Page 354 of Bride of Choice

His ears dropped forward, falling flatly to the sides of his head. “No ‘stand. No want Buu. Buu not welcomed Joalee village. Buu too different. Think Buu bad, like Krampus.”

“That’s silly.” My hands flapped about between us. “You’re nothing like a Krampus.”

“Keep Joalee in cave. Think she want stay,” he muttered flatly.

“Were you doing anything to actually keep me in this cave?” I ventured curiously.

Thick shoulders drooped. “Buu no push snowies over cave hole no more. Not after Joalee cry and cry and cry and want be leave ‘lone.”

Closing my eyes, fingers falling to my sides to flex, I took a deep breath. “Thank you for telling me the truth.” God, did that one fucking smart. Turning, I made my way down the hall without another word.

“Where Joalee go?” he croaked out tentatively.

“My cave room for some therapeutic screaming into a pillow. Don’t mind the noise.” One foot in front of the other, I just kept walking.

“Why?”

Turning to face him, the look I gave him could melt that ice blocking the door right off. “So I don’t strangle you.”

Buu’s lips parted, large, cat-like eyes widening.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” I muttered as I reached the doorway to my room.

My throat was raw by the time I’d finished screaming my head off, but it felt like I’d gotten most of the rage boiling inside of me out. It couldn’t be good for the baby to hold onto all of that. I felt less murdery. There was that.

Three months. I’d stopped counting down the days at three months. After I’d finished screaming I’d gone and counted those tallies.

I wanted to weep but I was too tired to after all the tears and screaming I’d shed earlier.

My new, colorful form of expressing myself was much better than holding it all in and pushing it all down. It felt better this way. I felt better.

By the time dinner rolled around, I’d even managed to squeeze in a nap.

Washing up in the salt baths, I felt more like myself as I headed off to gather fruit from one of several of his storage rooms and get dinner going.

The smell hit me first as I stepped back into the hall.

Following my nose, putting a pin in horrible, worrisome thoughts and day-mare type thoughts of coming back to the village to find my mates had all moved on and found their own better happily ever afters, I nearly passed the main entrance and Buu, sitting beside a fire he’d set up, dinner cooking on a small clay pan over the open fire.

“Are you trying to kill us with carbon monoxide?” I started in on him, frowning as I stepped into the room.

Buu glanced up at me in surprise.

My hands gestured wildly at the open flame. “The- the fumey stuff, in the air, where is all the smoke going to go?” Now that I’d mentioned it and my gaze shot up, I had to recant my statement as I noted a bajillion tiny holes in the entryway’s cave ceiling.

I supposed if there was any place to start a fire, this was technically ideal.

“So, what, you’re doing your dinner in here now, without me?”

Buu shot up at the hurt lacing my tone and squished me against him. “NO! Buu makes the fire, the food, for my Joalee!”

My scowl softened but remained. “Why?”

A pained noise left him. “No want my Joalee sad. Cry. Scream cry. Buu want Joalee stay but no want be like Krampus and force Joalee stay. Krampus not goot.”

“They aren’t,” I murmured quietly. “If you have to force something, it’s probably shit.”

“No want force shit,” he whispered, then started to press kisses along the top of my head. “Want Joalee with Buu, always. Joalee and bebeh Buu clan.”

---