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“I guess I haven’t wanted to, uh …” I almost saidI don’t want to mate with the men I’ve met so far.“I guess I haven’t wanted to mate with any of them, at any rate.”
He grunts as if he understands.
“I, too, do not wish to take a mate.” A scowl crosses his face. “My folk have been pushing me to do so for some time. It seems like a complication I do not need.”
“Yeah, it’s complicated, all right,” I agree, though it’s not like I’ve ever really been in a relationship either.
Thunder crackles in the sky. I look upward and see the blue patch of sunny skies over us was going to be a temporary condition. Ominous-looking clouds amass in the east, flashing with lightning.
“Feel the storm?” He rises and stares at nature’s brewing fury. “It’s coming.”
6
JOVAK
Thunder cracks the sky, and lightning fractures the clouds as I hasten to rig up a tent using the wagon and salvaged tarps. The fabric has an oiled backing, making them water resistant, but attaching them in a way the wind won’t tear them away is a chore.
The wagon we appropriated from the Wyrm clan features metal hasps where the cage could be chained into place. By cutting strategic slits in the tarp, I manage to secure it with the help of sticks and leather straps. A stick goes through the rounded hasp, and twine holds it in place.
The wind is really picking up, sending my topknot out straight behind me during the stiffest gusts. Paige squints as the wind blows dust into her face, her arms laden with another tarp.
“I scavenged this from an old campsite down the road.”
“Good,” I say, throwing it over the one remaining gap. “Well done.”
Her lips stretch in a cautious smile. It makes her even lovelier if that were possible. I try not to stare, but it’s difficult. The last thing I want is to make her uncomfortable.
Why, though? When she first asked to come along, I tried to convince her how dangerous the journey would truly be. Yet, I was happy when she decided to take the risk anyway.
She helps me to secure the final tarp in place as drops of rain spatter down. One lands on my forehead, and it’s surprisingly cold.
“Paige?”
The weak voice comes from within the wagon. Paige gasps and hurries under the tarp to check on her sister. I remain outside, finishing the work of protecting us from the rain.
By the time I finish, the rain has become a steady hiss. The cold drops put a chill on my skin, but it would be worse if I were human. I climb into the wagon with the humans, careful to crowd my body into the farthest end from them.
Inside the tarps, it’s next to pitch black. Only a weak light diffuses through the gridwork stitching of the tarps. Once the fabric grows damp and sags with the rain, it allows in even less light.
The wind tears at the tarp, but our bindings hold, at least for now. A bit of water leaks through a gap, but fortunately, it is right over a hole in the wagon bed, so most of it goes right back out.
“Paige,” Laney says in a weak voice. “That man is an orc.”
“Yes, he is, but he’s not going to hurt you. He’s been helping us.”
In the half-light, I can dimly make out Paige’s freckled face turning my way. I think she’s smiling, but it’s hard to tell.
“Why?”
Laney’s question hangs in the air like an intangible pall.
“What do you mean?” Paige asks at length with a nervous half-laugh.
“Why would an orc help us? You said they were all bad.”
Even in the darkness, I know Paige’s face flushes with embarrassment.
“I never saidallorcs were bad,” Paige says hastily. “I just said that we should be careful around them, just in case they were bad.”
