Her small body radiated disapproval as she turned in tight circles.
Brovish reached over me to stroke her spine. “We apologize for the door. It was necessary.”
Sofia peeped again and burrowed between us.
“She’s going to hold this grudge for days,” I said.
“She holds all grudges for days.”
I smiled against his skin.
The cottage settled around us. Our space, our bed, and our new life together.
“I’m staying,” I said.
“In my cottage?” he asked.
“Here. At the rescue. With you.” I tilted my head back to look at him. “This is where I choose to be.”
His arms tightened around me. “When an orc makes that declaration, it’s binding. You can’t take it back.”
“I don’t want to take it back.”
He kissed me, slow and thorough. When he pulled away, his eyes held something I recognized but couldn’t name yet.
Love, maybe. Or the beginning of it.
Sofia peeped, demanding attention.
“She believes we’re finished with the declaration moment,” Brovish said. “And that we should focus on her comfort now.”
“She’s not wrong.” I stroked her back, and her purr vibrated against my palm. “Though I’d like to stay like this a while longer. Tangled together in your bed. In our bed.”
“Our bed,” he said, testing the words.
“If you’ll have me.”
His laugh rumbled through his chest. “Laina. I claimed you. There’s no if remaining.”
Sleep pulled at me, but I fought it. I wanted to exist in this moment for as long as I could.
“Tell me something about you,” I said.
He was quiet for a moment. “I wrote your name in my notebook the first night you came here. Before I knew if you’d return. Even then, I understood what you’d become to me. Now I know it’s better than I imagined.”
I pressed my face into his chest, breathing him in.
“I love you,” I said.
He cupped my face, tilting it up so I had to meet his eyes.
“To orcs, love is a claiming bond as well,” he said.
“Does that frighten you?”
“No.” He kissed my forehead, my nose, and my mouth. “It makes me certain. You’re mine. I’m yours. What we’re building here will last.”
Sofia shifted between us, making a sound of contentment.
