Chapter 1 That’s My Orc, Tusk Off
WILLA
I’d driven past the turnoff twice before I found it, which felt about right for how the last six months had gone.
The sign was small and easy to miss: Creature Rescue League in scrolling letters, an arrow pointing down a dirt road that disappeared into the trees.
I slowed, squinted, decided it couldn’t be right, and kept going.
A mile later I turned around, came back, and accepted that yes, my new job was at the end of a road that looked like it led to either a cult or a summer camp.
I’d scrolled past three other office manager postings before applying for this one and interviewing online. Portland jobs. Safe jobs. The type where you knew exactly what you’d be doing in five years because you were already doing it now.
None of them felt quite right but this one did.
The Creature Rescue League was run by orcs—orcs!
Orcs had emerged from the ground a few years ago.
After forming treaties, they moved in among us, taking jobs, buying property, and even dating humans.
I’d only met a few orcs, but the thought of working with them and animals from the orc kingdom felt like the change I needed after ending a long-term relationship.
The job description had said the place was chaotic. It had also said creatures from the orc kingdom, small team, and organizational support urgently needed.
That sounded just right.
I turned onto the road.
The road narrowed fast, trees pressing close on both sides, branches scraping the roof of my Jeep Wrangler in a way that made me wince.
Mud season had left a few potholes to weave around, and for a solid two minutes I saw nothing but forest, a pond, and the occasional flash of something moving in the woods that I chose not to examine too closely.
Then the gate and fence appeared.
Ten feet of heavy metal mesh, running in both directions into the woods, disappearing as if it had no intention of ending anytime soon.
I came to a stop at the gate and entered the code, driving through when it the gate opened.
Once the gate had shut with a bang, I continued.
The road curved once, and the property opened up ahead of me, a two-story building with a stone foundation and log siding.
Enclosures beyond. Pens. Pastures. Fencing that stretched back toward the tree line and kept going.
I parked in the lot out front, turned off the engine, and peered around.
This was it. The Creature Rescue League. My new job. The place I’d chosen after interviewing for three other office manager positions that had been perfectly fine and perfectly boring and perfectly not this.
I grabbed my tote bag, got out, and walked to the front door.
It opened before I could knock.
The orc on the other side was enormous, at least seven feet, with medium green skin, dark hair falling loose around his shoulders, and midnight-black eyes that went wide the second he saw me.
He had tusks. Actual, thumb-sized tusks curving up from his lower jaw.
I mean, I’d seen them before of course, but never this up close and personal.
“You’re Willa,” he said.
“I am,” I said. “Willa Enford.”
“I’m Brovish, one of the owners.” He stepped back, gesturing me inside with both hands like he was welcoming me into his own home. “Come on in.”
I stepped into the entryway and was wrapped up in warmth and the smell of tea.
A small, round, bright orange creature rode his shoulder. One of the creatures. It had bat-style wings tucked against its body, a wide face, stubby limbs, and eyes that made you want to protect it even though you had no idea what it was.
Brovish caught me looking. “This is Sofia. She’s an emberkit.” He held out his hand, and Sofia hopped onto his palm, leaning forward to sniff my fingers. Smoke—actual smoke—curled from her nostrils.
I sucked in a breath. “She won’t burn me, will she?”
“She can shoot bits of fire, but she rarely does.”
That was not reassuring.
Sofia made a soft chirping sound and launched herself off Brovish’s hand, flying down the hallway, her wings beating fast enough to blur.
“She’s probably looking for Laina,” Brovish said.
“She’s my mate and our vet here at the facility.
We met when she came on a late-night call and was amazing with a clatterwing.
How could I do anything but hire her—and then fall in love with her?
” He grinned, all tusks. “But no worries about Sofia. She likes you.”
“Good to know,” I said, still watching the hallway where the creature had disappeared.
Brovish gestured around the entryway. “So—welcome. Officially. We’re really happy you’re here.
Much happy. We’ve needed someone to help managing things for too long.
You’ll sit here for now.” He pointed to the reception desk against the far wall.
“Until we hire a receptionist. Then you’ll have your own office.
We’re working on it. Traig has a plan. He always has a plan. ”
A high-pitched noise echoed from somewhere deeper in the facility, followed by a bang and the sound of tiny feet scurrying across tile.
Brovish’s eyes widened. “I have to go.” He spun away from me and bolted down the other hallway, calling out over his shoulder. “Traig will be here soon to orient you.” He entered a room near the end, slamming the door behind him.
The scurrying stopped.
I stood in the entryway, tote bag in hand, wondering if this was normal or if I’d arrived on a particularly exciting day.
But I wasn’t the type to stand around waiting.
The reception desk looked sturdy and had been built at a scale slightly too tall for me, but I’d dealt with worse.
I set my bag down, pulled out the chair, and took stock.
A relatively new desktop computer. A corded phone.
And a small stack of forms weighted down with a rock.
File cabinets stood behind the desk, and a bulletin board covered in photos hung on the wall to my right.
I studied the creatures and people, mostly humans, holding or standing beside animals that had to be from the orc kingdom. Adoption photos.
This place was amazing, and I was so excited to get started. Real orc creatures, brought to the surface to heal from injuries and be adopted by humans. What could be more fun than that?
I opened the top drawer of the left file cabinet. The folders inside had been labeled, color-coded, and organized according to a system that wasn’t like anything I’d seen before.
I closed the drawer and opened the second. The third.
Intake-Medical-Crossref.
Behavioral-Subspecies-A.
Intake-Behavioral-Cross-Ref-Subspecies-D.
The last folder had a small notation in the corner, See Also: Intake-General-Misc-Temp-B (Drawer 4).
I crouched, squinting at a folder that seemed to reference three other folders in two other drawers, possibly another filing cabinet, and maybe a dimension I hadn’t traveled to yet. I was trying to decode the logic when someone spoke behind me.
“You’re early.”
I straightened fast. Turned. Looked up. And kept looking up.
An orc taller and broader than Brovish stood nearby, scowling at me like I’d rearranged his entire life without permission.
He had dark green skin. Hair tied back in a knot at the base of his skull. And eyes the color of ink, studying me. I had the urge to check if I had something on my face.
He held a tablet against his chest.
My brain registered two things. First, that he was undeniably hot in a way that made me want to apologize for noticing. Second, he’d already decided something about me, and I had no idea what it might be.
“I’m on time, actually,” I said, and smiled. “You must be Traig.”
“Yes, Traig. Operations and Transport Director.”
I extended my hand. “I’m Willa Enford, your new office manager and chaos wrangler.”
He blinked at my hand and took it.
The handshake didn’t last long before he released my hand and stepped back, his eyes flicking to the open file drawer behind me.
“I’ll be orienting you to your new job,” he said. He pinched his lips together, his tusks sliding over his upper lip. “How about a tour first?”
“Sure.”
The facility was bigger than it looked from the outside. He walked me through the hallways, gesturing to the medical bay, break room, supply room, and conference room.
“Creatures are housed in the outdoor enclosures unless they require medical attention or observation,” he said, pausing at a window that looked out over the grounds behind the building.
Fencing, pastures, and scattered pens with creatures moving around inside.
“The perimeter fence is ten feet tall and reinforced mesh.”
I nodded, taking it in.
He led me back to the entryway and gestured to my chair. “Please sit.”
While I settled, he disappeared down the hall, returned with a second chair built to fit an orc that he set beside mine.
“I’ve prepared materials,” he said. “I’ll send them to your desktop.” He rattled off a login and password. I typed them in, and the computer gave me access.
A few taps on his tablet, and my screen chimed.
I opened the file and scrolled through it. Kept scrolling.
“This is…comprehensive,” I said carefully.
“It needs to be.”
He was watching the screen, not me, his expression unreadable.
“How long did it take you to write all this?”
“A few hours. I started the moment Brovish told me he’d hired you.”
Sixty-five pages, including a table of contents, subsections, and appendices. Wow.
“Okay,” I said. “We’re doing this.”
He frowned. “Yes, we are. You were…hired. You’re here.”
“It’s just a saying that means I’m ready.”
“Ah, good.” His frown didn’t go away.
He walked me through the document section by section. When he leaned over to point at something on my screen, I caught the scent of cedar and soap. His arm was close enough that I could see the fine grain of his skin, darker at his knuckles where his hand gripped the edge of the desk.
I refocused on the screen.