With each animalistic thrust, he barks out words in Orcan, words I do not understand. Then he switches to Common. “You are mine, female. Mine to protect. Mine to cherish. Mine to master. And mine to fuck.”
“Master?” I squeak out between hard thrusts. My body’s thrumming, ready to explode with a massive orgasm, but I’m not that far gone that I missed what he said.
“Yes. Master.” Verig slides his hands under me and lifts me. Together, he turns us, so I’m facing the witnesses, full frontal, with his cock still inside me from behind.
Five stoic faces focus on me, eyes settling on mine.
I’m not expecting Verig’s hand to play with my clit, causing me to arch further, but he does, relentlessly drawing an orgasm out of me until I no longer care who is watching as my body shudders and my walls clamp down on him.
His roar fills my ears as his cock pulses inside me. His tusk grazes over my bare neck, adding to the storm of sensations striking me.
My body climbs higher and higher again as he drags a tusk up my neck and grazes the shell of my ear. “Now, you may commit to me,” he whispers.
“What do I say?” I ask as the orgasm conquers me, leaving me boneless.
“Whatever is in your heart.”
“You are my master, as I am yours,” I say out loud, my head turned to him. I know there are others watching, listening, but what I say is for him. “You are my partner, my heart, and the male to whom I pledge my life, loyalty, and love. Just as I am yours to protect, you are mine to protect.”
When I see the flash of the knife in my peripheral vision, I clamp my eyes shut. He never told me what the knife was for, but I trust him. I just don’t like pain.
My arms suddenly spring free of their binding. Verig rubs my sore muscles and works his hands around to my breasts, playing with my nipples. When I try to lift off him, I realize he’s knotted me.
My eyes wander to the orcs. The ridges on one male and the female lift in confusion. Two other orcs remain stoic, and the fifth orc bares his tusks partially.
Slight panic moves through me. Verig has accepted me, but they haven’t. He needs their respect. Fuck, he’s earned it, but they’re using the fact that I’m human against him.
I’m standing upright, totally naked, my mate’s cock locked inside me from behind, but all fear and shame have disappeared, replaced with rage at these judgmental bastards.
“Give me the knife,” I demand of Verig, who slides it into my palm without question.
I slam the flat of the blade against my chest, accidentally nicking my breast in the process, but I don’t dare remove the blade. Let them see the blood and know I’m serious.
“I’m not honoring you,” I say as I stare them in their eyes one by one. “I’m honoring my mate, our grak, and the orc nation. I’mone of you now. You don’t have to like me, my son, or the fact that I’ve claimed Verig in risha. But you will give us the respect we’re due, or you fail in your own pledge to our grak. I will be watching, and I will not shy away from anyone who disrespects us. This, I vow.”
I reach back with the knife, handing it to Verig, who takes it as his cock slides out of me. I can move freely now, pick up my fur and cover myself, but fuck if that doesn’t feel like something a human would do and not an orc.
Instead, I turn to Verig, wholly dismissive of the orcs behind me. “Are we considered mated now? Did I miss anything? I want to make sure we did it right.”
He holds my face in his hands. “I think I should talk to our grak and suggest he make you neld. You have the spirit of an orc, the heart of a human, and the wisdom of the gods.”
“I have no desire to lead. I just want to be a mate and a mom. Find a task I’m good at here and contribute to the community.”
“We should discuss that,” Atox’s voice booms from behind a tree, startling me. Verig’s hand steadies me.
Atox approaches us, his usual scowl in place. I wonder if he observed the entire ceremony. And more importantly, why he hid when there was no need to.
“Grak,” Verig greets him formally. “I did not know you witnessed.”
“I do not need an invitation. I witnessed as your grak.”
Oh. Atox feels slighted. They haven’t exactly talked much since Atox relieved Verig of his position.
“I did not believe you wished to witness, Grak.”
“Verig, even if I were not your grak, I would have witnessed.”
“I’m honored,” my mate says.
