Chapter 23

PALOMA

At first I think I misheard. All the people haggling over wares in the market can easily distract a person, especially here at the entrance to the human sector. With one look at Atox and the restrained fury in his face, I realize I didn’t mishear.

My father wants me back.

I step away from my father, closer to Atox, the need for safety paramount. Atox and I have been getting along, learning about each other, the good and the bad. I trust him more than I do my own father, the man who’s offering to give Atox two other women for me. That alone has me reeling.

I will not be the reason a single other woman, let alone two, have their lives, their freedom, ripped from them. I break into a cold sweat every time I think back to that awful day my father gave me to the orcs. I could see no future, no good one that is, beyond the betrayal and fear of that moment. My father’s always been cold to me, but until that day I never thought he outright hated me.

Now, he wants me back.

I’m not sure how to digest this information and one question niggles at my brain, like a worm burrowing into an apple. Why does he want me back?

My instincts say to run far and fast, but not from Atox. Toward him.

Atox pulls me against his side, his arm securely around me. “You gave her up, Councilman, and now she is mine. I see value in her, even if you never did. Immense value, and I will not trade, sell, or give her to anyone, no matter the offer.”

My heart races at hearing him confirm so decisively, so adamantly, that I do not need to worry about being given away again. For better or worse, he plans on keeping me. Perhaps I can make this work with him.

I lean into his side, circling an arm around his back to show that I am staying with him.

I’m staying with Atox… Huh. When did I make that decision?

“I’ll give you your pick of females. Including the young ones.”

“You sick bastard,” the words pour from my mouth. I don’t know what my father’s up to but inflaming him won’t help matters.

As he steps toward me, he raises his hand to strike me. Atox swings his sword and I cringe, expecting to see my father’s hand drop to the ground with blood spurting everywhere.

My father doesn’t scream in pain or terror, though, as Atox’s sword stops against his wrist, without even breaking the skin. Atox could have easily severed the hand.

Slowly, my father lowers his hand, his eyes glued to Atox. I’ve never seen such reserved focus from my father.

“It’s a fair trade,” my father says. “I’m sure you know by now that Paloma is too headstrong. She’ll cause you trouble at every turn, like she has with me.”

My mouth drops open. “How dare you say that! I did more for taking care of my sisters and the house than you ever did! And then when Mom got sick, I took care of her, too.”

“And look what happened. You let your mother die and your sisters have no one to teach them what it is to be a woman.”

I charge at him, but Atox grabs me around the waist, and angles me away from his sword and my father.

“You’ve upset my mate. We will discuss your colony’s needs at the appointed date. Leave.”

My father huffs, turns, and leaves.

“Come, Paloma,” Atox orders.

I yank free of his grip the moment he loosens his hold. “You plan on meeting him again? Why? What’s going on, Grak? Why did you halt your sword? Because he’s my father? Or because there’s another deal being negotiated?”

“This is none of your concern.”

“The hell it isn’t. Tell me what’s going on between you and my father. I have a right to know.”

He sheathes his sword. “You have no rights, except those I give you.”

His words hurt. I thought we had come to an understanding, found respect for one another, but it appears I’m still nothing to him.

“Fine.” I’ll walk with him, do what he says, but that’s it. He should have listened to my father. I plan on showing him precisely how headstrong I can be.

ATOX IM GRAK

I fearI’ve lost what little progress I’ve made with my female. After the councilman left, Paloma turns cold toward me, like that first day when I took her from her home. I hold out my hand to her, something orcs rarely do. She refuses. Already I miss the feel of her hand in mine.

“You will not hold my hand as before?”

She folds her arms over her breasts and scowls at me. How very orc of her, an irony I do not miss though right now I’d rather she be very human and smile at me… anything to indicate she accepts me. I’ve erred with her, by not striking her father down.

“This is not the place to discuss the agreement with your people,” I say as I hasten my pace, but not too much. I don’t want her falling behind in the market. There are many dangers here.

“I thought you and the other orcs are my people now, Grak,” she bites back as we reach a grain storage building, presently empty since it’s early in the growing season.

“Inside. Now,” I roar.

To my surprise, she enters without protest. Apparently, my female can follow orders. When it suits her.

“You called me grak.”

“That is your title.”

When I first took Paloma from the human colony, she called me grak, as was fitting. Then she learned my name and used it, despite my objections. Now she calls me grak again, and it feels as if someone has thrown me into a racanna-infested lake. She has a way of latching onto something I’ve said, using it to refute my position, only to drown me with her determination until I surrender.

Her will, her determination, and her cunning challenge me, but they also make her worthy of a grak. And perhaps, more importantly, she’s finally chosen me over her people. This female is my future. I am sure of it now more than ever. But I don’t believe she feels the same.

I have not proven myself to her.

Her behavior earlier was very orc-like as she advanced on her enemy—her sire—ready to claw out his eyes. I wish I could have allowed her to carry through, silence her father as I had my own. I robbed her of that satisfaction, but letting her attack him would have endangered her, which I cannot allow.

Her enemy is my enemy. In ordinary circumstances, I would gladly maim or kill for her. But I’m fighting for more than my female’s future. All of my people’s future. As long as her father is key to my securing females for my warriors, I must restrain myself from punishing him.

I do not think my mate understands this is why I kept her from striking the male… or why I did not do so on her behalf.

“You called me grak,” I repeat my comment. “Why now? You’ve defied my every order to call me grak.”

“I thought you’d begun to understand all that I’ve been through, to understand me and show me you care about me as more than a breeder, but clearly not. Not if you still plan on buying other women and putting them through the same ordeal.”

“What I negotiate with the humans is done to benefit all of my people, including you, female.”

“You can’t buy more women,” she says, a desperation in her voice.

“I can and I will. You will have more of your kind among us. Does this not please you?”

“No. It doesn’t. Not unless they come willingly.”

“They will not. You did not. My people need females, or we will die as a species, Paloma.” I use her name now, hoping she will see how I honor her with more than telling her my plans. “They will be treated well. I promise this, as grak.”

“I know you mean well, Grak, but I was not treated well. I was viewed and talked down to like I was one of the animals sold in Pen’Kesh. Today, I thought we were finally making progress coming to understand each other. I even convinced myself that you cared about me as a person, that you were actually starting to listen to what I say. But now….” She shakes her head. “You can’t keep taking women against their will, Grak. It’s wrong.”

I suddenly hate hearing my title on her lips. I almost order her to call me Atox. She’s become so much more than a female whom I need to bear my younglings. This small female stands up to me better than any warrior I’ve ever known. Having her reach for me on her own, hearing her call me by my personal name, is vekking intoxicating. And I miss it.

“If the humans plan to sell females, then why shouldn’t we take them, especially when we need females. You are orc now, Paloma. If you think like an orc, then you will understand that I must put the interest of our people before my own, even at the displeasure of my mate. This is what it is to be grak.”

“I’m not orc and I never will be. You wish me to understand your perspective but you have no consideration for mine. I am nothing to you.”

With a single finger, I brush the soft skin of her cheek. “You are everything to me, female. My mate. My future. You will welcome me into your body night after night, giving me the relief and solace I need.”

“You want a sex slave.”

“I want a mate.”

“You say I have no rights except those you give me. That’s the definition of a slave.”

A growl rips from my throat. “I have not forced my cock inside you and I never will.”

Tears fill the corners of her eyes. “I was a fool to think you care about me. You’re no different from my father.”

Being compared to that weak male who sold his own daughter hurls me over the cliff I didn’t realize I’ve been walking since nearly losing her to the racanna. All the frustration rushes through me and there’s no one nearby to fight, no way of releasing the anger.

I punch an empty grain bin, the wood exploding beneath my fist. Paloma jumps back.

Suddenly, I understand her fear, having experienced it myself each time my grak used his knives on me.

I will not become Atox The Cruel, especially to my female.

Slowly, so she can see I will not harm her, I draw her against my chest and wrap my arms around her. Holding her brings a calm only she can give me.

“You are mine to protect. Mine to love. And you are part of my people now, but I am grak. I rule alone. It is the way it has always been. I would have said the same words to Ossa or even Verig if either had been with me and demanded to know what I planned.”

“I want to be valued. Is that asking too much?”

“I value you, as much as I do any of my people. More, because you belong to me.”

“You don’t want me, as a person, only what I can do for you. Give you children.”

I’ve been asking her to change for me, for my people, but perhaps I must do the same.

“It is not widely known yet, but yes, I’ve made an agreement with the humans to give us more females.”

She pulls away, shock on her face. “You can’t buy women.”

“I bought you.” I hold a hand up before she can speak again. “We need females. The humans offered females. It is a good trade.”

“If the women agreed, it would be a good trade, but they didn’t agree. I didn’t agree.”

“Have you considered they are better off with us? That you are? The human colony has more females than males and lacks weapons like the bantarans have. We have warriors and the ability to defend, but few females. Each of the species here on Kovos lacks vital resources for survival. This is why Pen’Kesh exists. A place to trade. This is, I believe, an imbalance intentionally created by the cendagi. I must do what is necessary for my people. We need females, Paloma. You are the first of many.”

I see her digesting the information.

“Just because I bought you, does not mean you are of any less value to me than if you had been born orc. How you came to be mine does not matter, only that you are.”

She nods, but I’m not sure she believes my words. “What do the cendagi have to do with any of this?”

“They brought all five species to Kovos, one way or another. Toward the end of The Undoing, the war that destroyed my planet, the cendagi gave us ships. We had no ships, no pilots. The cendagi knew precisely what we had and didn’t have. They programmed the ships to come here, a planet they said was uninhabited. It was all too?—”

“Convenient?” she says, as if she’s starting to understand that the other species on Kovos are not necessarily our enemies, but that does not mean we are among allies either.

“Yes. I often wonder if they were involved with The Undoing. After we landed and unloaded the few tools and weapons we’d brought from Orcos, the ships lifted. Within a week, we discovered the cendagi had lied. We were not the only species on Kovos, but it was done. We could not leave. Even if we could, we had no home to return to. We had to accept Kovos as our home… and that we would share this planet with those already here. We arrived after the bantarans and moxxels and before the vints. Your people were last.”

“What happened to your women?”

“When it became clear our planet would not survive, I ordered as many people aboard the ships as possible, thousands of women and younglings first. Fifty ships left minutes before the planet splintered. Of the ships that left, only thirty-three arrived on Kovos. The ships that carried most of our females and younglings…” I take a deep breath before continuing. “Those ships exploded. I do not think that is a coincidence either. Not when your people have more females than males. And the bantarans have very few people but have weapons that make up for that deficit.”

Her jaw drops.

I close it shut with a single finger beneath her chin. “I do not know what the cendagi’s end game is, my female, but it does not change the fact that we are here and we will do what we must to survive. You’ve only seen the one set of tunnels. Mount Racha has other entrances, other tunnels systems that house many more of my people, but mostly males. My warriors are lonely.

“While it is true I plan to take more of the human females, it is not to make slaves of them, but to find mates for males who will cherish them, as I cherish you.”

Her mouth falls open again.

“Is there an issue with your jaw, mate? It won’t stay closed. Or is this an invitation to feed you my cock? This building has the privacy you desire.”

She snaps her mouth shut, then tips up on her toes and kisses me while her hands clasp behind my neck as she pulls me down to her. I do not resist, especially as her mouth opens again, inviting me in.

While I did not expect this reaction, it pleases me greatly. I need her on my side, not fighting me at every turn. And I want her to be my mate, to take me into her furs and let me know the peace that only a mate can offer.

Her tongue strokes mine, giving me other ideas, but in this, I let her lead. I’ve been so busy being grak, that I’ve forgotten I need to be her mate, to listen to her as much as I demand she listen to me.

Her lips shift, and her tongue glides over a tusk. To my astonishment, pleasure shoots through me. No female has ever touched me in this manner, stirring my blood and my cock.

As she slowly pulls her lips from mine, I wonder what I’ve done right, so I may repeat it over and over for my female.

“Does that mean I am forgiven?” I ask as her hand runs over my cheek and my jaw before resting on my chest. My thumb caresses the back of her hand as I wait for her to tell me what she needs, what it will take for her to accept her life with me.

“Thank you, Atox.”

“You call me Atox again?”

“It’s hard not to. It’s more intimate.”

I let it pass, because I miss hearing my name on her lips. And if this is what she requires to see me as her mate, then I may have to bend on this.

“Why do you thank me?” I ask.

“For telling me what happened to your people, for helping me understand your mistrust of the cendagi, and by extension, the other colonies here, but mostly for telling me your plans. While I don’t agree with them, I appreciate the position you’re in, but more than anything, I want you to know how important it is that you’re not leaving me in the dark.”

“I will never leave you in the dark again since you fear it and I do not wish to make you fear anything.” I take her hand and put it on my hard cock. “Especially this.”

She laughs, a sound that fills me with joy. I don’t want a slave or a female who says yes to everything. I want a female who will challenge me, support me as grak, and if the gods will forgive me for my part in The Undoing, want me as much as I want her.