Enemy of the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (sight word readers TXT) 📕

Maybe all my talk the night before of selling human women off like cattle had convinced him not to participate at all.

I should feel good about that.

So why was my stomach balled up into a tight knot—and why were there tears pricking behind my eyes?

Drindl leaned in to begin applying my makeup, then paused, her face crinkling in concern. “Plofnid, why don’t you go see what you can find out about what happened with Wex?”

The Poltien nodded, rolling my hair up into a final heated rod. “I’ll be back soon,” it promised, scampering down the steps of the stool and heading out the door.

“I think there may have been some kind of mistake,” Drindl tried to reassure me. “We will find out what’s going on.”

I nodded mutely, fighting to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I didn’t want to be here at all, much less married off to the green bastard who had put me in prison.

So why was I crying?

“Here, take these.” Drindl handed me a handful of tissues and I blotted my eyes carefully. She turned and changed the screen so that it once again showed the four Khanavai warriors who had chosen me.

That’s no better.

A moment later, Plofnid returned. “I have Klunjt working on getting the information,” it announced. “As soon as she finds out, she will let us know.”

“There,” Drindl said, her voice comforting. “There’s never been a secret or a rumor Klunjt couldn’t track down.”

Plofnid took the curlers out of my hair and finished brushing it out into soft waves. “We’ll get you dressed while she gets the information for us,” it said.

“In the meantime,” Drindl added, “you just go through the motions. Remember, you do not have to mate with any of those males.” She waved an elegant hand dismissively at the image of the four Khanavai warriors who had chosen me, and I found myself laughing, even through my tears.

Stupid tears.

“Okay,” I said, drawing a calming breath. “I’m ready. Let’s go play out the rest of this farce.”

But as we left the room to head to the first round of Bride Games, I couldn’t help but wonder…

What if Wex really wasn’t interested in me?

And what if I decided I was interested in him?

Chapter Sixteen

Wex

I woke up still wondering what I could possibly say to Deandra to convince her she would be happy with me.

Before I had fallen asleep the night before, I had gone into the Bride Games catalog and entered my request to be matched with her so I would at least have the chance to begin—what was the word humans used?

Wooing? Or pitching woo? No. That brought up images of throwing things at her.

There was a better word.

Oh. Courting. That was it. I would begin courting her at the brunch today.

I sat up and stretched, planning a leisurely shower. Then I would put on my best formal uniform and make my way to the assigned room early enough to get the best seat—and to hold the one next to me for Deandra.

But when I reached over and keyed on a light, I realized that the timer on my mirror-screen had gone dark. Frowning, I tapped in a few more commands, pulling up the time.

Vulking calderfrits.

How in all the Zagrodnian hells had I overslept by so much?

If I hurried, I could still make it to the brunch in time. Grabbing my uniform from the previous day off the back of the chair where I had dropped it the night before, I pulled it on while tapping in a request for my schedule for the day.

I froze when it scrolled onto the screen.

Nothing?

How can I have nothing scheduled for today when I’m participating in the Bride Games?

Quickly, I opened the Bride Games program and ran a search for the meeting room.

Nothing came up under my name.

This isn’t happening.

I scrolled over to the matches, pulling up my name again.

No matches.

Something had gone horribly wrong here. Quickly, I pulled up Deandra’s matches.

Four Khanavai warriors.

But I wasn’t listed there.

“No, no, no,” I muttered, tugging on my boots and pausing only long enough to clean my teeth quickly.

I checked one last time and made note of the games room for Deandra’s meeting with those four…interlopers.

As I dashed through the corridors of the station, two words repeated over and over my mind.

She’s mine. She’s mine. She’s mine.

The door was already closed by the time I got to the room. Without my wristcom, which was still in the command center, I didn’t even know how late I was.

Not that it mattered, since I wasn’t on the official guest list, anyway.

Servers had to get in and out, so the door wouldn’t be locked, right?

Holding my breath, I pressed against the panel, willing it to slide open for me.

I was pressing against it so hard that when it finally did open, I stumbled through.

Gazing around frantically, I searched for Deandra.

There.

One of the other Khanavai stood, leaning on the table and bellowing, “What the vulk?”

I didn’t even glance in his direction, instead heading toward Deandra in a line as straight as an arcnav desert beetle’s.

She sat at the table on a chair raised high enough to allow her to converse easily with the Khanavai males surrounding her—so high that her feet dangled above the ground like a child’s.

I dropped to my knees, reaching out and clasping both her hands in mine.

“Wex, what’s going on?” she asked.

“I do not know why I didn’t show up as a match for you this morning,” I told her.

Something in her face, a shadow of unhappiness, cleared at my words, but she didn’t say anything yet.

“And I know you’re right. The Bride Lottery, the Games? They’re ridiculous. We shouldn’t have to go through them—neither human females nor Khanavai males. But right now, I am glad they exist, because they gave me a chance to meet you.”

A tiny line appeared between her eyebrows as she frowned, and I wanted nothing more than to reach up and