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The entire Tharraka clan could buy out their mountain and rule it all. The only thing stopping them from taking over their other clans were their ideas of civility and gentrification. It wouldn’t be proper to continue inter-house schisms. Their ruling council worked hard to redo their image over the last few generations. It worked.
Orcs were no longer only valued for their berserker sensibilities in battle. They consistently ranked with elves and goblins for all the things that mattered: magic wielding, physical prowess, and overall bloodthirsty zeal. The Tharraka clan was accredited for that.
How in the world was I supposed to compete against his pedigree?
“Well, damn, what am I supposed to do, thank them?”
“You drank their offering, and that’s enough,” Bo said. “Declan has had more than enough willing pussy thrown his way. If he wants your kitty, he’s gonna have to come and get it himself.” An inspired gleam shone in her eyes. “Maybe he could be the one, you know? Blow off steam? I heard he’s good for that sort of thing.”
Bo waggled her eyebrows at me, as if her meaning was not painfully obvious.
My face flushed with renewed heat. Though I wasn’t one hundred percent human—a secret I shared with no one but my adoptive parents—I grew up on the human side of the tracks, and so human sensibility was my default. We didn’t talk about sex as openly as the magical community that ruled this side of town. Mating and breeding were as openly talked about as the weather.
“Oh gods, what an image,” I said, willing my heart to slow down. There was no reason to think that someone like him could be interested in a nobody like me, at least not in that way.
“Oops, I forgot about their damned hearing,” Bo muttered under her breath.
“What?” I asked, panic rising in my chest. Could they have heard us talking?
“Incoming.” That was the only warning Bo could give before she waved her arm high in the air. “Hail, Declan, it’s been a while. Rothgar. Jalen.” She nodded to each orc.
“Hail, Boudica of the River tribe. Enjoying the lovely evening?” He barely paused for Bo’s nod when he shifted his gaze toward me. Across the room, he was electrifying. Up close, it was like trying to stand in the path of an oncoming storm. It was both thrilling and terrifying. It took all my concentration not to squirm.
When I didn’t look away first, he smiled once more. A golden light pulsed behind his eyes. It was an appraisal of respect, one that I was familiar with.
It wasn’t easy for me to be a hybrid in public school, though I presented as human most of the time. I’d learned early on to stand up to bullies and earn enough respect not to be picked on. It helped that the bit of non-human that I was packing in my DNA came with a little oomph behind my fist.
Something told me that a move like that would do nothing against Declan.
Bo asked brightly, “What brings you down from your mountain?”
“Hunting,” Declan said, his eyes still on me, his low, husky voice that bloomed with shades of meaning. “I apologize, but I do not believe we have met.”
His voice melted my insides, and an embarrassing amount of liquid heat rushed between my legs. He had no right to be this overwhelming.
Boudica rolled her eyes. “You highborns,” she muttered under her breath. “Declan, Rothgar, and Jalen of clan Tharraka, may I introduce my roommate, Capricorn Jade.” Bo continued. “Capri and I were enjoying an end of term hang out since we so rarely spend time together anymore.”
I craned my neck back, acknowledging all three of them with a nod as Bo said their names. Rothgar was an avalanche on solid legs, nearly the same height as Declan. He was an orc’s orc—built for endurance and stamina. He dressed in more traditional leathers, but wore a black t-shirt that strained over his rippling muscles. Geometric tattoos graced the length of both his arms. They appeared to be moving along his skin.
I wondered if he imbued them with magic. My hands buzzed with the need to touch them, so I curled my fingers into fists so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.
Jalen was leaner, but he still filled out his shirt and jeans just as well as his other friends. Though his sharper features and ears belied an elvish ancestry, his look was all orc. His aura practically screamed at anyone to challenge his right to stand alongside his brethren.
As someone who had never fit into any community, I couldn’t quite relate. If I ever do find a place where I belonged, I hoped to fight for it with that same level of pride.
Since Declan stood closest to me, I extended my hand to him. He enclosed it with both of his much larger ones. “Nice to meet you. Thank you for the drink.”
“The pleasure is mine,” he said in a velvety tone. “As the night is still young, the pleasure could also be yours.”
Damn, he was good. Maybe Bo was right, and I should take what this guy was clearly putting out there. I’d only ever been with human males, though, and the way I’ve heard other girls whisper on campus about their monster lovers made me wonder if it would be physically possible…
“The fuck it will be,” Bo said.
She lifted the corners of her lips into a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. I recognized that shift in her demeanor. Her cordial mask was slipping ever so slightly—she could swing her blade and divest them of their heads in half a blink.
Declan had yet to release my hand, and so I slowly slid it away from his gentle grasp.
Anger flashed over the orcs’ features. “How so, warrior?” Declan replied. He said it as a challenge to a worthy fighter rather than in a derogatory tone. That meant that he recognized Bo could hold her own against him, though he had twice the bulk and was nearly seven feet tall.
