Page 6 of Orc’s Promise (Knotty Monsters #3)

CHAPTER FIVE

VERIG

B aloq paces in the distance as I stand with Tansey and take in her scent. The sartog’s been keeping her prisoner. If Atox had not intervened, I would have gutted Baloq. Not for disobeying me, but for isolating her, forcing her to sleep in his bed. Imprisoning her.

“You’ve heard our grak rule on the matter, Baloq. You are not to keep her prisoner or control her in any way. Or stalk her,” I speak in Common so Tansey will understand what we’re saying.

“This is not fair, Neld.”

“Atox has given you the right to prove your worth to her…from a distance. She’s not to be forced. See to your duties.”

“She’s not yours, Verig,” Baloq persists, using my name and not my title. One hand rests on his side-knife as he paces.

“And she’s not yours either.” I turn my back to the warrior, testing his control. If he attacks me, I’ll know we have more of a problem than an overeager male desperate for a female.

Tansey glances from Baloq to me, confusion on her beautiful face .

“Come, female. I will show you where you will sleep.”

Slowly, she falls in step as I head to our mountain. I suspect her fear of Baloq drives her to my side more than any desire to be with me.

“So, I’m stuck with you now? I don’t see how this is any better. I should be allowed to stay with the other women,” she says loud and clear, nothing like the meek females the other warriors captured in the raid on New Earth.

“You presume too much, especially that I am like Baloq. I am not.” A growl rises too easily at how she would believe this of me.

“He’s a monster,” she says in a low voice, as if she fears him hearing her.

“He’s a warrior who is eager for a female.

A warrior who disobeyed orders.” I will not defend him, as there is no defense for his actions, but her words referring to him as a monster concern me.

It’s a term many of the human women we took use.

Paloma, our graka, used this term when Atox took her, but in time, she accepted us. “We are not monsters. We have laws.”

“He forced me to sleep in his bed.”

I growl again at the image, then contain my anger, reminding myself that Baloq did not mate her. “Our laws prevent him from mating you when you’re not ready.”

“I’ll never be ready for that monster. Or any other.”

“We are orc. Not monsters. Not animals.” I must be patient with her. Let her accept her fate here. In time, she will realize she is safe with us…with me. And hopefully, she will accept me.

Unfortunately, I cannot lay a claim to her unless Baloq renounces his.

Three months. That’s how long he has to prove his worth to her.

While she can refuse him, as often as she wants, he may still pursue her during that period.

Many orc females refuse a male initially, as a way of testing them.

It is possible that human females do the same.

But I do not believe this is the case with Tansey.

I’ve seen genuine fear in her eyes when Baloq approaches her.

It pleases me to think she will never accept him, but that does not mean she will choose me either.

Tansey follows me, her golden hair flying behind her. I long to stroke the silky locks, to feel her warm flesh again. The memory of the heat of her skin against mine last week imprinted on my brain. I’ve been able to think of little else since returning to Mount Racha.

For Tansey, I can be very patient. But Baloq concerns me.

He’s not the type of male to surrender a mate.

Our grak has ordered him to stay away from Tansey unless she invites him.

No one defies Atox. Before this past week, I never imagined Baloq would defy me, but he did. Which is why I can no longer trust him.

“If I’m not a prisoner, then I’m free to go anywhere I want?” Tansey asks.

“Within reason. We’ve marked the dangerous areas of our territory with red flags, namely where the narsi vines grow. Heed those markers, female.”

“Let me go home,” she says, her voice shaking.

“That is not an option.”

“You can’t keep me here.”

I stop a few feet inside the entrance to the tunnels and pull her down a passageway parallel to the main branch into a storage room for privacy. She yanks her arm free of me. She does not like to be touched.

Baloq. He did this to her. Made her wary of males. I’m going to rip his?—

“You said I’m free. That means letting me leave. I have a life back in my colony. Family. Friends. A job.”

“You will have all of those here. There are twelve other human females. They will be your friends. A new mate will be your family. And when you tell Ossa your skills, she will find you work.”

“I don’t need a new family or mate here. I already have family in New Earth.”

A new fear fills me. Baloq is no longer my greatest problem when it comes to finding a way to keep this female for myself.

“Are you mated?” I ask. All my problems would be solved if she were already mated, and yet I can’t ignore this need driving me, telling me to kill any male who would keep her from me.

“What if I am? Are you going to kill him?”

“If you are already mated, then—” I don’t finish my thought. I cannot lose another female, whether to Baloq, some human I don’t know, or death. I do not have the strength. No matter how much my grak and my people need me, I simply cannot survive that again.

Tansey’s eyes light up. “Yes, I’m mated!” The words fly from her mouth quickly. Too quickly.

Vekk, she’s smart, trying to use our laws against us. We were only to take unmated females from the human colony. To tear a female from her mate, even a human, is unconscionable and invites trouble. Warranted trouble.

And yet, the humans have not attempted to reclaim the females we took. Perhaps that is because more females come from Earth every few months, and they do not need these, or they do not care to protect their females.

I will protect this one, even against her own foolish desires to return to her former colony.

“You are not mated,” I say, letting her know I’m not fooled. Our scouts identified the area where the unmated human females live in their colony. This is the area we raided.

“I have a son,” she says next, creating another lie she believes will sway me. She has no mate or younglings. None of the women we took do. We targeted only unmated females, but if she wants to play games with me, to pretend otherwise, then I will show her how it’s done.

“And I have a—” I cannot say ‘daughter’, because I cannot discuss Veeya with her. Or anyone.

This female will say anything to get what she desires. “If you had a youngling, you would not have been in the target zone. We avoided the houses with younglings.”

“I was visiting a friend,” she stumbles over her words, struggling to justify why she’d been roaming the part of the colony belonging to unmated females.

I lean into her, a huge mistake as her scent fills my nostrils, nearly bringing me to my knees. Every part of me wants to touch her, but I cannot. Frustrated, I growl. “You are here now. We are your people now.”

Blue eyes widen. “You’d keep me from my child? He’s only six.”

Veeya would have been six this year. Vekk, she’s learned about my daughter and is using her against me.

“Then he’s lucky you’re here, so another can raise him.”

She slaps my face.

My eyes narrow. I never expected I’d enjoy a female with this much fire in her. I won’t strike her back, but neither will I allow her to disrespect me. I’m Neld, heir to the Grak.

I throw her over my shoulder and barrel through the tunnels. She fights me like a sartog, kicking and clawing, but I welcome her reaction. It’s the reminder I need that I cannot touch her, especially with the smell of her cunt so near my face, threatening to do me in.

Warriors flatten themselves against the walls of the tunnel as I carry my female lower into the mountain.

I’m nearing the split in the tunnels. My quarters lie to the right of the three branches.

The middle leads to storage rooms, and the left branch extends down another level to the women’s quarters. Seconds to choose my future.

Trust your instincts , Haaka always said.

I close my eyes, the small but fiery female pounding her fists against my back. Vekk Baloq for souring her against all orcs, vekk Narzik the Cruel for destroying Orcos, and vekk the cendagi for bringing us here after we watched the ship with my mate and youngling explode.

I stop before the large wooden door and kick it open. The hinges creaked with the force of my kick, threatening to break. Inside, several females shriek. Many run and hide, though there is no escape from this cavern. I’m blocking the only exit.

More harshly than I intend, I set Tansey on her feet. She stumbles back from me, her blue eyes darkening like a stormy night. The fire in her has my cock throbbing, but I cannot, will not, give in to it or her.

“You are not going anywhere, female. You will accept that this is your home now.” I leave without even glancing back at her.

“Fuck you, Verig,” she yells from behind me.

I stop, turn slowly, and run my eyes over her. “Soon, female. You and I will indeed fuck. Very soon.”