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“I have no partner at present. Too busy with building the company to think of relationships.” Now it was his turn to feel self-conscious. “No time for pets either.”
“Understandable.” She wrote it down. “So what are your ‘must haves’ in a property?” She flashed another bright smile, and again he noticed an odd little pearl of warmth in in his chest.
“Spacious rooms, high ceilings, big windows, large garden. Near the ocean if possible. I need to be able to breathe.”
“Fantastic,” she said briskly. “I do have three properties available; I printed their details out before you arrived.” She handed him a couple of sheets from her folder.
He took them, flicked through them, barely able to disguise his grimace.
All of them were vast and grand and freakin’ tasteless.
He raised an eyebrow. “Are these vampire builds?”
“Yes, is that an issue?”
“Do you know much about orcs and vampires?”
She bit her lip, and he sensed her body tensing beneath that sophisticated lilac suit. “I know there’s not a lot of love lost between your species and theirs, but?—”
“Understatement,” he grunted. “And we have very different tastes.” Tor shuddered at the over-the-top chandeliers and ornate fittings and fixtures. The gushing fountains of winged creatures spouting water from every orifice. “Fucking tacky,” he muttered.
“I work closely with interior designers who could fix that.”
Tor grunted. The idea of purchasing a vampire monolith did not appeal. So now what? He glanced around the room and spied the large map of Motham on the wall. Her gaze followed his. “Ah yes, the map of the city—maybe we can identify some areas you’re interested in, and can work back from there.”
Tor strode over to the map. He tried not to respond to her floral perfume and her nearness as she came and stood next to him. With her this close, he realized she was quite tall for a human, but still she was so much smaller than him, especially if she kicked her heels off. It made him wonder how she’d fit under his arm… Against his chest…
“Okay, then,” she said briskly, sweeping a perfectly manicured hand across the map. “So these regions to the south, around Motham Palace, the library, and Motham College… I imagine that’s where you’re interested in purchasing?”
He looked over the map, his gaze roaming to the coast, the bay. Finally, his eye caught on the small, almost diamond-shaped island.
Memories from his childhood flooded back, wonderful memories, ones he’d almost forgotten, and a sudden longing forged through his chest. Tor stood, transfixed.
Orc Island.
Not that it was called that now. Green Island, it was labelled on the map. Bah, that’s what the humans had renamed it. A sharp spasm of resentment poked hard into his chest.
That island had once been the stronghold of orcs. The place where they’d held out to the last against humans during the Great War.
They’d come ashore to help the monster’s mothman leader, Atholrose Motham, make this a city where monsters could live in harmony, bringing timber and food they’d grown themselves. Big, generous-hearted orcs his ancestors were.
Until one time, while his clan were in Motham slogging their guts out, the humans had taken over the island by stealth. They’d shot at the orcs trying to return in their boats, killing many, and the rest had fled back to Motham. And from then on, orcs had been forced to live with other monster species here, and work for humans to earn enough to feed their younglings.
It was a sad, humiliating story.
Tor inhaled sharply.
He knew that island, knew how beautiful the interior was from illicit trips with his dad when he was a kid. His dad would get a new lease of life if he could take him there again.
Hell yeah! He’d do this. For his family. For his dad.
A slow, triumphant smile shaped his lips as he turned to the beautiful human next to him.
“I will buy Orc Island.”
Chapter
Three
