Page 6 of Alien Orc Warlord's Captive Bride

I look for any other humans, and see none. My skin crawls. Where do they keep their stolen brides? Are they locked up, out of the sun, hidden away in the stone houses or below ground? Do the Orcs ever let them out, or do they simply come back after a raid or a hunt, their blood up, to use their possessions like toys?

No!

Think clearly! No more useless thoughts.

The Orcs are all staring, and there's surprise in their eyes. They didn't know of their Chieftain's plan. He went out, and they weren't expecting him to come back with me.

What does it mean?

My kidnapping was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

"You see my people? Now they are healthy and happy. Autumn. I brought them through the last winter alive. And I will bring them through this one." He turns to me and points at the two soldiers watching us, older men with hard eyes. "This is the only entrance to our hidden valley. It's guarded at all times. Escape is futile. I would rather not have to chain you up while you are here."

But I bet you'd like to put me over your lap and punish me again.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Chieftain, but I won't try to escape again," I say, turning my body so only he can see me. I let the fur open ever so slightly, exposing the top of my cleavage as if by accident, and his eyes dart down instantly, then back up.

He wants me.

I need to find a way to use that against him.

The two soldiers are watching me too intently. They are in loincloths, but they also have leather armor over their chests, and wear helmets with horns. One licks his fangs, running his huge red tongue over the ivory.

Ragnar sees where I'm looking, and his thick black brows furrow as he sees the desire in his soldiers’ eyes.

Then he turns back to me.

"You are the future of my tribe. I will keep you close to me. You sleep in my cavern tonight, at the back of the great hall."

I shiver, because I've got the feeling the Orc Chieftain doesn't have much use for two beds. Does he sleep on a pile of furs, or on the cold ground itself?

And does he expect me to sleep next to him?

I felt the naked desire when he spanked me. The ravenous hunger, the way his body responded to me. I'll survive the night...but will my innocence?

“Come.” He barks out the word like I am a trained dog, and there is nothing I can do but follow. We walk on a stone path cleared of snow, but my feet are getting numb.

Children stop playing, staring at me like I am an animal as I follow him to the hewn stone steps that lead into the great hall. The air is filled with low murmurs as he ushers me inside.

Warmth, glorious warmth from a huge fire, even the stone floor warmed.

The great hall is filled with Orcs, hard men with scars and weapons placed on the tables between plates of meat and tankards. So many eyes, staring at me, most with open hostility, but others with the unmistakable burning of lust. There are some women at the table as well. I didn't notice at first, because the features of Orcs are hyper-masculine, but they have small, hard breasts with four nipples, and their eyes are rounder, but they have weapons all the same. At first, I thought they were men, because they were dressed as warriors, not like the women in the village, no paint adorning them. From them, I get only cold gazes.

Ragnar bellows out, his voice rumbling in the vast hall, and receives a chorus of cheers in return. The sound reverberates with victory.

He turns to me, and I see him smile for the first time. "I have told them that the winter is secured, thanks to you. Tonight, we have a great celebration."

"Follow me." His voice is stern again. His voice rumbles and he stares straight ahead, not at me. Orc women are serving the warriors, bringing food and drink, and they have the ornate paintings on their bodies. It looks like they are made of dried clays, deep, rich colors, and they are strangely beautiful.

Ragnar brings me down a tunnel in the back of the cave. How did these Orcs make the tunnels so smooth? I don't understand. Not even a human could do that. I have endless questions, but I don't speak as he opens a huge wooden door and brings me into his private cave home.

It is nothing like I expected. It's a huge, high-ceilinged room, with a big wooden table, with wooden chairs built for broad Orc bodies, and a bed of furs piled so high you'd get lost in them. At the back, there is an open circular window which has a view from the mountainside to the wild lands below. The wind blows through it, and despite the furs, I shiver. There is a huge stone tub filled with water by the oval window—but the water must be freezing.

"Your species is very sensitive to cold." He goes to the fire pit, where logs are smouldering, adding huge logs to grow it to a raging fire that makes shadows dance in the cavern.

I pull the furs closer to me. "Chieftain, may I ask a question?"

He uses an iron poker to prod at the fire in the circle of stone. Smoke rises, but it funnels away from the cave and out the window, by some trick of architecture I don't understand.

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