If you’re a human woman, you have a special name for the world I live in.

Hell.

The only way to survive on the once lush Earth is to side with the brutes who once came to kill us.

But what happens when the orc who is my mission becomes my partner?

When he’s the one I’ll fall in love with.

That I’ll want to hold me.

Care for me. And protect me on this blasted, ruined, planet?

It'll mean leaving behind everything I've known.

It'll mean entering a whole new world that I would have never expected.

But that won’t matter.

Because my orc and I will have a shield to protect us through everything, even the war.

Our love.

Chapter 1

Tarod

"We're fucked if we just sit on our hands and let those dark elf bastards grow their numbers more!" I roar at Dhog the Ruthless, chieftain of the Beheader clan, while he sits there looking at me like I'm the unreasonable one. "Our people are dying! The humans we've allied ourselves with are dying! And you expect me to do what?! Wait and see how it turns out?!"

I slap my hand down on the table, the sound of it echoing through the council chamber.

"I'm sick and tired of sitting around waiting for the dark elves to make their move! We are spending way too much time on the defensive!"

"Tarod, I'm just as angry as you are," Dhog says, his voice calm. How can he be this calm?

"I highly fucking doubt it."

I'm not usually the hot-headed type. I don't just go off like this for no reason. But it seems like a waste of our time and energy to be stuck in these endless circular debates. Considering all the work that went into first unifying the orc tribes and then allying with the humans, I thought maybe the council would want to do something with all that.

But instead, they're just waiting, twiddling their thumbs, and Dhog dares to think his anger is a match for mine. I'm a proud warrior. I fight but not in a rage. But listening to the council advocate that we just sit on our hands while the dark elves continue to winnow down our numbers is something I can't stand.

"We have to wait," Dhog says. "This battle requires strategy."

I understand the need for strategy, especially against the dark elves. I preferred it when we were fighting the humans and each other. It's not that I don't want there to be peace. Peace is fine. But when fighting humans and orcs, the battle is a straightforward affair. Your strategy is simple—out position and overpower the enemy. There's a clean beauty and elegance to that type of fight. It's not messy.

Besides all the blood and guts, that is.

Dark elves complicate things. They have their blasted magic and combined with their devious nature, there are other enemies I'd much rather be fighting. There's honor in combat, in fighting to survive, and even at their worst, most humans are still an honorable enemy.

Dark elves have no honor. They are sadistic and cruel. There are times when they could kill you, but they'll wait just so that you have a sliver of hope before they smash you to pieces. They don't just want to defeat you as an enemy. They want to break you first. 

I miss the simpler times, and I'd choose to fight any other enemy. But not to the point where I'm going to just sit by and let them continue to kill people.

"Are you calling for strategy, or are you just being a coward? We haven't fought this foe in our lifetimes, but we know enough from the stories passed down by our fathers and grandfathers what it was like. We can't let them get a foothold in this world."

The orcs had a generation without conflict with the dark elves. I grew up hearing the stories about how they tried to brutally exterminate my race. When they started showing up on Earth a while ago, it meant things had to change. We allied with the humans and started to learn to use their guns.

While an orc’s hide can only be pierced by mithril, the elves' magic has been their greatest protection. But there's something about the human's guns that disrupts their magic, punching through their magical shields and weakening them.

Or, more accurately, the bullets the guns fire. Lead seems to negate most magic. The metal is too soft to punch their armor, but the humans do something to the bullets that make the guns still effective. I'm not sure of the whys or hows. All I need to know is that you point the loud end at dark elves and pull the trigger. 

I still find the guns clumsy and awkward to use, but I'm practicing more and more. And I make sure my soldiers do as well. As a general of the Great War God tribe, it's my responsibility to prepare them for this war. But this damned council keeps telling me to wait.

"Don't you dare question, my honor!" Dhog shouts, standing to his feet. It's good to know there might still be some fire in his heart. "The greatest honor one can attain is victory in battle. There is no honor to be had in defeat. You go off now, all you're going to do is get your people killed." 

"And how long does honor dictate that we wait?" I ask. This has gone on more than I'd like. "How long do you expect me to abide by the treaty when I'm told to sit and wait as more of my clanmates are killed every day? What do I tell our human allies when they ask why I failed to protect them?"

"We can't share everything with all our allies," Dhog says.

"You're keeping secrets? And you dare speak of honor?"

"When fighting an enemy like the dark elves, we have to be careful," he growls. I've hit a sore spot. "We are waiting for intelligence on how the dark elves are bringing more of their troops here." Then he sighs, finally revealing some of the plan he has clearly already laid out. "This information cannot leave these chambers. We have human spies within the dark elf territories. Some have even been put in the employ of nobles."

The idea that dark elf nobles have come to Earth manages to be more upsetting than just those bastards befouling this planet with their presence. All dark elves have a connection to magic, but the nobles weave spells with such ease and to such devastating effect.

We only recently learned that they were on Earth as well when one attacked Brar the Vindicator. It's incredibly disheartening because we don't know why the dark elf magic works on Earth, but orc magic doesn't.

Even back on Protheka, dark elf magic was strong, but orcs could learn to wield such power. Once we fled to Earth, our magic dwindled away until it was all but useless. Now we are fighting at a severe disadvantage. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't still fight.

"So, until your spy finds out something, we are just going to what? Dig more graves?" I ask.

Dhog is my ally. I have to keep reminding myself of that. Perhaps after we deal with the dark elves, we will go back to fighting each other. I don't know. But for now, we are on the same side. 

"We will continue to defend ourselves. But we have to give our spies time. The last intelligence report smuggled out of dark elf territory shows one of them had found a closely guarded chamber. That could be where they have the portal. If we can find it and destroy it, we can save our people."

Spies. I understand the necessity when fighting an enemy like the dark elves, but I don't like having to rely on them.

"If we know where this chamber is, why aren't we just attacking their base right now?" 

I'm getting frustrated. It feels like he's still holding back information, or maybe he doesn't know.

Aquida the Wise, chieftain of the Golden Arrow clan, stands and says, "Because while we can gather troops and storm the castle, we are going to lose people in that battle, and we don't want to waste our opportunity to take out something that could just be where they keep the spoils of war or something like that. We don't have the resources to attempt to strike at their heart unless we know we are actually aimed at their heart."

Aquida's reasoning makes sense, at least enough that I don't feel the need to throttle him.

I stop and take a deep breath.

"Dhog, perhaps I—"

I'm not too proud of a man to say I'm sorry, but my attempt to apologize is cut short when one of my soldiers bursts into the chamber. His eyes are wide with panic and sweat pours down his face.

"General, something happened!"