I take the leather restraints from the bed and tie them together, fashioning a belt with a loop for Atox’s knife.Myknife now.
The tunnels appear as twisted and confusing as my first time through them. I got lucky this morning, following a warrior to the surface. He could have easily been going deeper into the mountain. This time, I wait in the main tunnel beyond Atox’s chamber until three males pass by.
When they eye me, my hand slides to my knife. Already, I feelsafer, bolder. That’s when I realize I have to be proactive here, especially if this ends up being my home. I will not fall into old habits of letting a man dictate my every move, but I won’t flee in fear either.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ATOX IM GRAK
Iride alongside Verig, returning to the abandoned camp I found two days after lighting Fotak’s pyre. My thoughts remain on those who murdered him as much as my female who both surprises and worries me. If I cannot bend her to our ways, our people have little chance of surviving. Paloma doesn’t know it yet, but she is the first of many. I need her on my side, to help other human females assimilate. My warriors neither have the time nor patience to deal with a wild and untrained female.
Paloma still plans on escaping; I am sure of it. While I could keep her locked up, I don’t want a prisoner. I want a mate. One who will support me, stand at my side against those who question and oppose me.
Fight by my side. I consider the notion. Expecting a human female to fight would be like sending a youngling into battle. Paloma is no warrior, but she is a fighter, in her own way. I need that energy and stubbornness directed at a common enemy, not me.
“You are lost in thought, Atox,” Verig says as we travel through narrow, rocky terrain.
“Other than the vints, I don’t know who would have killed Fotak and why.”
“The vints are on the other side of the human colony.”
“That is what concerns me. They’ve never traveled this far before.”
“Perhaps they heard of the deal we made with the humans.”
“It is possible, but why kill Fotak?”
“A warning to stay away from the humans and let them fight their own battles.”
“Is that what you think the humans should do or an interpretation of what the vints are thinking?”
“If the humans are too weak to survive on Kovos, then let the vints wipe them out.”
“Normally, I might agree, but we need their females. Taking them by force risks injuring them.” I hold up my hand to keep Verig from speaking. “Before you suggest destroying the human colony outright, remember that could result in no more of their females arriving from Earth. We ensure the humans’ survival so we may ensure our own.”
“Their women are weak. You expect us to mate them, have younglings with them.” Verig growls. “You will make us weak, Atox.”
Only Verig could call me weak without me using my sword to remove his head. And that is because he is my second, the orc I trust the most, the orc I need to question and force me to think beyond my own constraints as much as I need him to watch my back.
“You said it yourself, Verig. If any more of our people were still alive, they would have come by now. If we are to survive, we need more females. The humans are compatible.”
“You take the word of the cendagi on that.” He spits to the side, the ultimate insult. “They cannot be trusted.”
“That is why I’ve taken the human female. Once she conceives, we will know for sure. Unless you can prove the cendagi lied about our compatibility.”
“How would they even know?”
I suck in air. “Their experiments.”
“Vekking cendagi. They treat us like animals.”
“Not only our people. All the species here. They sent us here for a reason, Verig. Never forget that. Focus your hatred and suspicion toward them. And the vints. The humans are weak and duplicitous, but they are merely trying to survive here like we are. Remember, they lost their world to the Coalition.”
Another growl. Like many of us, Verig chooses not to think of Orcos too often, or what he lost. He had a mate, Haaka, and a beautiful youngling, a little girl under three seasons old.
“You are right, Atox. The humans have neither the technology nor numbers to challenge us.”
“Fotak was killed because he found someone spying on us. While I don’t believe the humans killed him, we cannot rule them out.”
