Page 17 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy
“Of course.” Her breezy tone held a hint of concern.
“You can come too,” I said.
Her fingers twitched at her sides. “What kind of beasts are we talking about?”
I unlatched and opened one of the big front doors. “This barn holds the sorhoxes reserved for tourists. For trail rides, younglings who want to trot inside a small fenced-in area, that sort of thing. Our tamest beasts that have had extensive training.” I gestured for them to enter ahead of me.
I followed them inside, trying to see it like they would. They'd come from the city. They may have never interacted with large animals before. The center aisle had a concrete floor, and it stretched wide. It was cool and dim inside, and the scent of fresh pine hung in the air. The aisle had been swept clean beneath our boots, with just a scattering of hay pushed to the edges. Stalls flanked both sides, with sturdy wooden half-gates. They'd have to be sturdy to hold sorhoxes. Giant green heads, horned and fanged, nudged out of the openings with curiosity.
A large window at the far end let in light, though we'd installed electric fixtures throughout. The sunlight was enough to see for now, however.
Max walked further inside with Holly, his lips parted, barely breathing. His steps were soft, like he didn’t want to startle the creatures. “They’re huge,” he whispered, gaping at the closest beasts on either side of the aisle.
“Fully grown. As I said, these are the sorhoxes tourists ride. We offer week-long and four-day trail rides, plus day trips and even opportunities for younglings. Half-days for them. Eventually, we plan to offer staged bull riding and even small events like barrel racing. On sorhoxes, naturally, keeping with our intention to integrate orc culture with human.”
Holly paused near the first gate, her eyes sweeping across the beasts watching us as intently as she was studying them. “They’re amazing. Are they dangerous?”
“They can be.” I stepped toward a stall on the right. “But not these. Not anymore.” I stroked the beast’s snout, and he sniffed me before huffing in recognition. “This is Brelar.”
“They all have names?” Max asked in a hushed tone.
“Just like you and me.”
Horns curled forward from behind his ears, ending in deadly spikes. Thick fangs peeked past Brelar’s lips, jutting down.
I pointed. “Long ago, they'd rip through their prey with these, but sorhoxes have been domesticated beasts for many generations. I'm sure there are still some distant caverns where they roam free. Those, you'd have to watch out for. But the ones we brought to the surface are the tamer variety. Sure, you could get hurt if you startled one. They defend themselves and their young. But they're smart. They like us. And we've worked with them extensively. We'd have to if we hoped to make a success of this venture.”
Brelar gave a quiet snort and blinked down at me.
Max moved over to stand beside me. “He's so cool.”
I shot him a grin. “He sure is.” I unlatched the gate and tugged it open. “You'll be riding Brelar to your new home.”
“Just for a short time,” Holly said, caution coming through in her voice loud and clear.
“It's yours for as long as you'd like to stay.” I used equal care with my words. I’d rehearsed that line in my head since she left. Soft tone, proper phrasing, the kind of offer that didn’t rattle someone already held together by frayed threads. I didn’t want to be the one who tugged them loose. “If you decide you want to stay beyond the one-month trial period, my brothers and I will build you your own place.”
Her breath caught. “Our own home?”
So much for my thought of moving them to the nearby town.
“The hotel is generally for tourists, those staying for only a short time. If you're going to live here, you need a home, right?” I made it sound like it was a simple thing, and in some ways, it would be. “We don't have rental units. We bought this valley and the woods around it, even partway up into the mountains beyond. It was empty then. Everything you see in the area was built by us before we opened.”
“That's a huge investment.”
“The king and queen themselves contributed.” I left the financing discussion at that. Yes, the royal family had interest in this venture, but the funding came from us.
Fymsom was a common stone in the orc kingdom. We'd quickly realized they called it gold here and that it was highly prized. We brought small amounts with us and implied we'd mined it in the mountains we now owned. But whenever we needed money, each of us had a nice stash of fymsom we could take to the bank and exchange.
“I’d never ask anyone to build a home for us,” she said. “That’s too much.”
“It would be easy to buy the materials to build a place for you two.” I took care with my words because, again, I didn’t want to say anything that would drive her away or make her feel uncomfortable. “We plan to build residences for anyone else who chooses to live here and work. You’d use it for as long as you worked in town. My brothers and I talked about this and agreed we'd construct homes for long-term employees as we need them. They'll live there for free?—”
“Free?” she barked.
“Yes, free. Because they won’t own them. We won’t allow anyone to own their own places here because we don’t want them sold. We own all the valley, and we wanted it to stay thatway. If someone wants to own their own place, they can buy outside the valley and commute.”
“Ah.” She frowned. “We could do that too. Rent at first, of course, but maybe someday…” She shrugged. “That’s for dreaming about later, I suppose. You might decide I won’t work out and then we’ll move on.”
