Chapter 7

ATOX IM GRAK

My female asks if I would hurt her. It’s not a question I expected, and it makes me wonder what if anything humans know of my people. Pain is meant to teach, to heighten the senses, nothing more. Even to our enemy we don’t inflict pain unnecessarily. A quick kill, that is what we seek. With our females, pain is used to pleasure, not cause fear or harm.

Unless you are a grak who thinks himself a god.

But my father is no longer alive. I’m my people’s grak now.

“Pain is a tool, female, not a punishment.”

“Wh-what do you consider punishment then?”

I hate hearing fear in her voice, especially toward me. She is mine to protect, mine to give my seed. She need not fear me, but I must overlook her questions, mistakes, and even some disobedience while she learns our ways. That does not mean I will tolerate outright defiance, not much at least. And certainly not in the presence of my people.

“Come,” I order as I walk away from the cart.

She doesn’t follow. I draw a deep breath, restraining myself from lashing out. I have more patience than my father, less than my sister and brother. I glance over my shoulder to see her looking in the direction of the human colony. This is the first of many trials and I will reward or punish her depending on her actions. She will learn, I will see to it. Until then, I must watch her closely.

Finally, I hear her footsteps behind me. Soft, but untrained as she snaps twigs and crunches dried leaves. These humans know nothing of survival. Even the youngest of Ossa’s younglings, Evve, who is all of eight seasons, walks through the woods as silently as a warrior.

When I reach the bottom of the hill, I turn to wait for my female to catch up. “What are your duties in the human colony, female?”

She’ll do whatever I tell her, but if she has a unique talent that could benefit my people, I’d be foolish to ignore it.

She stops ten feet shy of me and lifts her chin. “I have a name and it’s not female.”

That defiance in her eyes stirs my cock too easily. I’ve gone too long without taking a female. Five years to be precise. A month before my father launched our people into a war that we couldn’t win.

“Your name will be whatever I choose to call you, female.” I emphasize the word female because she doesn’t like it. I will push her until she learns to accept everything I say and do. I’m her grak and her mate, or I will be soon enough. Her life and everything she does is now my responsibility. She will learn her place.

Her eyebrows, small like the rest of her, pull together in disgust.I growl, thinking of how my father would have made her a concubine, an ancient practice centuries-dead until he became grak, But we are on Kovos. And I’m not my father.

Thinking of my father sours my mood.

“My name is Paloma. I will answer to nothing else. You’re a savage, and you smell worse than the animals you haul in that cart. I’ll never give you what you want, so you might as well let me leave. Find another woman, orc. One who wants to be with you.”

With two strides, I tower over her, which doesn’t take much. She is shorter than female orcs. Shorter, smaller, with less muscle mass, though I like how full her breasts are, as is much of her body. While a grak should only care how sturdy his female is and if she can birth strong younglings, I will enjoy sinking into her softness.

I resume walking toward the lake. “You will give me what I want in time.”

“And if I don’t, you’ll kill me. So let’s end this now, one way or the other.”

I turn sharply. “I did not buy you to kill you, female. Why would you think this?”

“My father said—” She stops talking, then lifts her chin. “Orcs kill those who anger them. Everyone knows that.”

Her sire has filled her head with lies. I regret leaving the weak male alive, but he is one of their leaders. If I must sacrifice a part of who I am to secure my people’s future, then so be it.

“I do not need to kill an unruly female when it is much more fun making her obey.” I flash my tusks, but that does not impress her as it would a female orc. She steps back, in fear.

I’ve had enough. She will learn to accept me, my touch, and my rule over her.

I throw her over my shoulder, enjoying how she digs her fingers into my back on our way down to the lake. She has such spirit and fire. I long to take this female. But we need to come to an understanding, before my men return.

“Put me down!” she yells as I walk to the water’s edge.

“Do humans have honor?” I ask, wondering how I will make this female accept her role among my people. To my surprise, she stops thrashing.

“Do orcs?” she asks in return.

“More than humans.”

“Prove it,” she challenges.

“I will put you down, but you will not run. Is this clear, female?”

After a moment, I hear a soft voice. “Yes.”

The moment I set her down, she watches me with a mixture of suspicion and fear, but she does not run. When I begin stripping, fear fills her eyes making my stomach turn in a way it hasn’t since seeing my mother gutted by my father’s sword. I could never harm a female, not unless absolutely necessary, but she doesn’t know me. I cannot—will not—ask her to trust me. She must learn to obey me as her grak first and as her mate second.

Her eyes scan the area. The moment I turn my back on her, she will run. But I scent my men nearby. If she runs, they’ll catch her.

“Don’t touch me,” she warns, her voice shaking with fear. Then she clears her throat and adds, “Please. Not yet. Not…here.”

My weapons harness drops to the ground with a thud. I normally would care for my weapons better than that, but I’m itchy from the muck covering my torso.

“Please? This is a term I’ve heard among your people many times. What does it mean?”

Her brows pinch together and she cocks her head, thinking. “It’s similar to asking for… mercy. A request for mercy, for a person to do the right thing… to demonstrate honor. It is a sign of respect.”

I don’t understand this word please, but I understand the concept of mercy, and if she is showing respect for me, that is a good sign I’ll be able to train her without too much difficulty. Though I’m disappointed she bent to my will so easily. I thought she had more spirit than that.

After unfastening my scabbard and laying it on top of my knives, I rise to my full height and step closer to my female. “On your knees.”

“Wh-why?”

“This constant questioning of my orders grates on my nerves. I will not be questioned when I give you an order.”

The moment I step forward, she drops to her knees. “I’m not one of your warriors.”

“Correct. You are just a female, with little worth other than your ability to bear my younglings, and even that is in question.”

When I drop my trou, her eyes go wide and she stares at my cock. On her knees, she is at eye-level with my shaft, as I’d planned. I know she detests me and the thought of me claiming her, which is why I will give her time to acclimate. But not too long. I am eager to see if mating a human will work as the cendagi promised.

The cendagi are not a trust-worthy species, but I am a desperate grak. Fucking this female, giving her my seed, does not guarantee we can create a youngling together. If mating human females does not work, we will have to seek another way to increase our numbers or I’ll be grak of a dying species.

“Touch me,” I order as my hard cock bobs in front of her face.

When she clenches her jaw shut and shakes her head, I put my finger beneath her chin. Her eyes lift to my face and a wetness trails down her cheeks.

“What is wrong with your eyes?”

She swipes at them with the backs of her hands, streaking the liquid on her cheeks. “Nothing. Just tears.” Her eyes flutter to my cock and then return to stare back at me.

“What purpose do these tears serve?”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“When I ask a question, you will answer.”

Her jaw clenches. “It means I’m sad, frightened, miserable.”

“Females tell me my cock is quite pleasing. Before The Undoing, when there were plenty of females to fuck.”

Her eyes widen. “Are you mocking me or trying to terrorize me?”

The female has no scars that I can see. I doubt she knows the meaning of the word terrorize. I walk into the water until I’m waist high, my back to her so she may see all of me and my past.

Her gasp doesn’t stop me from lowering myself into the cool water. “What shocks you more, female? My scars or the fact that I bathe?”

“What do you mean?” she asks, her voice catching.

“I hear the words your people call us. They think we are filthy creatures who wallow in our own waste.”

“I’ve never said that about anyone.”

“It’s written on your face, female.” I run my hands up my arms and neck, scrubbing the dirt from my torso, without turning around. I want her to see every angry scar across my back. “You fear me. Why? I have not harmed you.”

When she says nothing, I turn to make sure she is still there, though with her noisy footfalls, I would have heard her fleeing. She’s standing at the water’s edge, watching me with wary eyes, but she’s not running. Progress. I still cannot trust her, and I likely won’t for a long time, if ever.

“Humans are immoral and untrustworthy creatures. Not to mention arrogant and entitled. As proven by the fact that your people sold you to me against your will. The strong of your colony sacrifice the weak. This is shameful. A grak fights for his people, from the strongest to the weakest. Especially the weakest, as they cannot protect themselves.”

A slight cry tears from her throat.

No one fought for this female. Not her sire, not the other males of her colony.

I will fight for her. If she allows me.

“Answer me, female.”

“Yes, I’m afraid. I didn’t ask to be here.”

“Nor did I.”

She lifts her chin, higher than before. Despite her pale coloring, she has an allure to her. While she will always look human and never truly fit in with my people, she has a purpose with us, one she must accept if there is to be peace between us.

“Can you at least use my name? It’s Paloma.”

I could use her name, but why should I? It changes nothing. “Wash my clothes while I finish scrubbing my skin.”

She sighs then picks up my trou. As I turn away from her, I listen for the sound of metal sliding from leather. This is her chance to use my weapons against me. To my surprise, the next sounds I hear are those of her scrubbing the dirt from my clothing at the water’s edge.

“You want me for my ability to have kids. What happens If I can’t? Will you then let me go?”

“Where would you go, female? Your people do not value you. The moxxels and bantarans have no use for a small female such as you. The vints might take you in, but you would not survive them.”

“I have somewhere to go. It’s none of your business, frankly.”

I rise from the lake, water sluicing off my body as I stride toward her, ready to teach her not to speak to me with insolence.

She picks up my sheathed sword, struggling with its weight, then slams it, sheath and all, against my chest. “Here, orc. Kill me. Because I guarantee if you force me to sleep with you, I will fight you. And I’ll never stop fighting.”

“Good,” I say, as I strap my leather harness on, then sling my sword onto my back. No trou, but an orc is never truly naked as long as he has his weapons.

“Good?” she blinks twice, perplexed.

“I want a strong female. And our laws do not allow males to forcibly bed females. But I doubt the males of your colony have told you this. Only that we kill those who disagree with us. More lies from an untrustworthy species.”

Her jaw drops, and then shuts, as if she’s not sure what the truth is at this point. For the first time since I’ve taken her, I’m beginning to understand her fear is not based on who we are, but what she’s been told of us.

“You will find no better male among my people,” I add.

She huffs. I’m not sure how to interpret this, but I’ve seen her scrunch her nose near me.

“You think we like plastering ourselves in muck? We do that to cover the stench of your people. Humans are the animals, female. And now I question your intelligence because you try to return to them when there is no place for you there. They don’t want you. Your sire sold you to us because he saw no value in keeping you. You were nothing more than a burden to him and?—”

A sharp sting from her tiny hand radiates across my face. She slapped me. The pain I can easily ignore, but the disrespect… I cannot allow that to go unpunished.

I scoop her up into the air, high above my head, and toss her into the lake. Her cry pierces my ears and the quiet of the surrounding woods as she hits the water… and sinks. To my shock and dismay, I realize my female cannot swim.