Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

RYKO

L ily's eyes widen, caution and strength warring within her. "You want to run off with me, get married, and never return? Can we even get away? What if they track us, hunt us?"

My people would not hunt me, not for mating a female, even one who is human. Her people remain a threat, however. They could try to kill me, lose many males in the process. Whether they capture me or not, kill me or not, is irrelevant. They will accuse me of stealing one of their females… and that could destroy my grak's plans to save our people.

"Orc's don't run from danger, Lily. We run toward it, but with a plan. We will not flee, and I certainly won't make you lead a life of isolation. We need the support, the safety, of a people. My people. My grak is speaking with your leaders about a treaty."

"A treaty?" Her face brightens. "That's wonderful!"

"That is yet to be seen. Being with you risks my grak's position. We must be careful in how we proceed. "

"Ryko?" the thunderous roar of my grak carries through the common area of the market.

Vekk!

I push Lily deeper into the shadows. "Go," I whisper, nodding in the direction away from my approaching grak. "Return to your sector. Quickly!"

With pinched eyes, she flees down the narrowing alley between the two buildings.

"What are you doing, Ryko?" my grak asks as he appears behind me more quickly than I expected. No other warrior can walk as quietly as Atox, which is how he often catches me disobeying orders.

"Observing the crowd, Grak." Not a lie, precisely.

Atox im Grak stands beside me, peering down the alley. I pray he did not see Lily.

He lifts his chin, his nostrils flaring as he scents the air.

I could move behind him, feign spying a threat… anything to distract him. If he spotted her, he could tell her people, cause trouble for her.

"Verig ordered you and the others to stay away from the human sector. And now I find you watching one of their females."

My spine straightens and my muscles tense, but I show no fear. "Nothing else in the market interests me."

"Forget the female. That is an order."

My jaw tightens, which he notices.

"Do you understand that I'm trying to save our people?"

He's talking about the imbalance in our colony. Not enough females survived the Undoing on Orcos. The humans on Kovos have plenty in their colony and the cendagi ships bring them more each season.

"I found a female I wish to mate," I say swiftly, forcing the issue at last. "A human female."

Slowly, his lips peel back, exposing his tusks down to their roots. "You will mate the female I choose for you. No other. "

"This female wants me and I want her."

"Want?" He roars in laughter. "We are warriors. We don't get what we want, not until we provide what our people need. You will do nothing to risk my plans, or I will gut you, Ryko. You and any female who tempts you from your path."