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

A mate who didn’t want to be here at all.

I found myself rubbing my eyes in frustration. Yes, the judges would be awarding score points during the games. But the final decision rested with the brides. They could not be forced to stay. Natalie could not be forced to stay.

She could, however, be wooed.

That was exactly what I am going to do. No matter what it takes.

Before I decided on an exact course of action, though, I needed to get a better sense of my competition. I pulled up the list of matches and examined them more closely.

Eldron Gendovi was a former commander in the military’s ground forces. His red skin tones suggested his ancestors came from the mountainous regions of Khanav Prime, and his people were known for being fierce fighters with hot tempers, quick to anger—but also quick to forgive.

Perhaps if I could provoke him, his display of anger would frighten Natalie away from him.

But that wouldn’t make her any more likely to turn to me.

His position as commander also suggested that he had strong control over his emotions. He was still a relatively young man, though several years older than I was. If he tended toward violent outbursts, he wouldn’t have moved up in the ranks so quickly.

He would be a formidable foe.

I turned my attention to Natalie’s other potential match.

Tiziani Mencono, a civilian guardsman from the jungle regions of the planet. Part of me wanted to dismiss him out of hand. What bride in her right mind would choose a civilian? But his people were known for their sneaky, underhanded tactics. There was no telling what he might do to gain her trust.

In fact, the yellow-skinned Khanavai were reportedly overrepresented in the Special Ops program, their cultural training having prepared them to act as spies already.

I wished Zont hadn’t already headed down to the planet to begin his search for the runaway bride. It would have been nice to confer with him about Tiziani’s potential weaknesses.

Really, though, it didn’t matter that Zont had already taken off. Tiziani wouldn’t be any easier to defeat than Eldron.

I settled in with the computer interface, determined to see what I could dig up on my two foes before we met in battle—figuratively, at least for now—to compete for Natalie’s favor.

When I walked into the luncheon room later, the other two Khanavai competitors had not yet arrived. I had planned that, allowing myself the chance to choose the seat at the table that gave me the best chance to command the room. I chose the one facing the door, so I would see Natalie as soon as she walked in—and more importantly, so she would see me before either of the other men.

Of course, since the table was round, taking control of the room was more difficult than I had anticipated. I suspected this had to do with Earth traditions, since humans were more concerned with things like equality and egalitarianism. Among the Khanavai, rank mattered. Had we been battling for a Khanavai female, Commander Eldron would have been seated at the head of a table, I would be seated at the foot as the warrior with the second-highest rank, and Tiziani, as a civilian guardsman, would be seated to one side, assuming he had been allowed to participate at all.

Then again, no Khanavai female would be seated at the table at all. Our customs had begun to change with the integration of human women into our culture. The first Khanavai Bride, Princess Ella, had insisted upon it. And Prince Khai, the warrior who had set up the Bride Agreement with Earth, had adored his mate so much that he had agreed with her.

Oddly enough, every Khanavai warrior mated to a human female had experienced a similar shift in views. Our mating bond was too strong not to influence our behaviors. And so only the old, unmated warriors remained to insist upon the value of our heritage.

Having met Natalie, even for only a few moments, I could see why human women held such fascination for—and sway over—their Khanavai mates. We were hardwired to ensure our mates’ happiness and well-being. If being allowed to participate in political discussions and sit at the warriors’ tables made our human mates happier, then it was a small price to pay.

I was still pondering this shift in our culture when the other two warriors entered the room together, ushered in by one of the servants. The bride was always last to enter the luncheon, a tradition that had developed over the years since the Bride Games had begun.

New worlds lead to new traditions. It was something my father had said to me more than once. Then again, he had been able to win one of the last fertile Khanavai women on our planet. It had been an easy thing for him to say.

I hoped I could prove him right when I took Natalie back to Khanavai Prime with me.

Standing to give the traditional warriors’ greeting, I held my closed fist, thumb inward toward my chest, a little longer than was customary, eyeing first the yellow Tiziani Mencono and then the red Eldron Gendovi.  “Greetings,” I said to them, “and may the gods favor our endeavors on this day.”

It was an unusual statement to make in such a circumstance, as it was generally a prayer before battle. But the other two murmured the reflexive response. “May the gods favor you, as well.”

Tiziani’s face clouded as he realized that he’d just offered a prayer for my success, but Eldron smiled as he took a seat to my right. Tiziani sat across from him, leaving the seat immediately in front of the door available for Natalie.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.” Eldron nodded at us both, then turned to me. “I have learned many good things about you today.”

“And I you.”

Thus we established our ability to take our opponents’ measure. Having watched the Bride Games televised