Prologue

PROLOGUE

Giza

There have been a few times in my life when I've imbibed to the point of intoxication.

When Rallah succumbed to the allures of a life beyond my reach.

When the elders chose me to pass through the veil into the human's world, deeming me the best choice to carry our culture and memories away from the one home I'd always known.

When we were finally released from the human scientists' labs and allowed to mingle freely with the population.

When Dahsur and his Mate drowned, leaving little Emmy in our care.

And when, at long last, Emmy and the rest of us found home .

Yes, being invited to live on Eastshore Isle had seemed hard to believe at first. Sakkara—now raising Emmy—had been the one to call and tell me about the island: How the seclusion fostered a sense of community and how the humans who lived here were ready to welcome our kind as neighbors.

Many of us orcs—and others —left the cities and towns where we'd been merely surviving for the last decade to travel to Eastshore, where we hoped to thrive. And it had happened. We did thrive…and some of us found Mates.

Seeing Cairo find his Mate had been remarkable. The male was the grumpiest, worst-tempered orc I'd ever met, and he'd found his forever with Meli O'Donnell, the adorably cheerful town baker.

If he could find such happiness, I took this as a sign from the old gods that orckind had finally found our Home.

Oh, not that I hoped to find a Mate; I'd been blessed once with the possibility, and with Rallah gone, I knew I was destined to be alone. But finding a Home…

Mated orcs meant the possibility of future orcs, which meant our kind wouldn't die out completely, and that…well, that was all I wanted. All I prayed for.

So, on the night of Cairo and Meli's wedding, I celebrated.

With a deceptively dangerous concoction the humans call whiskey .

It is sharp and it burns, but after the first few sips, it doesn't seem to matter anymore.

I over-imbibed, is my point.

So when the beautiful blonde human—the bridesmaid with the golden hair that shimmered like sunset reflected on water, and the shyly welcoming smile, and the lithe form… When she approached me, smelling of arousal and willingness…

Well, I accepted.

Joyfully .

And I made certain she enjoyed herself just as much as I did.

Actually, once I had her dew on my tusks and her taste on my tongue, I suspect my Kteer went a little crazed. I lost count of how many times she screamed as her inner muscles spasmed around me, and spilling into her tight cunt was the most delicious thing I'd ever experienced.

She was gone the next morning when I woke, and I supposed it was because I'd been nothing more than an exotic fuck for her.

It wasn't the first time I'd loved a human female who just wanted to claim she'd slept with an orc, and I was afraid it wouldn't be the last. I knew my looks and position attracted a certain kind of woman, but I thought the bridesmaid had been different.

Being with her had felt different.

I didn't even know her name.

Put her from your mind, p'taalk. Fool. You will never see her again.

I was wrong.