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The human had managed to get air back into his lungs by the time he was standing upright again. Something inside him called out for another bout, and he was ready to push Nullik aside and go right back at the biggest of the Thorns who he’d almost managed to take down before they had swarmed him. Instead, he gave his pack mate a thankful nod and lifted his club into the air towards Ulag. There was a not-so-subtle implication in that action. He didn’t speak out against the proving master, but all who saw the gesture knew its meaning.
Is that all you’ve got?
Normally Ulag would have liked that sort of spirit, but these were no normal circumstances. He couldn’t throw the human out of the provings now after his surprising display of skill and bravery. The Runts had been beaten, but he’d made a better showing of himself than some of his allies had. So, the master of the provings stood up and stormed off away from the pits toward his tent.
Below, Ulf walked over to Gregory and patted his shoulder. “Better than your first day. Be here tomorrow at dawn. We’ll see if you can last it out.”
* * * * *
Gregory arrived back at Bolut’s camp just about ready to strangle something. It only came to his notice that a large chunk of the camp had completely disappeared after he’d walked over to one of the storage tents and found it wasn’t there anymore. Those particular tents weren’t often occupied, and he wanted a place where he could cool his temper before showing his face to his friends. Sure, surviving the day had certainly been an accomplishment but the match-up of the provings had shown him just how truly dire his current situation was. The Runts weren’t going anywhere fast, and he needed to pass the proving grounds to get the ring back from Grolfir. If his pack’s performance was anything to go by, he might just get it back by the time hell froze over.
The familiar red crop of Janette’s hair flitted between the many heads assembled in the orc encampment. When she broke free of the crowd to run towards him, Gregory’s frustrations fell to the wayside at the sight of her approach. Even her troubled expression couldn’t stifle her allure. She was all the more captivating having taken to wearing the garments of her new friends, the courtesans. A thin veil of sea green material covered her body, though he could easily see her gorgeous figure beneath the fabric. The shapely curves were adorned with simple and delectably skimpy undergarments that barely covered the girl’s modesty.noveldrama
She flung her arms around him only a few moments later and pressed just as much of that incredible body against him as she could. That soft, strong figure of hers felt almost good enough against his hardened muscular frame to forget about his current troubles altogether. It certainly beat stewing in his own frustrations in a storage tent.
“Are you ok?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just a few bruises this time. Nothing broken.”
His assurances did very little to settle her nerves and she immediately pushed at his shoulders to step back and look him over. This wasn’t a difficult or remotely objectionable task, as Gregory had quite the appealing body of his own. His training with Algra combined with his time in the camp had bulked up that formerly lean frame quite a bit. He wasn’t orc-like quite yet, but his muscles were much more defined. Even as she constantly worried about the scars that now ran along his chest, she couldn’t deny that they did make her want to nibble at him quite a bit.
He was still only wearing the boots and trunks that were allowed in the proving grounds. There was quite a lot of nicely toned and sun-kissed bare male on display. By the time her gaze reached his belly button, she’d quite forgotten that she was looking for injuries and was simply enjoying the view.
Gregory spied that look in those bright blue eyes of hers and gently but firmly pulled her back against him. Their lips met a moment after that and only a few seconds later they were settled into a much-needed kiss. The heat of that touch made them both realise how cool the air was, and so they squeezed each other tighter to let their mutual warmth be shared.
It was getting to the point where Gregory was seriously considering taking up the orc practice of wildly rutting out in the open when Janette finally wiggled out from the kiss. Since he didn’t want her wiggling away completely, he held her tight and playfully chased a couple of kisses from her lips and along her cheek. His enthusiasm made her laugh and brought a fresh flush of pink to her cheeks before she relented and stayed put. Though she did lift her finger to place on his lips in an effort to get the amorous male to allow her to speak.
“Ok, I believe you. You’re not about to keel over.”
“I might be about to bend a certain someone over.” Greg nipped her fingertip with his teeth to show her he meant business.
“Will you stop!” She slapped his shoulder and looked around for potential voyeurs. Only the backs of the tents could be seen from that part of the camp.
“Nope. Never.”
“What happened? Did you win?”
Janette knew what winning meant. It meant getting the ring back, and maybe getting the chance to go home again.
“No. We lost.”
“Hey, I don’t care as long as you come back in one piece. Alright?” She lifted her hand to stroke her fingers across his cheek.
Gregory let out a slow breath as the nature of the defeat seemed to flood back into the fore of his thoughts.
“We were a mess, Jan. It was barely even a contest. The only thing we had going for us was surprise and that’s not going to last.” He lowered his head and closed his eyes, touching his brow lightly against hers.
“Hey. Look at me,” she ordered.
He did as he was told and found himself looking right into those twin seas of sparkling sapphire.
“Don’t let yourself get like this.” She raised herself to her tiptoes and settled a tender kiss on his lips to comfort the obviously troubled male. “This was a win. Plain and simple. Bolut didn’t think you could beat him, but you did. Algra didn’t think you’d beat her, but you did. No one outside this camp thought you’d come out of there alive today, but here you are. Every time someone’s put you down, you’ve stood up to them and here you are still standing. So you’re in a faster race now. Don’t give up at the first hurdle.”
“I kind of thought getting beaten to a bloody pulp was the first hurdle, Jan. I remember literally sinking the landing with my face.”