Page 8 of Orc's Claim
I did not know her name at the time, nor had I ever spoken to her, but she did not deserve his venom. That’s when I struck him. And soon found myself in a fight with four humans.
As punishment, my grak assigned me to escort Sojek for the next ten supply runs. I’m still not sure if he punished me for disobeying his orders by starting a fight or because the fight ended with my enemy, four humans, bloodied and bruised, but still alive.
Either way, I made Atox look weak as a leader.
“Lily, where have you been?” a female with golden hair asks as Lily slides into a seat at a table in the human sector. The other female dumps a pile of leather in front of her and barks out orders.
My lips curl back, flashing my tusks at the female’s tone. I’d never hurt a female, but I’d gladly growl at her to show her my displeasureifI didn’t fear getting Lily in trouble.
Her people have rules against associating with orcs. A female may only speak with us if we approach their tables to purchase an item.
“Where have you been?” Atox demands, yanking my attention from Lily as she settles at her work table. My grak stands by the entrance to the human sector. I’m not sure why he’s in Pen’Kesh.
“I hunted while Sojek made his delivery to the bantarans.” I turn for him to see the size of the yenga slung over my shoulders.
“You’re supposed to guard Sojek.”
“In the market? You wish me to insult him?”
“Vekk,” Atox swears, seeing my point. “I don’t know what to do about him.”
Though Sojek is young, only eighteen, he shows no capacity to be a warrior, which is why he drives the cart. A worthy task for a young male, but he is also Atox’s nephew. Unless he trains and proves himself as a warrior first, Sojek will never rule our people.
“He’ll get himself killed here,” Atox mutters.
He means Pen’Kesh, where we must endure the hatred, ignorance, and foolishness of not one but four other species. “No one here will attack an orc in the open. Not if they value their lives.”
We protect our own. If an orc such as Sojek were caught unaware, then his death would be avenged. Mercilessly.
Sojek has his knives and our reputation to ward off would-be attackers. I glance back at Lily. She’s the one at risk. My female has incompetent human males assigned to guard her and the other human females, but from what I see of the males, they cause more trouble for their own females than anyone else.
When Lily spots me watching her, her cheeks rise and her lips part with a softness orc females don’t exhibit. The same expression as back by the lake. She’spleasedwith me.
My head lifts in pride and my cock hardens instantly.
Atox backhands me against my chest. “Stay away from their females, Ryko.”
“Yes, Grak.”
As my grak, he can kill me without anyone objecting. Not that I have any family left after the Undoing. But no one crosses a grak and lives.
CHAPTER THREE
LILY
Iworked the last three days in the cookhouse of New Earth, our colony on Kovos. Instead of enjoying a cool breeze outside, taking in the beauty of our adopted planet, I breathed in smoke and endured obscene heat because the assholes who built the structure knew nothing about proper ventilation.
Worse, I couldn’t focus on cooking, not with my mind on one handsome, teasing orc who refused to give me his name. The same man who flashed his tusks at me and watched my every move with intense green eyes that danced as he taught me ways to stay safe.
He’s the only one who ever cared to help me, unlike our colony’s guards who marched us through Pen’Kesh when we first arrived on Kovos, describing in horrifying detail all the vile and disgusting things the orcs and other species would do to us if we didn’t listen to our guards. Our so-called protectors. The self-appointed asses who think we can’t survive without them.
Screw them and their scare tactics. They’re the ones we haveto watch out for. Them and the self-serving bastards who rule New Earth.
As I ride in the back of the cart with ten other women on our way to Pen’Kesh, the butterflies in my stomach take on new life.
Will he be there?
Will he still want to see me?
