Entered in the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (easy readers txt) 📕

made me laugh harder, until I was doubled over clutching my stomach, tears of laughter streaming from my eyes.

I tried to sit down, aiming for the edge of the bed, but I almost missed—so instead, I allowed myself to slide down to the floor, still howling and laughing.

As suddenly as it had started, though, my laughing fit stopped, and I was left with only the tears. They were quickly followed by huge, gulping sobs. Plofnid and Drindl fluttered around, trying to find ways to get me to stop crying, but I couldn’t.

This is really happening.

There were women this morning who had not been matched by any Khanavai warriors. They were going home tonight, back to their lives. Back to Earth.

I wasn’t. In fact, there was a good chance I would never get to go home. Not for good, anyway.

I had seen the Bride Games often enough to know that being matched to three of them was a bad sign. My chances of ending up permanently attached to an alien had not just tripled. No. After the matching, the odds of being mated went up exponentially.

I was now…I did some quick math in my head…twenty-seven times more likely to end up mated to a Khanavai warrior than I had been when I set foot on this station.

I am so fucked.

And not in a good way.

It took Plofnid and Drindl almost an hour to wipe away all the traces of my morning tears—and that was after I stood in the shower for as long as they’d allow.

Now I sat in front of the camera-mirror again, this time quizzing them about the “spanking ceremony” I was going to have to endure.

“It’s not as terrible as it sounds,” Drindl tried to reassure me, her crystalline eyes widening earnestly.

Plofnid snorted derisively, sending its nostril-braid swinging.

Drindl drew herself up to her full height, offended at her partner’s skepticism. “It is a mating ritual with a long history among the Khanavai.”

“Humans don’t even spank children as punishment any longer,” I said with a scowl.

“I should hope not!” Drindl’s cheeks turned an odd shade of gray—her version of blushing, I decided as she continued speaking. “This is a form of Khanavai foreplay. It’s not meant to punish or even as correction.”

Foreplay? Oh, hell no.

“It’s not often used for punishment, anyway,” Plofnid added.

I knew it!

“Then why do it?” I asked.

“It’s a reminder of the bride’s position in the relationship.” Plofnid moved around to pull a brush through my hair.

“Her position? What—ass in the air?”

Drindl tittered at my comment, her tinkling laugh almost infectious. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Seriously,” I continued. “There’s nothing about spanking that isn’t degrading. It’s antiquated and demeaning.”

And maybe a little kinky, the traitorous voice inside my head added.

I ignored it, just as Drindl and Plofnid ignored the comments I made aloud. Finally, I heaved a sigh. “Okay. What is my role in this? And how will it work with three matches?”

“First, you’ll be meeting your matches for a luncheon. A chance to get to know one another. Then you’ll be expected to undergo the spanking ceremony with each suitor. There will, of course, be an appropriate resting period between each one.”

“Oh, God,” I groaned. “Today is going to suck.”

“Not at all,” Drindl assured me. “Sucking comes later in the games.”

I whipped my head around to stare at her, and she let out the bell-peal of the belly-laugh she’d been holding in until I realized she was joking.

Dropping my elbows to the counter in front of me, I stared at my reflection. Even knowing that I was speaking straight into the camera—and therefore to all the viewers back on Earth who were hanging on every detail of the Bride Games—I had to remind myself of my goal.

“I am playing to lose. I will be going back home.”

Drindl and Plofnid shot skeptical glances at each other.

Fine. They could think whatever they wanted. I’d show them.

When all this was over, I’d be going home again.

No matter what my handlers believed.

Chapter Ten

Cav

Luncheon with Natalie.

I was practically salivating at the idea of it. Not of the food. Of my mate. I couldn’t wait to be close enough to her to draw in her scent again. Touch her skin. Run my fingers through her hair. My cock grew hard at the mere thought.

But my next thought put a damper on my rising excitement. There would be two other Khanavai warriors there. Warriors who believed they might be able to lure my mate from me.

Worthless sandworms.

I’d show them.

But more importantly, I’d show her—show her that she was meant to be mine, and I hers. My Natalie. My mate.

And then the spanking ceremony. Oh, gods and goddesses, I couldn’t stop thinking about that. It was the first time that particular Khanavai tradition had ever been incorporated into the Bride Games—apparently out of respect for human sensibilities.

But the other two Khanavai who had matched with her would be allowed to touch her. Place their hands on her.

A growl rumbled in my throat, my ancient warrior genes bringing out my competitive side.

“No.” I spoke the word aloud, even though there was no one else to hear me.

The other warriors could not have her. I couldn’t allow it. Natalie Ferguson was mine, and that was all there was to it. I simply had to make sure she realized it.

But I was beginning to realize that even if she felt the same attraction toward me that I felt for her, she wasn’t as ready to accept it as I was.

I had to laugh at myself. After all, I had started out not wanting a mate at all. Now, I couldn’t think of anything more important to me.

The realization froze me in place on my bed in my Grooms’ Quarters room, where I’d been flipping through the schedule of events I’d just received.

Nothing is more important to me than winning my mate.

Was that really true?

It was, I realized. Even earning a place at the ops program was no longer as important to me as making