Page 3 of His Orc Warrior

“Well, my parents are on my ass, and my big mouth told them I would find a mate by the end of the year.”

“Oh…” he said, chuckling. He grabbed a hunk of cheese from the fridge, along with a bottle of ale. Orc made. He brought it all to his desk while I sat on the desk beside him on the sofa.

We sat for a while, Saka eating his bread and cheese while I tried to think of something.

“How about a meet and greet?” he asked. “A local one. An hour with an orc.”

I scooted to the edge of the couch. “Would anyone come? Humans are afraid.”

“I think they will. But really, you just need that one special someone to come. Right?”

“Absolutely.”

“I have a friend named Brent. He’s human but he’s great at setting up these things. I know he did it for that shifter that was new in town. Remember him? Garrett?”

I lit up. I did remember it. Men and women alike lined up for a chance to meet a shifter. “You and Garrett would help me?”

Saka chuckled. “Of course. Let’s get him on the phone.”

Chapter Three

Lucas

When I took my job, I promised myself I was going to be there only my scheduled time and wasn’t going to take work home with me. I’d played that game before and all it did was burn me out, keep me stuck in my position because they knew how much they could squeeze out of me, and make me miserable.

I’d been lying to myself. At first, I would stay a few minutes late if needed or skip a lunch. But now? I was doing exactly what I promised I’d never do: working on a Saturday—for free. Sort of.

My father said I always let my bosses walk all over me, that I had anoproblem, and maybe he was right. Definitely he was right. But bringing tasks home on the weekend when I was overwhelmed made it less stressful. If I left the work at the office on a Friday night, I’d spend the entire weekend worrying about it. And besides, unlike my old boss, my current one never expected me to take work home, and my last year’s bonus covered far more than the few weekends I worked off the clock.

Thankfully, I was nearly done, and then I could get back to unpacking the rest of my boxes. I only had a couple left. So far, aside from my action figures, my best find was my book collection. My old books were now on the shelf.

The boxes were a treasure trove of items that didn’t matter too much. Some clothes that had long since fallen out of fashion, my high school yearbook that had been water damaged long before my mom boxed it up, a pair of sneakers I left at home intentionally because they hurt my feet, and a collection of ties I didn’t even recognize as mine. I was going to ask my father about them because I had a feeling they must have been his.

It was going to be interesting to see what the final box held. Those silly boxes were the most excitement I’d had in a long time. That was probably why I was going so slowly in unpacking them.

I sent the files to my boss and logged out of my work account.

Bolg had been sitting at my feet the entire time I worked, waiting for me to give him some attention or snacks. Mostly snacks.

“Let me see what I can find us to do.” I picked him up and put him on my lap as I looked up the weather. If all went well, I was going to take Bolg out for a day at the park tomorrow.

But as I typed away, my screen filled with a non-weather-related pop-up.

Normally, I just crossed them out, checked my settings to make sure they were as strong as they needed to be to prevent it from happening again, and went about my business. But there was something different about this pop-up—something I could never ignore.

Front and center was a photograph of an orc. Or maybe it was computerized art that looked like a photograph because the imagine was so real—a thousand times better than any cosplay I’d seen in my lifetime. My favorite part was that at the angle he was posed, his tusks sparkled, almost as if they were made of glitter. I found myself tracing them on the screen long before I looked to see if what I was looking at was even advertising, and my jaw dropped.

It was an invite to an Orc Day Out which included both lunch and games, as well as orc everything.

An invitation was a word I used lightly. They called it one, but I had to buy a ticket. It was really an advertisement, but I didn’t mind. The cost was reasonable, the storefront it wastaking place at was pretty close by, and worst-case scenario, it would be an interesting day out.

If the cosplayers looked anything like the person on the invitation, it was going to be a really fun day. Sure, they’d be too short and probably too skinny, their green would rub off on me if I found someone worthy of my touch, and they would probably be stationed for photographs, not conversations. But that was okay.

It wasn’t like this was a dating app or singles event. There was no speed round to find who you were compatible with, or anything like that. It was lunch, games, and orcs.

I was guessing it was D&D based, and that was something I never had gotten too far into, which, given my love of all things orc, was surprising. But that was fine. I could figure it out. Or watch. And maybe, when I was there, I could find others who were interested in orcs the way I was. That would be worth the price of admission.

Not wanting to waste any time, I clicked accept and purchased my ticket, wondering how they could charge so little with as many cosplayers as I suspected there would be—and all the food they were supplying. If it sucked, I could leave. No harm, no foul. But if it was half as cool as they made it sound… Yes, please.

---