Page 36 of Rescued By the Alien Bull Rider

“We’re all in it. All the human women who are here. Darcy renamed it Cock Tail Hour.”

“I hope I can still participate,” I said as Tasha propped up her tablet on the table so that we could both see the screen, “even if I’m not having any cocktails these days.”

“Oh, no!” she said, her cheeks turning pink. “Not that sort of cocktail!”

What other sort was there?

I didn’t get long to ponder that question, because a little square on the screen suddenly jumped into brightness. A stunningly beautiful human woman with green eyes and glossy pink hair gazed out at us.

The colour of her hair reminded me of Zohro’s skin. And, stupidly, it made me miss him.

“Hello, Darcy!” Tasha said.

“Hey. Oh. Hold on. Fallon wants to say something.” Suddenly, a broad, Zabrian face shoved in beside Darcy’s, baring sharp fangs in an enormously disarming grin.

“Hello, Tasha! My favourite writer of books!”

“You’re a writer?” I asked her.

She gave a small shake of her head. “Not really. I’ll explain later.”

“But of course, she is a writer!” Fallon scoffed. “She has written the most important text in all the world! That most fabulous manual on human females!”

“I don’t like the term manual, Fallon,” Tasha said primly.

“Yeah,” Darcy said, poking him. “I’m not a shuttle to be serviced.”

“But I am at your service,” Fallon said, looking at Darcy with a mixture of adoration and dejection.

“So, that’s her husband?” I said, leaning in to whisper to Tasha. “And he’s a murderer?”

“Yes and yes.”

Another square suddenly came into colour. A blue-eyed, brown-haired woman wearing a red scarf waved.

“Hey! Cherry’s in the house!” Darcy said with a whoop. “Now we’re just waiting on the mountain crew.”

“Mountain crew?” I asked Tasha.

“That’s Magnolia and Jaya,” Tasha explained.

It didn’t take long for them to answer the video call. They must have been together, because they both popped up in the same square, obviously using the same device. I recognized Magnolia at once from the photo at Sal’s. The woman beside her, Jaya, had a slightly lighter brown skin tone and straight, thick hair with bluntly-cut bangs above her dark brows.

All of them were smiling. All of them looked… happy.

“Thanks for joining the call, everyone,” Tasha said. “I’d like to introduce you all to Jolene Macdonald.”

All eyes went to me. It kind of made me want to crawl under the table.

Perhaps sensing my sudden discomfort with all the attention, Tasha quietly said, “Do you want to explain what you’re doing here? Or should I?”

“No, no. I will,” I said. “Hi, everybody. Like Tasha said, I’m Jolene. Um. I’m twenty-three years old, I’m from Terratribe II, and I’m currently very, very pregnant.”

“Oh, snap,” Darcy muttered.

“Is that when you say that?” Fallon asked her. “Because last time I tried to use that human phrase, you told me that it was not appropriate!”

“That’s because you said, ‘Oh, snap,’ right after you gave me an orgasm, Fallon,” she answered flatly. “So, no, that was not appropriate.”

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