CHAPTER ONE
TANSEY
The monster facing me, an orc, stands over six feet tall, with green skin, tusks jutting out from behind his lower lip, massive muscleseverywhere, very little clothing, and a salacious grin on his face.
“You belong to me, female.”
“The hell I do.”
One knee to the groin stops the half-naked orc cold. I run as if my life depends on it, because it does, but there’s nowhere to run. Fire licks the night sky, dancing from roof to roof of the adobe houses in the most densely populated area of New Earth, our settlement on Kovos, turning me away from my people and toward the woods.
My feet strike the ground and my heart pumps harder, drowning out the screams of fleeing men and women.
Off to my left, an orc riding a massive six-legged beast scoops up Macie from the cookhouse. “Help!” she cries out. She’s trying to fight him, but he’s too massive. He drapes her over the front ofthe six-legged beast that is the orc version of a horse, except ugly, massive, and wild, like their owners.
Macie screams again, and I keep running, trying to block out her pleas. I can’t help her. Not when I have Ethan to worry about.
The terror in her voice pierces the mayhem engulfing the area. Shit, I can’t leave her.
I circle back and hide behind a stack of wood where the men have been building a dormitory for single women. I grab a two-by-four, but I’ve lost sight of her in all the commotion.
“Let go!” Macie shouts from atop the orc-horse near the carts we use to go to Pen’Kesh.
I crouch until I’m in position, then I swing the plank at the orc, but he’s too high up on that beast. The board sideswipes the animal’s flank instead, not enough to hurt him, but he rears up, and the orc turns, his sword raised and about to come down on me.
Instead, I’m lifted high off the ground from a second orc on another beast, the two-by-four plucked from my hands and tossed aside as a thickly muscled, green arm locks around my waist. He wastes no time in throwing me over his shoulder and locking my upper legs against his chest so I can’t escape.
His beast races into the heart of the siege, carrying me further from my little Ethan. The thought of never seeing him again terrifies me. This won’t be like the two years I lost watching him grow up while I rotted away in prison on Earth. This will be forever. Women the orcs capture never return.
With all of my might, I kick and punch my captor, who carries me like a slain deer over his shoulder, but his grip doesn’t loosen.
“Put me down!”
“Settle, female. I’m claiming you.”
“Screw you!” I pound my fists against his back, even as he halts his horse.
Orc words fly around me, but I can’t see who he’s talking to, and I don’t care. I dig my nails into his lower back and still nothing.He swats my ass, as if I’m a fly buzzing around a horse, annoying him.
When the orc’s horse changes direction, I see how fucked I am. There are more than two orcs here. Dozens are raiding the innermost part of the settlement, taking women and setting fire to homes. In the center of the chaos stands a huge orc watching from atop his horse. Dark green, lifeless eyes observe the others. Even though he’s not moving, he’s directing this shit show. I’m sure of it.
A shiver runs down my spine when my eyes lock with the orc beside him. The male is taller, massive, with short, cropped hair and green eyes that could bore a hole through metal. The way he looks at me makes me shudder, and not entirely from fear.
The world crumbling around me disappears as I lose myself in the strength and beauty of the male. Toned muscles cover every inch of his body, from his thick neck and pectorals to his biceps, abdomen, and thighs. Every part of the massive male exudes strength. And those eyes…Green as emeralds, but with an intensity that stirs me.
None of this makes sense. He’s an orc, for fuck’s sake, with long, thick tusks. I should be horrified, but I’m curious…and slightly turned on.
This could be some horrific alcohol-induced nightmare that I can’t wake up from. An hour ago, I walked to the center of our settlement, where most of our people live, but I didn’t drink with anyone. I returned a book to Holly, talked about how I’m adjusting to life in my little nook of five houses on the outskirts of our colony, and that’s it. Nothing to account for this insanity around me. Houses on fire, people screaming and running, and women being plucked from the ground by huge orcs.
This isn’t a dream, but it is a nightmare. I’m slung over the back of one orc while a second, one with thickly corded arms folded over a massive chest, shouts in this direction.
He’s angry. And staring at me.
Why am I staring back?
I should look away, but I don’t always do what’s right for me.
What is it about him that makes it hard to tear my gaze from his? His eyes? His physique?
