Page 226 of Bride of Choice

It looked like they’d been battling for their lives.

He took one step towards me before his brothers piled on, all struggling to pin him down so Lukar could close him up.

Again and again, there it was. “Celuk, no! Stay! Fix first!”

Berkr came over and walked right in front of my front row view, his large frame making an excellent wall. “Jo’s Odix and Gofur be fine. Lukar fix up Jo’s males.” With a grunt, he added, as if the idea was silly but he’d been asked to as others barked things at him in their native tongue, “Jo… Kooky be fine, too.” Glancing over his shoulder to make sure he’d gotten that right, he let out a snort of a chuff that made me think that was his version of a soft, amused laugh.

“What happened?!” I screeched. “Were they attacked?! I don’t-”

“Dominance,” Berkr said simply.

Doogie made an annoyed sound in his throat.

“Dominance?” I really didn’t understand now.

“Berkr mean they fight to be Jojomine’s first mate,” Rek grumbled.

At his silly lovey name for me, Odix shot up, weaving on his feet, and bellowed something at Rek in Lo denaii.

“You sits down!” Lukar barked at him. “Shuts up! No shape fight now!”

“You- You were all fighting each other?!” I shouted, uncaring if it made more than half of them wince. Good. May my shriek be heard ‘round the world. “Of all the stupid, ridiculous- Make it burn, Lukar! They all fucking deserve it!”

Slipping free of Rek’s grasp, I was pissed, raging. Storming right past them all, straight to the back room, I grabbed every single pelt I owned. Dragging them all out along with me, to Doogie’s and a few other’s wide-eyed surprise, I threw Gopher’s pelt over his head as I passed, then Kooky’s onto him.

I’d just made it to the door when Kooky shot up with a roar, tearing the pelt free of his head, and made to charge after me but a dog pile ensued.

“Celuk! Enough!” Lukar roared.

I froze, my gaze going to the demon fighting at the bottom of the pile. Man, I was fucking stupid. A soft, incredulous laugh left me. “You’re Celuk.” My voice came out a hoarse, choked whisper.

Kooky stilled, then started grumbling for the others to get off of him between barking at me to wait.

Pointing a finger at him, I bellowed, “Who the hell are you really?! I mean, REALLY?!” Storming away, I made it part way out the door before I stormed right back inside. “You’re a fucking liar! I trusted you with so much fucking shit! You can’t even tell me your real name?!!” Pointing at every member of his family present, including Doogie, I stared each one down in disgust. “You all must have had a lot of fun, playing your little jokes on Joanie, huh? Well, jokes on you! Fuck off, all of you! Go fuck yourselves!”

Grabbing Rek’s hand on my next dramatic stomp off, I dragged him along with me.

Rek quietly grabbed the enormous pelt I was dragging along behind me and helped me stuff it into my basket. Without a word, he took the pelt I’d basically stolen from him, and placed it over my shoulders. Curling me into his side, he wrangled my basket from me and placed a kiss to my temple.

Celuk’s pained roars shook the trees. They faded as we trekked into the night, but I could still hear them, faint as they’d grown.

“Aren’t you going to make some sort of comment about how you’ve won?” I mumbled through numb lips.

“No.” His grip on me tightened. “Jojoknee sad. Rek sad for my Jojomine.” A low growl entered his voice. “They hurt my Jojo. Rek wants to tear them apart.”

“Don’t. They’ll kick your ass and I like you in one piece.” Turning to him, I placed my hand on his chest, smoothing it over his heart. “Tell me the truth. I need to hear it right now. Are you for real? This is you, forever and ever, amen? You and me, you mean it? You want me, warts and all, just like this?”

“Rek want Jojomine. Like this.”

“Now? Forever?”

“Now. For the evers.”

“Do you still have that ring I gave you?” My gaze darted to his belt, then back to his face.

Slow to respond, he reluctantly gave a short nod. Reaching for his throat, not a pouch on his belt, it took him a minute but buried beneath a thick layer of fur, he pulled the necklace with the ring on it free. Sliding it off his neck, fidgeting from foot to foot at the idea of parting with it, he held it out to me.

Holding it out to him, I started off by reminding him, “So, we’re still on that trial run thing of getting back together and everything, but I think this is part of our whole problem. Ahem, Rek McGooberdedooberson-”

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