Chapter Six
They arrived just as the sun began to dip behind the mountains, casting long shadows across the valley. Morgath drove down the main street, and Audrey’s stomach dropped when she realized the entire horde had gathered to welcome them.
Orcs lined both sides of the street – massive, green-skinned figures standing shoulder to shoulder, all of them staring at her with open curiosity.
There had to be a hundred of them. The weight of their collective gaze made her skin prickle.
She swore under her breath and leaned closer to Morgath, though she hated herself for it.
“Am I the only human here?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
“Naturally,” he said without looking at her.
She scanned the crowd again. They were watching her like she was some kind of exotic animal brought in for display.
She turned back to the captain and studied the skull mask that covered his entire head, the empty eye sockets revealing nothing of what he might be thinking.
“You must really hate humans,” she said.
“I find them weak, uninteresting, and a nuisance,” he replied.
“Too bad you can’t kill us anymore, right?”
He turned his head toward her. Even through the mask, she could feel the weight of his glare.
He said nothing, just faced forward again and slowed the car even more, allowing his orcs a better view of her.
Audrey forced herself to look at the horde, because somewhere in this crowd was the orc who’d killed her family.
She threw furtive glances from face to face, trying not to stare too obviously.
There were more males than females, she noticed.
She counted only five females among the crowd, their frames slightly smaller but no less imposing.
The orcs were all huge, their green skin ranging from deep forest tones to lighter shades like moss, and their expressions from curiosity to suspicion as they watched the car pass.
The main street ran straight through the center of town, lined with old storefronts and buildings that had been abandoned by humans years ago. The structures had the worn, weathered look of a former logging community, but the orcs had made them functional again.
The diner still had its faded red vinyl booths visible through the windows, though Audrey doubted the kitchen appliances worked anymore.
The old grocery store on the corner showed empty shelves and broken freezers through its dusty glass.
Houses scattered around the main street and up the hillsides, all of them repaired and reinforced, their roofs patched and windows replaced.
Morgath brought the car to a stop in front of what used to be the community center.
The doors stood wide open, and warm light spilled out into the dimming evening.
He climbed down from the vehicle and turned to help Audrey, extending one massive hand toward her.
She took it, forcing herself to move gracefully.
His fingers closed around hers with unexpected gentleness.
Raknar the Steadfast appeared beside them, reaching for her duffel bag in the back of the car.
Audrey stiffened.
“Don’t.”
Morgath laughed at her reaction, the sound rumbling deep in his chest.
“Raknar will take your bag to my house,” he said, his tone playful. “Why are you so prickly all of a sudden? What do you have in there that’s so precious?”
Audrey forced a smile and batted her lashes at him, channeling every ounce of false sweetness she could muster.
“Oh, nothing. Just a gun and my knife collection. I plan to slit your throat in your sleep.”
Morgath’s laughter exploded out of him, thunderous and genuine. Several of the watching orcs shifted and murmured among themselves. He released her hand and placed his palm on the small of her back, pushing her firmly toward the open doors of the community center.
“Come,” he said, still chuckling. “Let’s eat.”
The interior had been transformed into a feast hall. A massive table dominated the space, surrounded by heavy wooden chairs that looked like they’d been built specifically to hold the weight of orcs.
The table was piled high with food, more food than Audrey had ever seen in one place.
Whole roasted animals filled enormous platters, their skin crackling and golden.
She recognized boar and deer, and what might have been rabbit, all of them cooked to perfection and sending up trails of steam into the air.
Root vegetables sat in carved wooden bowls, their earthy smell mixing with the rich scent of the roasted meat.
Fresh bread had been torn into chunks and scattered across smaller plates, and wild berries filled several bowls.
The smells hit her hard and made her stomach clench with hunger.
Wine and beer filled large pitchers that sat along the table. Heavy mugs waited beside each place setting.
The orcs began filing in from the street. They moved with purpose, each one seeming to know exactly where they belonged, and within moments, the table was surrounded by green-skinned warriors, all still watching Audrey with varying degrees of interest.
Morgath the Skullreaper took his place at the head of the table, and before Audrey could even think about where she was supposed to sit, he reached out and pulled her directly onto his lap.
She yelped and tried to push away from him, her hands pressing against his chest, but he gripped her tightly around the waist and held her in place.
His mouth came close to her ear, his breath hot against her skin even through the skull helmet.
“Settle down,” he whispered. “Behave.”
“Or what?” she shot back, still struggling against his hold.
“Don’t challenge me, morsel.”
The word came out almost affectionate, which only made it more infuriating.
“What did you call me? Morsel?”
“Yes. Because you’re tiny, and annoying enough that I could eat you in one bite just to be done with you.”
His grip tightened fractionally – a warning.
They whispered to each other while both trying to smile. The orcs were watching to see how their captain would handle his new human bride. They were performing, signaling to the horde that everything was perfectly fine, that their captain had claimed a mate and was pleased with her.
Morgath banged his fist on the table, demanding silence. All eyes turned to him.
“This is Audrey,” he announced. “My bride. From this day on, any of you who wants a human bride can go get one, and she will be welcomed into the horde and treated as one of our own, just like Audrey.”
He paused, letting the words settle, then pulled Audrey more tightly against him.
“Let’s eat and drink. Tonight, I will claim her.”
He punctuated the statement by rubbing her ass against his hard cock.
Audrey couldn’t stop the yelp that escaped her lips.
Several orcs grinned, and a few laughed outright.
“You said you wouldn’t,” she whispered urgently, her face burning.
“I won’t,” he replied, already reaching for the platters of food.
He started piling meat onto his plate while she sat rigidly on his lap, hyper-aware of every point where their bodies touched. She could feel the length of his cock pressing against her backside. The heat of it seemed to radiate through the layers of fabric between them.
“Then why are you hard?” she asked, keeping her voice barely above a whisper.
He growled low in his throat, a sound of pure annoyance.
“It’s a normal reaction to friction. Don’t worry, this cock is not for you.”
Before she could respond, he tore a chunk of meat from the bone with his bare hands and brought it to her lips. Audrey blinked in surprise, her mouth falling open slightly. He took that as invitation to push the meat past her lips. She had no choice but to chew, her face flushing hot.
The orcs whispered to each other in their language.
The rough, guttural sounds had no meaning to her, but she knew they were talking about her.
The male orcs, in particular, stared at her as if they had never seen a human woman in their lives.
A few of them nodded in approval, and she caught fragments of conversation in English mixed with the orcish words she didn’t understand.
Morgath pressed a cup to her lips, tilting it carefully so she could drink without spilling. The wine was rough and strong, burning her throat as it went down.
He ate with his mask on, she noticed, bringing food to the wide jaw opening with grace. He was careful about it, almost elegant, not a single crumb falling, or a drop of grease escaping. She found herself fascinated, watching the way he managed to eat through the skull without removing it.
She wondered why he wouldn’t just take the mask off. Whether it had something to do with her presence, or if this was simply how he asserted his dominance, by keeping himself separate from his warriors even in this most basic of acts.
Audrey didn’t move an inch as he continued to feed her, letting him bring meat, bread, and berries to her lips while the horde watched and whispered.
Her entire body felt hot and flushed. She was acutely aware of the way his cock continued to throb against her with every small shift of her weight.
The friction was constant, unavoidable, and to her absolute horror, she could feel herself getting wet, her body responding to the pressure and heat of him.
She tried to tell herself it was just a physical reaction, nothing more.
She was only human, after all, and Morgath was objectively a fine specimen, even if she hated him with every fiber of her being.
Her body couldn’t help but be tempted by the raw strength of him, the sheer size and power that radiated from him.
It didn’t mean anything. It was just biology, her traitorous flesh responding to stimuli it was designed to respond to.
She forced herself to use the time productively, throwing quick glances around the table whenever she thought she could get away with it.
She studied faces, looking for anything familiar, any feature that might trigger a memory from that terrible night fifteen years ago.
But the orcs were careful not to meet her eyes for too long, and their features blurred together in the dim light of the candles and torches.
She would need more time, more opportunities to observe them when they weren’t all studying her in return.
The feast seemed to last forever. Morgath fed her bite after bite, his movements unhurried, and she swallowed and drank whenever he prompted her to.
The conversations around them grew louder as the orcs consumed more wine and beer, their voices rising.
Some of them called out to Morgath in orcish, and he responded in the same language.
Whatever he said made several of them laugh, and Audrey felt her face burn hotter, certain they were talking about her.
When the platters finally began to empty and the noise in the hall reached its peak, Morgath set down the last of the food and stood abruptly, hauling Audrey right over his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes.
She let out a startled gasp, her hands flying to his back to steady herself.
The entire hall erupted in cheers and shouts.
The orcs banged their fists on the table as Morgath carried her toward the door.
The night air hit her sharply after the warmth of the feast hall. Morgath carried her down the street toward one of the houses. She could hear the celebration continuing behind them, the orcs still cheering and calling out, but the sounds faded as they moved farther away.
He pushed through the door of a house that was bigger than the others and set her on her feet in the middle of the living room. Audrey stumbled as she found her balance, her head spinning from the wine and sudden change in position. Morgath pointed to a door on the far side of the room.
“That’s your bedroom,” he said.
Then he turned on his heel and walked right back out the door.
Audrey stood there, trying to process what had just happened. Her legs felt shaky, and she could still feel the phantom pressure of his cock against her backside.
She was exhausted and overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the last few hours. She could hardly believe she’d survived her first encounter with the horde.
But she was here. The plan was working so far. She had made it inside Morgath’s home, gained access to his horde, and now all she had to do was find the orc she was looking for.
She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and wondered which room she should check first.