Page 101 of Bride of Choice

Rek paused in his brawl with Gopher first at the panicked noise I made, a strangled choking sound that cut above the noise.

Rek barked something sharply at Gopher that had him snapping to attention, whipping his head in the direction of the scene I was making.

Twin snarls rent the air and they crouched as one, ready to double team the asshole tightening his grip on me. Boog and the others chose that moment to pile on, like a ginormous dog pile, attempting to pin Rek and Gopher and drag them away to cool down.

This just pissed off the dynamic duo, now ready to work together for a united purpose— save me from a sniff happy freak. I’d never seen such angry looks on their faces, pure unadulterated rage.

“Let me go!” I bellowed, throwing myself this way and that, slamming my head back. A sharp crack and the pained howl of the male behind me gave me a small measure of satisfaction, but then he tightened his grip to the point of pushing the air from my lungs until black spots danced in my vision.

A whimper of a noise left me as I started to sway dizzily. Wouldn’t be long now.

A deafening roar rattled the windows of the huts surrounding us. It was so loud my ears began to ring. Or perhaps that was the nearly passing out business? I struggled to trace the source of that noise. I’d be scrambling my ass to safety if I wasn’t being held prisoner, seeing spots in my vision, and could think straight.

“She no breathe!” Gopher bellowed, catching Booger’s attention. Go’ was dragging himself towards me with at least five males scrambling to hold him back.

Booger left that mess, snarling over the chaos at the male gripping me so tight.

The death grip on my ribs eased. I used the opportunity the loosening arms afforded me and rammed my elbow back. The beast holding me growled and dropped me, snarling something in Lo denaii that was cut off as I tumbled to the wet, mushy ground.

Coughing, wheezing, gasping for air, I gave up trying to stand and flopped back to the ground.

An odd gurgling sound let off over my head. Realizing the weird haze in my vision was not in fact from the near suffocation but a shadow radiating heat looming over me, I turned and tipped my head back.

Berkr gurgled as a massive beast bared his teeth at him, giving him little shakes as he gripped his throat tight enough to make the smaller Lo denaii turn funny colors and snarled at him.

“Cuddle Monster?” I blurted, catching a hint of horns glinting in the sunlight.

Jerking at the mention of that silly nickname, his head swiveled, putting him better into view, and he glared in my direction.

Recognition hit like a ton of breaks. Slipping and sliding in the mud, I gained my feet and ran to him.

Others shouted out for me to stay back but I knew better.

The second I reached him I flung my arms around him, burying my face in his belly, squeezing him to me tight. “You came back for me!”

Berkr’s gurgling noises grew louder.

Cuddle Monster made no move to wrap his free arm around me.

Bringing Berkr’s face closer to his, he snarled at him, words in their language spewing forth sounding like garbled death threats. Whatever he said, Berkr made a gurgling sound of understanding my beastly behemoth chuffed at him, in his face, in answer, then tossed the village hall monitor away from us like old trash.

“You’re not hugging me back,” I mumbled into hot skin and warm, earthy smelling fur. He was so like Bum-bum, had to be similar beasts— their scents were so close to each other’s.

Thick fingers gently pried my hands off of him. With deliberate care, he tugged me off of him and set me away from him.

“Wait. What’s- I don’t-” I spluttered, grabbing for his wrist for him to easily twist free of my grasp.

The second our eyes met, that electric sizzle crackling between us, undeniable, hard to miss, I noted the colors of his eyes—pitch black. Cuddle Monster was the feral side of Fuck N Run.

“Why- I don’t care if you have that lavashavashama lama ding dong thing.” Sensing he was about to take off on me like a good little pop in super hero to my rescue, I grabbed for his fur, ignoring the wince a male made as he softly cautioned me to leave the male ‘lone and come to them.

I only had eyes and ears for one fella right now, and he was staring down at me so intently, like he was memorizing every line of my face, every teeny tiny detail.

“Stay,” I whispered, slipping my hand into his to give one of his thick fingers a squeeze.

Dipping down, he bent to my level, reaching out tentatively to brush the backs of his knuckles along my cheek.

Rek started to growl, a sound I’d know anywhere. My big bad beastie mate started to grumble back.

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