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As the door swung closed behind the attorney, I clutched the envelope holding my father’s will and Mom’s I supposed. “What did you want to talk about?”
“You’re going to want to find somewhere else to live.”
Chapter Two
Menace
“Let me know if you find the Yeti or Sasquatch. We’ll download it and make a fortune,” Saber said, poking his head into our shared office space. His hair was back in a braid, and he had just come in from getting our deliveries. We’d finally found someone who did what we asked without poking around and asking unnecessary questions. They delivered the things we needed to a set place in the woods, and we paid them handsomely. All our lives, we had paid in some way or another for peace.
Being an orc came with a set of rules most didn’t need to live by. Others had ways to hide their true selves, but we had no other self to shift into—no charms or wiles like the vampires to hypnotize others into our delusions. And so, we hid from the world.
I slid the mouse to the right, trying to pan around the woods that surrounded our mountain home, making sure there was no one around. It was the third time I’d done that, and it wasn’t even noon. “And when I download it, someone might recognize the woods and come prowling around and then we’d be discovered. Good plan, Saber.”
He groaned. “Menace, you worry too much.”
“And you don’t worry enough, my friend.” I turned the security system on monitor and walked out of the office and into the living area at the command of my stomach. Draven was trying out a new recipe on the request of a cookbook author and was working out the kinks, making notes all the way.
“When was the last time you heard or saw anything about hunters?” Saber grabbed a handful of nuts from the jar on the counter and popped them into his mouth. The table was full ofboxes. We bought most of our groceries in bulk, but with the focus of Draven’s work, we had to order specific ingredients sometimes. We never went into town or into the cities, especially. It was a small life but safer for all of us.
“Last month,” I replied, taking out the pantry items. I got them out of the boxes but didn’t dare attempt to put them up. The kitchen and all its branches were Draven’s domain. It was better left to him and his precise organizing ways.
“Wait, last month?” Draven asked, turning around but not fully. He was stirring the big pot which was bubbling with some kind of chicken dish. It smelled divine.
“Yeah. I told you about it.”
After we got all the food unpacked, I collapsed the boxes and put them out for recycling. We dropped that stuff once a month, in the middle of the night so as not to be seen. The truth was, in this day and age, it was probably okay for us to go out in public. There were humans with body modifications of all kinds so, while we might be stared at, they would never think we were real orcs. The hunters were a real threat though. They didn’t go after shifters and vampires as much anymore, but there was a faction of them whose life’s goal was orc hunting.
I chuckled to myself. They were probably jealous of our tusks. I didn’t blame them. They made us look fierce, which we were.
Every day blended in with the other lately. I checked the cameras. Brought in the firewood. Did the chores around the house and outside on the mountain. Ate. Did my training exercises. Ran until exhaustion threatened to end me. Rinse and repeat. It was fulfilling, and I liked my life exactly the way it was, but there was more to be had, to be experienced.
The rest required a female.
Except there were no female orcs. Orc babies were born of an orc and a human female. There were tales of some whosuccessfully bred with vampires or shifters, even witches, but those stories were rare and anecdotal.
“We need more firewood, Menace. The nights are getting colder. Let me help you,” Saber said as we gathered naturally that night for supper. We didn’t share all of our meals, but supper was a given. We no longer belonged to a rage, but we took some of the traditions with us when we left. Gathering at night for a meal was one of them.
“Let’s go.” We brought in another stack of firewood. It took us only a few minutes, and we spent time planting trees to replace the ones that we cut down. We owned a hundred acres all around the mountain, and no trespassing signs peppered the edges of the property.
And we wondered why we couldn’t find someone to have our children. We lived secluded. In a mountain. Surrounded by private woods. And we had tusks and greenish-gray skin.
Orcs also didn’t do romance.
I supposed we would if we managed to find our fated mate, but I didn’t know of a single orc who had ever found that magical human female.
“Dinner,” Draven said as we added the new firewood to the old. I threw a log into the living area fireplace and then into each of the ones in our bedrooms.
“Is this a new recipe?” I asked as we sat down around the table.
“No. My grandmother’s chicken stew. That’s it. Dig in.”
We ate in silence for a bit but while our table was full and our bellies warm and satisfied, there was something big missing from the picture. While I’d only heard it in other households, I wanted the sounds of children and their mother in our home. I didn’t dare wish for love. Honestly, I didn’t know if I had that in my heart to give, but the rest, I would give anything for.
That night, I scanned the camera for anything unusual and found nothing. Sometimes in the summer, there would be a stray hiker or someone lost but in the winter, the only movement was a deer or maybe some squirrels fighting over the last acorn.
It wasn’t like a human woman who didn’t mind tusks was going to traipse into our woods and need saving.
Gods, that sounded like the perfect fantasy and as I lay in bed, thinking it over, my hand drifted down between my legs. I was in great need of a release, but what I really needed was a female to sink into. I wanted to feel the softness of her human skin against my rougher exterior. Feel her hands as they ran down my chest and the length of my torso. Writhing underneath me while I made her come over and over. Her hair fanned all over my pillow while the light from the fire danced in her eyes as she screamed my name.
