Claimed for the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📗

Instead of heading back to the docking bay, I turned again toward the bridge.

There, the dead Horde members still stood sentinel. Swallowing down my revulsion, I made my way to the instrument panel that, had I been guessing, I would have assumed controlled propulsion. With a quick motion, I swiped my hand through the nearest husk-body, gathered the crumbling dust in my hand, and began moving my hand over the panel.

Lights began blinking to life.

I was right. Something about the dust their bodies produced really did help power up the ship.

I resisted the urge to continue experimenting.

I didn’t want to slam the Hordeship into Station 21 if I could help it. That would not be a fitting legacy, I thought wryly.

There would be plenty of time to experiment when I got an actual engineering team over here.

The fact that the horde was tracking human females made me that much more determined to learn what they were doing and why—and that started with learning how they use their technology.

This time, as I headed back to the docking bay, excitement warred with disappointment. I would need to spend the next few days working with that engineering team to see what we could figure out about how the Horde used its own bodies to control the ship.

Which was all well and good—and I really was excited about it. Except for one thing: it meant I wouldn’t be able to spend much time with Mia over the next few days.

I hoped she would understand.

Chapter Seventeen

Mia

Almost three days.

That was how long it had been since I had seen Eldron.

I shouldn’t care. I told myself that over and over, trying to convince myself I wasn’t disappointed by his absence.

After all, if I’d had the opportunity to transport back to Earth, I would have taken it without hesitation.

But if I had to be stuck on Station 21 with no easy way to contact Josiah, I would have preferred to spend my time with the commander.

He, however, was busy analyzing the Hordeship the Khanavai had captured. Which meant I ended up helping Natalie prepare Amelia and Zont’s wedding.

I’d been right—Natalie really was good at getting people to do whatever she wanted them to do.

And now I was preparing to be a bridesmaid in a wedding broadcast across the whole galaxy.

God, I hope Frank isn’t watching.

Natalie and I marched into the small, mostly undamaged room we had commandeered for the wedding. As we walked up the aisle created by temporary seating, we dropped petals from both Earth and Khanavai flowers on the floor.

Zont, dressed in his kilt-like chavan uniform, waited for Amelia at the front of the room—but I couldn’t stop staring at Eldron, who had been pulled from his scientific inquiry long enough to perform the ceremony as the senior officer on the station.

At the front of the room, we turned back to face the doorway, and Amelia stepped into the doorway, vidglobes floating around her.

Zont gasped when he saw her, and I couldn’t help but smile at how obviously smitten he was with her.

Cav stepped up and offered his arm to escort her the short distance to her groom.

Drindl and Plofnid, Natalie’s two bridal assistants, took up the rear of the tiny procession, and at the last minute, one of the station medics pushed Vos Klavoii into the room on a floatchair.

After I left Frank, I swore off the whole idea of marriage.

But I couldn’t help but feel a swell of emotion as Zont and Amelia promised to love and honor each other, and to protect one another, allowing their infinite love room to grow.

As I watched Zont and Amelia exchange their vows, I swallowed hard, glancing up at Eldron, wondering if maybe—just maybe—marriage to him would be different than my life with Frank had been.

Could Eldron save me?

Oh, God. I hope so. The thought flickered through my mind before I could quash it.

Tears sprang to my eyes, and I blinked them away before he noticed.

What should I do?

Running wasn’t an option. Amelia had tried that, and she’d ended up here on Station 21, mated to and marrying the alien who had chosen her.

At least she’d had the option of either agreeing to be with Zont or going through the Bride Games. Vos Klavoii hadn’t given me a choice in the matter—he was determined to have another series of Bride Games with several grooms vying for my affections.

Of course, Eldron and I hadn’t had sex, and rumor had it that Amelia and Zont had been together before they even made it up to the station, that he had actually mated her without her knowledge—whatever that meant. The Khanavai were pretty cagey about how the mating process worked. When I’d asked Eldron about it a few moments before the ceremony, he’d simply caressed my cheek and said, “I promise I’ll tell you all about it. But not until we’re officially paired.”

Every single day since I met him, I had thought about that moment in the corridor outside the hangar, when I had been about to board the Earth-bound shuttle.

I thought I’d escaped being given to an alien warrior. I was wrong.

God. I was less than an hour away from washing out of the Alien Bride Games.

None of the Khanavai warriors had chosen me, and I was scheduled on the next shuttle off the filming station.

My secret was still safe.

I mean, I’d been on television. The whole world had seen me participating, even though I tried to keep a low profile. But I couldn’t count on not having been seen. When I got back home, I’d have to run.

Again.

Change my name, get new ID cards.

Get the new translator-trackers implanted.

I shuddered at the thought of another back-alley procedure. They were dangerous at best, and I knew I was risking getting caught by the authorities by going back.

Worse, taking the risk of getting a new tracker might put me right back on the Bride Lottery list.

But then a bright red alien passed me in a hallway. A whole long line