The Orcs Pregnant Mate

Fourteen

Mako

"I need to tell you something," Raine says after we finally make it home and get changed into our sleeping clothes. "I lied to your parents."

I look at her surprised, "about what?"

Her hand goes to her stomach, "about the father. He knows about the baby, or, at least I think he does. He was hinting around at it, making jokes before I managed to.. leave."

I nod slowly, "and you think he will try and come for you?"

I can see the hesitation in her eyes before she looks away from me and down at the floor, "Khol.. isn't a good man. If he truly thinks that I stole a child from him then he'll come for it. He'll come for both of us." She swallows before saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie I just.. I.."

"You were scared," I answer for her. She nods and I say, "it's alright. I'm not angry, I never could be with you."

He eyes come back to meet mine, "really?"

I smile gently, "of course. You've been stuck in survival mode for so long, how could I be angry at you for protecting yourself?" I open my arms to her and she comes to me immediately. I hold her gently and kiss the top of her head before admitting, "your sister told me some things about.. where you lived before."

Raine nods against my chest, "I know." She hesitates before asking, "what did she tell you?"

"Not much, just that you lived with bad people who were taking advantage of you," I tell her, using kinder words then her sister had.

"Taking advantage is putting it lightly," Raine mumbles. "River doesn't know everything either. After I got her out, it got a lot worse."

"You don't have to speak of it," I tell her. I wanted to know, needed to know who had hurt her so I knew how to protect her better, but I didn't want to force her to tell me.

"No, you need to know," she sighs. "You need to know everything. It just.. might take me a while."

"Take your time," I tell her gently. "There is no rush."

"River and I, we didn't always live in the village. Our parents had a small farm a few miles away and until we were ten, we lived there as a normal happy family. But our mom got sick and died and our father lost himself to the drink. He sold everything he could in order to buy more, including us." Her body trembles against me and I hold her more firmly as she continues, "it wasn't so bad there at first. We were young, we hadn't.. matured. So we cleaned the rooms and cooked for the other girls who were there. River and I convinced ourselves that if we worked hard, maybe Khol wouldn't use us like the others." She sniffles and I realize that she's started to cry, "but he did. The day that River started to bleed, he dragged her into a room and he.."

Her breaths were becoming shorter as she gasped, like she couldn't make her lungs work. "No more," I tell her gently. "You are not there, you are here with me. You are safe."

"I could hear her screaming for me and I couldn't get to her," she says, her voice so faint I almost didn't hear. "When he was finally done, he just smiled at me and said that he'd see me soon. I guess he thought that since River had started to bleed I would too. But I didn't. Not for years." She breaths deeply, "I couldn't protect her. It took years for me to get her out, for Khol to trust me enough to leave our door unlocked."

"I remember when she first came here," I tell her. "Tuluk was beaming like he'd found the rarest treasure."

"He treats her well," Raine agrees. "I'm glad she found someone who does." Her head nuzzles into my chest, "we both did."

"I will keep you safe," I promise her. "Both of you. He will not hurt you again."

I feel her sigh, "you can't promise that Mako."

My chest rumbles slightly, "I can and I am. Nobody will touch my mate and child. I would die before I let that happen."

Raine stands up and stares at me, "I need you to promise me something."

"Anything."

Her hands go to my face, caressing my cheeks gently, "I need you to promise me that if something happens, and you have to choose between protecting me or this child," one of her hands leaves my face and grabs my hand, pressing it to her stomach. "If you have to choose, promise me that you'll protect our child. They come first, Mako."

My hand cups her stomach tenderly, "why do you ask this?"

"Promise me," she demands, ignoring my question.

I search her eyes and face for an answer, but I can't find one. She's looking at me with such an intensity that all I can say is, "I promise."