Page 179 of Bride of Choice

Mom’s head jerked up at the sound of my voice and she started gesturing excitedly to Pop. “Jo!” she greeted, waving an empty mug over her head.

I couldn’t help but grin at that. That meant Mom had made her cocoa and coconut like tea. It was surprisingly thick, sweet, and oh so yummy. Warmed me right up.

Pop nodded at my approach. I couldn’t help but laugh as he leaned over Mom, mid haggle with a customer over a batch of arrowheads he’d bundled, and gave a loud sniff.

Eh. What were a few less bone needles?

Pulling out a square of cloth and four treats, Mom poured a huge mug of mucclah and held it out to me.

There was a bit of a communication barrier beyond friendly hellos. Gopher used to help me out with that. My smile fell as I took a long, slow sip.

Finding Mom watching me with a frown, her gaze lifted, darting around me. Motioning, she grunted out softly, “Gofur?”

“He’s not here today,” I said with a half smile and shake of my head.

She nodded, though I knew she had no idea what I’d said.

I hung around long enough to finish my drink and get a thumbs up from Pops, who enjoyed learning the Earth gesture.

Several stalls over, I found exactly what I needed, but the male who had traded me needles for treats before seemed less inclined to do so now with the place jam packed with hunters roaming around trying to prepare for their hunts.

Frowning, I muttered, “Don’t think I’m coming back here to trade with you after this. It’s bull crap.”

When he frowned, not understanding, I mimed this whole thing was poo. Offended, he bared his teeth at me and was just starting to lay into me when I felt someone come up behind me.

“Well, excuse you,” I muttered, moving to step to the side as a warm body pressed into me from behind.

A mitt of a paw fell on my shoulder, Kooky’s voice piercing the din as he rumbled quietly over at the male who flatly refused to trade needles with me, not even with the promise of more treats for just one stinkin’ needle, holding me firmly in place in front of him.

Whatever they were saying, Kooky’s voice took on a sharp edge, deepening to an unhappy rumble. Others around us took note as his eyes narrowed and the noise rattling his chest grew louder.

“It’s fine. We don’t have to trade. I’ll find someone else,” I insisted, not wanting to have to hear about how I was being a pain in the ass yet again, this time without doing a damn thing.

The male paused, glancing between us, a frown tugging at his brow. Moorauc, I thought his name was. As they spoke, Moorauc had started tipping his head to the side, until he was staring at Kooky through the corner of his eyes.

My gaze darted between the male and Kooky. Why did Moorauc look so damned spooked? Had they had run-ins of this sort before? Bad blood?

“I don’t want to trade with him anymore,” I stated firmly.

Shoving off Kooky’s hand, I slipped into the crowd, swallowed up by lumbering furballs coming and going.

A Pretty Woman moment, this was not. I didn’t want anyone feeling intimidated into trading with me. Like the incident with Gopher, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Bypassing that very stall in question quickly, I hung back as I eyed each merchant and their wares.

Without a word, Kooky came up to me and placed a fat bundle of wrapped needles into my basket.

“You didn’t need to do that,” I told him softly.

“Not buy from Maroumak. ‘Nother,” he rumbled in reply.

Oops. Maroumak. I was shit with some of these names. The butchering of my name in kind just made me think the feeling was mutual.

“For a fair price?” I pressed, staring up at him, watching for any signs he was holding out on me.

“Fair,” he said with a smile that made my insides feel all gooey and warm.

“Soooo… looking for anything in particular? A ginormous ax, a bow, arrows? A knife as big as muh arm?” My eyebrows waggled playfully at the tease.

---