Page 50 of The Orc's Rage

She covered her ears, wondering what could have happened. Were they being attacked?

Kiya pinned his ears back as she passed him and peered out the tent door. Now she heard... cheering? Orcs streamed out of their tents, down the pathways toward the gathering area. Another horn sounded, and she heard a familiar roar of victory.

Lord Kargorr had returned.

Her body lit up like a flame. He was alive. He’d come back to her.

Cedar ran along behind the other orcs, trying to get ahead of them so she could see him first. Horses were assembled at the entrance to the camp, orcs mounted on them, blood covering their bodies. They pulled wagons full of goods. At the center rode Kargorr.

Her orc. Her monster. Half of his face was brown with dry blood, bisecting it once again. His tusks curled cruelly up over his lip. Her single beating heart jumped, sensing his was nearby.

And then she heard the sobbing.

She knew that sound. Women. Cedar’s eyes searched until she found them: two human women and one human man, being led out of the wooden cart where they were held.

Horror descended on her. Rathka was right.

The flame went out like ice water had been poured on it. Kargorrhadbrought home new concubines. He planned to replace her with these meek, sobbing women. To spread his seed, like he had once promised her.

Cedar stopped where she was, and then backed away as other orcs passed her.

She was nothing, after all. Just a warm body to be used and thrown away, as she’d always known she was.

How could Cedar have been so foolish to think anything else?

Her arms wrapped around her middle as she turned and bolted back to the tent. She had to be fast. She would get her baby out of this place, far away from him. Cedar would never, ever watch as he took another woman. She would never lie there and listen.

Her chest was impossibly tight as she snatched her cloak and boots, shoving them on as fast as she could. This was her only chance, while everyone was distracted. Kiya circled her, clearly concerned at her sudden frantic packing. She threw some food from the table into a bag and turned to leave. Kiya followed her, as he always did.

She couldn’t bring him with her. She couldn’t feed him if she could barely feed herself. Who knew how long it would take for her to find a human settlement?

Taking his leash, she tied him to the post, kissed his forehead, and then fled the tent.

She wouldn’t let Kargorr do this to her. She would rather die.

Cedar walked the opposite direction of the gathering at a normal pace, trying not to attract attention to herself. But everyone was enraptured with the new arrivals, so she burst into a sprint, running past tent after tent. The cheers and cries of other orcs rose into the air as the party was welcomed home.

She felt sick to her stomach, like bile was already burning its way up her throat.

Finally, Cedar was out in the snow, running away from the light of the torches mounted around the camp. It was a dark night, but the stars glittered brightly, lighting her way. She had held in the heaving misery until now, until she finally reached the woods, and then it crashed over her.

Cedar sobbed into a tree trunk, pausing just long enough to get her breath back. He cared nothing for her and their child.

Then she stilled her tears, knowing she needed to put as much distance as she could between herself and the camp. She remembered how Kargorr had threatened her with the whip, and knew that if she was caught, she would be lashed while his new concubines watched.

So Cedar ran, summoning all the buried strength in her legs, into the woods. She didn’t know what lay ahead there, but it was better than what lay behind her.

25

Kargorr

Where was she?

How he hungered for his Cedar. He had pushed his warriors hard to return to theparogso he could claim her again, finally. He had even brought her a gift, an offering, as only mated orcs did.

He couldn’t avoid it, not any longer. He had to have her.

Kargorr dismounted his horse, the big, stupid creature, and handed the reins off to whoever happened to be standing nearby. Thegrrosekparted for him as he stalked through the crowd, searching for her, sniffing the air just to catch her smell. Hissargathrobbed thinking about her, imagining how warm and soft and tight she would be, relishing how she would taste, how her eyelashes would flutter as he held her, how she would curl up close to him as she slept. He needed to find her, now.

---