Page 187 of Bride of Choice

“Scuse me?” Turning towards him, my eyes narrowed shrewdly.

Odix grunted and shook his head.

“Huh?” My lips pursed, claws tapping unhappily across my basket handle.

“No thing. No thing!” Gopher growl-hissed at him. “Say no thing!”

“No thing?” Odix repeated stupidly, looking so confused it was sad.

With a long, measuring look, I muttered that I hoped he and Gopher had a nice trip and left, walking stiffly away from them.

The stream of curses erupting from Gopher’s lips followed me as I hurried off.

No real plan or place to go in mind, I thought of someone who wouldn’t necessarily mind my company and headed that way.

???

Eyeing the pile of mud and muck and god knows what all else he was using to mix up some nasty in a large hole in the ground, I set my things down and rolled my sleeves up.

Doogie glanced up at me in surprise.

“Your mama said you were out here.” Hands on my hips, I gave a low whistle. “Nice place you’ve got here. It’s… airy.”

Doogie snorted at me but motioned me over, just as I’d expected.

“So how come you aren’t going on the hunt?” I asked as he handed me a large metal trowel looking thing and pointed at the sandy muddy stuff he was mixing up. “If I break a nail, I’m painting your toes in your sleep.”

“Catch me sleeps first,” he quipped, then got started smearing gunk all over one of the outer walls. “Not hunter,” he rumbled out finally, walking over to check my work.

“What’s the real reason why?” I prompted, catching something off in his voice.

“No want leave mama ‘lone. More protection village.”

I could understand that. He was worried as most of his brothers and dads would be off on the hunt.

“What do you tell everyone when they ask why you aren’t going?” Lifting the trowel from the gunk, I stood and would have walked out of the middle of his project to find a spot off to the side to watch and comment if he didn’t immediately give me another job.

Ugh. The things I do to avoid others.

“What say I not say?” he grunted out.

“Because they think you simply don’t care, not that you’re worried or anxious about leaving a loved one unprotected. Those are two entirely different things.”

“Jo tell?” Doogie’s eyes narrowed.

I laughed at his attempt to intimidate me. That ship has sailed, honey. My hand lifted and I flapped it at him. “I coulda blabbed about a lot of things a long time ago. Cottontail crushin’, for instance, but did I?”

“No.” He let out a loud grunt.

“Exactly.” A beat passed. “For a very observant lot, you all sure do miss some of the important things sometimes,” I muttered.

I had to laugh when he motioned for me to grab something, I wasn’t sure what, and bring the bricks he was having me shape and set over the coals to him. Those were hot as shit. Was he mad?! They couldn’t possibly have cooked, baked, whatevered, long enough.

Sure enough, he grabbed one with the large spatula and set it into place. It hissed as it sank into the sandy muck but looked good and stuck as it cooled.

This isn’t Earth, I had to keep reminding myself. I’m on a weird, alien world I now call home. It’s allowed to defy my limited human world logic.

“That almost smells like… cookies. Kinda sweet and a little… nutmeg-y.” My gaze darted from the muck to the bricks.

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