Page 18 of Alien Orc's Prize

He stilled.

“Me?”

“I’m just reacting to everything you’re doing and saying! I feel things deeply, and maybe I’m too sensitive, but that’s just who I am. It’s who I’ve always been. If you’re not pleased withme, well… I’ll do my best to make this marriage work. But I can only do so much, and I can’t change myself.”

Prince Gal was silent for a long moment. So long that I was sure my scent was now doing something humiliatingly obvious to let him know just how awkward and uncomfortable I felt right now.

Maybe he’s just going to send me back, I thought miserably. Maybe Lyric was right and I was an idiot for thinking this would work. Maybe-

“You please me.”

“Wh-What?” I asked, not sure I’d actually heard or just imagined the words.

Prince Gal’s face was very close to mine. His breathing hitched and his voice went raspy.

“You please me.”

My stomach tightened.

But then, as if he needed to temper the effect of the compliment, he added, “Is your hearing as bad as your sense of smell?”

“I heard you the first time! I was just… surprised.”

So quietly I almost did miss it that time, he replied, “Not as surprised as I am.” Before I could ask what that meant, he gave a ragged-sounding sigh and said, “It worked.” His nose dipped to my throat. I felt the heavy heat of his exhale on my skin and goosebumps rose. “You smell good again.”

“Well, just keep saying nice things to me, I guess, and we’ll be just fine.” There wasn’t any tartness to my reply. I was too busy melting away while replaying the echo of Prince Gal’s raw and fervent declaration inside my head.You please me.

A girl could get addicted to a guy that grumpy telling her she pleased him. The effect was nearly drugging, as was the whispering caress of his lips and tusks against the side of mythroat. I shivered and angled my head to the side, just a little, almost without realizing I’d done it. My nipples hardened.

“Blasted seas, you smell even better now,” Prince Gal muttered hoarsely against my skin. “Whatisthat?”

I knew what it was. Oh, yes. That, right there, would have to be the fabulous fragrance of pathetically horny human.Eau d’arousal, if you will. Because there was no hiding from the effect Prince Gal was having on me. His simple statement, that I pleased him, had alighted on some primal nerve inside me. That, coupled with the way his breathing was getting heavier, harsher at my throat, and the way his hands had wandered up to cover my own where they still clutched at the front of the dress, was making needy heat bloom between my legs.

“You said… the different scents make you want to do things,” I whispered. “What does this scent make you want to do?”

“Careful, Luna lass,” he choked out. “You told me you want me to say nice things to you. And the things I want to do to you now aren’t very nice.”

The squeaky moan that emerged from my throat in response to that was absolutely unhinged. I would have paid good money to have successfully blamed somebody else for the sound. But seeing as I was the only creature in the room capable of reaching that highly embarrassing pitch, there was no way to deny it. Instead, I cleared my throat and said, as efficiently and business-like as I could, “Your sisters mentioned your need for an heir. Just so you know, I’m, er, on board. We can start tonight. If you want.”

“Tonight?” There was a strained note of something not quite identifiable in his reply. Hope? Need? Whatever it was, it made my pussy clench.

“Tonight. As in, right now.”

His breathing stopped. I knew it did because my neck felt cold at the lack until he suddenly spoke again in a throbbing, heated rush.

“Take off the dress. Then get onto my bed and spread your legs.”

CHAPTER 12

GALBRATH

Thank the seas she did not flick me again. I half-expected her to do it, but she didn’t. Miraculously, she finally let go of the dress, letting it crumple and pile around her little feet. Before I could get a proper look at her, she turned and hurried towards the bed, shedding her slippers as she went. She clambered up onto the bed – a bit of a difficult feat for someone of her stature, it turned out – and immediately shunted herself under the thick covers. I grimaced, noting that she’d essentially traded one form of fabric armour for another – the dress for the blankets – but at least she was in my bed now. And she’d said she was ready to try to make an heir.

I’d actually forgotten all about the possibility or purpose of creating an heir with her. I wasn’t looking at bedding her as a means to an end now. I wantedher. It was as simple and unexpected as that.

And if a baby came to help solidify my family line as a result, then all the better.

But for now, my focus was Luna and Luna alone.