Taken by Lane L.V. (top young adult novels txt) 📕

eyes apathetic. “We have guests who want to see you. Don’t give me a reason to shoot you.”

We file up the narrow wooden stairs from the hold to the deck. Raglan first, me second, following up behind, are Caden and Brook. This is the first time we have been on deck together since we arrived. There is a strange flutter in my belly. I am nervous at this deviation from the norm.

The sky is hazy, with breeze enough to put a billow in the sails flapping against the three masts. Dark wood decking glistens where it has been treated against the harsh sea weather. I see them straight away, the Orcs, and I come to a stop. Caden closes a hand around the back of my neck for a gentle squeeze. Feeling the shake of his fingers, I turn my head to catch his eyes. “Keep walking, lass,” he says. I glance beyond Caden to Brook. Both brothers are wary. I imagine no human is comfortable around an Orc, but the raid upon their family home when they were young lads must bring a special kind of pain.

Derick watches us with his dead eyes, alert to any threat we might present. Most of the crew are busy at tasks as the ship is at sail, but the remaining outlaws make a circle of sorts around the two regal Orcs.

I’m confronted by this moment. I had a notion that Orcs were all savages, but they do not appear savage. A male and a female, both decked in fine fur-trimmed cloaks. The female wears a woolen dress in forest green. She is as tall as Raglan, and her features softer than I expected, having only seen pictures of males. The male at her side tops her height by a head and shoulders. His clothes are also quality, a mixture of leather and woolen cloth that cannot disguise his brutish strength. They hold a strange, alien beauty. Her skin is a paler green that shimmers in the dull, hazy morning light, while the male is closer to a grey. Unlike Osric, who has soft brown, human eyes, theirs are black and show not a bit of white.

At the male’s side is a human Alpha with a metal collar around his thick neck. Arms as thick as barrels are exposed by his sleeveless leather jerkin. He stares straight ahead, pale eyes with the same dead expression as Derick.

He is a slave.

He is what we will become.

“Raglan,” the male Orc’s voice is a deep rumble, while his tusks give him a slight lisp. “I’ve not had the pleasure of your company in some time.”

My eyes shift to Raglan. A tic thumps in his jaw, but otherwise, his expression is empty. How does he know these Orcs?

“Pleasure is not the word I would choose, Gan,” Raglan says. “How is your brother?”

Derick twitches where he holds the crossbow, shifting it to point directly at Raglan.

The male Orc laughs. “Aye, he misses you too, dear shifter friend. You are to be his guest once we arrive. He assures me you will enjoy what he has planned and will be eager to divulge your king’s plans.”

Raglan huffs. “I’d tell you for the asking. Did you hear the bastard planned to hang me?”

The male Orc laughs in a deep rumble. “We both know that for a lie. Davide is weak. I’ve no doubt he would have pardoned you before you swung. But convenient for us that you were bound.”

I do not like this moment. It is not one of the good ones. In fact, I think it might be one of the worst. Raglan’s vulnerability in being a bound shifter is a tragedy. I know if he were free, they would quake in fear.

Even the Orcs.

I wonder why I never thought to try and free his cuffs. Why is it only now, as our situation takes its most desperate turn, that I think about this detail?

The female Orc turns to her mate, Gan. He leans down to listen, nodding as she speaks. She is looking at me.

The strong presence of Raglan, Caden, and Brook offers some comfort. I want this to be over so we might return to our filthy cell. I want my mates to rut me again. I want them to do whatever it takes to make me forget this terrible fear.

My lips begin to tremble as they continue to converse.

“It will be alright, lass,” Raglan says quietly. “Edil has a soft spot for Omegas. She has several human pets. They are well cared for.”

Caden growls, low and menacing.

“Don’t be a fool, lad,” Raglan says, his voice devoid of inflection. “Derick has a twitchy finger, and he’s hoping for a reason to use the crossbow. The lass will endure better if she has not just watched you take a bolt before bleeding out on the deck.”

I shake. I’m not alone in shaking.

Edil, the female Orc, turns to Derick. “Bring the Omega,” she says. Her expression is kindly, yet she keeps Omegas as pets and so cannot possibly be kind.

 I don’t want to be separated, but I am. The single step I take as Derick motions his hand, loaded crossbow trained on my mates, is the hardest of my life.

I don’t want to be separated, but I draw on strength from reserves deep inside, for I want my mates to die less.

Each step is like a thousand, and the distance grows acute and painful. All my life, I have made a fuss about everything. I endure nothing with dignity if it’s not of my choosing. Yet today, I find dignity to endure without fuss, for I sense that Caden, and maybe even Brook, are ready to snap. The blame for this lies with me. I fled when I should have stayed and called out to those who could help. I made the bad choices that led to Posey’s death. All of this is by my own hand and determination.

I’m nineteen. I’m not ready to watch a mate die.