Page 406 of Bride of Choice

I supposed she missed that barely perceptible half shudder he let out. It definitely put any and all worries I’d ever had about Buu harboring an anything for Dace to rest.

Rek started to grumble something as I made my way over to Buu that had Buu shoving one of his lower hands in Rek’s face, gently mushing it into his mug to nudge him out of the way, as his other arms spread open wide, waiting for me.

The soft chuckle that issued from inside matched the one Odix, Gopher, and Celuk collectively let out at Buu’s handling of Rek. My Buu caught on fast.

I ran-walked to my big old cat-man-beast as fast as my thick legs could carry me without Celuk barking at me to be careful. “You heard them, right? You’re ours and we’re keeping you,” I whispered as he scooped me up and began nuzzling my face. His click-purr was everything as he cradled me to him, rumbled that I was his and he was mine, and buried his face in my neck.

“My Joalee,” he purred.

A soft grunt issued from beside us. “Buu softest,” Rek called out, angling towards Jeh-kal just inside the house as he pulled his face free from the death grip Buu’d had on his furry mug.

“Rek sure? Maybe Rek need check ‘gain,” Gopher called out, ever the king of snark.

“Jeh-kal can keep biggest penis, Celuk Bride, Odious big butt, Goober big mouth dummy head, but Rek not softest prinnedcess no more!” my demented sock monkey bellowed back towards the house.

Gopher snickered at that, even as he gathered snow to cradle it to his aching testicles.

“Can- Can I be untied now?” Dace called from the ground, where she was wriggling around like a worm. “I’d like to go home now.”

“Dace tell Buu Suns caves grow too snowy, cold, like Moons caves,” Buu pulled away from nuzzling my throat to rumble down at her. His brow puckered up into a frown. “Where Dace go home, no one there help Dace?”

“I- I can do it,” Dace stubbornly grumbled. “I did for this long, all by myself!”

Buu gave her a look that said he’d beg to differ but he wasn’t going to.

“Yeah… Okay… Fine…” she conceded quietly. Lower, she mumble-muttered, eyeing him pleadingly, “But I can’t stay here. I can’t.”

“Why not stay Lo denaii village?” Odix rumbled out, eyeing her curiously.

Dace’s blue eyes darted around, the action nearly frantic. “I just- I can’t,” she squeaked out, then winced at her own voice.

“Dace not welcome Lo denaii village,” Buu said for her.

A hiss left the small woman and she glared at Buu.

Buu gave her a funny look. “Where Dace go, she not stay? Nowhere go. No choice.”

“I don’t have a choice!” she fairly growled. She sounded like an angry chihuahua. “Now untie me and let me go! Before-”

“Dace do bad things,” Buu admitted. “Lo denaii no want. Dace go home, no want there neither. Come through ported hole, into woods. Dace find Buu-”

“Buu!” Dace fairly wailed.

More than a few of us grimaced at the awful keening sound she let out that followed.

“Joanie!” As if to save us from Dace, Mina came scrambling up the walk, Kirch and Tarnk in tow. “I came as soon as I could! I-” Mina’s steps slowed as she approached. “Uhm…” She got a good look at me, Buu, the chaos around us, the gun in Celuk’s hands, Gopher cradling his nuts, Rek slapping away Buu’s hand on his chest.

“Nothin’ to see here, folks, just a lil squabble between clansmen,” I joked, hoping to diffuse the situation.

Mina’s gaze shifted from me in my big old Buu boy’s arms, settling on the woman on the ground wriggling like a worm on a hook towards us, panting with her squeaking efforts, and a loud gasp escaped her. “Candy?!” she screeched.

Dace’s eyes widened and she rolled to jerk her head in Mina’s direction. Those peepers popped until they nearly bugged. “They took Buu! I only came to help him!” she squealed, then began inch-worming her way towards the hut’s door. Butt up in the arm, she used her head and knees to hop-crawl over to Buu and cower at his feet.

“Candy?” I barked, incredulous. I’d heard about a Candy. She’d hooked up with Mina’s ex while they were together. She was, like, brainwashed in love with this guy kinda crazy, and the ex was his own special kinda crazy himself. Hadn’t she gone back to Earth? Wasn’t she the woman that had been institutionalized for a while? Candy was Dace?

“What the hell is going on?” Mina demanded to know as the males flanking her urged her back as they bared their teeth at Candy/Dace.

“Uh… funny story. Heh-heh.” Dace swallowed thickly.

---