Page 365 of Bride of Choice

“Here! I’m right here!” I practically screamed as they hurriedly rushed past my hiding spot.

Tor whirled around as I sprinted for them.

Snow Patrol stood there for a full minute, blinking down at me stupidly as I rushed up to him.

Right as I reached him, I got a really good look at him and my smile fell. Frowning right along with him, I took a few steps back from him as he gaped down at me. He looked anything but happy to see me. “Hi,” I mumbled awkwardly as he just stood there, mouth half agape, unblinkingly staring down at me, still as a statue.

“Tor?” Celuk barked sharply, somewhere off ahead, but Tor wasn’t home right now.

“We’re here,” I called out. “Over here!”

“Jo.” Celuk breathed my name. He came running towards us, stumbling as he went. For someone who could move so quietly with such crazy ease, he seemed to have thrown that all out the window in favor of charging towards me, racket he was making be damned. He nearly fell flat on his face as he entered the small clearing near my hiding spot.

“I think there’s something out there,” I warned him, my words a jumbled babble. “Buu told me to hide and took off that way.” I pointed in the direction he’d gone.

“Who Buu?” Tor finally blurted, staring at me with the strangest look on his face.

“Buu, uh, he’s my mate. He saved me, uhm, when the Krampus attacked me.”

Tor blinked really hard once at that one.

My hand went to my face to brush the stray flyaway hairs out of it and then I remembered. His stare. My face. Those horrendous scars marring one side. My hand dropped as I glanced away. I was the first to break eye contact, self-conscious under such deep scrutiny.

I didn’t think about it much, the scars, after they’d stopped hurting. Unless I was staring at my own reflection in some water, no mirrors in the caves, it hadn’t been an issue. Buu made me feel beautiful. He looked at me like I was. To him, it was like I didn’t have any scars at all.

The way Tor was staring at me made me want to grab at my hoodie to pull it down over my face more. He finally snapped out of it the second my mangled face was out of his view. Tugging my hood low, I stared down at the thick, fluffy, fuzzy snow shoes covering my feet.

“Make camp. Go look Jo’ Buu,” Celuk grunted out. He frowned as his gaze darted between us.

Nodding, I joined them as they started off in the opposite direction Buu had taken off to.

A beast on either side of me, I fidgeted, unsure of myself more than ever now.

So much for a warm reunion. I mean, not that I entirely blamed them or anything…

“He told me not to move from that spot,” I muttered after a moment, pausing to glance at the spot from over my shoulder.

“Celuk find. Bring Buu to Jo,” Celuk rumbled out softly.

Nodding along absently, I followed after him. Celuk would find him and help him. Celuk would make sure he was safe.

Falling in line behind Celuk as the brush grew thick, Tor brought up the rear. I could feel those peepers boring into the back of my skull as I walked. A shiver raced up my spine, and not really the good kind.

The urge to stick my tongue out at Tor and insist I wasn’t a freak was strong.

One foot in front of the other, I kept walking. Not once did I glance back. I couldn’t. Seeing that look on his face once was enough.

We stopped not too far from my log hiding spot. It was a much shorter trip than the trek out here, that’s for sure. I thought my dogs were barking before. They were flat out yelping by the time we’d finally stopped.

Camp was a makeshift tent, a fire, and two very quiet males sandwiching me in without making any moves to touch me, as I stared off into the fire, worriedly thinking about Buu.

Celuk had tried to look for him earlier, shortly after camp was set up, but he’d come back empty handed.

When Tor suggested we find a better spot, I wouldn’t budge.

“I have to wait for him. He’s supposed to come back to the village with me.” My gaze remained on the direction we’d come from, waiting for him to just pop out around the corner and join us. He wouldn’t just leave me like that.

My hand almost went to my belly a few times but I kept stopping myself. I couldn’t explain why. I was strangely nervous about telling them about the baby.

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