Page 10 of Fated to the Orc

I grip the page tighter.

Xavros isn’t some jungle paradise world teeming with exotic wildlife where billionaires sip cocktails and hunt big game.

It’sinhabited.

By an intelligent society of creatures that, by all accounts, share an uncanny resemblances to orcs.

And I’ve just been hired to determine whether they can breed women like me.

This can’t be right.

Varkul

The human researchfacility is an insult to the land. A gleaming metal structure perched atop a hill, gleaming in the hot sun.

Well-fortified, I’ll admit.

Armed guards patrol the perimeter with military precision. Watchtowers dot the landscape, their gun barrels tracking every movement. The fence surrounding this land is thick and razor-edged.

The humans are afraid of something.

Or perhaps ofeverything.

“This looks like a fortress,” Garomshir murmurs, his voice low. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“This is where the human told me to meet him.”

I scan the facility, committing every detail to memory.

“Now you know where it is. I will enter alone. If I do not return by the next full moons, you will know they are holding me against my will.”

Garomshir bares his sharp teeth in a grin. “Then I will burn this place to the ground.”

“If they send a message and it does not contain the words red dawn, you will know it did not come from me.”

He nods. “Understood.”

I clasp his forearm, feeling the strength of my brother-in-arms one last time. “Do not rest until you’ve reached the safety of our lands. Now go.”

Garomshir squeezes my arm before releasing me. “Stay alive, Varkul. I will see you soon.”

I wait in the underbrush, muscles coiled, watching until my brother vanishes into the thick jungle. Only when I am certain he is gone do I rise and step into the open.

The response is immediate.

A dozen human guards swarm my position, weapons raised, their voices sharp and filled with panic.

Their words are garbled nonsense to my ears, but their meaning is clear. Halt.Submit.

I raise my hands. “Kelly,” I growl. “Kel-Ly. Take me to him.”

One of the guards touches a device at his ear. The others hold their ground, gripping their ugly weapons with nervous hands. Their eyes dart between each other, their heartbeats hammering, the stench of their sweat thick in the hot air.

They stink of fear.

Theyshouldfear me.

I tower over these weaklings. If I wanted to, I could crush the windpipe of the man closest to me, rip his feeble spine from his fragile body, and use it to bludgeon the rest into oblivion.

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