All Novel Sweet
675
“Good. I am now your slave, as was before. Yet now you are also mine. Yes? Your mate is your highest master, and there are none who come before.”
“Right, so I do what you tell me. No change there then.” He nodded and this time he caught the oncoming smack around the head by her wrist. She let out a little growl of warning, then he kissed the back of her hand and she abruptly decided to let him off with a caution.
“We are bound together now,” she continued. “Equals. No secrets. No fears between us.”
“I still have to leave, Algra.” He sat up with her still settled against him. “You know that, right?”
“Then I will come.”
“Algra, you can’t.”
She growled, low and dangerous.
“It’s not that I don’t want you to. I really, really want you to. Hell, there’s a part of me that never wants to leave this clearing.” Her growl faded into silence at the gentle nature of his voice, and the way he lifted his hand to her cheek before kissing her again. “If you followed me to where I come from, you would be an outcast. I mean, you know how humans have different skin colours? There’s a lot of people in my world who are still having trouble with that. Add tusks to the mix and it’s a whole new ball game.”
Gregory paused for a moment and made his feelings on her tusks known by planting a little kiss on her lower lip where each ivory rise lifted out from beneath them.
“We don’t have orcs there, or elves or anything else. You’re only in stories. They might take you away.”
“Let them try.”
“It’s not about a fight, Algra. It’s about a world, and the way that world would see you.”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
There was a long moment of silence after that. “Would you return here? If you could.”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Even to leave your world behind?”
It was Gregory’s turn to be silent for a while, before he gave his honest answer. “Yes.”
“To leave behind your family, friends?”
“For you, yes. But I can’t just disappear, never letting anyone know what happened to me. If I don’t ever get home, I can live with that, but I can’t live with the idea of not trying. People back there loved me. I had a father, a mother. They deserve the effort.”
“But there is hope, yes? That you might return to your world and find a way between? That you would be able to come here and see me?”
“I just got thrown in with a pack of underperforming orcs after having my chest kicked in for accidently losing a magical ring that transported me into a land filled with some of the most aggressively violent people I’ve ever known. I’m seeing a run of luck there that doesn’t bode well for that kind of happy ending.”
His thoughts on that matter drew an unexpected yet very welcome laugh from Algra’s chest. He was left to admire those beautiful green breasts bouncing and jiggling enchantingly with the quivers of her laughter.
Ok. Maybe he didn’t have all bad luck.
“There is a belief amongst some that so much bad must mean that good is on its way.” She reached out and ran her fingers along his arm.
“Yeah, we have that belief too. It’s called karma. It’s notoriously unreliable.”
“Then we must make it more reliable.”
Before he could answer that, she quelled his doubts by leaning in to kiss him and sliding one of her legs over his body. Then she made sure that a great deal of positive karma swerved his way for the next several hours.
* * * * *
By the time they returned the sky had darkened and Bolut had left the camp along with his caravan. The whole place seemed much emptier without the retinue the big orc had taken with him. The stalls were closed for business, and only a skeleton crew of workers remained behind to tend to the place.
Their return hadn’t exactly been a speedy one, as they often stopped along the way to fondle and kiss at each other. This led to two full-on sessions of hard rutting against the trees and in the dirt. By the time they re-entered the camp they looked desperately in need of soap and water.
“Algra, before we get back there’s one thing about all this that I can’t promise you,” he said as they made their way towards the familiar pavilions.
“You worry about Janette. Don’t.” She turned to look at him as they walked and even then she felt the heat rise within her at the sight of his dirty, powerful figure. “I know humans attempt only to rut with their mates. Orcs do not. I have no jealousy of Janette. I like playing with her when you are not here. Though I shall need to approve of any others you lie with.”
“Great, I’ll draw up a list.” Gregory blew out a slightly perplexed sigh.
Algra quickly clouted him over his shoulder.
“Ow!”
“I have no trouble with your lusts, my love. But do not take any partner for granted.”
“Oh, right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t really thinking about that just then, but you’re right that I should have been. Feel free to smack me again if I start taking anyone for granted.” He nodded towards her.
“I always feel free to smack you, my mate.” Algra returned his serious nod.
He laughed at that. She merely smiled confidently.
When they reached the centre of the camp many of the other human slaves bowed respectfully at Gregory’s passing in the same way they had done for Bolut. Before he could move towards a familiar group of his friends, Algra pulled him back.
“There is something you must now know. As my mate, you will be expected to tend the fire,” she explained.
“What?” Gregory looked over to the campfire and saw that it was roaring hot enough to cook with. “But it looks fine. Could get dangerous if I put anymore wood on it.”
For some reason, Algra found this very funny indeed. Once she’d finished laughing, she shook her head and gave him an affectionate little pat on the chest.
“That is not the meaning of my words. I will speak more later. I hunger. Go. I know how you like to be clean. Wash and then come to eat.”
He watched her walk off towards the cooking pot, wondering if he’d ever figure the woman out. Then he looked to where she had nodded and found the courtesan’s tent. God, he loved his new mate.
Making his way over to where Lydia, Fiona, and Talina made their rest, he pulled back the canopy and stepped inside.