Page 17 of Orc's Possession
“You will find no better male among my people,” I add.
She huffs. I’m not sure how to interpret this, but I’ve seen her scrunch her nose near me.
“You think we like plastering ourselves in muck? We do that to cover the stench of your people. Humans are the animals, female. And now I question your intelligence because you try to return to them when there is no place for you there. They don’t want you. Your sire sold you to us because he saw no value in keeping you. You were nothing more than a burden to him and?—”
A sharp sting from her tiny hand radiates across my face. Sheslappedme. The pain I can easily ignore, but the disrespect… I cannot allow that to go unpunished.
I scoop her up into the air, high above my head, and toss her into the lake. Her cry pierces my ears and the quiet of the surrounding woods as she hits the water… and sinks. To my shock and dismay, I realize my female cannot swim.
CHAPTER EIGHT
PALOMA
For the first time since I left Earth, I feel free as gloriously cool water swallows me whole. I don’t panic, but I can’t hold my breath forever. It has to be that weightlessness and the silence under the water that calms me. No males yelling at me, no one demanding my attention. Just a chance to float without any worries for a few bliss-filled seconds.
Then a hand, that overly large hand I can still remember wrapped around my throat, curves around my waist and pulls me to the surface. I’m not ready to return to a reality where I’m not wanted except for my reproductive organs.
“Breathe, female.”
Is that a note of concern in his voice? No, not from this orc. Not for me.
A hand sinks into my hair, pulls back to lift my head up and away from the water. As the sun warms my face, his arm loops across my ribs to keep me afloat.
His hold on me is filled with something I can’t quite identify.There is safety in his touch, safety I never expected from an orc. Fromthisorc.
I right my head and look at him, our faces mere inches apart. The ridges on his brow ease. For the first time, I see beauty in his features. His skin is a rich, medium green that reminds me of maple leaves. While his nose is wider and larger than a human nose, it balances the ridges of his forehead rather nicely. A male this powerful, with thighs thicker than tree trunks and arms so massive I can’t fit both hands around them, would look silly with a small nose. And his mouth, it is the most human part about him, except for those tusks. Two white tusks jut out from his lower mandible, overlapping the upper lip and almost reaching his nose. I’m tempted to touch one, to see what it feels like, but I don’t dare. That would be too familiar, and that is the last thing I want from him.
“I ordered you to breathe.”
His voice, as stern as ever, moves something in me and I exhale the breath I’ve been holding. Then a giggle escapes me. I slap my hand over my mouth. If anyone could get a drowning victim to start breathing by ordering her, it would be this orc, but he did jump in to save me. Granted, I wouldn’t have been in danger of drowning if he hadn’t tossed me in to begin with.
“My apologies, orc,” I say with sincerity though I can’t quite contain my laughter. After days of stress and feeling as if my life has ended, I’m laughing again.
“Why do you laugh?”
“I know how to swim. I wasn’t drowning.”
The orc’s eyes widen and then narrow. He probably thinks I’m mocking him.
“You sank like a rock. You nearly reached the bottom by the time I found you.”
“I was shocked to hit the water like that. But it felt good. It’s been a long time since I’ve been allowed to swim. I wanted to enjoy the water for a minute, to feel free one last time.”
Damn, much of the tension from earlier is gone and I realize why. I’m on a natural high, from the adrenaline rush of being thrown in the water. I needed that.
And maybe seeing another side of this orc who terrifies me. He jumped in to save me.
A sublime scent catches my attention. I draw the smell into my lungs, despite being so close to the orc, only to realize the scent ishis. It was all that dirt, and maybe all the stories I’ve been told as well, about orcs wallowing in their own filth, that made me think of them as animals.
I inhale again. Deeper this time. Sticking my nose in a bouquet of roses couldn’t smell any better than this orc. I actually… like it. Too much. I wade my waycloserto him.
“You are free, female. But you are mine.”
My heart falls at his words. “You don’t understand freedom, orc.”
“You will call me Grak.”
This is the first time he’s spoken to me without issuing an order. The longer this day drags on, the more I learn about my people, the orcs… and myself. I’m tired of being afraid. If I cannot escape this male and his people, then I need to fight for what rights I can.
