Page 426 of Bride of Choice

The beadwork Rektal could bust out- Wow. He makes my finished pieces sparkle with the beaded bling. I’m the fanciest bitch in Yetitown.

“Where go?” Doogie’s hand waving in front of my face popped me out of my thoughts.

“To the moon,” I snarked automatically. Wondering where Celuk and Gopher had disappeared off to when they were just supposed to be settling Boyo, the name I’ve picked for Baby’s mate, who is our main unitato/kep-kep until his mate drops her litter, with Baby tethered alongside him while we snailed it down the hill, I shook off the lingering suspicion pricking me that something was off. “Have you decided on a name for your warrior princess yet?” I blurted as the thought occurred to me.

Doogie’s frown lightened and his lips tipped up. It was humor and not happiness that lit his eyes. “Orrellie,” he stated proudly.

“Princess Orrellie…” I smiled as I said it out loud. “I like it.”

Doogie shook his head. “No want spoiled.”

Ribbing him as I made my way past him, I let a witch cackle slip. “It’s funny that you think you can contain me.”

“No want spoiled, naughty,” he insisted as his face pulled into an unhappy moue.

Grabbing his cheeks, I gave them a little shake this way and that as I pinched his mug until he had fishy lips. “Aw, honey, it’s so cute you think you have any kind of control over the madness that’s about to befall you.”

“Jo haves girl, too,” he pointed out.

“She’ll be an angel,” I bullshitted with ease, lying through my pretty little human teeth.

Doogie’s snort had me grinning.

“Say, where are my incredible hunks?” I mumbled absently, more to myself than Doogie as my gaze darted around Dorothy’s living room. Glancing over at Doogie, who was pointedly glancing around with me, he gave me a look that said, How should I know?

“Rek actually sat this one out,” I confided. “I about fell over,” I joked.

He was butt deep in beading a diaper bag and looked loath to give up the forest image dancing across the front of the bag he’d been working on. Celuk hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d been teaching Rek some shit. Seriously looking like the student was passing up the teacher. It all tied into Rek’s competitive nature but in the least toxic way possible. Rek soaked up the praise on his work from my mates as much as he did my gushing over each piece.

“Mama say come outside, Jo pop in,” Doogie rumbled out softly.

“Out front?” I pointed towards the front, then the back door I’d just come in through.

Doogie carefully took my finger and pointed it towards the front.

Nodding, I walked to the door, opened it, and stepped outside, and right into the middle of an ambush.

“Sued-prise!” Odix bellowed above everyone else gathered close.

Everyone was here. My cousin and her family. Mal and hers. Daisy and her clan. Red and hers. Carrie, Elle, Doogie’s family grouping. What looked to be all of Dorothy’s sons. And there were quite a few of those assholes lurking around these parts. My entire support group.

“Happy Baby!” Veegolo snapped in his naturally churlish way, his clan gathered around him.

“Mates and Rothy help, but we make!” another support group buddy I’d helped out growled out.

Jeh-kal scowled over at them at that but Buu quietly murmured something at Big Business that had him pausing, taking a deep breath, rolling his eyes at them, and letting it go.

Watching the byplay, I waved at the pair and blew them a kiss that Jeh-kal lifted his hand to catch, making Buu eye him as if he felt Jeh-kal should have left the imaginary air kiss for both of them.

Rek was the first to the steps to help me down them, grumbling about me being careful as Celuk met me at the bottom, grinning at Rek’s overbearing grumpastic-ness. Celuk had learned he didn’t need to pick fights with me about certain things when he could just voice his opinion on it, I’d tell him to stick it up his butt, and he could let it go while Rek quickly picked up the torch to carry on with it. Ugh, that male really was kookypants! A genius but a kookypants.

Dace stood a short distance from Buu, a thick beanie on her head and the heavy fur patched coat we’d gifted her keeping her warm, a perfectly wrapped present with an enormous pink bow on it strapped to the top of that thing in her arms. She was trying to be all smiles but was painfully aware of Mina and her family across the way, I had no doubt, and was desperately trying to stay out of the way. Her hair was growing back. There was that. Soon Dace wouldn’t need the beanie all of the time.

And I knew, where there was Dace, there’d be a giant horn head accompanying her or her own personal nightmare glaring her down. It looked as if Horn Head couldn’t make it to be her buddy so Hall Monitor Nightmare death glaring a few feet away from her kept his distance.

Hugging all of my mates and thanking them before making the rounds, I made sure to accidentally on purpose bump into Berkr, make a fuss about it, then prance away from him as Jeh-kal death glared him down, fangs on display, until Berkr recalled his place in the beastie hierarchy and backed down. He may be big and bad enough to torment a human, but Big Business was bigger and I’m an asshole if you mess with me and mine; and Squeaks, as I affectionately called Dace, she was Suns Caves Clan.

Buu snagged me up, whispered his appreciation into my ear, planted one on me, then set me on the other side of him so I could easily reach Dace.

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