Chapter 13

PALOMA

Ilay awake in bed, with Atox’s arms around me, and his cock—his very hard cock—pressed between my butt cheeks. Shock rolls through me as I process what the hell just happened. Atox licked and sucked on me until my womb throbbed, my clit pulsed, and I exploded.

I’ve never had a true orgasm, at least not with a guy. I’ve had a few on my own, but nothing as intense or pleasurable as the one he just gave me. No matter how fabulous that orgasm was, that was not the type of touching I’d initially consented to. Not that consent means much to Atox. Not exactly.

He pulls me flush against his chest, encircling me in a cage of muscle and blessed heat. These tunnels are cold, but right now, snuggled up against this orc, I’m nice and toasty. And surprisingly, I’m not mad. I don’t feel violated. I’m not even truly sure if I inadvertently consented to what he just did by not being more precise with my words.

This orc confuses the hell out of me, but I know three truths. First, I don’t fear the dark as long as he’s here with me. Second, I don’t fear Atox. Well, not as I did before. Third, and perhaps most puzzling, I’m not sure where I stand with him… or where I want to stand with him.

I get the sense that he is compromising in his own needs to ease me into this new life. But it’s a life I can’t and don’t want to accept.

As wired as I am after that orgasm, I’m also incredibly tired. And lying next to him is like having my own personal heated blanket which feels glorious in the cool cave. For now, I let myself relax. Oddly enough, I feel safer here with him than I have in a long time.

After I was attacked aboard the Mayflower on our trip to Kovos, I shied away from all men, except my father. Though he had let me down by not believing me. My mother never doubted me. She’s the one who reported the incident to the cendagi aboard.

Thinking about that night, and the fact that the male who accosted me might still be working on the Mayflower, makes me reconsider my plans. I’m not sure I can bear the thought of traveling on that same ship to return to Earth, but if I don’t, I could be stuck here, with Atox.

Would that be so bad?

One orgasm is not the reason to accept a forced marriage, or whatever this is.

But the male is not what I expected in so many ways. Yes, he’s arrogant and demanding, but he’s been rather fair and decent to me, considering the circumstances. I have to try to see things from his perspective, his culture, not only my own.

“Go to sleep, female.”

“How did you know I’m still awake?”

“You’re breathing is uneven, as if you’re troubled.”

“Of course I’m troubled. I’m lying half-naked against a fully naked orc.”

“That is troubling. You should be fully naked, too.”

I try not to laugh and fail.

“You think I am not serious?”

“I think you are very serious, Atox. About everything. Me, especially.”

“I told you to call me Grak.”

“You’ve called me female more times than I can count. That gives me the right to call you what I want for at least a few days.” Weeks, really, but I don’t plan to be here that long.

“I will not stand for you or anyone else disrespecting me.”

“We’ve had this conversation.”

“I did not force you, female. I would never force a female. I’ve never had to. All have been happy to please me.”

“Then go find one of them.”

“They are dead.”

That makes me sit up or try to. That iron cage he calls an arm keeps me locked in place. “What do you mean dead? Did you kill them?”

He falls silent, and my stomach turns, but not in fear. Disgust at myself. That comment was uncalled for. The man kept his promise not to claim me and here I am questioning if he murdered his past lovers.

“I’m sorry, Grak.” I use his title so he knows I do respect him. That doesn’t mean I’ll give him what he wants ultimately. Me. And kids.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” I apologize. “You said they were dead. I don’t understand how all of them could be dead.”

“What do you think I do to those who disrespect me, female?”

I don’t want to know. “Maybe we should go to sleep.”

“I’ve been with three females since coming of age. All three were killed in the war back on Orcos.”

“I had no idea your world was attacked, too. That’s why my family came to Kovos.”

I relax in his arms, even let myself sink back against his chest as it dawns on me that we are not that different in many ways. Maybe we can bridge the divide between us.

“The grud invaded and then the Coalition took over. The cendagi gave some families the opportunity to leave a world we no longer controlled. Where my people would become slaves or worse.”

“And you wish to return to Earth?”

“Don’t you want to go home?”

“Very much, but we cannot. When orcs fight, nothing and no one is left standing.”

“Did the invaders have better technology?”

“We were not invaded. There was a rift that formed two factions.”

“I’m sorry you lost.”

“We won, Paloma. That is why we are here.”

“If you won, why didn’t you stay on Orcos?”

“Nothing remained of our world. We destroyed each other and our planet in the process.”

“But I thought orcs don’t have much technology.”

“Enough, female. Sleep.”

I have too many questions to sleep. I want to know how they destroyed themselves. It was a fate we often envisioned back on Earth, blowing up the planet with nuclear warheads. Instead of an attack coming from within, an alien army invaded. The nuclear weapons we trained on their ships were neutralized and fell from the sky like hollow rocks. After a lot of destruction to Earth’s population and infrastructure, we fell. Hard.

“Atox?”

The heavy sigh I hear tells me he isn’t pleased with my using his name.

“Sleep, female.”

“I’m not tired yet. I have more questions.”

His hand slides under my tunic, the tunic he refuses to let me lower past my hips. He strokes my stomach. “I can tire you.”

I swat his hand before it moves higher.

“You struck me,” he says with a growl that I feel at the back of my head. “Good. Do so again, female.”

His cock, hard as steel yet again, presses against my ass. Fucking orc… It doesn’t take much to turn him on. But he removes his hand, lowers my tunic down to my hips, and pulls me snug against him. With his cock nestled between my ass cheeks.

Somehow, that makes me laugh. Atox doesn’t lack humor, and maybe his heart is in the right place, even if that place is only reserved for orcs. I guess I’ll have to find a common ground with him, at least until I find a way back to Earth.

ATOX IM GRAK

Listeningto my female’s breathing ease as I hold her to me, feeling her flesh against mine, and remembering the satisfaction of making her come gives me a solace I have not known for some time. Despite her being human, I am growing fond of her.

And yet that worries me.

I sense this female will be my undoing one day. Vek, that is the wrong word to use. Getting to know her and putting up with her strange ways and beliefs is nothing like The Undoing on Orcos.

I was right about her, though. My female has hidden strengths, ones I will foster if I can gain her trust. Her soft flesh pressing against me is a pleasure I’ve never truly known before, not even with the females I fucked on Orcos. Then again, I never truly knew them. Didn’t care to. As I don’t care to know much about my female… just enough to maintain peace between us so I can focus on my duties as grak.

The questions she asks are difficult to answer, especially since I still battle with what happened during The Undoing. She is right, though. Orcs fight with weapons forged with metal, sweat, and blood. We didn’t have the technology to destroy our world, and yet what remains of Orcos now drifts in space, a fragmented, dead planet.

Those who survived The Undoing fled. A few thousand came with me. Mostly soldiers as I’d been commanding my forces at the time the planet splintered. We had minutes, seconds, to board the ships and launch. Many of the women and younglings had boarded in advance, a precaution I took based on intel. It never occurred to me that those ships would be destroyed during launch.

Other ships remain missing, including my brother’s. I still hold out hope that one day he will find his way here. In all likelihood, his ship was one of the dozens we saw destroyed as we fled Orcos before our world exploded. My only solace is knowing my father remained on Orcos, with my sword through his middle, when the planet blew apart.

I pull Paloma against me, suddenly needing to feel her warmth. This female is the future of my people, even if she is not ready to accept that. I lock my arms around her, ensuring she won’t flee while I sleep. For the first time in months, I fall asleep without cursing my father for the war that brought me and my people to Kovos.