Page 404 of Bride of Choice

“We aren’t keeping him against his will!” I bellowed at the door. “He’s mine- Ours,” I stressed, “and fuck if I’m handing him over to anyone!”

“Then why did you kidnap him?” she squeaked out reasonably. After a beat, she added, “I saw.”

“You saw what?” I stalled, glancing from Buu’s prone form to the door.

“I saw him being carted off!” Her voice got higher pitched, the louder she tried to get.

She was like a living cartoon.

I was so focused on her talking and arguing back, I missed when Gopher and Celuk slipped out the back.

A loud squeak, a shout, the sounds of a struggle, and finally a gunshot rent the air, had me scrambling for the door, ignoring everyone warning me to stay back.

Rek beat everyone to me, throwing himself at me, catching me up to curl himself around me protectively.

“Gopher?! Celuk?!” I cried out in a panic as I smacked at Rek to let me up.

“Okay!” Gopher called out, as the sound of Celuk snarling rent the air.

A louder, longer snarl followed.

It took me a full minute to realize it was coming from inside the hut as opposed to outside of it.

“Let Jo go,” Jeh-kal advised Rek, eyeing my purple eyed mate as he popped to and then shot up, pissed off and ready to protect his female.

“No,” Rek grumbled. “No let Boob hurt my Jojomine, my baby.”

Buu’s snarl tapered off into a gurgling sound. “Buu no hurt my Joalee! My bebeh! YOU hurt my Joalee, squish and roll, hold down!”

“Rek not hurt! Rek ‘tect!” Rek shot back, lifting his head to glare up at him from where my bleachsquatch was tangled up with me on the floor.

“What the hell is going on out there?” I cut in as I listened to the signs of a struggle.

“She small, squirmy. Like slime worms,” Gopher called out.

“Did you- Did you just call me a slimy worm?!” the squirrel outside squealed.

A yelp sounded and Gopher groaned.

“Put snow on it,” Celuk muttered as a soft growling noise pricked my ears.

“Dace?” Buu sputtered. Running to the door to throw it open, we all gaped as we spied Celuk finishing off hogtieing a human woman.

Gopher glared, curled up on the ground a short distance away, cupping his sausage and giblets. Aww, poor Go’ got kicked in his fuzzsticles.

Instead of snarling at Celuk and trying to help her, Buu bellowed, looking exasperated, “What you do?!” at the woman.

A pretty, if grime covered face, large blue eyes set in a small, round face scowled up at him. Her long blonde hair stood out, loose from the two French braids she’d had it pulled back in, getting in her eyes as her piercing blue eyes met his. “I’m- I’m rescuing you!”

Buu sighed, hands going to his hips, and eyed her curiously. “Not goot,” he said simply.

“Am so!” she spat back.

“Try to shoot ‘Luk!” Gopher growled at her. “Bad female.”

“I didn’t! I just wanted to scare him, make him listen! I wasn’t expecting him to lunge at me! I panicked! It was an accident! I saw! You were unconscious and they dragged you off!” she insisted.

Buu looked about two seconds from rubbing at his forehead. Beneath all that annoyance, I recognized a similar begrudging brotherly affection similar to that between Carrie and Rek. “Dace… Buu want my Joalee mates want to keep Buu,” he pointed out.

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