Page 57 of Orc's Possession
I sigh. Nothing has changed, not really. He only wants me so he can have kids. That isn’t the same as wanting a wife, a partner.
“You deserve respect because you protect your people andfight for them. And although I’m not grak, or an orc, or a powerful fighter, I’m a good person and work hard. I deserve respect too, not to be treated like a child or punished.”
He wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me so I’m sitting sideways, my legs hanging over one side of the gorja and my ass hanging over his thigh. A large hand rubs my bottom. Damn, but that feels good.
“Respect is for males. And you, female, enjoy my punishments.”
“You humiliated me, Atox. And if you want this—us—to work, then you can’t treat me as if I don’t matter.”
“I do not humiliate. I teach.”
“Find another way to teach.”
Atox presses his lips to mine, running a tusk over my bottom lip until I squirm in his lap.
“Now,thatis a more effective method of teaching,” I say as his lips leave mine.
He doesn’t look at me or say anything. It’s as if we didn’t just kiss. Or he didn’t enjoy it. Damn, I wish he were easier to read.
“Tell me why the market makes you nervous, Paloma.”
Paloma now? I guess it was a good kiss after all.
“The last time I was there, it felt as if I was being watched.”
“You were. By me.”
“You were stalking me?”
“The human leaders gave me a choice of three females. All were brought to Pen’Kesh so I’d have the chance to see them and choose.”
“That’s when you decided on me?”
“I chose another.”
To my surprise, that hurts. “Oh.”
I’m having trouble thinking, breathing. I try to push off of Atox’s thigh, but he holds onto me. He won’t risk me falling or jumping from this great height, even if I don’t give a fuck whathappens. Maybe this is why he’s grak and why I’m the girl who got sold. He’s thinks ahead whereas I just react.
I look over the side, at the ground speeding by, and clutch his arms. His lips brush the shell of my ear as he whispers, “I wanted you, female. From the moment I saw you in Pen’Kesh.”
“You chose another,” I remind him.
“I suspected your defiance would cause issues.” A slight chuckle escapes him. “I was right.”
“You can still send me back. Ask for another.”
“Vekk no. We are meant to be.”
“Are you sure? I thought I was meant to live my life in New Earth. Was certain of it, actually. Yet here I am.”
“Your people don’t want you, Paloma,” he says sternly, and then his voice softens. “But I do. Then, and now. You are my future.”
“It still hurts, Atox.”
His hand runs over my middle where the racanna left me bruised. The tenderness with which he touches me drives away the ugly truth, replacing it with a better one.
Atox cares about me.
