Chapter 4

Karnak

I hadmy bare feet propped up on the front porch railing, a rum and coke in one hand and the phone in the other, watching the sky turn purple and pinks. On the other end of the line, I could imagine my buddy Sakkara doing the same thing.

Only he was probably drinking a beer.

"So basically, the school told me Emmy isn't welcome back next year," he ended with a sigh.

"Shit, man, that sucks. Is there anything you can do?"

"As I understand the American legal system, yeah, I could make a stink about it. But it's hard to argue with the teacher's point of view."

I sipped my drink and considered. "I suppose so. She's still not talking?"

"Nope, and she's almost eight. Not talking at school, not to me. I wish there were doctors who could understand…"

Sakkara was the smartest of us all. Those of us who'd been the first group to pass through the veil and enter the humans' world. He'd acclimated quickly and understood finance well enough that I'd happily turned over all the bribe money the government scientists had given us. The interest those investments accrued kept me living an easy life.

And then, three years ago, he'd stepped up to be a father to Emmy, likely the world's first and only orc-human hybrid. Sakkara was right; there wasn't a doctor or a shaman familiar enough with the girl's makeup to figure out what was going on in her head, especially since we all remembered when Emmy used to jabber non-stop.

There's likely plenty of doctors who'd pay money to examine her, but they wouldn't be doing it to help her.

I sighed. "Yeah, man, I hear you." I lifted my glass in a silent salute to the sunset. "For what it's worth, Dahshur and Stephanie would be grateful for the way you're protecting their baby."

"I wish I could do better."

"You're doing great. Emmy knows she's safe and cared for, and yeah, no one around her looks or acts like her, but she's got you."

There was a pause, and I heard Sakkara taking a drink. "I'm going to have to find her a new school, one that knows how to handle kids like her."

"Sakkara, there's no kids like her, anywhere."

"True," he snorted. "I'm sick of being stared at any time we try to do something normal, like go to the grocery or the park."

I knew what he meant. "I order groceries online, and every other week head up to the city to pick them up. Some guy brings them to my car."

"Yeah, and otherwise you sit alone in your house or tempt sharks. Neither of us is living our best life, huh?"

Well, fuck, we don't need to go down that path. "You hear from Giza or Luxor?"

"Yeah, actually. Well, Lux at least. And Tanis emailed me—you remember what email is?"

Since I was drinking, and since I knew he was teasing, I merely growled in response. Which came out a bit like a gargle.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Sakkara taunted. "Anyhow, Tanis emailed me to tell me about the new bodyguarding gig he's got. Some violinist?"

It was strange that Sakkara didn't know which violinist. "Man, she's not a stranger. Remember Dr. Zhang?"

A pause. "From the Denver facility?"

What a nice way to think of the people who studied us for a year. "Yeah. His daughter, Olivia Zhang. She's apparently hot shit, but showed up here on Eastshore for a vacation and hurt her leg or something." I swirled my ice, remembering the crutches Tanis had requested I make. "He took care of her, and she must've figured she needed more of his help, because when she left the island, he left too."

On the other end of the line, Sakkara hummed thoughtfully.

It wasn't a particularly confused hum.

"What?" I prompted.

"I wonder why he didn't mention who she was."

Even though he was two time zones away, I shrugged in response to Sakkara's question. "Guess he figured you'd remember her."

"Exactly."

There was something else going on here. Something Sakkara knew about Tanis—maybe about his history in Denver with the Zhangs? Maybe that's why his hum had been so…enlightened.

"Do I want to know what this is about?" I growled.

His response was immediate, and flippant. "Probably not. It's Tanis's business, anyhow. What's going on with Cairo?"

I snorted. "You mean the only being on this island grumpier and more reclusive than me?"

"Exactly."

"No fucking idea. My jeep hasn't needed work in a while."

Sakkara sighed. "I can't believe you live right down the street from him—"

"Hey, it's a big island!" It really wasn't. It's just…

What the shit did Sakkara expect me and Cairo to talk about? Hey, remember how great things were before we fucked up our lives? Remember how scared we all were, in the laboratory? Remember the nightmares the tests caused, and the crushing grief when we realized we'd never be able to return to what we used to know?

No.

No thank you.

Males in our situation sucked at small talk. Who gave a crap how the local sports team was doing?

Well, except maybe Lux. I could see him being into football.

Sakkara was still talking, updating me on the rest of the males of our band. A few of them had found happiness, making homes for themselves in the human world. Two were actually dating human women, and once, I would've been happy for them, even though I'd known orcs couldn't find their true Mates in this world.

At least, that's what I'd believed.

Right up until the moment my Mate had moved in next door.

One whiff of her scent and I'd known that Jess was mine, and would always be mine, even if only in my dreams.

I'd also known how women like her reacted to males like me. Males who were too big, too scary, too green for her world.

She called you ‘friend' last night.

Yeah, well, last night had been a rollercoaster, hadn't it? The friend thing, the naked-in-the-hot-tub thing, the perfect-globes-of-her-ass-just-out-of-reach thing.

Angry at myself, I slapped my feet onto the weathered wood of the front porch and pushed myself upright. I told myself I should be listening to Sakkara as I stomped inside to make myself another drink.

How many of these things will it take to knock the memory of her perfect ass from your brain?

Or the fact I'd fucked my hand twice while imagining how she'd feel, pressed against me?

It therefore took me a few moments to realize I wasn't imagining the sound on the edge of my hearing.

Jess's humming was never on key—or at least, it never matched the songs she listened to in her earbuds—but I didn't care. I loved hearing it, because I could pretend it meant she was in a good mood, and I liked to think of her in a good mood.

As Sakkara went on with his update, I set my glass down and padded silently toward the front window. I'd hung sheer curtains years ago, letting in the light but keeping me hidden.

Plus they let me peer outside.

Jess was walking home, humming to herself.

Sure enough, there was a bounce in her step and her gaze wasn't locked on anything in particular.

Seeing her made me smile, and since there was no one here to see, I didn't bother curbing the instinct.

When she didn't take the shortcut across the corner of the Hills' property, and instead continued past her front drive, I realized something was wrong.

Where was she heading? My heart began to pound faster. Was she coming here?

"Hey, Sakkara," I interrupted. "I'm sorry, man, I've got to go. The neighbor is heading this way."

"Uh-oh."

"What?"

"Are they carrying pitchforks and muttering rhubarb rhubarb?"

I didn't drag my attention away from Jess, who had the old leather satchel she carried to work over her shoulder and a box in her hands. "You're making less sense than usual. Impressive."

Sakkara chuckled. "Fair enough. I'll go check on Emmy. How about you call me next time, so I don't have to keep checking up on you?"

"Yessir, Mr. Self-Appointed Moral Officer, sir," I murmured, as Jess turned up my driveway.

Sakkara chuckled. "Fuck you too, Karnak. Stay safe."

I barely heard him hang up.

She was on my steps.

She was on my front porch.

My doorbell rang, and I frowned at the way I startled.

I've lived in this house for ten years, and I couldn't remember ever hearing the doorbell before.

Had no one come to visit me?

Of course not. You don't let them.

My heart was pounding like I'd run double-time around the island, but I swallowed past a suddenly dry throat and reached for the doorknob.

Sure enough, Jess was standing on the mat. The novelty one Sakkara had sent years ago which had those ridiculously ornate curlicues and flowers surrounding an ornate calligraphy of Go Away.

"Hi!" It didn't sound awkward, like the evening I'd caught her looking for her cat. But her smile was just a little too bright as she thrust out the box in her hands. "I brought muffins."

I frowned at the tiny cardboard, emblazoned with pink lettering. She'd put it in a box? "Your pussy really is small."

She made a noise that sounded as if she was dying, and my gaze flicked up to see her trying desperately to hold in her laughter. I blinked, trying to understand what—

"Muffins!" she burst out, shoving the box at me and falling against the doorframe, chortling. "Real muffins, not my cat!"

Oh.

Since I didn't have another choice, I took the box. It had taken longer to learn to read English than it had to speak it, so maybe there was some obscure rule I didn't know which explained why Meli's Bake Shoppe was spelled so oddly.

Jess was still giggling, slouched against my door, and I stood there awkwardly uncertain of the protocol. I couldn't hand her the box again and shut the door, because she was in the way.

But inviting my Mate into my home…that could end badly.

Or very well.

No. It might've worked for Dahshur and Stephanie, but humans did not mate with orcs.

She'd quit laughing and was now smiling up at me, eyes bright. Shit. What did she want—

"Can I come in? I have a favor to ask."

Anything.

I didn't say the words, though. Instead I backed up, still holding her box of muffins.

She stepped into the front room and sucked in a gasp as she glanced around. "Did you do all this?"

I winced, then mumbled, "Yeah," as she began to peer at the carvings sitting on every surface and the painted walls.

Jess fingered the blanket thrown over the back of the couch—I never used it, because it rarely got cold enough to need a blanket around here, but I'd made it with the traditional techniques my grandmother had used to remind me of home—and she exclaimed at the dangling wind charms.

And I just stood there and watched her.

In the decade I'd lived here, I couldn't recall anyone seeing this room, or the ones behind it. No one saw my art, the reminders of my world. No one.

Except now. Except Jess.

"Oh, wow," she breathed as she stepped into the kitchen. "This place is amazing!"

Most of the houses on this street had been built at the same time to the same specifications. I knew her house had to be similar to mine with a main room in the front, a kitchen in the back, and two small bedrooms with a bath nestled between. Pretty certain families like the Hills had added an extension or something, because otherwise the place was tiny.

But the point is, Jess knew her way around.

And if I didn't stop her, she'd end up in my bedroom.

Jess in my bedroom was going to be difficult to resist.

She's shown no interest in visiting your bedroom for any kind of bedroom activities.

Except…

Except, two evenings ago, when I'd interrupted her search for her pussy. Pussycat.

Her scent had changed that evening and I knew I'd never forget the smell of her arousal; mellow and creamy, I'd positively ached to taste it.

She'd been aroused then. By me?

What were the odds she'd ever find a male like me anything besides scary and overwhelming?

"Jess!" I blurted, suddenly uncertain how to act around her.

Her smiling face popped through the door to the kitchen. "Yes? Did you decorate in here? Everything is beautiful."

Ignoring her question, I thrust the box forward. "Don't forget your muffins."

"No, silly." Grinning, she joined me in the larger room once more. "I brought them for you. Do you like muffins? They're from the bake shop in town—Meli makes the best baked goods I've ever put in my mouth."

For me? "I…like muffins." I couldn't seem to drag my gaze away from said mouth. "But I've never had anything from Meli's."

"Really?" Jess blinked, her brows drawing in. "Her shop is right in the middle of Main Street. You can't miss it."

What would her lips look like when she ate? Should I offer her a muffin? I could imagine her tongue darting out to catch a crumb from her lips, and I had to swallow thickly.

"Karnak?"

Crap. We were talking about one of the shops—shoppes?—in Eastshore. "I don't shop in town. If I want muffins, I just make them."

Her lips curled into another gentle smile. "You bake too? Of course you do. You're a painter, a sculptor, and you bake…" She gestured to the walls of the main room. "But why don't you shop in town? Those businesses need our support—hell, that's one of the main problems we've had, businesses failing."

"Maybe." I shifted uncomfortably, still holding the muffin box in front of me like some kind of awkward protection. "But I found it's a lot easier not to remind people they've got an orc living down the street."

The way Jess opened her mouth, then closed it again, made it clear it had never occurred to her that would be my reasoning. I'm both gratified and irritated at her naivety.

Finally, eyes narrowed, she asked, "Has anyone in Eastshore ever said anything to you? Treated you like you weren't welcome?"

And if they had, what would she do?

Because right now, my little neighbor looked angry enough to defend me, and the thought was…gratifying.

Ridiculous. Ridiculously adorable.

Since she was still glaring, I admitted the truth. "No. I've found it's easier not to give people the chance."

Her expression cleared. "So some humans were assholes to you in the past, and because of that, you've hidden yourself away here on Eastshore for—what? How long have you lived here?"

"Ten years. There's assholes everywhere, Jess."

"Yeah, and I know there're assholes in Eastshore." From the little roll of her eyes, I could see she meant someone specific. "But not many of them. We're not all assholes. I'm not. Mrs. McGee isn't."

"Mrs. McGee doesn't pay attention to anything around her." The old woman probably thought the fairies dealt with her trashcans each week. "But she's not an asshole."

Neither are you.

"There!" Jess slapped her thigh in satisfaction. "Two of us aren't assholes. There's more, you know. My friend Meli. Your friend Cairo."

"Cairo is definitely an asshole."

Her lips twitched. "Okay, I actually don't know the guy, since I rarely drive anywhere. So now we're up to two whole assholes on Eastshore Island."

To my surprise, she held out a hand, almost in supplication.

"Karnak, let me prove we're good people. Please?"

I fought the urge to back away from that hand, from that hopeful expression. "What?"

"Consider the muffins a bribe. If you like them, I'll buy you a dozen more tomorrow, from Meli's shop." She took a deep breath and let her hand drop. "As long as you go with me."

I stared. She stared.

"What?" I repeated, like an idiot.

"Come with me tomorrow," she all but whispered. "It's a Saturday, so the market will be going and the hardware store is hosting another fair—that's really just Eastshore's excuse for us all to get together and sell stuff to each other. Let me show you."

"No." I was already shaking my head, and I thrust the box toward her. "I don't belong there."

To my surprise, Jess stepped closer. Close enough to put her hand atop the bakery box and press it back toward me. Close enough that she had to tip her head back to meet my gaze, and she did.

"Please, Karnak," she breathed, and the sound went straight to my cock.

Suddenly I was glad I had the box in front of my waist, to hide what the gray sweatpants wouldn't.

"If you'll go with me tomorrow…it would really help me out," she admitted in a low voice. "Remember that meeting I had today with the council?"

It took two tries to make my voice work. "Council. Meeting. How'd it go?"

"It went…" She took a deep breath, and her smile seemed forced. "It was great, actually. I have an idea to save Eastshore, but…I need your help."

Anything. I'll do anything.

Of course I didn't say it out loud. Instead, I managed, "Help with your muffin? I mean, at the bakery?"

Now her expression eased. "No—well, yes. Help with it all. I need your advice and suggestions…and I need you to be seen around town. With me."

Well fuck.

NowI was intrigued.

"You need me?"

"Karnak," she admitted with a little laugh, "you have no idea how much I need you."