Page 4 of Adored By The Orc

“You’re my prize.” The voice that comes from behind me echoes across the trees as another one approaches.

The five males surrounding me snicker.

“Prize for what?” I whisper and slide back into unconsciousness.

I love being asleep because the dreams are amazing. There’s a man I can’t place, a face I can’t see, but I can feel. He’s caring and protective—and he makes me happy. It’s the giddiness of new love, the security of an old friend.

We’re dancing now, laughing between us, the music playing faster and louder as our feet stomp to the beat, the steps intricately choreographed. Everywhere around us is matching laughter as others dance; flames are crackling and I can smell the smoky blend of the burning wood.

“We’ve been in one place too long. I say we tie her to a travois and drag her along.”

There’s a woman there too, a face I can’t quite see, hard as I try. I blink several times but it feels like there’s a haze over my vision. She’s green, I think, like everyone else. But why would I expect otherwise?

“Dance with him so I can sneak off with Tok,” she says and the naughtiness in her tone makes me giggle. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. She feels like a sister but yet, instinctively, I know I don’t have siblings. I want them, though. Enough to conjure them in my dreams, apparently.

And dancing with the male is what I want most in the world anyway. I sidle up close, slipping my hand into his and he spins me fast, making me giggle, throwing me off balance so he can catch me, bring me back, tight to his chest...

“You don’t think a travois is going to create dragging tracks? Someone will find that curious.”

His arms are strong and warm and his heartbeat races when I’m this close. I can smell the spicy scent of his skin, like pine needles and rain forests, and I wonder if he’ll kiss me.

“You can go first and our horse hooves should cover the marks.”

That conversation is pulling me from the sweet dream, and I don’t want to leave the warmth of this place. “I want to stay,” I whisper to my dancing hero.

“Then do,” he says. “Never leave me. Shali—”

With a bang, I instantly wake. Someone has dropped a heavy stone they’re lining around the base of the firepit.

Shall I... what? What was the handsome stranger asking me?

“You’re awake.” The one who had once told me I was his prize eyes me from the pot he’s setting up.

I groan, not because I’m in pain but because I still can’t remember a thing other than these five ugly faces. The same males who are here each time I wake. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know... I don’t know who I am.

At the sound of my groan, the stranger is in front of me, pulling my arm until I’m up from the makeshift bed. I wobble unsteadily on my feet.

“Even filthy like you are, you’re still a prize to be won,” he murmurs, and yanks me to him.

And I don’t like that.

I don’t like someone bigger than me jerking me without a care for my health, my injuries, my safety. I don’t like the way he has me butted up against him, the bulge of his cock pressing into my abdomen, the stink of his breath curdling my stomach.

What happens next is unplanned and automatic, as if someone else has control of my body.

My elbow juts out, catching him in a pressure point deep in his solar plexus that paralyzes his lungs. While he’s stunned, I hit upward, into the soft spot under the chin, until he sways.

His beefy fist connects with my face, but I fly with it, and he can’t hit me again, not when I’m down. I’m supposed to avoid direct hits, but I’m slow on my feet.

I’m barely aware of the other orcs approaching as he comes at me, a great bellow giving me warning before he jumps on me.

I hike up a knee and connect with his massive orc balls. His roar of agony fills my ears and when he lands on me, the air gets pushed from my smashed lungs. But I have the upper hand because he’s suffering.

His roar cuts off abruptly when my clawed fingers dig out his quivering voice box.

A river of blood spurts out, gushing onto me before his head collapses into my shoulder. I can feel the warmth of his life as it ebbs from his body and coats me, sticky and rich.

There’s stunned silence in the small camp as I push him off me.

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