The orc carrying me grips the back of my thigh and squeezes.
“Are you as deaf as you are ugly? Put me down!”
He slams me to my feet and backs me into the side of one of those foul-smelling gray beasts. A massive hand wraps around my throat and squeezes, scaring the shit out of me. He applies enough pressure to make it clear he can kill me in seconds. Oddly, I don’t fear death, not when the alternative will be much worse.
Dark green eyes narrow and a growl surfaces from his throat causing me to stop thrashing, stop breathing, stop thinking… and listen to him.
“You do not want to challenge me, female. I am grak. My word is law. No one will come to your aid. Your life, food, shelter… all depend on me, and me alone. You are mine to do with as I please. You will obey me, or you will suffer until you accept my authority.”
His words paralyze me. Every part of my body shuts down. He’ll make my life hell. The dark expression on his face and the way his hand locked around my neck like a vise, leave no doubt in my mind.
“I never agreed to this. Any of this.” My words come out as a squeak given his hand on my throat. “I will never accept this. Or you.”
Those dark green eyes darken. There’s nothing left to do but stare and hope he takes pity on me.
No such luck. He picks me up at my waist and tosses me and my backpack into a cart filled with hay. Dirty hay. A cart for transporting animals to and from the market. That’s all I am to these monsters. An animal to be caged and used.
Four orcs hoist themselves onto their mounts without saddles or blankets. The fifth orc, the one who appears younger than the rest, drives the cart pulled by one of their six-legged beasts.
I lie down in the dirty hay and let my tears flow. I’m not even sure what hurts more, knowing these orcs will only ever see me as a breeder, or the betrayal that sentenced me to my bleak future.
When I hug my backpack, the last vestige I have of my home, I remember my father putting a leather pouch in from Camila. Quickly, I unbuckle the pack and withdraw the pouch, hoping it’s something I can use, like a knife.
My fingers sift through the pouch. No knife. Not even a butter knife. Or a fork. Or makeshift shiv. Nothing but homemade tampons. How very practical of Cami.
Disappointment hits me all over again. Of all my sisters, I thought she’d find a way to help me.
Then I see the flash of silver beneath the tampons. I’m hoping it’s a knife after all. My fingers grip stiff foil. I withdraw the blister packaging and see a very rare commodity in our colony. Birth control pills. One month’s worth.
The Mayflower arrives in a month…
Cami couldn’t keep me from being sold, but she found a way for me to avoid getting pregnant while I figure out how to escape the orcs. I hide the pills where I found them and close my backpack. I can’t afford to lose these pills unless I want to end up pregnant by an orc. Which I definitely donot.
As the cart bounces beneath me along the rough dirt road, I stare out at the blur of trees, my thoughts too scattered to focus on developing an escape plan. I close my eyes and the next time I look at the sky, the first sun is setting. Two, maybe three hours have passed since the orcs took me. I must have zoned out for a while.
Neither the driver of this cart or the orcs riding in front of it have spoken to me since we left my colony. I am livestock, after all.
The orcs speak amongst themselves in Orcan so I can’t understand them. Five orcs collected me. A show of force yet none of them bothers looking back to check on me.
Which gives me an idea.
I peer over the side, watching the road carefully for the perfect spot to jump.
ATOX IM GRAK
Verig spurshis gorja next to mine. “You’re distracted, Atox.”
I struggle not to tug at my trou which has become too tightfor riding atop my mount. Even two hours into our journey home, I cannot take my mind off my female and how she stirs my cock with her defiance. I am eager to sink into her warm heat, but not here among my men. Not that I would mind claiming her in public, but that would only make them painfully aware that they don’t have a female.
From the moment she was presented to me, they watched her closely. I wonder if her small frame disgusts them or if her spirit intrigues them, as it does me. Regardless, I will train her to obey me. She will learn to pleasure me however I choose and accept me into her body whenever I see fit.
“The female?” Verig persists, trying to gauge my mood as well as my thoughts.
“She will learn our ways. I’m concerned what her people ask of us could start a war with the vints.”
“Good,” Verig says a bit too eagerly.
“This is not the time for a war, not with our numbers so low. Perhaps when my brother’s ship arrives.”
