Page 64 of Orc's Possession
“You worry a lot, female.”
“Not about me. About the women you plan to…” I don’t want to say buy, even though that is the correct term. “Take from my former colony.”
“Former?” The ridges on his forehead lift. “Does that mean you have decided to be mine?”
“I thought I already decided that.”
“My father was a terrible male and a worse grak, but there was one truth he told me and my brother. Females often change their minds.”
I laugh. “I guess some things are universal, literally. My people say the same thing. The truth is, women don’t change their mind any more than men. But we have no issues admitting it.”
He grunts, a response I associate with him not wishing to agree even though he does.
“Any human women New Earth gives you may not want to be with your people, just like I didn’t. I wasn’t asked if I wanted to go. I was ripped away from my home, my sisters, my people. They betrayed me, Atox.” I place my hand on his chest.
“I will never betray you.”
That warms me, more than he’ll ever know. “I believe you, Atox. I just wish I could make you understand what I went through. No one prepared me for what would happen once you took me away. I was scared. Terrified. I felt as if my life was over. Now that I’ve had time to get to know you and your people a little, I’m no longer scared, but I’m still an outsider.”
“That will change with time. You will adjust.”
“Maybe. Hopefully. But even if I do, nothing will change the terror and sense of betrayal of those first days and weeks. Trying to fit in is difficult, especially since no one can understand me when I speak. Only the warriors, and I’m not about to bother them with my questions. That first day, I couldn’t even find my way out of the tunnels to go to the woods and relieve myself. I almost ended up going in a dark section of the tunnels. And they aredark, Atox. For humans at least.”
“I will have more light added for you and the others.”
“Thank you, but my point is that everything I went through was terrifying.”
“Which is why you will be the one to help the other females when they arrive. They will trust you.”
“Because I’m human?” I can see where he’s going with this, and I have to admit, the idea is a good one, but it would be like the blind leading the blind. And it doesn’t change how being sold makes a person feel.
Worthless. Hopeless. Betrayed.
“You are strong, my female. You will find a way to help the others accept their new life, as you have.”
I’m still not sure I’ve totally accepted my future with the orcs, but I’m not ready to walk away from Atox. There’s sincerity, goodness, and loyalty in him, even if we don’t see eye to eye on the issue of buying women.
“If you must do this, Atox, I will answer their questions and help them acclimate the best I can, but I can’t make them want to stay. They could cause a lot of trouble.”
“Like you?”
“You haven’t seen the trouble I can cause.”
His ridges scrunch together. “Why not?”
It’s a good question. I planned on doing everything I could to make the orcs hate me enough to return me to my people. I shrug. “I realized I had nowhere to go.”
“Good. Because I would have tracked you down and brought you back with me. You are mine,” he adds with a growl that goes to my lower half.
“Say that again,” I demand, loving how that growl renews my soul.
He holds my head in his hands. “You, female, are mine. And no one will ever take you from me. This, I vow.”
With that, he plunders my mouth. I sink into the kiss and the security it gives me. He means what he says. I’m his, no matter what. My father could offer him a hundred females in place of me, and Atox wouldn’t give me up. He would put me before his people in this situation, I’m sure of it.
“What about the other women? I’m serious when I said they can cause a lot of trouble if you take them against their will.
“Controlling them will be for their mates. As for you, my female, I am learning a lot about humans from you. And you are right. You were not prepared to live among us. A mistake I plan tocorrect.” Atox throws open the fabric to a tent in the bantaran section of Pen’Kesh.
