Page 53 of Orc's Claim
I hold the knife ready to use it, not that I know how to defend myself. The best I can do is remain calm and trust in Ryko. That means standing here, hiding in the shadows, wondering what’s happening out there.
Ryko can handle himself, but still, he could be outnumbered. I don’t know who he’s confronting or what they want.
The voices rise with anger, making the hairs on my arms rise. Then utter silence. Dark, foreboding silence.
My hands squeezes the hilt of the knife until my muscles ache.
No one’s talking.
Are they fighting?
A hulking figure enters the cave and at first I can’t make out who it is. Then one step closer and I release a breath. Ryko.
The light filtering in from outside reveals his tight expression.He’s not pleased, which is why he’s still holding his sword, no doubt, but I don’t see any blood or wounds.
With one practiced move, Ryko sheathes his sword. Silently. Effortlessly. Then, as casually as can be, he holds his hand out for me to return his knife, but I can’t move. He eases the knife from my iron grip. “All is well, my Lily.”
His voice unlocks the invisible chains trapping me. I launch myself at him, wrapping my arms around him and hold on for dear life.
The very thought of losing him terrifies me.
After a long embrace, he kisses the top of my head and gently pulls away. “We need to go. There may be more vints in the area.”
“Vints? Those were vints out there?” A new fear moves through me.
The vints’ colony borders New Earth and the clashes between human and vint have escalated in the last few months. The vints raid our supplies and damage our equipment. Dawson was rushed to the infirmary one night with punctures all along his chest and arms from one of the vint’s tails. Those tails are deadly with a long reach, which makes getting close to one dangerous. Our guards don’t know how to fight them. Short of trying to smuggle guns onto Kovos from Earth—and failing—we don’t know what Council is doing to handle the vint threat along our borders.
“Do they know I’m in here?” I ask. “The vints have been causing trouble for my people.”
“I did not let them near the cave. But I will escort you back now, before your people start searching for you. Come, my Lily.”
I rub my belly as we leave the cave, realizing we took a lot of risks today, more than being discovered. I’m not on birth control because we have a limited supply back in the colony.
There haven’t been any pairings between orcs and humans to know if our species can conceive together. The idea of a baby with Ryko, brings a smile to my face.
Until I think about my uncle and the councilmen in our colony. They could do a lot worse than force me to marry some guy I don’t want, like they’re doing to Tamara. They could kill me. Unless…
“If we get pregnant, Ryko, maybe my people would let me leave.”
His hand caresses my cheek. “I don’t think they’d let you live. Or a youngling that is half-orc. They hate all orc, but that is not a worry you’d have among my people. They would accept you if you carried an orc youngling. I, however, would not live to see the sunrise. My grak would kill me.”
I stop walking.
His forehead falls against mine as he inhales a deep breath. “My grak planned to claim you, Lily. He ordered me to keep anyone from touching you. Instead, I mated you. Whether I live or die depends solely on my grak. But he would never harm a female, especially one who carries an orc youngling.” He pauses for a moment, as if assessing my capacity for more bad news. “Once I’m dead, he could take you and any youngling you carry for his own.”
I shudder at the thought of being with such a brutal male. But nothing scares me as much as the idea of losing Ryko.
He kisses my forehead. “I do not think this will happen. My grak respects the risha, which we performed in the cave.
We resume walking. “My people need females. But I’ve disobeyed my grak’s orders and risked his plans. I do not know what will happen, only that you will be safe. I’ve ensured this by mating you.”
I slide my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. Everything he’s done has been to protect me. There doesn’t seem to be a way out of this mess.
“I don’t see anyone,” I whisper to change the subject as we take an obscure path back to the market.
“Good. But if we encounter anyone. Vint, human, orc… anyone, Lily, do not contradict what I say. We cannot let anyone know of our mating until I speak with my grak.”
“What are you planning to say?”
