Page 2 of Wed to the Bullman

“Aw, well, you’ll be fresh for her tomorrow. I guarantee you she’s on cloud nine.”

“She is?” My brow furrows as I have no idea where cloud nine is.

Auryn laughs. “It means she’s super happy. She wanted to meet you and hoped you’d be her match. She was rather taken by Vrakius.”

“Hmph.” I hope she isn’t still taken by him. I will not compete with my brother for my mate’s attention. “She better be taken with me when we marry.” My gruffness comes through the comm.

“Oh, Vozak, I forget how literal you are. I mean she really thinks highly of Vrakius and minotaurs. She wants a minotaur for her husband. When she found out we were bringing you back, she got all excited. And look, it worked like a charm.”

“That it did. Auryn, you knew. I’ll be home tomorrow evening with my new wife and your sister.”

Auryn sighs. “Listen, Vozak, at least stop along the way. Give her a good honeymoon. I know you minotaurs like to get back to your ranches and work, but the human female loves some attention. Be kind and gentle with her. She’s my baby sister. I want her to arrive fresh-faced and happy to be your bride, okay?”

It’s not much to ask, I know. But my brother’s wife is very controlling about her sister, and she seems to think I don’t know how to treat a human female. I’ve read the human history and physiology books. The marriage temple sends them out when an alien has testing for a DNA match. I think I know how to operate Agnes.

CHAPTER 2

Agnes

Every day I wait for the courier to bring news, and every day I’m superbly disappointed. I’m beginning to think I’ll be the old maid of the family since the marriage temple hasn’t found a DNA match. Auryn and Chelsea have their mates and children, of all things. I trudge to the front of our apartment building and step onto the sidewalk, watching people walk by heading to their jobs and the markets.

The little van pulls up with the words Courier Service painted on the side. My heart skips a beat as he walks to our building.

“Who are you looking for?” I ask, surprising him because he didn’t notice me walking by.

“Agnes Ridgewood.”

“I’m here.” I nearly jump up and down as he hands me the large packet from the Marriage Temple. The words are big and bold. You Have A Match!

“Mother! Guess what?” I tear into our tiny apartment yelling. She’s in the kitchen canning vegetables. I really should be helping her, but there’s really not much room for two doing it. She shooed me away earlier.

“You have a match?” Her eyes are bright and wide, but her voice is forced, almost flat. She’d been through this twice already with my two older sisters. Now it’s my turn.

I run to Mother’s arms while she holds back her tears. “You don’t have to be brave, mom. It’s okay.”

She rears back and smiles despite it. “I’m both sad and happy, for three reasons. One, sad to see you go. Two, happy to see you get your dream. Three, happy dad and I can rightfully retire now that our children have left the nest.”

This was news. I perch on the old worn-out sofa. “Oh? What will you do? Where will you go?”

“We want a hovel outside of the city. Someplace where we can grow our food and have peace and quiet. We applied when Auryn sent her DNA to the marriage temple. We received a letter stating we’d have our request as soon as our children grew up and moved on.”

“Who is your match? Is it Vozak?”

I read the letter. “All it says is they found a DNA match, and I’m to come to the marriage temple. It doesn’t say who or what they are.” I frown because this is important information. It doesn’t really matter at this point since my DNA match is already on his way to the temple to marry me.

Somehow, their intentions make it easier for me to leave. Honestly, all I do here is mope around the tiny apartment or go out into our community and see all the other unhappy people waiting for their dreams to come true.

Daddy beams all the way to the train station. I turn to him and grab his arm. “Aren’t you going to miss me?”

“Oh, little princess, of course, we will. But you need to understand, we’re using the freedom to move to make it easier on us. We’re not losing a daughter; we’re gaining freedom. We’ve always wanted to live in the country, have our own land, but we couldn’t as long as we were raising children. We had to live close to the schools. Now we can retire, and our children are starting their own families.”

“How will we know where you are? The couriers don’t go to the countryside.”

“We’ll send word, much the same way we communicate with Auryn and Chelsea.”

“I think we should get you a comm.”

“Oh, those are so expensive.” Mom always has a reason why she can’t do something.

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