Page 299 of Bride of Choice

“I’ll dead anyone I want to!” I bellowed back, sounding as crazy as I was acting.

“Not dead no one, under Celuk watch. Jo not like self later. Celuk no want see,” he kept on in that reasonable, resolute tone.

“Then close your fucking eyes and mind your own business! I don’t recall asking what you want,” I shot back.

A knock at my door had us shouting, him in Lo denaii, and me in English, for whomever was there to fuck off.

“Not Gopher mates,” Gopher called from the other side of the door.

“Riiiight. And Lo denaii males only ever mate one,” I snarked.

“Lo denaii mate one,” Gopher repeated.

“Tell that to those furry super models you were chumming around with, trying to hide from me!” I railed.

Gopher made a choking sound. “Not- Not-”

Celuk said something to Gopher in beast speak that had Gopher talking at him a mile a minute.

“Don’t tell him what to say. Don’t get your stories straight!” I snapped at them.

Celuk had turned his head to speak through the door. Gopher said something to him as he glanced up to meet my gaze that gave him pause. As abruptly as he’d followed me home to babysit me so I didn’t go supernova, he grumbled, “Celuk trust Jo be goot.”

When he opened the door to leave and I spied Gopher standing there, eagerly waiting for him, I snapped. “Go have fun with your new lady friends, assholes!” Slamming the door on them, I locked it.

I was probably out of line somewhere in there. I just wasn’t of the right frame of mind to entertain such a notion.

This new development with Gopher and his lady friends just furthered my need to put space between my supposed mates and me.

Maybe most Lo denaii only had one. But mine didn’t seem to mind wandering.

I wanted to say things got better. That I spoke with Gopher and Rek at length, listened to their sides, and sorted all of that out, made peace with it all, and moved on.

I absolutely did none of that. Instead, I continued to push them all away, insisting I wasn’t anyone’s mate, and to my mind became the village crone minus all those fluffy furballs things many Lo denaii seemed to be allergic to running around my hut.

I was going to live alone, be alone unless otherwise with beings that had my absolute trust, and die alone.

The hermit witch of Yetidom, that was me.

This was who I told myself I wanted to be.

This was who I became.

Chapter 39

Sitting in the meadow, waiting for Rosa, I didn’t know what to think when Noyel showed up by himself.

“Don’t be mad at her. She wasn’t given much of a choice,” Noyel said in way of apology as Odix, Tor, and Gopher came up behind him.

“What the fuck is this?” I sputtered, gripping the straps of my purse in a death grip.

Noyel shrugged his shoulders as he stepped back. “Rosa mentioned you’ve been avoiding everyone. She worried you were depressed. You started sleeping most of the day when you started having trouble sleeping at night. She loves you. She knows you love them and miss them. They’re not like Rek. Gopher’s explained what was going on. We just want to help.”

“I didn’t ask for help,” I muttered, folding my arms over my chest stubbornly.

With a sniff, I asked, “And where is their pushy, fearless leader?”

Odix glanced to Tor with a funny look.

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