Chapter 31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

RYKO

I twist around to find my sweet Lily emerging through the bushes. I slide off my gorja and run to her. Relief, happiness, and utter amazement spread through me as I pick her up and spin her around.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she cries out as she clutches me as if she's holding onto a branch, hanging over a cliff, terrified of falling.

I've been walking the edge of that same cliff. She's pulled me back, to the firm, fertile ground.

"All is perfect when you are in my arms," I whisper in her ear.

When her grip on me eases, her face parts from mine and her expression shifts from sheer joy to concern. "You look tired. Put me down. You need to rest."

"I'll never be too tired to hold you. And you are as light as a newborn youngling. I will pick you up whenever I choose, female."

Her smile… vekk, how the joy there lifts my spirit .

She's just so perfect. And seeing her here, alive and well, fills my soul with new energy. I spin her around again until she giggles.

"I'm getting dizzy!" she squeaks, while her smile grows.

As I lower her to her feet, I kiss her, savoring the taste of her lips. She presses her lush body against mine and I forget about the universe. There's only Lily.

My hands fall to her hips and then slide to her backside, where I squeeze. I revel in any chance to touch her, especially when it makes her laugh.

"How did you get here, my Lily?

"Vints kidnapped me off the cart I was riding in to return to New Earth. They were led by one of the vints who surrounded us on the trail."

"They were all killed." Except the one my grak allowed to live. My hands and eyes move over her, taking in every square inch, seeking any sign of injury. "Did the vint have a broken hand?"

She nods, verifying it's the vint Atox spared. I'd wondered why he'd allowed the vint to survive the fight in Pen'Kesh.

"Did he touch you?"

"I'm fine." She lays her hand on my arm, trying to reassure me. "He delivered me here where I met Sojek."

Upon hearing his name, Sojek puffs out his chest. "I was ordered to guard her until you arrived, Warrior," he says to me in Orcan. From his expression, I see he considers the duty of guarding Lily an honor. It is.

He would have defended her with his life, even against a pack of vints.

And the male just risked his life going up against me when it wasn't necessary.

I place a hand on his shoulder. "I am in your debt, Sojek. But explain why you were sent here. Why Lily is here, and why the vints aided our grak. And vekking why you didn't tell me she was here. I nearly ran my sword through you. "

Sojek hesitates. "Our grak told me to give you a final chance to prove you can follow his orders."

Which I failed.

"He ordered you not to return to Pen'Kesh. He will ask me what happened. If you?—"

"You will tell him the truth, no matter how badly I will appear in your recounting."

Atox despises lies as much, if not more, than when a person disobeys his orders. I do not want Sojek to lie for me. He's being tested here today as much as I am. I will not condemn him in an attempt to save myself.

Sojek nods. "I am to keep today's events a secret from everyone in our colony. Our grak also gave me a message for you." His eyes move left and right.

"Go on. Tell me."

"He said he cannot afford for either of you to be seen. Anywhere . You must keep your distance from all markets and territories. Orc, human, moxxel, vint, and bantaran."

"He made a point of listing all the species?"

"He does not want to risk his plan."

"Do you know what that plan is, Sojek?" To my knowledge, our grak has only shared his plan with me and a few of his top warriors.

"I only know what he told me to relay to you. He hired a vint to steal your female so they will be blamed, not us. The only ones aware of this deception are the three of us, our grak, and the vint with the broken hand. The vints did not kill the human male who drove the cart from Pen'Kesh, on our grak's orders, so he may tell his people that vints took your female. No orc was present."

The ruse will perpetuate the hostilities between the vints and humans, but I'm sure my grak intended that. Atox has given me a gift today, one I do not deserve but will gladly accept. And he's relying on me not to endanger his plan. A second time. Now that my female is safe, there is nothing to keep me from obeying his orders.

"Thank you, Sojek. If I could return, I would report to our grak that you followed his instructions precisely."

"I understand, Warrior." He nods, holding it longer than is required, showing me more respect than I deserve today. "Where will you go?" Sojek asks.

I switch back to English so Lily can understand what I'm about to say.

"My female and I will make a home in the caves by the base of Mount Ertz and not return until our grak sends for us."

Lily tilts her head back as she looks up at me with confusion, then hope in her expression. "Us? You mean it, Ryko? We're going to be together?" Her eyes light with such joy that my entire being settles for the first time since before the Undoing.

"Only if you wish it, my Lily. You are the creator of my love," I attempt to apply the human words I've heard in Pen'Kesh before.

"You mean you love me ?" Brown eyes glow so bright, so full of hope.

The human concept of love is a strange one, but one I'm beginning to understand, because of Lily. "Yes, I love you. You are the center of my world, and nothing will keep me from you. This, I vow."

"Oh, god, Ryko. I love you, too!" She throws her arms around me, and vekk but I want to lay her out and sink into her again, taking my time to worship every inch of her.

My arms wrap around her holding her tight, true fear shaking me as I imagine a world without my Lily.

"I've wanted to tell you for such a long time that I love you, but I wasn't sure if you felt the same," she says against my ear, in a whisper, as if her words, her soul are only for me.

They are.

"You doubted me, female?" I ask, flashing my tusks a second before I graze one along her neck .

She shivers in my arms, then nips at my ear playfully before whispering, "We're not alone."

I hold her face in my hands, the gravity of our exile hitting me full force. She didn't hear what Sojek said. She doesn't know…

"We will be alone for possibly many months, my Lily. My people have not disowned us, but we must keep our distance until my grak completes his plan. We are not permitted to go near any settlement, any market, anywhere we could be seen. We must disappear from all that we know until he sends someone to find us one day. I do not know how long that will be."

A smile, perfect and strong, tugs at my soul as it grows until it reaches her eyes. "As long as I'm with you, I don't care where we are or if we're alone. All I need is you."

Lily slips her arms around my back, molding her body to mine until no light—or darkness—separates us. I know, beyond any doubt, that I've found my destiny, here on Kovos… with my Lily. My flower. My mate… the missing part of my soul.

I hope you enjoyed Orc's Claim . The romance and adventure continue with Orc's Possession . You've already met the hero and heroine for the next book… That's right, Paloma and Atox im Grak. The rebellious human woman who shudders at the idea of being with an orc, and the orc king who only sees human women as breeders.

Orc's Possession is a steamy, rocky, enemies-to-lovers romance that will take you on an emotional roller coaster with a guaranteed happy ever after.