Chapter 3

ATOX IM GRAK

Twenty minutes earlier

As my warriors and I walk through this horrid human colony, people reeking of fear race inside their flimsy homes. Doors slam shut. As if those thin pieces of wood would protect them from us... Humans are a weak species in so many ways.

“Are you sure about this, Atox?” my second, Verig im Neld asks as we approach the meeting point to accept the female I’ve been offered.

“Yes,” I lie, my head held high.

I’m not sure about taking a human into our settlement, but I won’t tell Verig this. Or share my worry that we could be letting a potential spy into our midst to learn our weaknesses and betray us from within. While I trust Verig with everything, including my life, I cannot afford to show any hesitation about taking a human female.

We have no other way to correct the imbalance that the war on Orcos created. Too many females died before and during the journey here. I often wonder if any of the ships that fled before the final purge escaped.

We may be the last of our kind.

Once we landed on Kovos, our numbers declined further. Nearly two dozen females killed, their skin covered in welts, their bodies drained of blood, and never any animal tracks nearby.

When I sent guards to accompany the females on their daily tasks, setting and clearing the small game traps, they returned safely. We thought the danger had passed until a female clearing a trap witnessed narsi vines throttling an animal.

Narsi vines grow at the base of many trees. I had dismissed the harmless-looking vines as a threat, assumed they were just another flora. I didn’t realize the white variegated green leaves emitted a fragrance at sunrise, when many of our females forage for berries and check the traps. The females had been drawn to the fragrance and approached the vines to investigate a potential source of food. Their deaths are on my hands.

I can’t afford any more mistakes.

“But they’re so ugly, Atox,” Verig says. “And frail.”

“If we don’t want to die out as a species, we need females.”

“That must be her. The one standing with the councilman by the crude abode. She is so…” Verig doesn’t finish his thought, because he knows she is mine. Insulting her is the same as insulting me.

I recognize this female from the market, and I’m not pleased at all. She’s not the one I selected. While I admired her strength of will, I’d dismissed the idea of taking her because her defiance might be an issue. And her hair is too short to grab to control her when I mount her. I’d chosen a female with long hair, one who never raises her voice to the males of her colony, but this morning the humans said she was already mated. It’s this one or none.

“Once I breed this female, my warriors will see it can be done,” I tell Verig, who still doubts my plan.

“She will break. Perhaps you should mount her here, then demand another if she does not survive.”

When I run my eyes up and down the female’s form, she glares at me. Vek, if my cock doesn’t stir. No, her defiance will not be an issue. I will enjoy taming her.

“Small and frail, Atox,” Verig adds.

Small, yes. And there is a softness to her. As for frail… I’m not convinced.

Her breasts are larger than female orcs’ and she has many curves that speak of pleasure beneath the furs. Her shape appeals to me, though I’ve never seen a female with such blunt teeth. Verig’s idea of fucking the female here has merit but that would require staying among the humans longer than necessary. Their stench turns my stomach.

“They all look equally frail, Verig. I will take this one. If she does not survive, we will return for another. I need strong progeny.”

“Half-orc, half-human, Atox.”

That’s the flaw in my plan. A very large flaw, since I have no proof a human can bear an orc youngling. Compatibility aside, these females are smaller. It will do no good to lose the female in the birthing process.

“We will find a way,” I say, my eyes on the female as she raises her voice at the councilman. When she draws her shoulders back, pushing out breasts that draw my eyes more and more, the councilman strikes her across her face.

In two strides, I reach him as he raises his hand to strike her again. Already, her cheek has turned red with the outline of the male’s hand.

“You will damage my female,” I say, restraining myself from gutting him for such an insult. We agreed to protect these weak humans in exchange for females, and this is the first of what I hope will be many more. If I kill one of their leaders, we will lose what might be our only chance at surviving as a species.

“She’s my daughter.” This inferior male glares at me, spewing inconsequential words.

Pain flares in his eyes and fires my blood as I continue squeezing. I won’t stop before I hear the satisfying snapping of his thin bones. “Now, she belongs to me.”

My female hisses, but I don’t turn to her. She will learn her place soon enough. My focus remains on the male who dares challenge me.

Bones crunch beneath my fingers and still I do not release him. Pain delivers a message in a way useless words cannot.

“Kill him, Atox,” Verig says in Orcan.

The human male cries out in pain.

“Please don’t,” a soft voice begs. The female. Her voice is lyrical like the music my mother used to play on the abistoo before her death. I’m lost in my memories of my home on Orcos, until my female lays her hand on mine, returning me to the present.

She wishes me to spare the male who insulted me but she doesn’t dig her nails into me or try to bend my fingers back as an orc female would. My heart sinks at what I’m giving up by taking such a weak creature for my mate. I need a resilient female to bear me strong younglings. But a deal has been struck, and there is more at stake here than my personal needs.

“He touched you. You are mine. I have a right to take payment for damages.”

I toy with the idea of killing the male to end the treaty so I’m justified in leaving without this weak female, but I need her.

This female who hissed at me. Me, the grak of my people.

She glares at me with a defiance in her eyes that stirs my cock.

“If you don’t kill him, they’ll think us weak,” Verig says too low for the humans to hear. My second in command often sees things differently and catches details I miss, which is why he is invaluable to me. Although he does not agree with my plan to take human females to propagate our species.

The more I watch this female, the more I wonder why the humans have been so eager to give her to me. The idea that she is a spy remains forefront in my mind. Spy or not, I need her.

“I’m not damaged,” the female says, making me wonder if she understood what Verig said to me, but then I dismiss the idea. Human females don’t have language chips. Only the males do.

I shove the human male back, hoping he’ll attack me so I’ll have an excuse to kill him without risking the treaty. Weakling that he is, he crashes against the door of his abode and sinks to the ground. So vekking frustrating not being able to run him through with my sword or snap his puny neck.

The male stays in the dirt, and shouts at my female, “You’ll never see Camila, Renata, and Marta again. Nunca, chica. Comprendes? It’s bad enough you’ll be whoring yourself out to those monsters. I won’t have you contaminating anyone else.”

I do not know what camilarenataandmarta is, but my female appears ready to attack him. This female has more courage than her sire.

“Come, female. We must leave the human colony before sundown.”

“He’s insulted us, Grak,” Verig says, in the human tongue this time. “Shall I kill him?”

“Leave him. Burn his home,” I order.

“No!” My female protests, her voice full of strength and determination now. She spreads her arms out wide, as if she thinks she can stop my warriors from burning the home.

“This is not your decision,” I snap at her for interfering, though I’m pleased she’s not as weak as the male.

“There are others inside. Innocents,” she says to me, not pleading, but stating in a level manner that makes me reconsider. Then, she turns swiftly to the councilman on the ground. “You started this. Be the leader you’re supposed to be.”

Holding his broken wrist, the human male rises. “You wanted a woman. Take her and leave, orc.” With his boot, he shoves the female toward me.

When her body crashes against mine, my hands grip her arms and I feel the softness of her body. I run my nose along her neck and hair drawing her scent into my lungs. Sweet with a hint of criff blooms, no foul stench like with other humans.

My cock grows at the thought of sinking into this female. I haven’t released inside or on a female in some time.

Lips quivering, she meets my eyes. With squared shoulders, she glares in defiance, not surrender. I will enjoy training this female to obey me.

“Atox?” Verig waits for my decision on whether to burn the house down.

I want this female.

“As long as the humans keep to their end of the deal, we’ll protect the humans’ border against the vints per the terms of the treaty. After this one bears a youngling for me, I’ll demand more females,” I say in Orcan, then switch to English. “Leave this despicable excuse for a home to the male with no honor.”

When I signal my men to mount their gorjas and prepare to leave, my female wrenches from my grip. Deep brown eyes that matches the color of the trees in the forests go wide when I stalk toward her.

She’s trapped between me and my men. Her eyes flare and her fists clench at her side. She has spirit, this one. I may enjoy breeding her after all.