Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Nikki

The mayor— oh my god I was having dinner with the mayor, the hot mayor !—tried to talk me into Pastabilities, but I convinced him that was too fancy. This wasn’t a date, right?

I mean, not that I’d mind if it was a date, but we were just having a meal to discuss my student’s past. Her trauma , as her father called it. Yes, this was a professional meeting, and we were being professional about it, dammit.

So stop drooling .

Right.

We went to Debbie’s Diner, which was nice and informal. The Christmas tree in the corner was decorated with candy canes and “angel wishes”—those little papers with requests from local kids. There was holiday music on the stereo and garland over the windows. A perfectly respectable place to have a professional dinner about my student .

But as soon as we’d both ordered, Sakkara folded his hands on the table in front of him, looked me in the eyes, and announced, “I’ve decided this is far too lovely an evening to ruin with difficult topics. Let’s save the trauma until after dessert.”

And I mean…what was I supposed to say to that? “Um…okay,” I managed, fumbling for my root beer float. Because yes, I’d ordered a root beer float. What? They go really well with burgers, don’t come at me. “Like what?”

“Tell me what Eastshore is like at Christmastime.”

He’d made the demand with a smile, and I was disappointed to have to admit, “I don’t know. I’m new here.” I was a little surprised; he’d been here longer than me. “I only just arrived over the summer because of the job.”

“Ah. Same. Well, not for the job.” He shrugged. “We moved here because Jess Miller, the Community Development Coordinator, reached out to her Mate’s brothers and invited us to live here. Emmy needed a place to belong, and I missed the males I’d grown up with.”

The straw popped out of my mouth. “The—the other orcs on this island? They’re all your brothers ?” How had I not learned that in my compulsive monster research?

But he chuckled and shook his head. “Not really. We’re from the same clan. We all had reasons for being chosen to cross through to the human world when our elders finally agreed. Although I wasn’t the oldest, I was…well, I suppose I was their leader.”

Of course he was. Anyone could see that. Sakkara was polite and smooth and gentlemanly, and had picked up on human ways quickly enough to be elected mayor of a human town, hadn’t he? The other orcs in Eastshore, and some of the Others, already looked to him as a leader.

“I can imagine, after going through something like that, you might consider them brothers,” I hazarded .

He nodded, unwrapping his rolled silverware and arranging it in a place setting. “Yes, but it’s also a quirk of our language. In a clan like ours, especially with females being born so infrequently, many males of a generation call one another some form of brother. Little brother, elder brother, et cetera . There are other terms associated with blood brothers, or twins.”

I realized I’d propped my elbow up on the table and was listening, wide-eyed. “Twins? Do you have a twin?”

He shook his head. “Not anymore. Many orc males are born as sets of twins, but my twin died as an infant. Most of us chosen to cross through the veil were without twins. The pair that did come through insisted on passing through together, but they’re a competitive set of twins.”

“Who couldn’t bear to be parted?” I guessed.

He considered. “When you are raised with a male always at your side, fighting and hunting and celebrating, you know he will always support you. That is a powerful advantage. I suppose in your modern world, each twin would go off and make his own life—in fact, I am counting on it—but in our world, it was a survival trait.”

I straightened, pushing away my float. “Wait, what do you mean, you’re counting on it? You said your twin died—I’m sorry, by the way.”

Sakkara waved away my words…or maybe my question. “Thank you, but it was long ago. I don’t mean my twin, I mean a cousin in Scotland— You know what? It doesn’t really matter. There’s someone I’m hoping will consider joining us here in Eastshore, even temporarily, and perhaps—oh, here are the burgers.”

Sure enough, Alice had bustled up, and now placed our orders in front of us. “A single with cheese for the lady,” she offered, then winked at Sakkara. “And a double-double for our new mayor. You need anything else, darling? ”

Although I knew the waitress flirted with everyone, I felt myself bristling. Couldn’t she see this was my date—

Whoa, whoa, what? This isn’t a date. This dude is the mayor , not someone who would be interested in someone like you. You’d better just stick with your fantasy orcs .

Dammit. I hated when my subconscious was right. I bent over my meal, trying to hide the flush in my cheeks.

But like I’d mentioned, Sakkara was a gentleman and knew how to keep the conversation going. In between commentary on our meals, which had me chuckling, he told me all about the plans for the town’s Christmas celebrations.

Some of it I knew from the kids and Ro’s descriptions, like the tree lighting, the cookie-decorating contest, and the caroling. But others were news to me.

“Wait, you’re going to be playing Santa?” I couldn’t help my snicker. “Do the kids know? They’ve been talking about the parade since Thanksgiving.”

His wince was almost comical. “I only learned about it myself today. I hope they don’t have to special-order a suit for me.”

I couldn’t help it; I giggled, and when his expression turned even more rueful, the giggles worsened.

You know what? Dinner with Sakkara was fun . Somehow, the conversation moved back to the orcs on the island, and heck yes I asked a bunch of questions, because I’d been obsessed with learning all I could about them since…well, since they’d first appeared in the media, ten years ago.

What surprised me, though, was his willingness to answer my questions. Not just about his “brothers” as he called them, but his experiences coming through the veil into our world, and even prior to that. By the time the meal was done, I felt as if I understood more about the orcs living among us, and I’d had some of my more pressing questions answered.

For instance, now I knew why all the males on Eastshore Isle bore the names of ancient Egyptian archaeological sites.

I knew more about the facility in Denver where the orcs had been kept—experimented on, really—in the year before they were released at the demands of the media. There’d been little public information about that, but Sakkara didn’t hesitate to answer my questions.

And I knew the Mating stories of the orcs who’d settled on Eastshore: Tanis and Olivia, Karnak and Jess, Cairo and Meli, Luxor and Zoe, Giza and Harper. Sakkara’s eyes shone with pride as he spoke about how his brothers had found Mates and love and home.

From my research, I knew that Mating was like love, but…stronger, somehow. It was almost a biological imperative, and from what Sakkara explained, humans could feel it as well when they Mated with an orc.

I was skeptical, but too polite to tell him so.

The conversation was so fascinating that I barely noticed when Alice cleaned away the plates or Sakkara got out his wallet to pay. All too soon, the meal was done, and we hadn’t discussed what we were supposed to discuss:

Emmy, and her past.

Sakkara seemed aware of it, judging from the way he shifted almost awkwardly in the large booth. “Do you…” He cleared his throat. “Do you mind if we walked?”

I would’ve agreed to anything to keep the evening from ending. “To aid in digestion?” I quipped.

His lips twitched before his expression turned serious again. “Yes, that too. But honestly, it’s because…this is easier to explain if I don’t have to look you in the eye.”

Oh .

Oh, dear.

I mean, I wasn’t a stranger to trauma, was I? So I understood what he was saying, and nodded slowly. “I think…yeah, I’ve been there. Let’s go.”

I accepted his help to wriggle my way out of the booth. This skirt—and the heels—had been impulse purchases when I’d interviewed at Eastshore Elementary, but this is the first time I’d worn them since then; usually the school was more informal. Today I’d wanted to look more professional for the parents…but it wasn’t exactly easy to move in.

Sakkara surprised me by holding my jacket for me to slip my arms into it, which felt…nice. As if…I dunno, as if he was taking care of me. A spike of longing dug into my heart. How incredible would it be to have a guy to take control and take care of me like that full time?

My brain snapped to CallMeDaddy, and his deep, commanding voice, and how good it had felt to just follow his directions.

Focus. You’re learning about Emmy, remember ?

As we stepped from the diner, Sakkara tipped his head back to look up at the clear December night sky. “Even out here, there’s too much light pollution to see many stars.”

“Really?” I snugged my scarf around my ears. “Eastshore has more stars than I’ve ever seen in my life.” This place was paradise compared to the inner city where I’d grown up.

“Ah, well. We need to get you out to Colorado sometime. I grew up in the mountains. Emmy…”

She was eight, and if her mother was a human, would have been born after Sakkara came through the veil. “Does she like the mountains?”

“She’s been a few times.” He began to walk, and I toddled beside him. “Since moving here, she’s really been enjoying fishing, which means I’ve had to learn to drive a boat. I’m surprised, since…”

When he trailed off, his tone pensive, I realized this was relevant. “Since?” I prompted softly, wrapping my arms around my middle.

He exhaled, his breath huffing steam in front of him, as we turned onto Main Street, with the cheery street lights bedecked with wreaths and ribbons.

“I’m not Emmy’s real father.”

I glanced at him in surprise, but before I could speak, he continued, not looking at me.

“When we left the scientific facility in Denver, most of us went our separate ways. I was the one to keep in touch with everyone, although I was at a loss of where to go and what to do. We had the hush money the government had given us, and I’d discovered a surprising talent for investing and playing the stock market. But I wasn’t content to sit in front of a computer all day.”

He wasn’t wearing a coat—besides his suit jacket—and I saw him shudder once as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “And then Dahshur called to tell me he’d found his Mate. I couldn’t believe it; for it to happen so quickly after our integration…it seemed like a miracle.” He shot me a quick glance. “I’m not sure if you know, but the only way for an orc-human pairing to create a child is through the Mate bond. It’s biologically impossible otherwise.”

My brows had risen. “I…didn’t know that.”

“Well, Dahshur and Stephanie became pregnant quickly, and when Emmy was born, I moved to be closer to them. I had nothing in Denver, after all, and Emmy was our future. From the time she could talk, she called me Taba . It meant…” He shrugged. “Uncle? Godfather, perhaps.”

This should be beautiful. It was a story of hope and rebirth and whatnot, but I knew what was coming. I swallowed, my voice hoarse when I asked, “What happened?”

He was quiet for a few more steps, taking us past the tattoo parlor and the plant store, then he blew out another breath, as if he’d been holding it. “They died. When Emmy was almost four, both of them died.” His voice dropped. “In front of us.”

I sucked in the breath he’d lost and stopped in my tracks to turn to him. “She saw them die?” I asked, sorrow squeezing at my chest.

Sakkara stopped as well, but he didn’t turn. Instead, he tipped his head back, as if staring up at the stars again, although I knew the streetlights were too bright on Main Street for him to see anything.

Finally, his voice tight with pain, he said, “She did. That’s when she stopped speaking.”

I wanted to ask what happened. I wanted to demand answers.

But if Emmy had seen her parents die, then Sakkara had seen his brother die. He’d mourned as much as she had. “You took her in. She became yours.”

Still not looking at me, he nodded curtly. “I made certain it was legal. Stephanie’s family didn’t want her because of the taint of her orcish blood, and my brothers agreed I was the best choice to raise her. We’ve…helped each other through.”

But they were still a long way from healing.

Hesitantly, I reached out and laid my hand on his forearm. I could feel the corded muscles beneath my fingers, knew he was tense with grief and anger. If I could help him, I would.

“Sakkara, earlier you said you weren’t Emmy’s real father. I guess you meant Dahshur was. But for what it’s worth, you are her real father. The realest she can imagine right now, no matter what vague memories she might hold onto.”

Suddenly, he dropped his chin, and he was staring into my eyes. His gaze was dark—no, black , all black—but I could still feel the intensity. “How do you know?” he whispered, almost plaintively.

Time for my not-so-pleasant confession. “Because I was raised in the New York State foster system.” I shrugged. “Not a lot of people wanted to place a problematic Latina teenager, and I ended up just sort of…” Ah, how to explain? “Slipping away, I guess. If I’d had one parent who cared for me the way you care for Emmy, it wouldn’t matter to me one bit whether we were related by blood.”

His warm hand covered mine where it rested on his forearm. Then before I knew it, he’d slid it lower so he could cradle my hand in both of his, his chin tucked against his chest so he could stare down at me, studying me in the light of the streetlamp.

“You are a remarkable person, Ms. Rios.”

“I’m not really,” I managed. “And I think you ought to call me Nikki.”

He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “I know enough about the foster system to know that when a teenager disappears like that, they often don’t reemerge. You not only remerged, but you went to college and became a teacher to help children who need it.”

Oh.

Well, when he said it like that, I sounded pretty amazing, didn’t I? Best not tell him about the trial, the testimony, the hiding, the new identity.

I tried for a smile. “Every day’s a new opportunity, someone once told me.” It was the agent in charge of my case, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “And I know, no matter what Emmy and you are going through, she loves you very much.”

Something softened in his expression then. “And I love her more than she’ll ever understand.”

I squeezed his hands. “She might, one day.” My grin grew teasing. “When she makes you a grandfather.”

“A hit!” he cried, dropping my hands to clutch at his chest. “A palpable hit!” Wasn’t that Shakespeare? “I’m not that old, Nikki.”

I made a point of raking my gaze down his chest, at the muscles straining against his suit, and winked. “I can see that.”

Dios , was I flirting with the mayor? Stupid, stupid .

But to my surprise, his lips curled into a wicked grin. “Do you think, Nikki, that I might walk you back to wherever you parked your car? The school, I assume?”

My heart began hammering in my chest. He was being so kind, and a part of me wanted to blurt, “Only if you come inside and let me taste you! ” but I had to be as polite as he was being.

“Actually, my apartment is on the next block, so I walk most places.”

“Well then.” He turned and tucked my hand into his elbow, steering us both toward my home. “Let’s get you home before you freeze to death out here. Thank you for a truly delightful evening.”

All I could manage was a sort of choked, “My pleasure.”

But it was the truth. It had been my pleasure.

I’d enjoyed tonight just as much as I’d enjoyed last night with CallMeDaddy, and I suddenly felt conflicted. Tonight, I think I would leave the MonsterSmash app unopened.

I could apologize later .

Instead of mind-blowing pleasure with a fantasy stranger, I wanted to cherish this evening’s conversation with Sakkara.