Chapter 12

ATOX IM GRAK

My quarters serve as my sanctuary away from the daily problems of my people. I brought my female here instead of giving her a separate cave because what is mine is hers. But she doesn’t look upon my meager belongings, my pledge to her, or even the calm of this space, as a boon. Her fear overwhelms her, and this will not do. Not for an orc, and certainly not for the mate of a grak.

“Paloma, give me your hand.” When she doesn’t, I say, “I pledge as your grak that I will never hurt you.”

“I want to believe you.”

“Then give me your hand.”

We’re still in the dark, but I long to see the expression on her face, to know if she offers her hand with confidence. Her scent no longer holds the bitterness of fear, but she is like a skittish gorja, one not destined to go into battle.

I stretch my arm out over the bed. “Find my hand, female. You do not need to see. Listen to my voice, to what I’m saying.”

A moment later, soft skin tentatively touches my arm. Like heat lightning stretching across the sunja plains on Orcos, her touch sends a spark through me. Despite my cock throbbing in anticipation, I don’t act on my need to lay her under me and sink into her warm heat.

I need to earn her respect, or she will never accept me as her grak or her mate.

Her fingertips explore up and down my hand, moving over each finger, my palm, and my knuckles. “You’re so warm,” she says. “I guess that’s why you live in caves.”

“The caves maintain a constant temperature that suits us. And they are easily defended.”

“Everything you do seems to be very strategic. Except one.”

“What would that be?”

“Taking me. Your people don’t want me here, Grak.”

“I want you here, Paloma.” Vekk, her name comes to me too easily. And I know why. Her touch. Even as her fingers move higher up my arm, learning the contours of my muscles, my body is becoming more attuned to her. My cock, already rock hard, presses against my trou.

I step back and remove them.

“Grak?” Her voice shakes with uncertainty when I pull away.

“I am here. Sit on the bed, female.”

“Why?”

“You touched me. Now it is my turn.”

“You’re only going to touch me, right? Nothing more?”

“I will not mate you tonight.”

The wood bed frame creaks slightly as she moves to the edge. I press down on her shoulders until she’s flat on her back. When I place my hand on her thigh, she gasps, but doesn’t move away.

“Open your legs,” I order.

To my surprise, she spreads her legs. Next time, I will watch her face, memorize every reaction so I learn what she likes and doesn’t like. For now, I have another goal in mind.

My hand glides along soft skin to the juncture of her legs. The spot I was denied full access to atop my gorja. Two fingers skim over a soft patch of hair near her sex. Female orcs lack hair there. Humans do not generate as much heat as orcs so the extra hair makes sense.

As I slip a finger into her folds, she jerks, but doesn’t pull away, leaving me to discover the slick I’ve dreamed of exploring. I lick my finger, and nearly spill my seed right there on the floor.

This time, I part her folds and hold them open. I’m rewarded with an intoxicating scent. I have waited long enough. I will not sleep without taking something of this female tonight.

I press the flat part of my tongue against her flesh, moving through every fold of her slick, tasting every inch of her.

“I said nothing more than basic touching, you bastard!” Her legs flail to kick me away, but I hold them down, even as her nails—blunt, flimsy objects that don’t even scratch my thick hide—dig into my shoulders.

“I mean only to taste you, female.”

Her fingers still. “Promise me you won’t… mate me, Atox.”

The shaking of her voice unsettles me in a way I do not understand. “I vow only to give you pleasure this night.”

Her hands slide away from me as she lies back on the bed. Careful not to bruise my female, I press my arms against her thighs, keeping her open to me while I lick every part of her until I find that special spot. The nub at the top.

I swirl my tongue around it until I hear her moan and her hands move to my head. Her fingers sink into my hair, pulling, though without her earlier anger. My female will learn not to fear me, the dark, or anything else on this world. She is orc now, and it is my job to train her in our ways, to help her become a part of who we are.

I trap that nub between my lips and suck. My female’s back arches and her fingers pull my hair hard, the type of pain that quickly turns to pleasure. My cock swells and it’s all I can do to keep myself from lining it up with her tight cunt and thrusting into her.

“Atoooox!” she screams as she comes on my tongue.

The taste of her and hearing her screams of pleasure overwhelm me… a grak. The grak who defeated Narzik im Grak.

My balls tighten and my cock spills its release all over the floor. A waste of seed, but necessary. My female, as delectable as she tastes, and as beautiful as she sounds screaming my name, is not ready for me. Soon, though. Very soon.

I climb up over her small but soft body on the bed, and drag my cock through her swollen folds, letting her feel my girth. She raises her hips to grind against me. This might be the key to her accepting her role here. Making her want me as much as I want her.

I lift my torso from her and pull her higher up on the bed, turning her onto her side until her backside rests against my cock. I enjoy pressing my cock against a female’s fleshy backside, and this female has more cushion than female orcs. The humans failed to see what a treasure they sold to me. Their loss, the fools.

“You did more than touch,” she says, her voice almost a whisper.

“You didn’t say I should only touch with my hands.”

“Would you have listened if I had?”

“No.”

I hear a slight laugh, then she squirms, but does not attempt to rise from my bed. She’s pulling her tunic down over her sex and her ass, placing a barrier between us. I pull the tunic up to her hips, giving my cock its deserved resting place against those fleshy globes, then I pull a fur over us, to ensure she stays warm.

“Tell me, female. Do you still fear the dark?”

“No, Grak. I fear you.”

“That too will change.”