Page 376 of Bride of Choice

Celuk coughed to cover up a laugh.

Tor looked about to argue, flustered, blustering, until Celuk said something to him that must have made him realize that despite how I’d phrased it, I’d just said in my oh so very snarky, emotionally constipated way that I wanted him to carry me first. “Tor bad, bad male. Help more, next time. Carry my Jo first,” he agreed quickly.

A sharp bark of laughter left Celuk. Stealing a kiss from me, he picked me up and handed me off to Tor. Tor grinned, stole a quick kiss for himself, and situated me in his arms.

Walking my fingers up his shoulder, then his throat, I tickled the shell of his ear.

His ear twitched but he didn’t otherwise flinch. I was scared and trying not to panic. Pestering the un-pesterable was feeling like a worthy challenge.

Tor in a good mood, I discovered, was impossible to pick at. With his mate in his arms, headed home, there was no way I was getting through this rhino of a male’s thick skin.

“I miss your horns,” I admitted absently, speaking without thought.

Stopping, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck. Before my eyes, he shifted, a massive set of horns sprouting up from his head. Jeh-kal stared down at me. “Goot?” he rumbled out softly, his purr thick in his voice.

“Goot,” I mock rumbled back, getting a chuckle out of Celuk for my efforts.

Jeh-kal let out a soft grunt and we were off once more.

“I’m curious to know… Which came first, Tor, Hyde, Jeh-kal or it’s always been a party of three in there?” My hand waved near his head.

“Hyde not always here.” Tor jerked his shoulder and dipped his head towards it, as if to motion to his head. “Tor first. First in head.” Adjusting his hold on me, he barked something at Celuk that had him jogging off ahead. “Hold,” the massive male grumbled.

“Hold onto- Whaah!”

Curling me closely to his chest, he took off like a shot.

“So we’re going to run home now, then?” I gasped out, grabbing onto the first thing my hands found to dig in.

Getting a grunt from him instead of an answer, I took it as a yes.

True to his grunt, insert har-har bah dum tss here, he pretty much ran the rest of the way home.

I was convinced he was a machine, stopping only for pregnancy pee breaks, a short snack or water break, or because I made some sort of noise that had him convinced I might be in distress.

Jeh-kal was a bit of a mate hog, greedily insisting on keeping me all to himself. I’d offered to walk short jaunts, and Celuk had grumbled at him about taking a break, but the stubborn butt would not be deterred. He was nuttier than a bag of mixed nuts, but I couldn’t deny that ol’ pitter-patter of my heart at his adamancy.

How his arms hadn’t fallen off and he’d managed not to trip over his big ol’ clawed feet and accidentally dump me was nothing short of a miracle. He ran too fast for me to keep up, the landscape a blur as he sped by. Hours of this. Hours and hours. The male was a freaking machine.

Despite the fact that I was essentially the sack of potatoes he was lugging around, it was a long, trying, tiring day.

Last I recalled before I dozed off, it was dark, late, our last break hours ago.

Celuk had taken off a bit ahead of us again. I’d barely been keeping my eyes open, I was puffy again, and starting to feel irrationally grumpy.

It might have had to do with the sudden bout of pregnancy pukes after our last stop to eat, the worsening of it as we tried to continue on and the slightest jostling had me scrambling to be let down to rush off and purge whatever was left in my stomach. It might have just been everything all at once.

My mid-day pukes had slowed our journey down majorly. I felt like such a pain in the ass, despite how sweet and caring, how accommodating my rescue party was being.

When I opened my eyes again, I was still pressed tightly to Jeh-kal’s chest. The pelt I was wrapped in was pulled over my head far enough I didn’t notice the light at first.

“How close are we now?” I mumbled, squirming in place.

Jeh-kal rumbled something out, the sound loud with my ear pressed to his chest.

“I just want to ask her a few questions is all. I’m not going to otherwise inconvenience her, you have my word. You said she said she’d been spotting and kinda achy and,” pausing to lower her voice, she continued, “in the family way. I’m not gonna pester her. I want to make sure mama and baby are okay.”

Jeh-kal made a deep, rumbling noise when a hand pressed to my shoulder.

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