Chapter Nine

Durga

The sun was just coming up when we went to sleep. Working at the firehouse, I’m used to odd hours. Glancing at Raisa, still deeply asleep with the tiniest smile on her face, I’m not sure she’s used to having her internal clock out of whack.

After that amazing experience we shared, I tucked her close, kissed her hair, and sang her praises. When she didn’t say anything or reach for me or turn to look into my eyes, I realized she had already fallen asleep. It was cute.

I take her inventory as she lies next to me, snuffling in her sleep. As she smiles in her sleep, I noticed her full lips have been made pink and bee stung from sucking my cock. They look dusky rose colored in the early light and make her cheeks an even richer shade of dark brown.

During the night, after she’d passed out, I noticed that her nose twitched every time one of her long black strands fell across her face. Cute as her scrunched nose was, I wanted her to rest so I used one of the ties from her nightstand after carefully braiding it. Now I wish it was loose and wild about her face so that I could sink my claws into it again and watch them disappear.

As if sensing my eyes on her, she rolls over and tucks in closer, sprawling over my chest and slinging her arm around my waist.

I can’t quite put my finger on what makes Raisa so attractive to me. Neither the way she looks nor the way she acts fits into a slot.

Her eyes, though dark as an abyss, don’t hold an ounce of malice. Her hair is darker than mine, and where mine is coarse, her locks are like silk. The next time we make love, I want to grip it, use it like a horse’s bridle, position her where I want her, and educate her on how to pleasure me even better. Although, it’s hard to imagine what could have been better than what we shared last night.

Her curves are so generous. And her breasts. So plump and round they overflowed my palms.

I listened very well last night. I heard her sexual boundaries. Blood! Why would I want to hurt a woman during sex play? Anal. After working so hard to invade her pussy, I imagine anal would take a lot of training.

Then it hits me. She snuck in another boundary, although she didn’t call it a hard limit.

She’d said very clearly, “We have tonight.”

It didn’t surprise me. The only thing that would have surprised me about a time limit would have been if she hadn’t given me one. I’m an Other. She’s human. A pretty human at that. If we both didn’t know how fraught with danger a relationship between two different species was, those boys with their baseball bats would have certainly been all the message we needed.

I ease out of bed, find my clothes, and wander into the other room to look for my boots. Holy shit! When did she find time to sketch this? She must have gotten up after I finally went to sleep and found time for two hurried sketches.

My breath huffs out of me as if someone punched me in the solar plexus. I look… I’m afraid to put words to what I see on the sketches she tossed on her desk as though they held no value.

My lips twitch when I imagine she pulled the sheet off my body for these, but it’s not my nude body that captures my attention. It’s that anyone looking at the sketch would immediately assume that whoever drew this had a great deal of affection for her subject.

Do I look like this in her eyes? Fierce, even in sleep, yet there’s a hint of my compassion around my eyes and the corners of my mouth.

One of my friends has a saying, “Your mind is going in the wrong direction.” Yes, it certainly is. This was a one-night stand. Raisa gave me one night, and it was amazing and that’s all I’ll ever get.

As I shake my head to return to reality, I pace to stand in the bedroom doorway, debating whether I should wake her before I leave. If this was an orc female inside the Zone, I would know what to do.

The generation who are my age, who were babies when we came through the Rift or who were born here on Earth, seem not to want lasting commitments. I guess knowing you could be torn from your lover’s arms at any moment made a lot of us wary of anything but emotionless couplings.

Since I know next to nothing about how humans do these things, I’m not sure how to proceed. I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings after what she shared with me last night. I hope whoever she chooses for a life partner recognizes her need to submit. It seems to be woven into the fabric of who she is.

I’m relieved when her eyes pop open while I’m debating. I’ll just say goodbye and take off.

“You’re dressed.” It’s a statement, but she sounds disappointed.

“Aye. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to say goodbye.”

“No. I don’t want to say goodbye.”

This hurts. I didn’t expect anger, although she has every right to it. Perhaps she feels taken advantage of.

“Oh. Sorry. Will your door lock behind me? I want to make sure you’re safe after I leave.”

“Durga, do you have to go? I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Oh. I thought she would have preferred if I’d just snuck out. Just the opposite. She doesn’t want me to leave. For some reason, this makes my chest puff with pride.

“My shift starts in less than an hour.”

Her pout thrills me, too.

“I don’t want to keep you, but… can I see you again?” She slips out of bed, completely naked, her hair a mess yet still shiny.

“I… would like that.” Exactly how an orc and a human can manage such a thing is beyond me. As I get her number, I tell her, “I’ll talk to the males at the firehouse who are in relationships with humans to see how to manage this. Maybe they know of safe places to meet. Maybe you’ll have to… come to the Zone.”

“Great. Whatever you want.” We’re not in bed, yet she easily falls into the role she played last night. This is her default—submissive.

She lifts on her toes, grips my shoulders, and pulls me down for a kiss. I didn’t expect this, thought I would be her one-night fling with an Other. Instead, she’s beaming at me.

“I wish you didn’t have to work. Otherwise, I’d find a way to tempt you into my bed again.”

“You don’t have to find ways to tempt me. You’re tempting enough as it is.”

We share a glance, like two people with a happy secret. I don’t know how we’ll manage to see each other again, or where, but I’ll damn sure find a way.

The moment Raisa’s door closes behind me, I wonder if she somehow enchanted me. Reality comes crashing down as the memory of those young men forces itself to the front of my mind.

Did I really sleep peacefully when there was a good chance they followed us? Could they know where Raisa lives?

The moment I open the metal apartment door that leads to the street, I’m slapped with another harsh truth. They’ve been here.

I smell them. All five of them. And the gun. Shit. I want to check the area, but the metal door will lock me out if I close it and I’m sure as shit not leaving it open. I’ll need to go back inside to get her keys, but what exactly can I tell her that will make her give me the key but not freak out?

Last night I told her I expected honesty. If I expect it from her, I need to be prepared to give it.

After I knock on her door, it takes a minute for her to open it. I’m shuffling from foot to foot as I wait, feeling a sense of urgency to do recon around her building and the neighborhood.

For a split second after Raisa opens the door in a flowery robe, all worries fly out of my head as I’m struck by how pretty she is. After stepping back to let me in, she cocks her head, clearly worried about why I’ve returned only a minute after I left.

“I smell them, Raisa. After only a step out of your apartment, the scent of them was as clear as day. They clearly followed us last night. I need to check around the area. You need to be safe.”

Understanding dawns on her face, followed immediately by her forehead bunching in worry. She grabs the keys off the table near the front door, then hands them to me.

“Go check it out. I’ll lock my apartment the moment you leave.” She lightly grips my forearm and spears me with a serious look. “Be careful, Durga. Please.”

A pang of guilt washes over me. Although I promised her safety, she’s now left waiting in fear. “I will, Raisa. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

As I turn to leave, she adds, “If you’re not back in ten minutes, I’m calling the police.”

“Give me twenty.” It’s only when I’m in the apartment hallway that I mumble, “Five humans and one orc where none of them belong? If she does call the police, there will likely be one orc rather than five bullies who wind up in jail.”

My senses come alive as I stalk through the neighborhood. I quickly identify and commit every smell and sound to memory, noticing each detail that could be slightly out of place.

I conduct a quick exploration around her building before diving into the surrounding streets and alleys. There are moms with their kids and one guy mowing his lawn, but thankfully no little fuckers with bats.

After fifteen minutes, I make my way back to Raisa’s, convinced they’ve moved on.

As I approach from a different direction, I see them. Well, I see three of them. Luckily, I don’t think they see me. They all have bats, and I smell two guns. They are not playing.

On humans, hate smells bitter like an orange that’s been left to rot in the sun. The three men in reek of it. Hatred, impotent rage and vicious excitement seep from their pores like the sweat glistening on their foreheads.

Across the street, our eyes meet and their scent spikes, stinging my nose as two rest their hands on the butts of the weapons.

The thought flies through my mind that I could confront them, but guns mean death and I’m not ready to die. Instead, I key myself into the building and take the steps two at a time.

Determined to protect Raisa, I hurry to her door.

The moment I’m inside, I blurt, “I saw three of them, Raisa. They were close. I’m not sure if they saw me or not. There were people on the street. That might be the only reason they didn’t attack me, or maybe they’re waiting for their two friends to make their odds even better. No matter why they let me go just now, there’s no reason they’re nearby except to do us harm.”