***
The next day, Momma drags me and Erra out shopping. She also somehow conscripts Cavek into service to be our official bag carrier as she hauls us from one shop to another in the mall. Erra is bewildered at the rush of activity but has no trouble getting into the spirit of shopping. Even Cavek seems to be surprisingly enjoying himself, when I’m not dodging questions from the left field about Kate. His interest in her can’t be more obvious. Still, he makes a cheerful companion and is happy to be burdened with anything we hand him.
He also proves to draw women in like a magnetic body. It’s almost impressive to see how gaggles of women suddenly stop what they are doing to flirt openly with him. Enough so, that I notice more than one guy eye him angrily when their girlfriend or the woman they’re with starts to stare and flirt outrageously.
What is more surprising is how many men are glaring at me. Apparently, thanks to social media, and a huge part to my brother’s efforts, I have been publicly dubbed “The Orc Wife,” and have become a very recognizable person. Probably in part due to the huge, distinct tattoos scrolling over one side of my face and neck.
I’m not entirely sure why this put me on anyone’s shit list. Since no one is actively bothering us, we continue shopping, although admittedly at a brisker pace than before. Any enjoyment I’d been feeling is now gone and I just want to get it over and done with.
It takes most of the day to finish up our shopping, and I for one am glad to have the end in sight. We’re on the main floor making our way to the entrance, juggling our bags, when I feel a wet glob hit my face. Lifting I hand, I grimace and wipe it off and look at the milky smear on my fingers. Immediately I wipe my hand off on the leg of my pants with a shudder of disgust.
Someone spit on me!
I look up and see right away the raging crowd of men staring down at us with various expressions that all scream hostile.
I immediately know which one is the loogie champ, because the shit-eating bastard is wearing a huge cocky grin. When my eyes meet his, he begins to laugh, which spurs on others in the crowd to shout out slurs.
“Orc’s whore! You and your monsters need to go back to wherever you came from.”
“You are not welcome here, beasts!”
“Whore!”
On it continues, drawing Erra’s gaze upward, frowning fiercely at the crowd above us. The taunting suddenly shifts, and we are pelted with food they throw over the railing at us. Cavek snarls, but Momma ushers us out of the building before my mouth can get us into a whole lot of hot water.
It’s a smart decision. There’s no point in waiting around to see how brave one of those assholes may suddenly get and try something violent. I take a moist towelette from momma and start to sponge off the bits of food. Erra and Cavek do so as well, though Cavek does pause to lick at a bit of sauce from what looks like some sesame chicken long enough to declare it delicious.
It’s not until the mountain of bags litter Momma’s living room floor I am wondering just how we are going to cart all the stuff home. At Erra’s insistence, we even stopped by the liquor store so she could grab three more bottles of pink champagne. Orgath slows to a halt as he enters the room and looks at the accumulated hill of shopping shame.
“It looks like your expedition was fruitful,” he observes drily.
I chew my lip. “A little too much. I swear it didn’t look like this much when we were in the mall. I don’t know how this happened.”
Cavek throws himself down in the chair with a snort.
“I was used like a beast of burden. I could have told you exactly how much you had acquired if you’d asked.”
I wave a hand at him. “Oh hush, you.”
“Well,” Orgath says at length, “we could probably tie things into loads of larger bundles dispersed among all the delfass. That should get most of these things home fine.”
He picks up a bag full of clothes and nods at the pliable give to it, before setting it back down among the others. “We can work with it,” he assures me.
Orgath sits on the couch and draws me into his lap, holding me like the last few hours we’ve been apart were a lifetime. I don’t mind; I enjoy being encompassed by his embrace, and truth be told I’ve missed him today. We’re rarely apart long if we can help it. It seems this bloodbond mating business has made me surprisingly needy.
I used to sneer at women who can’t stand being apart from their men for even a day, and here it’s been less than six hours and I cling to him so thoroughly that he will probably have to peel me off just to breathe. Thankfully, Orgath doesn’t seem to mind. He nuzzles my hair and wraps his thick arms around me.
We sit like that, Orgath holding me and Cavek dozing in Dad’s recliner, when Jake trots into the room. He slows, his eyes widening as he looks at our haul, but then seems to shake himself free of his surprise and makes his way over to us, stepping around bags as he moves through the living room. He stands in front of us, nervously shifting from foot to foot. I can feel Orgath begin to get impatient, and even I’m about to open my mouth and tell him to get on with it.
“I think we may have a tiny problem,” he says finally.
I frown. “A problem? Like how big of a problem? An ‘oops I misplaced the remote and am missing my favorite show’ problem, or a ‘I accidentally burned down the garage’ problem?”
“You are never going to let me live that down,” he grouses. “It’s more of a ‘people are actively speaking out against you as a race traitor’ problem.”
I just stare at him in shock. “Excuse me?”
He nods miserably. It sucks being the messenger bearing bad news.
“People are commenting on my YouTube videos I’ve been putting up documenting your visit, and it is not good.”
He swings around his phone and scrolls through several of them. Some of the comments were good. But those are overwhelmed by ones demanding that the “monsters” go back to where they came from and stay away from good, godly, human communities.
Several of these comments attack me directly as betraying and selling out the human race. Some of the comments call for my death and directly threaten the orcs. I sit back slowly, after reading several of them aloud to Orgath, stunned. Cavek, who I thought to be asleep, is alert, his mouth drawn down as he scowls.
“Well,” I say slowly, “that explains the mall.”
“What happened?” Orgath growls, suddenly incised that something happened that he wasn’t present for.
“Just a tiny incident, not really worth mentioning,” I say hastily.
Cavek snorts, belying my words. “Foolish humans risking their skins saying foolish insults. If they weren’t standing so high above us, I would have rent their arms from their bodies when they began throwing food at us. They were gathering their courage for violence—it was clear to see. If dear Lucy hadn’t insisted we leave, I would have relished seeing such a thing and teaching them some manners for daring to call your mate a whore.”
“They threw food at you? They called you a whore?” Orgath asks with a deadly quiet. The violence in the air is of such strength I’m glad he was not there to witness the event. Suddenly he growls angrily, setting me off his lap and rising to his feet. He begins to pace restlessly.
“We cannot remain here if there is even a chance that they may attack. I won’t risk you, our child, or our clan. We will return and I will speak to the clan.” He sighs and runs his hand along the side of his face. “It may be more prudent if orcs stay to the wilderness lands and our own realm as much as possible—for now.”
I frown. “What about my family? I can’t cut them out of our lives. It’s bad enough that we’re going to have to cut this visit short.”
He acknowledges my concern with an inclination of his head. “No, we won’t cut ties. We will allow trusted humans entrance into our world to visit, but I won’t risk my clan-kin beyond that. A single orc can do much damage to humans, but it is fruitless to engage in an endless battle with your people for no purpose.”
I’m not particularly thrilled with the idea of being exiled from my home, but I can’t argue against his reasoning. I sigh. I have to face the fact that I have responsibilities now as both a soon-to-be mother and the wife of the chieftain. This can’t be all about my wants.
“Maybe things will simmer down in time and we can try again,” I say dully. Knowing my species as I do, I don’t feel particularly hopeful that it’ll happen in my lifetime, but I can always hope.
Orgath gently strokes my cheek with the back of his hand. “I regret that you cannot enjoy your time with your family as we planned,” he says, sorrow heavy in his voice.
I dredge up a weak smile. “It’s okay, my love. Tomorrow then?”
He nods. “We will leave before daybreak to attract as little notice as possible. No one has attacked us yet, but I do not trust hostilities not to suddenly mount and catch us unaware.”
***
I have to hand it to my family: being made aware of the necessity for our imminent departure, suddenly my last night at home transforms from something sad to a going away party. My mother cooks several roasts loaded with vegetables in every slow cooker she can dig up in the garage, and Dad makes another run for beer and the fixings for margaritas. Even Kate and Boukie come to wish us well.
As soon as she comes in the door, Kate thrusts something small and soft into my hands, and I look down in surprise to see a ginger tiger-striped kitten, blinking its sleepy green eyes up at me. She gives me a teary grin.
“I know you said you wanted to bring a kitten back with you, and since you have to leave early and all and might not be back, I just want to make sure you got that kitty.” She draws in a deep breath, trying not to sniffle. “You find a way to get letters to me, okay? You have to now—you’ve got to keep me informed how this little guy is doing.”
I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.
“You better believe I will, some way or another.”
Luke coughs from behind us. “Look, if it helps, I can meet you once a month—let’s say on the full moon since you like that esoteric shit,” he says with a lopsided grin. “We can meet at that spot we used to run wild in as kids, you remember? You can give me a list of things you need and some of those coins and I’ll get it. And I can take letters back and forth, no problem.”
I’m surprised at the offer; Luke is not one to volunteer for anything, really. I rush over and wrap my free arm around his waist. “That would be wonderful! Thank you.”
He flushes and pats my arm with an awkward grin. “Just don’t forget those coins,” he says gruffly, but I swear I catch a glimmer of moisture in his eyes before he rapidly blinks it away. The kitten mews between us and we both laugh as we pull apart. I bring its soft little head up against my jaw, where I gently rub my cheek against its fur.
“Jake can probably help too. There was something we wanted to tell him. Where the hell is he?” I look around for my errant younger brother with an impatient scowl.
Luke laughs and gestures to the back yard.
“I believe he’s out there trying to get Ferli to show him some fighting moves or something,” he chuckles with a sort of gleeful anticipation lighting his eyes.
Apparently, Jake does want to get creamed by an orc at least once before we leave. I roll my eyes and head out the door. Boukie is fast asleep against Orgath’s chest so I pretend that I don’t notice Kate slipping off with Cavek.
Although I’m suspicious of the troll’s intentions, in truth she’s a grown woman and if she wants a wild fuck with him, I can’t say I blame her without sounding like a complete hypocrite. In any case, trolls, like elves, seem to naturally possess magic so who knows—he might be able to pursue something with her under the radar if they both are in agreement.
Sure enough, when I arrive into the yard, Ferli has Jake lifted above his head.
“Are you sure about this, human?” he says as he looks up at my brother with concern. Jake nods his head eagerly.
“Absolutely! Now throw me—uh, in the direction of the mattress though.”
With a slight shrug Ferli tosses Jake with all his strength, and I wince as Jake’s body collides loudly with the mattress. I can hear the painful expulsion of the breath from his body, followed by a low moan.
“Jake, you are such an idiot,” I scold. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he gasps, slowly pushing to his knees. “I’m fine. Just had the breath knocked out of me.” He winces as he puts a hand to his ribs. “And bruised the hell out of myself, I think.”
Ferli chuckles and sits cross-legged on the lawn across from him.
“Care for another round?” he asks cheerfully. Jake waves him away.
“Nah, man. I’m good,” he wheezes, making the orc laugh and slap him on the back in a friendly manner that nearly has him stumbling to the ground again.
“You’re lucky you didn’t break something,” I say in exasperation. “Did Orgath tell you our decision?”
Ah, that gets his attention. He scrambles up, eagerly looking from me, to Orgath, and back again. “What decision?”
“Well, if you can manage to not do stupid stunts or anything suicidal, and try not to aggravate everyone by questioning them to death, we’d like to offer for you to accompany us to the orc village where you can continue to make your documentaries on orcs.”
His eyes widen. “Seriously?”
I nod and Orgath bares his tusks in a wide grin, prompting my brother to shout and swing his fists in the air in celebration unaware of the orcs watching him with amusement. He draws to a sudden halt as a sudden fervor sets upon him, his palm smacking his forehead.
“I need to hit the electronics store. I’m going to need enough backup batteries for a month at least. I’ll have to come home to recharge and do uploads, but I can’t run out of power while I’m there,” he says as he rushes into the house, no doubt in search of his car keys and wallet.
I sit in the chair beside Orgath. “Luke says he’ll meet with us every full moon for trade and to collect any letters I write home, so I won’t lose touch with anyone.”
He frees one arm from beneath Boukie and wraps it around me. “That is good,” he says quietly as he lays his cheek against my head. I listen to the steady beat of his heart and find comfort in it.
The tranquility of the moment is immediately overset when Luke sets off some fireworks, which have the orcs back-peddling with shouts of surprise. Orgath’s eyes widen as they shoot up above our home, sparkling a myriad of colors above us.
“Luke always has to do everything big,” I chuckle.
***
Orgath
I look at my mate and feel a sense of contentment. She is smiling at the colorful display above her, the lights dousing her skin in beautiful hues as they flame in the sky. Although visiting Ov’Ge didn’t turn out quite the way we’d hoped, I am still glad that I could give this to her. It is also comforting to know that, even despite what we must do to protect our family and clan, she will still be able to retain ties to her family and kin here. I owe Luke a debt.
I take a deep breath, enjoying the warm earthy smells of the garden, the sweet scent of my mate beside me, and the fresh scent of the little human, Boukie, a gentle weight on my chest.
Despite how hostile so many of the adult humans are, the little ones like her give me hope. They haven’t learned hate and may mean a better future between our worlds. My own child, growing safely within my mate is part of that new future. One that I am eager to meet. I envision many days such as this with my own babe asleep against me, and it brings such a strong emotion up that my heart beats a heavy tempo in anticipation.
I curve my arm tighter around my mate and am surprised when a tiny furred creature lifts its head from my mate’s arms and mews at me, baring little needle-like teeth. Looking so much like a miniature delfass, I can’t help being charmed by the thing.
In truth, I have never told my mate, but I have a weakness for delfass kittens. I rescued Ethiel as an older
kitten from the fighting pits some of the less scrupulous members of my clan indulged in under Lorf’s rule. I have been tempted once too often to bring home others if it weren’t for common sense intervening that caring for many large delfass cats would be difficult to care for by myself, due to the proper feeding and exercise required as they mature.
This tiny creature, though… I can see the appeal. Perhaps this whole pet thing won’t be so bad.
I stretch my hand toward it, earning a hiss and a swift strike of its claws. I chuckle. Yes, it is very much like Ethiel. After a long moment, the kitten allows me to place my palm against his tiny body and stroke its fur. Sammi turns her head and catches me in the act. No matter how much I disparaged her idea of a pet, now I am caught and can’t complain further. Her lips curve upward, and she presses a soft kiss against the back of my hand as it brushes near her lips. The kitten begins to rattle a low purr in response to my slow strokes along its fur as we sit and enjoy our final hours in Ov’Ge.
Chapter 25
Sammi
Daybreak came quickly. Momma was up early so that when we all rise there’s coffee, which my orcs have developed a fond taste for, especially Orgath, who can drink an entire pot by himself, and a dozen and a half hot cinnamon rolls, a side of eggs, and crisped bacon. Momma is blinking back tears as everyone devours breakfast with appreciation.
After breakfast is done, the sun is rapidly lighting the sky the way it does in late spring in Alaska. The orcs shuffle and bind together packages we’re taking back with us. Erra carefully packs her bottles of pink champagne in between rolls of baby clothes, and Orgath finds a way to tie down the large bag of coffee beans Dad gifted him. I think my mate almost had a tear in his eye when he received it the previous evening.
At long last everything is secure, and my parents hug me close with promises to visit as soon as the baby comes.
“Just send a note to Luke and we’ll be ready to visit the next month,” Momma says, her lip trembling despite her smile.
Jake sits double with Ferli and, given the way that the male’s arm is draped around my brother, I rather suspect that there is something going on there. My brother isn’t exactly out of the closet because some of his gamer friends are real douches, but it’s sweet to think that there is maybe a romance building there with Bodi’s younger brother. I suspect Bodi knows as well given the affectionate way he treats Jake.
The Orc Wife Page 20
