Uthar the Hunter, page 10
part #7 of Orc Mates Series
Beth took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Okay, I’ll do that.”
“And talk to Kinna, too. It was wrong of you to think that she would refuse to help someone who is dying.”
That made Beth feel a little ashamed of herself. Sonya was right, of course. The mage was a little fussy and unfriendly. Arrogant, too. But she wasn’t cruel.
The orcs had trusted Beth so far. Uthar had brought her here, and the horde had accepted her. She was one of them. Now it was her turn to trust them. Without fear, without second thoughts. For Abby.
And why wouldn’t they welcome Abby like they’d welcomed her? Her sister was much more pleasant and cheerful than she was. Beth was sure that if she came to live here, even only for a while, she would win their hearts.
Chapter Sixteen
Beth could barely eat at dinner. She’d thought of asking Uthar to have dinner together, just the two of them, at home, but then changed her mind and decided it was better to act natural and stick to their usual routine. She poked at her food, her mind going in circles about how to tell him about Abby. The truth was she felt exhausted. She’d told Sonya, and the weight had been lifted. Now it was going to take extra effort to tell the story again.
When dinner was over, Beth wrapped herself around his thick arm and pulled him out of the diner. Some evenings, Uthar liked to spend more time with the horde, drinking ale and making plans for the next day. Beth would go home and wait for him in bed. It was different this evening. She needed him all to herself.
“Let’s go,” she urged.
“Oh, you have a surprise for me?” He grinned. He knew that when she was impatient, it was because she wanted him.
Beth smiled. “Not quite. I need to tell you something, that’s all.”
His brows instantly furrowed. “Is everything okay? With the baby?”
“Yes! The baby is fine. I’m fine. What I need to talk to you about is not... that.”
“Then?”
His mood changed in mere seconds. He could feel that she was nervous, and Beth realized that trying to hide it was silly. It was what it was, and she felt how she felt. She pulled him toward their house.
“Let’s just get there. I’ll make us tea, and I’ll tell you everything.”
“Everything about what?”
She sighed. “Please, my love. Be patient.”
It worked. Every time she called him “my love” he melted. They walked in silence the rest of the way.
Beth went straight to the kitchen, where she put the kettle on. Uthar followed her and sat at the kitchen table, something he rarely did. He gently ran his fingers over the covers of the books she was reading. The kitchen table was always cluttered with her things – books, notebooks in which she wrote her thoughts, coloring books, and crayons. He smiled as he leafed through them, not focusing on anything in particular. He loved this side of his mate – the romantic, creative side. He didn’t understand it, but he saw it brought her joy.
Beth poured the tea and sat across from him. She placed her hands around the hot mug, feeling soothed and grounded by the heat.
Uthar didn’t drink tea, but he politely accepted the mug. He was going to stare at it until it got cold, and then Beth would reheat it and drink it herself. It was almost a ritual.
“Tell me,” he said. And his tone was soft and reassuring.
Beth closed her eyes for a second, nodded to herself, then opened them and looked at him. His attitude had changed. Just like that. She remembered how he’d been the first time he’d brought her here, and how his mood swings used to give her whiplash. Even though they were much more balanced now, his mood could still change at a moment’s notice. It just didn’t happen as often.
She pulled out her phone and looked through her photos until she found one of Abby. It was one from a few years ago, where she looked beautiful and healthy. It had been taken at a national park, and Abby was in hiking gear, with her blond hair tied in a messy ponytail, and her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. Beth showed the picture to Uthar.
“This is my sister, Abigail. Abby.”
He frowned. “You have a sister? Beth, I didn’t know that.”
“I know. Because I didn’t tell you.”
He looked into her eyes. “Why?”
Beth scrolled through her photos until she found another one of Abby, taken after she’d finished her chemo treatment. Her hair was gone, her eyebrows were invisible, and her blue eyes looked tired and dull. She’d lost so much weight that her bones protruded.
“This is why.”
Uthar stared at the picture for a minute, then Beth scrolled to another one, where Abby was wearing a blond wig and smiling feebly at the camera. She looked a bit better, but not by a lot.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “This is still your sister. I can see that. But what happened to her?”
“She is ill. Cancer. She only has a few more months to live. That’s what the doctors say, at least.”
“Cancer? What is... cancer?”
Of course, an orc wouldn’t know what cancer was. They didn’t get sick. And if they did, their mages healed them in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes. Even without magic, they were resilient, and they healed fast on their own.
Beth found herself in the unexpected position where she had to explain cancer to someone who didn’t have the barest concept of illness. She even searched for an article online and read him passages. At the end, Uthar was as confused as ever, but he did look like he’d gotten the gist of it.
“So, your sister is dying.”
“Yes.”
He jumped to his feet. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The patience in his voice was gone, replaced by irritation. It wasn’t yet anger. “This is your sister, your family, and you didn’t say a word. Why?”
“Because I...”
“And what about your parents? Is there anything I need to know about your parents, too? There was nothing about your family written in the file I received from the institute. I should’ve asked questions, but I was... distracted. This is my fault. I should’ve asked.”
And just like that, when Beth had expected him to switch to anger, he’d switched to guilt.
“No, no, no.” She rushed to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault, not even mine. And my parents... mine and Abby’s... are gone. They passed away.”
He froze. “How?”
“It was an accident. They were on vacation, they took a boat out on a lake, and... It just happened.”
He disentangled her from him and held her at arm’s length.
“My love... my mate... I am so sorry. You and your sister are orphans.”
A tear ran down Beth’s cheek. “Yes, well... It’s okay, because we have each other.”
“But you said she’s dying. Why didn’t you tell me? I could do something... My kind isn’t affected by illness. It rarely happens, and when it does, we have a mage to take care of us. Kinna could... She can...”
“I know.” She looked up into his eyes. She held his gaze even as tears blurred her vision before they rolled down to her chin. Her glasses fogged up, and she removed them and placed them on the table. “And I want to ask... I need to ask... Will you help me? Will you help Abby?”
“Yes! Of course! But why didn’t you...”
“I was afraid you might think... Or Kinna might think...” She sighed as she had to accept there was no right way to say this. She just had to say it and hope for the best. “It’s why I became a tribute. That is the truth. I knew that only orc magic could save my sister, so I decided to become a tribute, so someone would take me, a captain, so I would join a horde and be able to help her at some point. I knew it was a risk. I knew that my becoming a tribute wouldn’t guarantee anything, but I had to try. But you must know, my love, I am here because I want to be here. My decision to offer myself in exchange for healing magic for my sister was the right one. I found you. Or… you found me... And now we’re going to have a baby together. And it’s wonderful. No matter what happens, I am where I’m supposed to be.”
Uthar was silent for a moment. He looked into her eyes and searched her face, taking in her words. Finally, he nodded and pulled her to his chest. He held her there, cradling her head near his heart.
“You were afraid I’d think you were taking advantage of me,” he said. “But what right would I have to think that, when I took you because I needed a bride to help consolidate my position? My love, I was the first to take advantage of you. Remember that first night, when I tried to...”
Beth smiled against his chest. “I remember. It’s funny now.”
“No. It wasn’t funny then, and it’s not funny now.”
“It’s different, though, isn’t it? Because I was a tribute, and that meant whoever chose me had a right to choose me for whatever purpose.”
“It’s not different.”
“Well, then... Let’s just say we found each other so we could help each other.” She pulled free and placed a hand on his cheek. “How about that?”
He smiled. “I think that works.” He leaned in and lifted her up at the same time, so their lips met in a sweet, gentle kiss.
Beth melted against him. She let him support her weight. Not just her body weight, but the weight of her soul, her emotions, her worries, fears, and hopes. He could do that for her. All she had to do was let him.
“We’ll bring your sister here,” he said, looking into her eyes with immense love and kindness. “Together.”
* * *
“Betty, I don’t know... I don’t want to.”
Beth squeezed the phone.
“What do you mean you don’t want to? I talked to Uthar, and we’re ready to come get you right now.”
She heard Abby sigh as she clattered about in the kitchen. She dropped something and cursed under her breath.
“Are you okay? What happened?” Beth was growing more and more alarmed.
“Nothing. A plate. It slipped.”
“Be careful. Where is Missy?”
“She has a shift today.”
Beth munched on her lip. She was upstairs, in one of the bedrooms she and Uthar didn’t use, wondering if Abby would agree to live with them while Kinna the Mage figured out how to help her.
“Abby, tell me why you don’t want to do this. This was the plan all along.”
“It was your plan, not mine. Don’t pretend you did everything for me, Betty.”
“I am not pretending! I never said that, and I would never...” She took a breath. “I did this for us. The both of us. I admit that I wanted a break from life, and work... A permanent break. And I wanted a family of my own. But I also wanted to find a solution... for you. Since Mom and Dad...” She swallowed heavily. “We’ve been on our own. Just the two of us. We’ve had each other, and that made things easier. I don’t know what I would do if you...” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I can’t lose you. Okay? I cannot lose you. I’m in a position where I can help you. I can make this all go away. Orc magic is powerful. Like nothing you’ve ever seen. I have to doubt that Kinna can heal you. Abby, I will not take no for an answer. We’ve come this far...”
Beth heard her sister sigh. The scrape of a chair on the hardwood floor, and she knew she was sitting down. She was probably too tired to do anything, and she should’ve been in bed, not in the kitchen.
“Okay, I’ll come,” she said, defeated. “I’ll come and see you, see your orc mate and the mage. But I can’t move there, Betty. I don’t think I can live with an orc horde.”
Beth smiled. “Don’t say that before you see this place. But it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to stay. When you’re back on your feet, you can return to your life. Your real life. The apartment is yours. Missy can move in if she hasn’t already. You can do whatever you want.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Chapter Seventeen
The horde captain made his raider, Lonar the Beast, in charge the next day, took one of the orc cars, and drove up to the house, where Beth was waiting. Sonya was waiting with her.
When Beth told her that she and Uthar were going to see her sister and bring her to the town, Sonya’s eyes had brightened with interest. And longing. After so many years with the horde, she wanted to see the world of humans again. Even a few hours would be enough, and Beth immediately agreed. She hoped that if Abby saw Sonya, she would feel safer.
The two women rode in the back as Uthar took the wheel and drove them out of town. The orc car was a massive vehicle that was a mix between a modern car and a carriage. The orcs had started building them a few years after they came to the humans’ dimension, when they realized that if they wanted to be able to fit in and share this world with humans, they couldn’t ride their krags everywhere. On the highway, krags were a pain to ride, and dangerous to everyone. Usually, the orcs cars didn’t have a ceiling or walls. They were open. But sometimes, orcs would use tarps to cover them and turn them into wagons. Uthar had done this now, knowing that the human females needed protection from the wind and dust – two things that didn’t bother orcs in the least.
“I can’t believe you haven’t seen a single human until I came,” Beth said to Sonya.
“Oh, I’ve seen humans. I haven’t really interacted with them, but I used to go to the fair with my mate, and I saw them there, selling various goods. It’s not humans that I miss. It’s their world. My world. The busy streets, the fast-food restaurants, the malls, the movies...” She smiled nostalgically. “I’d really like to see a movie.”
“I don’t get it. Every house and apartment in town has a TV.”
“Well, yes. But there’s no cable. It’s a miracle we have electricity, and no one has cut us off.”
“Maybe we can do something with the TVs.”
Sonya waved her hand in dismissal. “Orcs don’t watch TV. What would they watch? The news? It’s all about humans and their world. And I’m sure that when they talk about orcs, they aren’t very open minded. Not even after all this time we’ve lived in peace.”
“Movies...”
“Movies made by humans, about humans, for humans? I’d be surprised if they wanted to see that.”
“You’re right. I’m being silly. But yes, I miss seeing a movie, too. I’m glad I have phone signal, and I watch short videos from time to time.”
“I don’t have a phone anymore.”
“Oh. You didn’t want to keep in touch with your family?” The second she asked the question, Beth silently cursed herself. What right did she have to ask Sonya such personal questions? She herself felt uncomfortable every time someone asked her about her parents. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry. You don’t have to tell me.”
“It’s okay. My family and I are estranged. We never got along. I had to make it on my own from an early age, and I managed for a while. But then things got hard. Especially during the war. And then after, it wasn’t much better. So, I decided to become a tribute, thinking it couldn’t be worse than what I’d already experienced. It was the right choice.” She smiled. “I had some wonderful years with Goran, and now the horde takes care of me. I’m happy where I am, and I’m happy I have you now.”
Beth smiled back. “I’m happy I have you, too.”
It was a long trip. Beth and Sonya dozed off. Uthar had to wake Beth when he entered her city and didn’t know how to find the address. Beth climbed with him in the front. It was a tight fit, and she had to almost sit in his lap. She opened the maps app on her phone and guided him to the best of her ability.
The streets were narrow. Uthar maneuvered the car with care, doing his best not to hit anything. When they finally reached Beth’s and Abby’s apartment, he let out a breath of relief. Everyone was looking at the orc car and at them. The tarp didn’t cover the front, and they were exposed to the world. People stopped in the street to gape at the redheaded woman sitting in the orc captain’s lap.
Beth blushed and scrambled to climb out of the car. It was so big that she had to place one foot on one of the massive wheels. Uthar tried to help her, but it was too late. She jumped out and almost fell on her face. Almost. She hissed in pain. She’d managed to sprain an ankle.
“Are you all right?” Uthar was by her side in a second. “Why did you jump like that?”
“They’re looking at us, and I hate it,” she whispered. “This is not the circus.” She was terribly tempted to yell at them to fuck off, but her ankle hurt, and she also wasn’t that kind of person. “Let’s just... get inside.”
Sonya climbed out of the orc car with expert ease. She’d done it many times before. She followed Beth and Uthar into the apartment building while she took in the street, the people, the supermarket down the block. A smile played on her lips. She’d missed all this, but not enough that she wanted to move back and live in the heart of civilization. Last time she’d been here, life hadn’t exactly treated her well.
Thanks to how big Uthar was, the three of them didn’t fit in the elevator at once. Sonya asked about the floor and said she was going to take the stairs. Uthar wanted to take the stairs too, but Beth laughed at the paleness of his face and pushed him inside the elevator.
“It’s perfectly safe. And fun.”
“It’s a matchbox,” he said sternly. He was trying to hide how nervous the elevator made him. “These things can break at any moment. My orcs and I never use them.”
There were buildings in their town that had elevators. Beth hadn’t used them either, thinking they probably weren’t safe since they hadn’t been used or repaired in forever.
“This one is fine, trust me.”
He didn’t say anything. She pushed the button for the seventh floor, and he held his breath and stared straight ahead. He’d had to fold his body a bit, keep his arms close to his sides, and curl his back to fit. Next to him, Beth didn’t mind that she was being cramped in with him.
