Page 75 of Orc's Possession
“Yes,yourpeople. How quickly I’m back to being just the human again. I’ll never be orc in your eyes, never be what you want or need.” Her hands clench at her sides. “I don’t belong here and we both know it. Go get your moxxel baby maker, Grak, so I can leave and get on with my life.”
“You are not leaving. Especially now that you could be carrying my youngling.”
“I’m not. My cycle started. Which is just as well because I don’t want to have a baby with a man who doesn’t see me as a person.”
“Pawloma is right,” Ossa says. “You cannot discard her basedon her ability to have younglings. No female deserves that. Even a human. You took a risk in choosing her, and now you must accept the outcome, no matter what it is. Casting her aside and taking another mate in her place… that is something Narzik im Grak would do.”
I growl. Loud enough that little Evve steps back and Ossa moves in front of Duvik, shielding him from me in a way that reminds me of when my mother shielded me from our father.
And lost her life.
Narzik im Grak.
Narzik the Cruel.
Narzik the father… mate… murderer of innocents.
I need to get out of here before the evil that comes from my father surfaces. Without a word, I storm out of the chamber and barrel through the tunnels at an unsafe rate given some of the narrow passages. Stone scrapes my left shoulder and arm, but I don’t feel any pain, except in my heart.
Paloma. This female, this human… I poured all my energy and hope into her and she still wishes to leave me.
Because she sees me as Ossa does. A younger Narzik who would use, punish, and slay without conscience.
The moment I emerge from the mountain, I release a growl so fierce the animals flee into the woods. Daelix draws his sword looking for the danger he assumes I’ve spotted. He doesn’t realize the danger isn’t in the darkness surrounding us, but the darkness of my heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
PALOMA
For the fourth time in three years, my world crumbles around me. First, the Grud and Coalition invaded Earth. We left on a cendagi ship and were brought to Kovos. I appreciated nothing about this world since I had fewer rights here than I might have had under the Coalition.
Then my mother died. I’d never been so lost, though I had my sisters and we pulled each other through the grief. A month ago, my father upended my life a third time by selling me to Atox. I never thought I’d survive that betrayal, but my father’s greed turned into a blessing so I can no longer count that as a misfortune. But Atox leaving Ossa’s chambers the way he did… that makes my heart sink.
I’m mad at him. Scared, too, though I try to be more orc-like, stronger for Atox, and not let my fear overtake me. The thought of losing him hurts down to my soul. And yet, I drove him away. Or Ossa did. Fuck, I don’t even know anymore. I guess we both did.
Except he’d never abandon Ossa. She’s his family. I no longerknow what I am. But I can’t give up on him, onus, not when we’ve finally started to connect.
I will never forget his growl as he tore out of Ossa’s home. She had compared him to his father, the man who abused Atox, leaving scars on his body and his soul. I can’t be mad at Ossa though. She suffered too, and she knows Atox in a way I never will.
But I hurt him by questioning his motives and what’s in his heart, without giving him a chance to defend his actions. That was my pain and fear talking.
“Where did our grak go?” I ask the guard at the tunnel entrance.
“He went for a run.” The guard points north east. I’ll never catch him on foot.
I head to the gorja pens not far from the main camp. A basic wooden fence pens in the six-legged animals and no one’s guarding them. Four gorjas graze on the grass. The rest must be in use with warriors at New Earth.
The beasts don’t have the grace or beauty of horses, but they are tough, bred to carry huge orcs. I’ve ridden horses back on Earth. Controlling a gorja can’t be that different.
I hope.
After drawing a deep breath, I enter the pen. “Easy, boy,” I say, with my hands up as I approach the smallest of the four gorjas. The spiney horns laying flush against his head lift. I’m guessing he senses my fear.
More proof that I’ll never be orc enough. But damn it, I have to talk to Atox and I’m not going to let some ugly, six-legged, spiked rhino-horse stop me.
“What are you doing here?” a male asks behind me.
Verig. I haven’t talked to him since the day he dropped me at the camp. I hated him and every orc. Now I’ve come to appreciate many of the orcs, but I still don’t know much about Atox’s second-in-command.
