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Before I came here, Dominic and I lived together in a foster home. Only it wasn’t a foster home, not really. The woman who ran it was just grooming girls to be taken by her “friend”. I ran, Dominic helped me, and we thought we’d escaped.
Only, he won’t let us escape. It was his money that we stole that bought this house. The deed to the house had to have my official name, and he tracked me down. He’s here. With Judicial Enforcement and that big orc from the street the other night. He has the money to pay them all off. He’s at the door, they already have Darrell. I’m sorry, I have to do what I can to save him now, whatever that is.
You’re my mate, the only one I’ve ever loved, but I have to protect them. They’re the family that found me and they need me.
Goodbye, my Tigor. They’re about to break through the door. I have to go or they’ll find this note and you’ll never know. I take care of our baby, if they let me life. If I can get away…
I grind my teeth, a low roar starting in my chest. That big orc. No prizes for guessing who that’s referring to. Clan Lakktra has no shortage of enemies, but I should have guessed Yarek would be involved. If he’s hurt her. If he’s touched a hair on her head, he’ll wish I was just going to kill him.
In a blind rush, I stomp down the stairs and outside. I need to get to the rest of the clan. I need my family. I’d face our enemies alone and save her life, but I can’t guarantee I won’t get killed before I can save all three of them.
Fuck.
Laughter cuts through my thoughts, and I snarl as I look up to see three Neo-human coalition assholes sauntering down the street. For a moment I almost ignore them, then one of them speaks.
“Serves her fucking right, dirty little orc loving bitch.” He laughs. “Maybe next time you won’t provoke people by cutting their hands off.”
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Fucking jackpot.
With a roar, I bear down on the trio. At first they laugh, but they haven’t seen an orc in a mating fury. The first one flies ten feet as I punch him in the face, landing unconscious in the grass verge, but the second comes at me with a knife. It’s big, but I’m bigger. I grab the blade flat between my hands and twist, tearing it from his grip, then slam my knee into his stomach as pain flares in my thigh.
The third has a makeshift club made of a tire iron, and it hurts like a motherfucker, but right now I have more important things to deal with than pain. I grab him by the stupid orc-appropriator hair and lift, swinging him like a sling and slamming him into number two. Both of them grunt, but I’m not done, I’m not leaving them here and I’m not killing them either. Not yet, not even if they beg.
Shoving my fingers into their nostrils, I drag them off their feet and toward my ranch house. They’re screaming, flailing to get some sort of grip and stop our forward momentum, but they don’t even know what pain is if they think this is it. As I pass the first one, unconscious from my punch, I slam my foot into his chest, rolling him along as I go.
Once I’m inside, they’re going to tell me everything. Or things are going to get bad fast.
ChapterTen
Emmie
“You promised, you fucking bastard!” I scream at Kent the moment I manage to dislodge the gag, trying to kick him in the balls but my leg is tied to the chair and all it does is squeak across the floor. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt them!”
“I can hardly let them go, can I? I promise it will be quick. No pain. In a way, that’s keeping my promise. Can’t say fairer than that.”
The motherfucker JE agent whistles from the other side of the room. He’s there with that orc bastard from the other night, and a couple of other big orcs to boot. “Yep, this will do it. Nobody is going to question this statement. Just like her mom, she’s a thief. I tried to take her quietly but she slipped her bonds and got a bullet. Tragic.”
Kent nods. “Good. Then we’re settled. Dominic, you first, where would you like the bullet?”
He mumbles through the gag as Kent goes around behind me. The things he did to us, the things he made the girls do for him, the way he treated the boys, all of it comes back to me. There’s no justice in the world, because he’s going to get away with all of it, and the worst thing is none of this was even necessary. We were just going to live our lives. He has plenty of money, what we stole didn’t change anything for him.
“I’m sorry,” I say to Dominic. “I’m sorry. If it wasn’t for me—”
“It’s all right. I knew what I was getting into. I couldn’t let you leave alone, could I? What sort of a friend would I be?”
“Touching,” says Kent. “But I have other things to do. Now that our business is complete, I have to get back to the other girls. The ones who didn’t try to run. Now, bullet. Where? Or I’ll decide for you.”
“Back of my head,” Dominic spits.
“Of course. Quick, painless, you won’t know a thing. Not a bad way to leave this world.”
Kent walks around to the side of the chairs, and out of the corner of my eye I see him take aim. The gun isn’t far away, but…
I have to try.
Throwing my head sideways, I feel the barrel clunk against my skull at the same time as a loud explosion fills the room. For a second, I see stars, and close my eyes tight, but when I open them again Kent is clutching his wrist and saying something that fades in as my ears readjust.
