Morgath the Skullreaper (Orc Mates #10)

Chapter One

The bar was at the edge of a border town, the kind of place where nobody asked questions and everyone minded their own business. Audrey Griffin pushed through the heavy door and made her way to the back corner booth, where her crew waited.

Tyler, Cole, Owen, Natalie, and Shauna looked up as she approached. She slid into the worn vinyl seat across from them.

These five people were her family now. The only family she had left.

Tyler had been with her the longest, teaching her how to hunt when she was just an angry fifteen-year-old runaway.

Cole and Owen were brothers who’d lost their parents during the orc war and had spent the last decade making the green beasts pay for it.

Natalie was their tracker, sharp-eyed and deadly with a rifle.

Shauna handled their communications and logistics. She kept them one step ahead of both human authorities and the Orc Council.

Tyler raised his beer bottle, and the others followed suit.

“To ten years of hunting and finally finding the bastards.”

Glass clinked against glass. Audrey brought her bottle to her lips. Her hand shook just slightly. The beer was cheap and bitter, but she drank it anyway.

Natalie leaned forward, her elbows on the scarred wooden table.

“I can’t believe we did it. How did you finally confirm it was Morgath the Skullreaper’s horde again?”

Audrey set her bottle down.

“The skull helmet was the key. Only one orc captain is known to wear a massive horned skull, and I spent the last six months tracking down witnesses from different states, piecing together where his horde moved during the war.”

Owen nodded.

“We found an old trucker who’d seen the horde passing through Wyoming, heading north toward Montana. The timing matched.”

“Three days after my family was killed in Colorado,” Audrey said.

Cole tapped his finger against the table.

“We cross-referenced with reported orc sightings and found that Morgath’s horde had moved through Colorado during that exact week fifteen years ago.”

Shauna pulled out a small notebook, flipping through pages covered in her neat handwriting.

“We also found a survivor from a town twenty miles from Audrey’s who remembered the skull-masked orc leading a raid. She said she’d never forget it. The skull had these massive, curved horns that made him look like death itself.”

Audrey took another sip of her beer.

“The final confirmation came two weeks ago, when we tracked down a former soldier who’d fought Morgath’s horde near the Canadian border. He’d heard them speaking about their journey north from what they called the southern territories.”

Tyler leaned back into the booth, satisfaction shimmering in his green eyes.

“The pieces fit. Morgath’s horde carved a path from Colorado to Montana during the war, and Audrey’s family was right in that path.”

The bar was loud with the sounds of pool balls cracking and a jukebox playing old country songs. The other patrons paid them no attention, but they still tried to keep their voices low.

Audrey let the noise wash over her, as her mind drifted back fifteen years ago.

She’d been ten years old, small for her age, when her parents had shoved her into the storm shelter in the basement of their house.

She could still hear her mother’s voice, tight with terror, telling her to stay quiet no matter what she heard.

Her parents were frantic. They couldn’t find Danny, her older brother.

They ran back upstairs to search for him while she waited.

A few minutes later, the screaming started.

Audrey had pressed her hands over her ears and curled into a ball on the concrete floor. Her mother’s wailing, Danny shouting at the attacker to stop, her father roaring in pain... After that, crashes, thuds, the sound of the house being torn apart.

Audrey had stayed in the basement for hours after everything went silent.

She’d been too terrified to move, too terrified to open the door and see what was waiting for her.

When she finally climbed out, the sun was setting and the house was in ruin.

The front door hung off its hinges, windows were shattered, and furniture was smashed to pieces.

Her family was scattered across the living room floor.

Blood soaked into the carpet and splattered across the walls.

Her mother’s body was near the kitchen, her father’s by the overturned couch, and Danny had made it almost to the hallway before they’d caught him.

Audrey had stood there in the doorway, a ten-year-old girl whose childhood had just ended.

The state put her in foster care after that.

She spent the next few years consumed by rage and grief, getting into fights at school, nearly ending up in juvenile detention twice.

When she was fifteen, she ran away and fell in with a group of drifters who hunted rogue orcs for money.

That was when she met Tyler, who was only seventeen himself.

The group eventually became the Tusk Hunters – a small, tight-knit band of humans who killed orcs that broke the peace treaty.

In the early days after the war, there had been plenty of rogue orcs to hunt, orcs who refused to follow the Council’s rules and still preyed on human settlements.

They’d made good money from towns that wanted protection, or from families seeking revenge.

But as the years passed and the peace solidified, their work became illegal on both sides. The Orc Council declared them outlaws, and human authorities labeled them vigilantes. Now they had to be careful, taking only jobs they could do quietly, always moving and watching their backs.

Audrey had trained relentlessly, learning to fight, track, and kill. She’d participated in at least a dozen kills, now. Her hands were stained with orc blood. But none of it had satisfied the burning need inside her, not until she’d found the horde responsible for destroying her family.

Owen’s voice pulled her back to the present.

“So, what’s the plan now that we know?”

Audrey took a long drink of her beer, nose scrunched up in distaste.

“We can’t attack Morgath’s horde directly. We’d be slaughtered. Morgath isn’t just a captain, he’s also acting as the horde’s mage. That makes him twice as dangerous.”

Natalie frowned. “Are you sure about that? I’ve never heard of a captain who was also a mage.”

“Monica confirmed it,” Audrey said.

Over the years, she’d made it a point to befriend institute managers across multiple states.

They knew more about the orc hordes in their areas than almost anyone, and the information had been invaluable.

Monica was one of her closest contacts and ran the institute nearest to Morgath’s territory in Montana.

Tyler leaned back and crossed his arms.

“So, how are we supposed to get to him then?”

“I need to identify which orc in the horde killed my family first,” Audrey said. “It wasn’t Morgath himself who broke into my house. I need to get inside the horde, get close, and figure out who it was.”

Shauna’s eyes widened. “You’re going to offer yourself as tribute.”

Audrey nodded. “I already talked to Monica at the institute this morning. She agreed to help.”

Owen slammed his hand on the table.

“That’s insane, Audrey. You can’t just walk into an orc horde alone.”

“It’ll never work,” Cole added, shaking his head. “There are too many variables, too many things that could go wrong.”

“And what if Morgath doesn’t even choose you?” asked Natalie. “There could be dozens of other tributes at the institute. Plus, what makes you think he even wants to take a bride?”

Audrey held up her hand and waited for them to quiet down.

“Monica has heard rumors that Morgath’s horde is turning against him.”

Well, that got their attention.

“He’s forbidden his warriors from taking human mates for fifteen years,” she continued.

“Because he’s been holding onto hope of returning to their home world.

But the horde has lost patience. They see other orcs settling down and building families, and they want the same.

The ban has created resentment, and Morgath’s raiders are reportedly considering a coup. ”

“How does that help us?” asked Tyler.

“Morgath will have to take a bride himself to prove he’s committed to staying here. And to quell the rebellion,” Audrey explained. “Monica thinks it could happen soon, maybe within weeks.”

“Even if he comes to the institute,” said Owen, “There’s no guarantee he’ll choose you over the other women there.”

Audrey had to admit that was the weakest part of the plan.

“I’ll have to make myself appealing. Make myself stand out somehow. I don’t know exactly how yet, but I’ll figure it out.”

They ordered another round of beers, and the conversation continued. Shauna suggested alternatives, like ambushing Morgath, or poisoning their water supply. Tyler shot those ideas down as too risky.

“I want the orc who killed my family specifically,” Audrey insisted. “I want to look him in the eyes when he dies.”

“Let’s say you infiltrate the horde successfully,” Cole said. “What will you do after you identify the killer?”

“I’ll slit his throat myself if I can,” Audrey said. “But if not, I’ll signal you, and we’ll do it together.”

“If you become Morgath’s mate, he might be vulnerable,” Natalie said. “We could take him out and cripple the leadership at the same time.”

“Without a captain and a mage, the horde would fall apart completely,” Owen said.

The group started to warm up to the idea as they saw the possibilities.

Tyler said they’d set up a base nearby, somewhere they could monitor the horde’s movements without being detected.

He knew of an abandoned building about ten miles from Morgath’s town, an old hunting lodge that still had most of its structure intact.

“We’ll bring the long-range radio equipment,” he said. “Stay in constant contact with you.”

“I’ll make sure you can reach us at any time, day or night,” Shauna promised.

The plan was starting to take shape. Cole and Owen would scout the area and map out escape routes. Natalie would be their lookout, watching for any signs that the horde was onto them.

The hours passed and the bar got louder and more crowded. They kept drinking and refining the plan, working through details and contingencies.

Tyler gripped Audrey’s shoulder across the table.

“You don’t have to do this alone. We’re with you all the way.”

Audrey felt a swell of gratitude for these people. They’d stood by her for ten years, helped her track down every lead, and never questioned her thirst for revenge.

“So, you’re really going to go through with it?” asked Owen, leaning back with a smirk. “Sleep with a big green monster and everything?”

Natalie smacked him hard over the head.

“Owen, shut up.”

“What? I’m just saying what we’re all thinking.”

Audrey shook her head and let out a laugh.

“I’ll do whatever it takes. If that’s part of it, then that’s part of it.”

“Damn, Audrey,” Owen said, rubbing the back of his head, where Natalie had hit him. “I was joking, but you’re serious.”

“I’ve been serious about this for fifteen years,” Audrey said. “I’m not going to let anything stop me now.”

Shauna raised her beer one more time.

“To Audrey, the bravest of us.”

They all drank.

Near midnight, Audrey stepped outside for a smoke, leaving the others still drinking and talking inside.

She lit the last cigarette in her pack and leaned against the brick wall, letting the night air cool her heated skin.

The street was mostly empty at this hour.

Just a few cars passing by, and the occasional drunk stumbling out of the bar.

She took a long drag and thought about how much her life was about to change.

She’d been smoking since she was fourteen, another small rebellion and another way to feel in control when everything else felt chaotic.

But if she was going to be a tribute, she needed to quit and be as healthy and appealing as possible.

She dropped the cigarette and ground it under her boot. That was it, her last one.

She ran her hand through her short red hair, the strands barely long enough to tuck behind her ears. She’d have to let it grow out and try to look more feminine, more like the kind of woman an orc captain would choose.

Audrey caught her reflection in the bar’s window and studied herself. Dark red hair, freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, blue eyes. She was twenty-five, curvy and strong, her body built from years of training, muscles defined under her jacket.

She knew she was attractive enough, but she’d never tried to be soft or delicate. Now she’d have to play a part and pretend to be something she wasn’t.

The plan wasn’t perfect. There was so much that could go wrong, so much that depended on luck and timing. But it was the best shot she had, and she wasn’t going to waste it.