Captured for the Alien Bride Lottery

girl was suddenly in charge of the rest of my life.
And I went to med school for this?
I had to force back the tears that threatened to erupt at the thought.
We stepped outside, and the smile that seemed to always lurk behind Natalie’s expression widened. She waved at her husband, who waved back. Then she turned to me and wrapped both her arms around one of mine, hooking elbows and tugging a little to get me to walk with her.
We headed toward the ship and Natalie continued talking. “So. Like I was saying. There are lots of good Khanavai guys. But there are plenty of assholes among the Khanavai, too. I met one real jerk—he was a groom in my Games.” Her voice dropped. “Yellow. Like a giant banana. Can you imagine what his cock must look like?”
Trying to follow her conversational threads was likely to give me mental whiplash.
“Anyway. You’ll meet another asshole when we get up there. Vos Klavoii has said he wants to talk to you.”
Vos Klavoii. The Games Administrator.
Shit. I was really and truly going to end up in the middle of the Bride Games, wasn’t I?
I’d definitely want to bring the conversation back around to that—but I had some questions I wanted to ask Natalie first, though. “Are you happy?” My voice came out sounding almost desperate, so I tried to modulate it. “You’re married to Cav because you want to be? They didn’t try to coerce you in any way?”
She threw her head back and laughed aloud. Even though it had been only a week since I left the hotel in Las Vegas, it felt like it had been centuries since I’d heard anyone laugh. It was a good sound—bright and clear and true.
“Oh, they tried all kinds of coercion. But in the end, Cav and I chose each other. We’re good together.” Again she glanced up at her new husband, and I could see love shining from her eyes.
But she’s so young, that overanalytical part of my brain fretted. What if she doesn’t know what she’s talking about?
“Are you worried about going to Khanav Prime?” I asked.
“Oh, hell yes. Terrified. But Cav will be with me, and he’s promised that if I’m miserable there or in any of his postings, we can come back to Earth.”
“You believe he’d keep his word?” This time, I didn’t even try to hide the incredulity in my voice.
“Absolutely.” Well, she certainly sounded sure.
“Do you think it’s likely that you’ll take him up on that offer—to come back to Earth, I mean?”
Natalie made an uncertain noise. “Oh, I don’t know. I kind of doubt it. I wouldn’t want to put Cav in the same kind of situation that I’m terrified of going into. Honestly, we’re probably going to end up posted on a ship. He’s training for Special Ops soon, and when that’s over, he is going to request an analysis position on one of the battleships close to the Alveron Horde borders—but only if I can go with him.”
“So you’re certain they’re not going to arrest me? Send me to alien prison?”
“Are you kidding?” Natalie snorted. “Vos was certain that he’d had the top-rated Bride Games season ever, in all the years anyone has been running it. Then, you took off—and actually got away. For a whole week. Cav and I got married, and now Mia and Eldron are having to go through a whole series of new Bride Games all by themselves, just to satisfy Vos’s appetite for ratings. Bringing you up to Station 21 and making you participate in the Games? It’s like he’s died and gone to heaven.”
Even I had to snicker at that.
Her expression turned serious. “Don’t get me wrong. Vos is a scheming prick. He will do everything he can think of to get you to fall into his plans, anything that might serve his purposes. And his purposes are ratings. Period.”
My body went tense at the thought of participating in the Bride Games. It was my worst nightmare come true.
Natalie must have sensed my anxiety rising. “But you can also negotiate with Vos. That’s what Cav and I did. It worked, too. We both ended up getting exactly what we wanted.” She paused for a moment, then added quietly, “You just have to outthink him.”
Before I could respond, Dee walked out of the lobby, her arms wrapped around her stomach as if giving herself a giant hug, her expression utterly stricken as she saw me walking by.
I broke away from Natalie to race over to Dee. I threw my arms around her. “It’s okay,” I said. “I’ll be all right. I promise. Thank you so much for all your help.”
She returned my hug tightly. “If you ever get back and need anything, come find me,” she whispered.
Tears sprang to my eyes. I hope to hell I haven’t gotten her in trouble.
One of the Khanavai warriors who had accompanied Zont’s ship called out something in their garbled language.
“Time to go,” Natalie said.
I broke away from Dee and brushed a hand over my eyes, wiping away my incipient tears.
“I’ll make sure she’s okay,” Natalie said to a visibly worried Dee.
Then I turned and headed toward the Khanavai ship.
Toward my uncertain, terrifying future.
The exact one I’d been trying to avoid.

Chapter Fourteen


Zont
While we were on Earth, I believed I could convince Amelia to accept me as her mate.
But now, as we took off and headed to Station 21, my hopes plummeted. Amelia sat in her seat with her hands twisting in her lap, fingers twining together over and over, like restless colrav snakes about to strike.
A sense of dread rose in me, twisting my stomach into knots as we got closer to Station 21. For a moment, I wondered if I was somehow picking up on Amelia’s worries. But really, I was mostly concerned about Amelia’s reaction to the Khanavai space station.
No, I finally decided. I had plenty to be worried about.
Back on Earth, I had only enough time to sketch in the barest