Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

LILY

A ngry male voices filter into the cave and fear moves through me like an icy wind. Words spoken in other languages. Like all the women in our colony, I don't have a language chip. That's a privilege reserved for men.

I hold the knife ready to use it, not that I know how to defend myself. The best I can do is remain calm and trust in Ryko. That means standing here, hiding in the shadows, wondering what's happening out there.

Ryko can handle himself, but still, he could be outnumbered. I don't know who he's confronting or what they want.

The voices rise with anger, making the hairs on my arms rise. Then utter silence. Dark, foreboding silence.

My hands squeezes the hilt of the knife until my muscles ache.

No one's talking.

Are they fighting?

A hulking figure enters the cave and at first I can't make out who it is. Then one step closer and I release a breath. Ryko.

The light filtering in from outside reveals his tight expression. He's not pleased, which is why he's still holding his sword, no doubt, but I don't see any blood or wounds.

With one practiced move, Ryko sheathes his sword. Silently. Effortlessly. Then, as casually as can be, he holds his hand out for me to return his knife, but I can't move. He eases the knife from my iron grip. "All is well, my Lily."

His voice unlocks the invisible chains trapping me. I launch myself at him, wrapping my arms around him and hold on for dear life.

The very thought of losing him terrifies me.

After a long embrace, he kisses the top of my head and gently pulls away. "We need to go. There may be more vints in the area."

"Vints? Those were vints out there?" A new fear moves through me.

The vints' colony borders New Earth and the clashes between human and vint have escalated in the last few months. The vints raid our supplies and damage our equipment. Dawson was rushed to the infirmary one night with punctures all along his chest and arms from one of the vint's tails. Those tails are deadly with a long reach, which makes getting close to one dangerous. Our guards don't know how to fight them. Short of trying to smuggle guns onto Kovos from Earth—and failing—we don't know what Council is doing to handle the vint threat along our borders.

"Do they know I'm in here?" I ask. "The vints have been causing trouble for my people."

"I did not let them near the cave. But I will escort you back now, before your people start searching for you. Come, my Lily."

I rub my belly as we leave the cave, realizing we took a lot of risks today, more than being discovered. I'm not on birth control because we have a limited supply back in the colony.

There haven't been any pairings between orcs and humans to know if our species can conceive together. The idea of a baby with Ryko, brings a smile to my face .

Until I think about my uncle and the councilmen in our colony. They could do a lot worse than force me to marry some guy I don't want, like they're doing to Tamara. They could kill me. Unless…

"If we get pregnant, Ryko, maybe my people would let me leave."

His hand caresses my cheek. "I don't think they'd let you live. Or a youngling that is half-orc. They hate all orc, but that is not a worry you'd have among my people. They would accept you if you carried an orc youngling. I, however, would not live to see the sunrise. My grak would kill me."

I stop walking.

His forehead falls against mine as he inhales a deep breath. "My grak planned to claim you, Lily. He ordered me to keep anyone from touching you. Instead, I mated you. Whether I live or die depends solely on my grak. But he would never harm a female, especially one who carries an orc youngling." He pauses for a moment, as if assessing my capacity for more bad news. "Once I'm dead, he could take you and any youngling you carry for his own."

I shudder at the thought of being with such a brutal male. But nothing scares me as much as the idea of losing Ryko.

He kisses my forehead. "I do not think this will happen. My grak respects the risha, which we performed in the cave.

We resume walking. "My people need females. But I've disobeyed my grak's orders and risked his plans. I do not know what will happen, only that you will be safe. I've ensured this by mating you."

I slide my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. Everything he's done has been to protect me. There doesn't seem to be a way out of this mess.

"I don't see anyone," I whisper to change the subject as we take an obscure path back to the market.

"Good. But if we encounter anyone. Vint, human, orc… an yone, Lily, do not contradict what I say. We cannot let anyone know of our mating until I speak with my grak."

"What are you planning to say?"

"That I heard a female yelling for help. That I found you stuck, your ankle lodged between rocks by the river."

It's a good cover story. I bend down, grab some dirt, and spread it over my ankle, socks, and boots. "Owen might be a lazy ass, but he has an eye for details. He won't ignore the chance to check my ankle and catch me in a lie."

"You think like a warrior," Ryko says with a nod of approval.

"When is your next supply run?" I hope I can get on the schedule to come to the market that day.

"I won't know until Sojek returns from talking to the moxxels. He's dropping off a shipment of knives."

"Knives?" The orcs fashion their own knives and swords, but they only sell large game that they capture or kill. All five species have goods or services the others want. It's what maintains the peace in Pen'Kesh.

"Shears, actually. They need them for the tumek they herd."

Tumek are more compact than sheep and have a long thin tail to whip predators. Their fur has an underhair similar to wool, which becomes too long and interferes with their sight and ability to move, making the older ones easier to trap.

"I had tumek meat once. It reminded me of hamburger back home, but it's so expensive."

"Then you would enjoy living with my people. We hunt tumek along with other game in the mountains beyond moxxel territory."

I'd enjoy living anywhere with him.

The hum of people talking in the market reaches us, and we both halt. We're only a few hundred feet from Pen'Kesh. We have to stagger our entrance into the market.

When I push up on my toes and brush my lips against his, he grips me by my waist and pulls me in close. I see the resolve in his eyes. My orc—my mate—will find a way for us to be together.

"You were right. The orc was hiding a human whore," a male says behind us.

Ryko simultaneously pushes me behind him and draws his sword as six vints emerge from behind trees and bushes. Their skin shifts from brown-gray to blue. No wonder we didn't see them. Natural camouflage!

Spiked tails swish from side to side as the vints spread out and surround us. Ryko's a massive male, a top warrior among the orcs, but he's grossly outnumbered.

"Stay behind me," he orders.

I mirror his every move, but it's not easy. Ryko's every step, every tilt of a hand or arm, is done with great stealth and purpose. I suddenly have two left feet, stumbling all over the place as I struggle to stay behind him, away from the arc of his sword should he swing it back to strike.

Ryko throws a knife at the vint circling to get to me. The blade lodges in the male's throat, and the vint makes a deadly mistake pulling it out. Dark blue blood spurts in all directions. He tries to staunch the flow. In seconds, he drops to the ground, dead.

The area explodes in a whirl of weapons, limbs, and war cries.

A vint throws three knives in succession at Ryko, who deflects each with his sword. The clink of each strike sends fear through me.

Stay behind him. Stay behind him.

The words become my mantra.

It's horrifying and fascinating watching Ryko fight. There's an elegance to how he moves, swinging his sword as if it's an extension of him.

With one swing, he beheads a charging vent.

A high-pitched squeal reverberates through the trees. I turn to my left and see a vint charging at me, his barbed tail flailing at everything in his path.

I freeze up, unable to move.

Ryko tosses me over his left shoulder as he swings at the vint with the broadsword in his right hand. A moment later, I'm dumped on the ground and Ryko's standing over me, swinging so hard the whoosh of the blade slices through all other noise.

"Watch out!" I yell as a vint leaps at him from behind.

When he draws the vint away from me, I spring to my feet. I have to do something!

Two more vints emerge from the woods. It's like a pack of coyotes descending on freshly killed meat.

Ryko shifts his stance, feigning a weakness in his left side to draw them in.

Five, six...

Each time he kills a vint, two more appear, filling the void.

I've lost count. There are too many.

We're surrounded.

Ryko charges onto the path and cuts down two vints, creating a narrow opening. Then he shoves me through and yells, "Run!"