human communities. If you’ve wondered why I didn’t track you down, this is why. I had to wait for you to return on your own.”

“I never go into bars by myself and pick up guys but…it just seemed necessary that night. I had two drinks and realized I was a total lightweight. Then you arrived and I was bolder than ever before because of those drinks. I don’t know what happened to me, but yes, I did pretty much attack you and asked you to have sex with me. This is true. The next morning, I left you snoring in your bed and went back to mine to clean up and finish packing. Then I caught a prearranged flight back home to California. I was on that airplane probably three hours after I left your bed. That was why you couldn’t find me. I wasn’t even in the state any longer. I live on the other side of the country.”

“Why did you leave? I did my best to make sure you were pleasured. Why didn’t you decide to change your plans after meeting me and choose to stay?”

I wring my hands. “Whelan, you were scary. And you were coming on too strong. You called me your Bride. And you said you were going to kidnap me and take me to your cabin and keep me there.”

“I didn’t say that. It wasn’t even the dark of winter. I was acting reasonable. I did not kidnap you and instead gave you pleasure and filled you with my seed. It was a perfect orc mating. I treated you with respect and made you my Bride.”

“Maybe I didn’t want to be anyone’s Bride? And you were scary. You threatened to kidnap me and drag me off by the hair. You were half asleep when you said it, but you still scared the hell outta me, like you had a secret plan I didn’t know about until then.”

“There was no secret plan. I was breeding you. This whole time I’ve known I’ve had a pregnant female out there and that you were carrying my growing offspring and giving birth and I didn’t know what was happening with my son. I was going insane.”

“I’m so sorry, Whelan. I didn’t know you were trying to breed me. I thought we were having a fabulous one-night stand and I was on birth control. When I left, I thought there was zero chance of me being pregnant. And later when I did become pregnant, I thought only I knew about it and was making decisions and you had no idea. I didn’t know your name and you didn’t know mine because to me it made the hook up mysterious and sexy. I didn’t know where you lived. I knew nothing. I finally had to hire a private investigator to find you.”

“Why didn’t you try to find me the moment you knew you were pregnant? Why did you wait until now when my sons are three months old?”

“I learned that Bran and Owen need you.”

“It was my right to know of my offspring as soon as you knew.”

Tears spring to my eyes because he’s right. I stand and pace the room. “You’re right,” I say. “It was wrong of me. You did have the right to know about your children the moment I learned I was pregnant. I’m sorry. In my defense, most one-night stands between humans don’t result in the man wanting commitment. Most men would be happy that I was carrying on and leaving them out of it and they didn’t have to financially support the babies. And also I was still worried that you wanted to kidnap me. What if I returned to you and you tried to harm me?”

A growl rumbles in his chest. “That doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t threaten to kidnap you and you were never going to be harmed. I’m not human. And that wasn’t a one-night stand. Orcs don’t pleasure mate.”

“I’m not lying. You did threaten to kidnap me. And I didn’t know that orcs don’t pleasure mate, but I know it now.”

“You can’t raise orcs without their father.”

“I didn’t know that until I read a book by an orc named Alden Overlook. I learned so much then and learned how I didn’t understand what was happening that night.”

“You read Alden’s book? I’m glad you finally educated yourself,” he says stiffly, with a hint of sarcasm. “Well, you’ve done the right thing, leaving them with me now. You can leave tomorrow morning. I will care for them.”

“What? This is what your father said too. Whelan, I’m not leaving Bran and Owen behind. I’m here to stay. Where they go, I go. If they need to remain on this commune with you then I’m here too. They’re still breastfeeding—they need me.”

He crooks an eye ridge at me, obviously skeptical. “There are a few other human females on the commune who would gladly feed the babies too. You do not have to stay out of a sense of misplaced responsibility. We are used to orc babies being dropped off by human females. Sometimes they drop off babies to the wrong commune, but we still take them in and adopt them if we’re unable to locate the father in another tribe. Again, you are free to go. You do not need to stay. I am grateful that you did not terminate the pregnancy and that you gave birth to my sons and provided them care. Your obligation is now over.”

“Obligation? No, I love my babies. I’m telling you, I’m not leaving without them.”

He inhales deep. “Why are you really here, Drew Reilly? I can still scent your arousal. You want to pleasure mate with me and leave again? I already told you that isn’t going to happen.”

It’s the first time he’s said my name and I like it. “No…well, yes I want that but…I want to stay and try again. You said you wanted me as your Bride. Maybe I’m ready to try that out.”

He gives me a sharp glance. “Are you trying to trick me again? How can I believe this?”

“It’s the truth. Yes, I thought we were having a one-night stand. But since then, a lot has happened. Like I said, I read that book, many times, highlighting parts and trying my best to learn about orcs. I have Bran and Owen in my life. And I’ve even met your father and cousin and seen many other women living here. I’m…I’m at a different place and I’m not here to simply drop off the babies. I’m here because I know they need you, but I also want to give us a chance.”

“A chance?” he snorts. “You’re willing to give us a chance? There it is again. Human thinking. I cannot simply become your boyfriend and then you leave later when you realize you don’t really want to stay with me or in this commune. You cannot divorce me. I will not start anything with you again because I cannot trust the female who kept my sons from me. You left me once. I won’t give you the opportunity to do it to me again.”

“Whelan, I had a lot of fears. I thought you’d wake up and kidnap me and drag me off to your lair.”

He crosses his arms and frowns at me. “This is preposterous. It never happened. I did not say that, even in my sleep. Stop making up this terrible excuse.”

“Whelan, it’s the truth. I was drunk when I propositioned you and fell into your bed. But it was great between us, of course it was and I probably would’ve woken up with you and said goodbye at least before I caught my plane, but when you started mumbling about ‘kidnapping your Bride,’ I decided it was smart of me to instead sneak away.”