Chapter 25

ATOX IM GRAK

“Grak,” one of my sentries acknowledges as my female and I cross the shallow river that marks the eastern boundary of our territory.

The sun set long ago, but I can see well enough to ride in the dark. I prefer it, too. My female’s sleeping in my arms. The drug the bantarans gave her drained her energy.

She gave me much to think about. The other human females won’t want to come here. Each one I bring might cause trouble, especially if my warriors do not have the patience with them that I’ve had with Paloma.

My warriors have language chips, so communication will not be an issue. But there are cultural differences, many of which I continue to encounter with Paloma. Though we seem to have come to a compromise. I’ve given her the means to communicate with my people. But I’m unsure if she understands that my word is law.

I have the greatest responsibility toward my people, and yet I am the greatest danger to them.

Sojek greets me with a silent but respectful nod as I enter the paddock due east of the main camp. When he’s not driving the cart to and from Pen’Kesh, he cares for the gorjas along with three other young males who also lack warrior potential.

I wake Paloma so I may lower her to the ground, then I slide from my mount, leaving the gorja to graze.

“Sojek,” I call, halting my nephew as he begins to remove the riding gear.

Still tired from the drug, Paloma leans against my side. Her hand slides to my back, lightly pressing against my scars. An innocent touch or a reminder that I hurt Sojek and I can do better, be better, than my father?

I’m unable to interpret her touch, but having her hand on me feels good, like she is giving herself to me.

“Yes, Grak?” Sojek’s eyes display a fear I don’t like to see in any orc, especially one of my line. I grip his face and look at his cheek where I cut him. The skin has healed nicely, thanks to Ossa and her gels.

“No scars,” Paloma comments with awe in her voice. “Not physical ones at least.” Her words, said with a flat, heavy voice, remind me of who I don’t want to be.

“I erred, Sojek. I punished you in a way that you did not deserve.”

“You were justified, Grak. I will do better next time.”

“I was not justified. Do not tell yourself this. Graks are strong, but not perfect. My grak made mistakes. Many. Or has your mother not told you of him?”

Sojek’s eyes move to my female seeking help. He fears telling me the truth, but he dare not lie either.

“Speak to me, Sojek, not my female.”

“My mother told me of her father and grak.”

“And what is your impression of him?”

“He was… unstable.”

A very apt description of my father. Though I would add a few more words. Manipulative. Vindictive. Sadistic.

Paloma’s hand slides to mine, centering me. “Return to your duties, Sojek.”

“Yes, Grak.”

“Sojek?”

He stops and turns, and I do something that I have always thought would weaken me as Grak. But Paloma’s hand in mine gives me a strength I’ve never known before.

“You are doing well, Sojek. Your father would be proud of you.”

His upper lip lifts, showing me the long, sharp tusks of youth and reflecting light I have never seen in his eyes before. With a nod, he leads my gorja away.

“That was beautiful, Atox.”

I sigh. “Female, when will you learn to call me Grak in public?”

She leans her sweet body against mine. “I don’t know. Maybe I need to be punished.”

That’s it. I’ve been denied far too long. I throw her over my shoulder, letting her pound her tiny fists against my back. She hates this position, making her protests all the sweeter.

The fires in the distance and sounds of my people talking tell me the day has been a good one here. They will relax for a while before returning to their chambers inside the mountain.

When Paloma continues to squirm and pound against my back as I carry her through the camp, I smack her ass. “Behave.” I’m treated to a delicious smell coming from her cunt.

I take advantage of the darkness and slide my hand under my female’s tunic, up her inner thighs to the softness there. She stops hitting me.

She’s gloriously wet. I press my finger into her, reaching deep until she moans and begins grinding against my hand. I love how responsive this female is. The more she thrusts against my hand, the faster I walk through the tunnels.

Her moans intensify. My pace increases through the tunnels. Her sex clamps down on my finger as her body arches. The most beautiful sound echoes through the tunnels, announcing to all that I’d made my mate come. My cock, as hard as the rock walls around us, presses against my loin cloth making every step incredibly uncomfortable. I need to be inside this female. Now.

The door to our chamber bounces off the stone wall when I kick it open. In one fluid motion, I toss her on the bed and draw one of my knives. I can’t wait for her to remove her tunic, and I don’t care that I’ll shred all the work she’s done to make it fit her lush body.

I cut her tunic from the hem upward to the laces at her breasts. I shove both flaps aside, exposing what is mine. Her chest rises with heavy breathing as her cunt lays there, glistening, plump, and ready to be filled.

Large brown eyes lock onto me.

“Grak…”

I don’t want to be grak to her. Not here.

“You will call me Atox, Paloma. Here with you, I am your mate, not your grak.”

PALOMA

Atox tossesme on the bed with no effort. Tonight, he’ll finally take me. Not because he made me orgasm while carrying me over his shoulder through a camp full of people. It is the pitch of his voice, the sense of need there, and the way he looks at me.

I’ve glimpsed the male beneath the hardened orc king. The male who needs someone to believe in him not because he holds the title of grak. But because at the heart of everything he does, he’s still just a male who needs and deserves love.

Maybe I need him too. Someone who will love me for who I am, inside and out.

That’s the part I remain unsure about. Despite how he says I’m orc now, I am and always will be human. I can’t change my features or my species, nor do I want to. I like who I am. This is no different from being with a bunch of skinny women who say I have such a pretty face and would be beautiful if I just ate less or exercised more. People who know nothing about me, except what they see on the outside.

He slices my tunic open, exposing me. He needs to stop doing that, or I’ll soon have no clothing to wear, but I suspect he’d like that idea.

Green eyes caress every naked inch of me. I’m breathing heavily from the rush, the excitement, and some remaining uncertainty. I want him, but as he leans over me, I remember how big he is.

“Grak…”

“You will call me Atox, Paloma. Here with you, I am your mate, not your grak.”

He’s finally giving me permission to use his name!

Atox spreads my legs, catapulting my desire for him. I want to stop worrying, and just enjoy. I need to feel desired, even if it’s temporary.

His eyes don’t leave my face as he positions himself between my legs. Damn, he looks at me like I’m everything to him.

His cock, ridged from top to bottom like his forehead, slides into me an inch. Already it feels like too much. He’s thick and long, intended for a female orc, not a human. I panic and press my hands against his shoulders to stop him.

Atox grabs both of my hands and pulls them above my head, leaving me at his mercy. To my surprise, the loss of control to this massive male excites me. Until the flex of his hips reminds me of his size.

“You’re too big,” I struggle to say. What if he doesn’t fit? I want this to work between us.

“You will take me. All of me.” His voice is harsh, allowing for no alternative.

My eyes seek his and I see behind the mask, a glimpse of the male within. He needs me, and for more than giving him kids.

When he rakes a tusk against my left nipple, a wicked shiver travels through me to my core.

“Very wet,” he says, pushing slightly.

He’s big. Really big. He’ll split me open as he did my tunic.

Suddenly, he thrusts and pushes all the way inside me. My eyes widen at the shock.

He stops moving. “Breathe, Paloma.” He releases my hands and cups my cheek, concern in his eyes as he coaxes air back into my lungs.

“Wasn’t ready,” I say as the pain subsides. It’s like losing my virginity all over again, except without the fear, especially as his palm rests over my heart, calming me.

“Females have told me fast is best.”

“Slow is better,” I force out as I take a deep breath.

A scowl fills his face. “I’ve hurt you.”

Damn, he really cares about me… “Just give me a minute to adjust.”

His lips take mine. A very pleasant distraction as my body adjusts to his larger size. I rock my hips when the pain is nothing but a memory.

Atox starts moving slowly this time, as if he’s unsure.

“You can move faster if you’d like.”

“You’re fragile.”

I thrust my hips up, taking him deeper. “Not as fragile as you think, warrior.”

The corner of his mouth lifts as he slams my hands back to the bed, pinning me down, and begins rocking in and out of me.

The fullness feels… perfect. I close my eyes, picturing the ridges of his cock as they slide against my walls, stimulating me everywhere. There’s perfection in how we fit together, like two puzzle pieces.

“Faster, Atox,” I moan as I twine my fingers through the hands that hold mine against the furs.

Each thrust gains in intensity and speed, driving our hips together, until my walls grip his cock in an intense orgasm. While I ride the waves, he moves faster, which draws out the pleasure. When I open my eyes, I see him staring down at me, a look of awe crossing his features.

His hips rock into me with a power and speed I can no longer match. He finally gives himself permission to show me who he is as his thrusts push me up on the bed. I grip his hands, holding on for dear life as his cock brushes against every sensitive spot in me.

He’s losing control, something I’ve never seen before. And yet he’s totally present here with me. Those serious eyes never leaving me, never looking away.

I’m totally vulnerable to him, but I’m safe. Like nothing and no one can ever touch me again.

Except Atox.

Now, if only he’d smile, even an orc smile. I want to be more than a source of physical pleasure to him.

A growl suddenly echoes through the chamber.

“Atox?”

He withdraws, flips me onto my stomach, and in one swift motion, pulls my hips high in the air. Without words, he slams his massive cock into my pussy and continues thrusting.

The force of being fucked hard keeps my head against the bedding as I hold on. Another orgasm strikes me without warning, sending pleasure through every part of me. My hands dig into the furs as I focus on the euphoria.

With one last thrust, Atox stills and shoots his seed deep inside me.

I’m trying to catch my breath as I come down from my orgasm. I’m spent, though I didn’t do any of the hard work. I wiggle, trying to pull off him. And… I’m stuck.

“Atox?” My voice wavers with alarm. “Something’s wrong. I can’t pull off you.”

His hands settle on my hips, keeping me from going into full-blown panic. “Do not move. It will only take longer.”

“What will?”

“My knot needs time to deflate.”

“Deflate? Knot? What’s happening? I don’t understand.”

“My cock swelled near the tip, locking us together to ensure you take all my seed. We will have a youngling from our mating.”

A baby? I didn’t take those pills Cami sent with me. Atox is making it sound like we will definitely conceive. I’m not ready to have a baby.

When I try to pull off him again, he smacks my ass. “I told you not to move.”

I want to be mad at him, but that smack makes me eager to fuck him, to move, to drive him as crazy as the shockwaves teasing my pussy. This time, I rock back into him.

“Vekk, you are making me hard again.”

If he isn’t going to pull out, I might as well have some fun. Take control of the situation and see how he likes being at my mercy.

I drive back into him.

“Stop that, female. I need to keep my release inside you, to ensure a youngling.”

“Nothing in life is a sure thing.” I thrust back, and rock forward again, sliding along his cock as far as I can, given his knot.

He smacks my ass again, harder this time. Heat moves through me and my pussy throbs despite how full it is with him. That’s when the wicked male pinches my clit between his fingers and starts rolling it.

Another orgasm surfaces quickly, pulling at me from all directions. This one’s going to destroy me.

“More!” I order him, unable to stand the tension any longer.

“Stop moving and I’ll give you your release.”

He’s holding my orgasm hostage! It appears my orc has found a way to control me after all. Call me a fool, but for once, I want the upper hand.

I grind against his cock and he retaliates by rubbing my clit so fast that the orgasm crashes into me, throws me in the air, shoots lightning through my entire body, and hurls me into a cloud of ecstasy. I slump on the furs, unable to move a muscle.

“Now you will behave,” he says, with what I swear is laughter.

“You win,” I concede.

His hand slides down my back, caressing me, giving my boneless body the tranquility it needs after being decimated by so many orgasms. He drapes his body over mine, his cock still knotted inside me, and caresses my sore muscles while we remain locked together.

“You’ll never be anything like him,” I say.

Atox’s hands stops moving. I wonder if I spoiled our first time together by mentioning his father.

He finally slides out of me and sits at the end of the bed, his back to me. Despite how completely drained I am, I force myself onto my knees and wrap my arms around his neck from behind. With my head on his shoulder, I wait for him to say something, but he’s fallen silent.

“I’m not lying to you, Atox. I have no reason to. You want me to trust you and your decisions, to trust that you will be good to me and that your people will accept me. This goes both ways. You have to trust me, too. Trust that while I don’t know your history or your culture very well, I know what I see in you. Goodness.”

“You do not see the darkness in me.”

“I’ve glimpsed it, but I know you will never let that darkness conquer you.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I won’t let it.”

Atox swings me into his arms, lifts me, and places me on the bed where he slides in beside me and draws the furs over us. His warm breath cascades down my neck as his mouth rests near my ear but he doesn’t speak.

Whatever he’s thinking remains a mystery, but as he wraps his arm over my middle and that familiar hardness settles between my ass cheeks my body relaxes. All is right between us and I’m safe here, lying in his arms.