Page 5 of Summoning the Orc

Forcing myself to relax, I took my time, ensuring that I agreed with everything before initialing each page and then signing at the back. When I handed the clipboard back with the papers, she smiled widely and I spotted her fangs. I looked away, trying to be nonchalant, but even more inappropriate questions popped into my head.

Do you bite your prey? Or your mate? Or both?

“I’m so glad you’ve started with us,” she said, another beaming smile gracing her face. “The section you’ll be taking over is my absolute favorite.” She clasped her hands together in front of her, sighing. “Magic tomes just have this mystery about them, you know?”

I nodded, lighting up at the mention of where I’d be working. “I’ve always been so intrigued by them. And that’s why I’ve always wanted to visit here. There was onlyonemagical tome in my last library,” I told her, shaking my head at the unfairness. “And it was about potions. It wasn’t even cursed oranything.”

Her eyes went wide at the word “cursed”. “Oh, trust me, we have quite a few of those,” she giggled, the high, girlish sound seeming out of place coming from such an intimidating-looking female. It made me like her even more. “But you’ll get to know them pretty soon,” she added with a wink. “I’ll take you to your section so you can meet the librarian you’ll be replacing. He’ll be training you for two weeks before he retires.”

She held out her hands in a placating gesture. “But you still won’t have to worry. We have a group of amazing, well-trainedlibrarians who can help you when those two weeks are up. You won’t be left all alone,” she assured me. I relaxed, standing when she did.

She led me to the bank of elevators and I eyed the way her legs carried her, my curiosity getting the better of me while she wasn’t looking. I didn’t realize how rude I was being until she turned to face me, a deep grin on her face.

“I’m guessing you’ve never met an arachne in person before?” she asked, her voice laced with amusement.

“I–I’m so sorry,” I stuttered, my cheeks heating. “I didn’t mean to—”

“You’re not the only one,” she said with a wink of one purple eye while the pitch-black ones around her forehead stared at me. “I’m an anomaly of my kind,” she said with a shrug of her slim shoulders. “Most of us stay in our own communities and we prefer to blend in.” She turned back to the bank of elevators, waiting for it to arrive on our floor.

“Plus no one else dyes their hair,” she chuckled.

“It’s a beautiful color,” I rushed to assure her and she sent a wink my way.

“Isn’t it? Add all of that together and mix in the fact that we’re nocturnal?” she continued, blowing out a puff of air. “Well, we’re not the most outgoing of species, I guess.”

“You’re nocturnal?” I asked, blinking up at her with wide eyes.

“Yep,” she said, popping the p at the end of the word. “But I love this job and I wanted to move to the city to experience what living here is like,” she told me, tipping her head my way and flashing those fangs in a grin again. “So the day-shift it is. It took some getting used to and my sleep pattern is still all kinds of funky when I visit back home and then come back, but all in all, I’ll say it’s worth it.”

The doors of the elevator swung open and when she scuttled in, settling herself a little lower on her legs to get in withoutbrushing the top of it, I squished my plus-sized behind in next to her, trying to not brush up against her in case it made her uncomfortable.

“You’ll find that most people here have stories like mine,” Trixy said, swaying even though there wasn’t any music. “Dreamers who moved here to find something they were missing.”

My eyes swung to hers right away. “Something they were missing?”

She tilted her head at me, all of her eyes zeroing in on my face as she bared those fangs again. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Chapter Four

Becca

I blinked up at the arachne in front of me, swallowing hard as I considered her words. “I suppose,” I said, avoiding her gaze. “Everyone’s missing something or the other.”

Trixy nodded just as the doors swung upon again and we stepped out onto the seventh floor. The top floor. The only opening that had been available and one that was highly coveted.

The magical section.

A tingle fluttered down my spine and I caught a whiff of the same tantalizing scent that I’d smelled in my new apartment. Looking around, I frowned, wondering if I was losing my mind.

“I think you’ve already met Jun,” she told me, smiling as we walked toward the desk at the front where a red-plumed kinnara was typing away at a computer.

I nodded, because I had met the stern male during my interview and the impression I’d taken away from it was that he didn’t approve of me. Still, I stiffened my shoulders, pasted my best customer service smile on my face and followed behind Trixy.

“Hi Jun,” she called to the male and I watched as hismagnificent red tail feathers twitched behind him. His upper torso was humanesque with the main difference being that his hair and eyelashes were all beautiful scarlet feathers instead of hair. His lower half was similar to an ostrich, and I again held in all the curious questions and impulses that occurred to me.

I really want to touch his wings, though.

“Trixy,” the male said with a nod in her direction before turning those judgmental eyes my way.

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