I refrain from answering, knowing that the male will not care for it but I do not feel concerned with it either way. He may consider Kate his family, but he’s not her mate nor her father. He has zero authority over me where it concerns her.
“Awake, she is guaranteed to draw the unwanted attention of our enemies to us as we pass through Ov’Gorg to our territory. I plan on placing sleep on my children as well. We will wrap them in swathes of cloth as if transporting goods back from the orc village and none will be the wiser.”
Luke narrows his eyes at me.
“I don’t like that you’re doing this without her knowing. It’s not right.”
“Are you planning on stopping me?” I growl, no longer interested in mincing words with this human.
Being a smart male, Luke blows out a breath and concedes. “Yeah, okay. Look, I can take you in her car wherever you need to go. Just give me a minute to find my shoes and her car keys. Kate’s going to fucking kill me,” he says as he walks away.
I face my brother just as Serus draws up to my side and looks speculatively down at the bundle in my arms. By some chance, my son chooses that moment to turn in my arms and exposes his little face as he shoves the blanket away from his body. My brother’s breath hitches in wonder.
“Cavek, is that...?”
“My son,” I say, my voice choked around a sudden blockage in my throat.
“That’s CJ,” Boukie explains.
Serus reaches a claw-tipped finger toward him in wonder as CJ opens his mouth in a wide yawn. My brother chuckles.
“He certainly looks just like you,” he observes. He leans forward and sniffs at the child’s head. “Even smells a little like you. I am surprised neither one of us caught that until now.” A wide grin suddenly splits his face. “This is great news! This is guaranteed to give me a few years respite from Mother hounding me to provide her with grandchildren. Maybe by then you will have spawned another.”
I grunt at my brother’s hilarity as Luke returns with a strange sort of hard basket.
“What is that?”
Luke doesn’t reply but gestures for me to hand him CJ. I hold him tighter, my refusal clear. The human sighs.
“This is an infant car seat. CJ has to be strapped into this anytime we travel. To keep him safe.”
I eye the contraption with suspicion. It does seem like it would provide adequate support for my offspring with its thick padding, and I really can’t argue if it is a safety device...
“I don’t like it. I would rather not be separated from my son,” I say, drawing my son closer to my chest with a rumble.
Luke runs his hand down in his face in an obvious show of exasperation, but I don’t care.
“Cavek, I can’t drive around with you holding him. Not only is it really dangerous if we get into an accident, it’s against the law.”
“You would think he’d be more worried about getting on the wrong side of a troll,” Serus mutters, making my lips twitch upward.
I knock aside Luke’s arms and place my offspring in the contraption. The buckles are simple to figure out as I secure my young into the seat. I pull back and marvel at it. Although I hate the separation, it does seem quite useful.
I accompany Luke to the car and observe as he secures the car seat into a flat base while Boukie climbs into her seat and instructs Serus on how to “buckle her in.” My brother snarls as the strap gets stuck twice in its descent before finally pulling the rest of the way down to secure my daughter.
When I return with Kate, Serus is folded into the seat beside Boukie, leaving the other seat in front free for me to occupy with my mate in my arms. The fit is cramped, and Luke takes one look at all of us and lets loose a litany of foul words with the proclamation that we were ‘nothing but an accident waiting to happen.’ The way he speaks, I’m certain there are road guards waiting to apprehend us the moment we begin to travel. But by some miracle, we arrive at our destination without incident.
In spite of his impatience, Luke hugs my offspring to him with a certain sadness in his eyes and lingers to watch as we proceed through the portal.
That’s a male who could use a nice troll female to teach him how to enjoy life.
Maybe I will get Mother on it.
Chapter 9
Kate
I stretch leisurely. That had to have been, without a doubt, one of the best nights of sleep I’ve gotten in over a month. Maybe even longer. Yawning, I blink up at the soft glow of the golden lights overhead. A ceiling of delicately woven root systems runs smoothly toward the walls, where they continue in their course to disappear into the floor.
That’s... different.
My eyes dart over the room, and I resist the urge to vomit as the world shifts around me. The pulse of a migraine beats behind my eyes but I attempt to ignore it as I take in the environment around me.
Nothing is familiar. It’s like I was plucked up from my own bed and dropped into this room, wherever I am. The random brilliant hues in the fabrics and plush pillows are almost overwhelming. Even the bed feels extraordinarily lush.
Wait. Something is missing. No, someone.
I slide my hand over to run my fingers along the bedding at my side, hunting for CJ. Panic wells inside me as I realize the space beside me is completely empty. I throw the blankets back and sit up with an alarmed shriek, my head whipping around.
“Kate—”
In a mode of instinctual self-preservation, I turn and strike up with the heel of my hand only seconds before registering the owner of the voice. Cavek yelps and shields his face with his hands, his eyes watering.
“Damnation of the gods, Kate. What was that for?”
“Cavek? Is that really you? I’m not hallucinating or something?”
He lowers his hands and he scrunches up his nose as if testing the damage before flashing what he seems to think is a charming fang-filled smile. Leaning forward, he takes my hand in his and looks me in the eyes, the swirls of purple shifting in his orbs.
“Do not worry, Kate. You are now home.”
“I’m home? Well, that just leaves me with one question,” I whisper, drawing him closer to me.
His eyes brighten and his voice drops into a seductive purr that I have zero resistance against. Squishing my thighs together, I desperately try to ignore it as he leans in.
“What is that?” he murmurs.
My lips curve in what he obviously thinks is a seductive smile as I press my breasts against him. One of my hands trails along his shoulder while the other fumbles through the bedding until it finds a pillow, and I smack him right in the face with it.
“Where the hell are my children, Cavek?” I shout as I proceed to whack him with the plush citrine-colored weapon.
“Wait, wait, Kate... oww, damnit, that caught me in the nose... they’re here.”
My hand halts in mid-strike, leaving a vulnerable opening that Cavek takes advantage of. Throwing himself across my body, Cavek pins me to the bed as he yanks the pillow from my grip and tosses it across the room. His lavender hair threads around his head in a chaotic mess and his eyes narrow on me like laser beams.
“Where. Are. They,” I grit out.
“In the common room with my brother Serus. Did you really have to hit me like that?”
“Uh, yeah. I wake up in a strange place... my head throbbing by the way, what the fuck did you drug me with? I feel like I’m suffering from the worst hangover ever... and my children are gone. Of course I’m going to strike first and ask questions second. What the hell did you think you were doing bringing me here without waking me up first?”
“I wanted to. Okay, no, that’s a lie. I was dreading this moment so I wasn’t eager to wake you, but I couldn’t risk any of you being awake while we traveled through enemy territory. I don’t know what would have happened if I had been spotted returning with you rather than what looked like lumps of traded goods. I cannot risk you. Any of you.”
I stare at him, digesting everything he said and tur
ning every possible scenario over in my head of something else he could have done.
“You could have at least woken me up and explained all of that to me.”
He nodded. “You are right. I wasn’t ready. I will not lie and say I regret it, but I am sorry if you feel hurt or angered by my decision. Still, I think the result would have been the same. A trollbie will never be accepted in Ov’Ge as things stand right now.”
I let out a breath. “I understand. I’m sorry I tried to break your nose. I may have overreacted.”
“You think so?”
“Not that you wouldn’t have deserved it. But truthfully, I didn’t recognize you. Don’t you know better than to sneak up on someone while they’re waking up?” I pause thoughtfully. “So, they are safe with your brother?”
Cavek immediately looks insulted.
“Of course they are. They are with my brother, heir of the Troll Kingdom of the Middling Way. More importantly, they are with family. He would protect them with his life.”
My muscles start to relax but as my anxiety decreases, my questions increase. As does my anger.
“I’m glad that you finally got to meet CJ,” I say in a whisper.
The blissfully happy smile that spreads across his face stops me in my tracks. I wasn’t expecting my eventual confrontation with Cavek going this way. He’s far too happy for a male who ignored my letter and expressed zero interest in the baby he fathered.
“I’m very happy to have him. He has my heart already.” He pauses and a slight frown mars his brow. “I have missed so much. I didn’t get to be there to greet him in the troll custom. I should have been there at his naming to present him before the ancestors and the spirits of our forest. Still, you did well, Kate. He is healthy and a fine trollbie. Ceeja is a strange name, but it sounds strong. I approve.”
“You should. CJ is named after you.”
Confusion pulls at his brow. “I don’t understand.”
“When we name a baby boy after his father, we add the prefix ‘Junior.’ CJ is short for Cavek Junior. I couldn’t think of a better name for him.”
His face brightens with wonder and I can’t help the flush of pleasure I feel at that.
“My Cavekji,” he says with obvious pride, speaking to absolutely no one but himself. I wonder for a minute if he’s forgotten I’m even in the room. I clear my throat.
“I’m honestly surprised you’re interested. You never replied to the letter I sent, and you never came back.”
I’m taken aback when Cavek leaps to his feet and begins to stalk in a high-powered pace, agitation showing in every bunch of his muscles. He draws one hand through his hair, the other clenching and unclenching at his side. He says nothing for several minutes but then surprises me by kneeling in front of me, his thick fingers gripping my thighs. His head lies across my lap and my breath stops at this sudden show of vulnerability.
“My apologies, Kate. I don’t know what happened to the letter, but I swear by the gods, my ancestors, and the spirit keepers of this wood that I would never have left you and our family in Ov’Ge without a word. I always intended to come back for you.” He chokes with feeling as if he’s forcing out the words painfully from within him. All the anger I’ve built up begins to crumble in that moment.
“What happened? When you left, I thought you were going to come back—at least once,” I whisper, baring all my sadness before him.
His arms wrap tightly around my legs and a shudder wracks his body.
“I meant to. By the gods, I meant to return to you just a handful of days after I left. My father demanded I aid Serus in an issue with our borders, but I was captured by the northern werewolf tribe.”
“Werewolves?” My disbelief is plain in my tone. “Men who are cursed to change into wolves with the full moon... Really, that’s the story you’re going with?”
Cavek’s head jerks up, his eyes flashing.
“No, Kate. Werewolves may sometimes take the form of men, but they are something that is neither man nor wolf. Tall as the largest troll, rivaling an orc in height, they’re lethal creatures who have territories that border our woods. They captured me. For a year, they tortured me in the worst ways they could think of until there wasn’t a place upon me that didn’t hurt from their torment.”
My mouth goes dry and I stare at his flat expression.
“What happened?” I manage to croak.
He shakes his head, and a scant, wry smile curves his lips before disappearing again. His fingers absently trace patterns on the back of my hands.
“Wards to alert you against danger,” he whispers, answering my unspoken question.
He kisses my palms with a sigh.
“My brothers liberated me and got me home. I swear to you, Kate: I came for you as soon as I recovered from my ordeal. Sooner than the healers and my kin liked. But I couldn’t leave you and Boukie in Ov’Ge a moment longer. And I’m glad that I disobeyed, because that brought Cavekji to me.”
For the first time, I notice the interlacing scars that mar his beautiful emerald skin. I can’t see all of them, since he’s wearing his loose breeches, but I’m horrified to think what damage was done to him as I observe the scars disappearing into the waist of his pants. I inhale and blow out a long breath, willing myself to release the feelings that had grown toxic within me.
“How did you get us here without waking me?”
His grin is so sheepish that it takes everything not to laugh.
“About that. Trolls have a magic called the breath of sleep. It’s a powerful sedative that will make whomever we breathe it upon sleep for a number of hours. Luke helped transport you and our offspring to the portal. Sammi and Orgath aided us in transporting you the rest of the way. I kept Cavekji with you as much as possible so that he could feed while you slept. It worked wonderfully.”
“Did they really?” I ask, totally focused on my family’s collaboration with my disappearance, although I felt no small amount of relief that someone had the sense to help CJ nurse while I was out of it.
“Only because I didn’t expect Cavekji and don’t possess enough arms to carry both of you,” he amends in a rush. Despite his words, I can tell he isn’t cowed by my displeasure in the least. His face flattens into the familiar stubborn, ruthless lines I remember so well.
“Regardless, you are mine, as are Boukie and Cavekji,” he continues, his tone firm. “The troll kingdom is the best place for our family, and I am sure you understand why. We will dwell in my den on my ancestral territory and live our lives together as the gods intend.”
I want to snap back at him, but I’m honestly so damned relieved to have someone take a major decision out of my hands that I have no interest in fighting him on it. It’s exhausting being the only one who has to make all the decisions over every minuscule thing. He wants to be in charge? He can have it. That doesn’t mean I’ll always agree with him, but it’s a good place to start.
Not that I’m going to make life easy on him.
I incline my head in acknowledgment and he seems surprised, but then complete masculine satisfaction spreads over his face. He leans forward and caresses his soft, full lips against my own, sucking and nibbling on my lower lip until I’m practically panting against his mouth before he pulls away at long last.
“I suppose you wish to see our offspring,” he teases.
At this moment, my children are the furthest thing from my mind and by his tone I know that he knows it. I chuckle and shove at the strong arm that still cages me in.
“Yes, take me to our children, you brute.”
With a great show of reluctance, he pushes himself off the bed, one hand lingering just long enough to grab my hand and yank me to my feet. I’m propelled out the door and down a short hallway until I step into a cozy room lit with a warm fire and several golden lights hanging in the air, just like the ones in the bedroom. Since I wasn’t able to look at them close-up, I take a moment to stare and marvel at their golden shimmer before my attention is p
romptly snared by my daughter’s antics.
A giant troll sits on a plush high-backed chair, one arm extended away from his body as Boukie climbs him like a monkey, the other arm curved protectively around a soundly sleeping CJ. He’s so massive my first impulse is to rip my children away from him and demand to know who he is. But that would be silly since Cavek just told me that his brother was minding them. This guy must be Serus. At that moment, the male spies me and bares an alarmingly massive set of sharp teeth as he smiles politely at Cavek’s introduction.
I forcibly unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth and offer a polite greeting as Boukie lets out another squeal and wraps her arms around Serus’s thick neck. He gingerly hand CJ to his father and sweeps Boukie around as if providing her with a private jungle gym on his form. As I watch them, my alarm slowly fades, and I can’t help but feel moved by the sight of them together.
Cavek is a rotten bastard for the way he got us here, but there’s no doubt in my mind this is probably the best place for us.
Boukie, as wild and impulsive as she is, can thrive here without recrimination if Serus is anything to go by. I doubt I’ll have the stream of endless complaints from her instructors as I had the last year from her teacher. And CJ will be able to enjoy a normal childhood like any other troll. I’m not sure what this will mean for me, but I find that part of me is actually excited to find out. I’m suddenly living my favorite fantasy with a guy who stirs my blood like no other, one who also not only fathered my son but accepts my daughter as his own with full paternal devotion.
I really can’t think of anything more that I want at this moment.
Except maybe love, an insidious voice whispers in the back of my mind, but I tell it to shut up. This is enough for now.
Chapter 10
Kate
This world is like nothing I ever imagined, not even with the descriptions Sammi gave over the months through our regular correspondence. The landscape itself is quite different. There are no high mountains, except those barely visible in the far distance, nor are there stretches of grassy plains.
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