“And what place is that? You say you want me as a mate, but you treat me like a slave. You want me to bend to your will, but you don’t care about mine.”
I care. More than I should, especially about a human. But I have more than my female to be concerned about. I cannot afford to be seen as weak, by or because of her.
After I grab my loin cloth from the floor, I toss a knife close to one of her bound hands. “You want to be treated as an orc? Then free yourself.”
I storm off to the elimination chamber where I draw the leather curtain and work my cock, finding my release quickly despite the foul smells around me.
I am grak. I should not be tending to my own cock, especially in an elimination chamber. But I made a promise to my female, to never hurt her. I do not know how to help her accept that there is no escape. That she is mine.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
PALOMA
“You want to be treated as an orc? Then free yourself.” Atox tosses the knife onto the bed.
The knife lands inches from my fingers. I can almost reach it, then Atox slams his hand against the light disc, and yanks the door closed behind him, plunging me back into darkness, bound, and helpless with a knife I can’t reach.
“Atox, you bastard, get back here and untie me!”
I’m less fearful of the dark thanks to Atox, but the fear still remains, especially when he left me here bound and alone earlier. I was terrified someone would assault me. To my surprise and relief, Atox returned.
This time, I don’t think he’ll return.
But I’m not as afraid now, either. Why? I’m still tied up and in the dark. Yes, I have a knife, but I can’t reach it.
I stretch my torso and my arms as much as I can and still can’t reach the knife. I sink back to the furs, wondering if I’m going about this whole thing with Atox wrong.
He doesn’t intend to humiliate me or make me vulnerable. If anything, I think he’s the one feeling vulnerable because I’m not giving him the one thing he needs from me.
Respect.
I never got much respect at home. I’d kept quiet there, given my father’s propensity to blame me for everything that went wrong. Atox doesn’t have my father’s temper, but he has a darkness in him I don’t understand. While I’ve seen him cut and threaten others who have challenged him, I know he’ll never hurt me.
Is that why I’ve been pushing him? So he’ll do something that will give me the excuse I need to run from here regardless of the dangers in the woods and swamps that lay between our settlements?
Oh, god… I’m thinking as if this is a relationship I’m in, as if I intend to stay with him.
I inhale a deep breath and stare into the blackness. He promised he wouldn’t let anyone touch me, and I believe him. Protecting his people, which now seems to include me, is high on his list of priorities.
How do I show him I respect him without giving in to his demands? Every time I submit to him, he touches me in ways that leave me twisted up inside, but not with fear. With want and need, but uncertainty about my future.
No man has ever put his mouth to my pussy, and yet this orc just feasted on me as if I’m covered in chocolate. Yet he didn’t take what most males would.
Atox isn’t like other men. He is complex and at the same time very straightforward. Everything about him is fierce and yet there is another side to him, hiding beneath the cold exterior, that I want to explore. If he’ll let me.
But I don’t think he will.
That knife sits less than an inch from me, taunting me. He’sgoing to make me work for my freedom. Does he think this will motivate me to give him my complete and utter obedience?
Again, I stretch muscles and push against the leather straps as much as I can, hoping they have enough give in them that I can reach the knife.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget how he touched me earlier. The male moved his hands over every inch of my naked body. And I didn’t flinch from embarrassment even though I’ve always been self-conscious when nude around others. I’ve seen the forced smiles on the men I’ve dated and know they only cared about having sex.
That heated look in Atox’s eyes earlier wasn’t from disgust but want. Desire. For all of me. And the way he touched me made me feel beautiful and sexy.
My weight is not an issue for him. But I’m human, and I fear that will keep him from seeing me as an equal.
He tossed the knife to me. Why? He could have left me here without any chance of escape.
