Page 148 of Bride of Choice

With a loud sniff, growling all the while, he paused, the sound dying in his throat, and walked right over to it.

“Don’t!” I warned him on a strangled scream.

Rek grabbed hold of its mangled head fur and lifted it.

Blood dripped from its neck, water and muck and whatever else. Turning its face fully, he held the severed head up for me to see.

Bile rose in my throat as he nodded at it.

“It dead.” He gave it a waggle. “See? No eyes. Just head. All gone. No bother Jojo no mores.”

Realizing waving that thing at me wasn’t helping my panic any, he tossed it and made his way towards me, but all I could think about was him touching a severed head!

“Get away from me! Don’t t-t-touch me!” Scrambling to my feet, I turned and ran, slip sliding all the way around the side of his house.

Whirling around the corner, I dashed past Heckes and Mosoau, who appeared to be moving heavy looking crates, lumbering along the path. They called out to me but all I could muster was a half wave.

Adrenaline driving me, I hoofed it all the way to Bum-bum’s front door. Out of breath, seething, I banged on his door. “Open up, you crazy asshole! I saw the head! I know you’re in there! What the hell’s the matter with you? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?! Who just leaves a severed head just lying around like that, huh?! Are you mental?!”

A short grunt behind me had me whirling around, a scream to rival the first one catching in my throat.

Bum-bum put some space between us, looking more closed off than I’d ever seen him as he folded his arms over his chest, expression unreadable, and scowled down at me.

“What is the matter with you?!” I demanded to know.

He cocked his head, grunted, and gave me a look that said I was going to need to give him more to go on than that.

“The severed head?!”

“No leave head,” he grumbled evasively. There was a very big but in there though, I could feel it.

“Then who did?!” I burst out.

His lips tightened and his face started tic’ing, first his eyebrow, then his mouth, going from scowling to snarling, but the snarls weren’t aimed at anyone. Soon his whole body was jerking like he was having some sort of issue. His head rolled on his neck, jerking backwards one moment to slam forward the next.

No clue what was going on, I backed up a few steps. “Hey… Do you need help? Are you- Are you okay?”

With a snarl that sent him shooting forward, dropping to all fours, he snarled, snapped his teeth at me, and bellowed, “No want Jo. Bad female. No want mate. Go… ARGH- Go ‘way! No come ‘round! No want! NO WANT!” he ended in a deafening roar.

Rek caught up to me, took one look at Bum-bum twisting this way and that, his head cocked at a funny angle, bellowing at me, and snatched me up and ran.

He would have probably run all the way back to his place too if we hadn’t bumped into Gopher, who was watering the plants in my garden, talking to another male, his back to me.

“Put me down,” I muttered, squirming in Rek’s arms until he complied.

The male talking to Gopher spoke louder at Gopher when Gogo boots paused in what he was saying to the other Lo denaii, his face downturned, serious, and blurted at my disheveled appearance, “What Rek do now?”

“Why always Rek do things?” Rek bitched.

“He didn’t do anything,” I snapped, though I immediately felt bad about it. It wasn’t Gopher’s fault he had stuff going on and didn’t trust himself with me. It pinched me, though, something awful, that he didn’t seem to even want to try.

The second Kooky spoke, turning at the sound of my voice, I was charging for him full tilt.

My name was on his lips but he didn’t get the chance to utter it. “Kooky! You’re back early!”

“Jes. Come see Jo ready go home,” he rumbled out softly, to wrap his arms around me and hug me back just as tightly.

Rek started to grumble off to the side of us but Kooky barked something at him sharply in Lo denaii that had my perpetually pissy sock monkey putting a pin in it.

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