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I jolted, turning to stare at the man who had spoken.
Fallon was standing there with his hands planted on his hips, his chest puffed out and his chin tilted up, looking like some kind of Old-Earth cartoon character. Put a cape on him and the look would be complete. Alien Cowboy to the rescue.
“I have more than one bedroom and more than one bed,” he added firmly. “It is no trouble, truly. I told the warden as much back when this program was proposed. That I could take as many females as required.”
As many females as… huh? Was this gorgeous, helpful, bowtie-wearing ding-dong expecting some kind of harem situation here? What the hell did that mean, take as many females as required?
And why the hell did I even care? He was offering my sad friend a safe place to stay. And it also meant that I wouldn’t be all alone in this new world. At least not yet.
“That is,” Fallon said, swinging his gaze back to me, “if it is agreeable to my,” he faltered, his gaze burning even brighter before he breathed the word, “bride.”
“Very agreeable,” I said, nodding decisively. “Magnolia, you’re coming home with us.”
Magnolia gave me a teary, grateful look.
“That’s probably for the best if you have more room, Fallon,” Cherry admitted. “But we’ll still be neighbours!” she added brightly, giving Magnolia a squeeze. “Fallon’s ranch is the closest to ours out of everyone. I can see it if I get up on the roof.”
“Now that this matter is settled,” the warden said, his voice an authoritative baritone, “shall we move on to your wedding?”
He looked at me as he said it. Your wedding.
Mine.
I gulped, then formed my face into the pretty, plastic mask I’d worked so hard to perfect under my mother’s demanding tutelage.
“Of course,” I said. I was about to move closer to Fallon when Cherry’s free arm shot out. She grabbed my hand and yanked, then pulled on Magnolia who she was still linked with.
“Just… Just a moment,” she called over her shoulder as she dragged Magnolia and me away from the group. “I just have something I need to talk to these two about first.”
For fuck’s sake. What now? What could be so important that she insisted on telling Magnolia and me away from the Zabrian males?
And what could be so important that she insisted on telling me before I got married to Fallon?
Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. I swallowed my dread as Cherry pulled us around to the other side of the shuttle. We huddled together in its shade.
“So,” Cherry said, looking uncomfortable if not downright guilty about something. Guilty but imploring. It was the face of someone who had a really shitty confession to make but was hoping you’d be able to smile through the stink of it anyway. “Here’s the thing about these guys…”
4
FALLON
“Where are they going?” I asked, watching Darcy’s form disappear around the other side of the human craft. Every muscle in my body bunched, urging me to follow her. My tail squeezed its hook on the back of my belt so hard that either I would start bleeding soon or the metal would snap. Or both.
I liked Cherry very much. I trusted her and secretly considered her a friend.
But she had just pulled my tall, beautiful, pink-haired Darcy out of my view and I did not like it one bit.
I liked what Silar said next even less.
“She is likely going to tell them about our convictions.”
“She what?” I whirled on Silar, my chest suddenly heaving with harsh breaths. “Why in the great blasted span of the Empire would she do a thing like that?”
“What’s going on?” Warden Tenn asked, frowning, as I groaned and ripped my hat from my head to run frantic claws through my hair.
“The human females do not know that this is a penal colony. Cherry had no idea upon her arrival,” Silar informed the warden. “I believe she is telling her friends about our pasts so they can make an informed decision about their own marriages.”
“What the blazes do you mean, they don’t know?” Warden Tenn demanded. “The Empire never informed the human side about your pasts when they set up the program?”
