Page 49 of Bride of Choice

Even if I was dying to know the identity of my secret Mystery Mate admirer/rescuer.

Why didn’t he just tell me, present himself to me?

Thinking about Dorothy saying they were trying to keep the Krampus hunt all hushity hush, I told her when she made her way back into the room, “I think it would be best for all involved, if we just pretended none of this ever happened.”

Dorothy nodded, agreeing, Lukar and Griever, fighting to stand behind her in the doorway, shoving each other quietly behind her, stopped shove-fighting to nod along with her.

“I fell,” I stressed, “got lost in the snow, but with a bit of rest I’ll be on the mend.”

“You’ve got that awful ick. You fell out of bed,” Dorothy improvised with a smile.

“Exactly,” I agreed with a jokey finger gun salute and a fake, plastered on smirk. “I can’t stay here, though,” I pointed out. “Folks will assume I’m worse off, and if Rosie catches wind of it she’ll come rushing down here.”

“That’s true.” Dorothy tapped her lip, deep in thought. “You can’t go back to yours, not with you being Krampus marked and all that.”

“Krampus marked?” Was that my voice sounding all weird and squeaky?

“For the hunt. The Krampus hunt. They mark their prey. Their targets,” she replied absently, while I sat there trying not to puke.

I’ve been marked?!!

“I think I need a bucket,” I blurted as a gurgle started to leave me.

Ten points to whichever male had not only found and grabbed a bucket, but had it shoved under me before the first urge to purge hit.

By the time I was done and Dorothy had helped me rinse my mouth out, we were informed that the males overseeing the village had gathered and were curious about having a word with me about all of this.

“Fuck it, why not,” I muttered, throwing my hands up as Dorothy protested the whole thing to her mates because as far as she could see I was obviously not feeling well.

“Are you sure?” Dorothy fretted, the best mother hen there ever was, giving her males the stink eye over her shoulder for even suggesting a meeting right now.

“I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” I admitted, biting my tongue to keep from mentioning that Bum-bum was far more informed on all of this than me.

Before I could even attempt to stand, I had Veck and Tarnk, two of Mina’s mates, Berkr, Righty of Cottontail’s mates, and Borc, one of Red’s ‘roided out looking males, crowding into the room.

One glance down at my yet to be removed from the room puke bucket and Veck glanced uneasily from me to Dorothy, who was glaring up a storm, her hands on her hips. “In a moment does not mean come shovin’ your way in with Berkr leadin’ the way,” she scolded them.

Berkr snorted, the only one not looking contrite. This should surprise no one.

The second he started to lean in, I cautioned him, “I’ll puke right on that skunky lookin’ stripey face, Pepé, just try me.”

Berkr jerked back as a startled laugh, poorly muffled into her hand clapping over her face, left Dorothy.

Berkr bared his teeth at me but kept his distance.

“They’re sniffing around the area near my hut but they look wary of trying to cross the water,” I told them. And because I knew it would be obvious, “Bum-bum said he was keeping an eye on things, and marked my hut to try and deter them.”

“Jo see them before?” Veck asked.

“Once,” I admitted, “but I didn’t know what they were at the time. Ran into it in the woods, headed home. I was swimming in a hot spring. We bumped into each other.”

“It just leave Bad Jo be?” Berkr’s eyes narrowed as he studied me, like he was looking for some sort of tell I was pulling his dick. Disbelief was thick in his voice.

“We literally rammed into each other and flew back. It looked stunned. I took off while it was still staring at me like an alien it was debating on whether I might taste nice or what,” I snapped at him defensively.

The pain in my head throbbed harder. Closing my eyes, I rubbed at my temples. “My head hurts. I fell, hit it, and blacked out,” I admitted. “Hurt my hip.”

Tarnk made a sympathetic noise that Righty copied.

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