Page 3 of Married to the Alien Mountain Man (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #5)

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OAKEN

“T his is for your own good, Nali,” I said, frowning at the defiant little creature. “You are a mountain gortu. You are meant to climb and jump. How will you return out to the wilds of the mountains without me, as you were always meant to do, if you won’t even bother climbing up to that little ledge above that boulder?”

Nali and I were on a hike – the first of many. We’d trekked out beyond my valley property further into the mountains. I’d hoped to find rocky inclines that suited her more than the boulders I’d dragged into her enclosure, but had not had any luck as of yet.

Nali looked at the ledge in question, then bleated at me from the grass between my boots.

“Absolutely not,” I told her at once. “I’m not lifting you up there again. That was strictly for demonstrative purposes. And, apparently, even that much was a mistake, as now you seem to think I will do it for you every time.”

She gave me a look that very much felt like it was saying, Won’t you?

“I won’t,” I reiterated. “You need to learn these skills and strengthen your legs. I need to strengthen mine, too. It is why we are out here.”

Instead of attempting to jump upon, or climb up, the side of the indicated boulder, Nali instead turned herself around so that her little upright tail was what faced me instead. Then, she let her legs collapse beneath her, settling into a shady place beside the boulder. As clear an indication as any that this training session was through nearly as soon as it had begun.

“Fine,” I muttered. “But we will be back out here again tomorrow, Nali.”

With every day that passed, I worried that she was missing out on crucial development. I didn’t want her to be unable to live in her native habitat because she’d spent too long in the fenced, grassy areas of my ranch.

But perhaps I was being too demanding. She was very young, and only recently transitioned to eating grass after the bracku milk I bottle-fed her. And though she did seem at least somewhat attached to me, I was not her gortu mother. Why should she bother to listen to me at all?

“I am sorry if I am being too harsh,” I said with a small sigh as I seated myself beside her. I stretched out my legs in front of me, rolling my stiff right ankle. “Perhaps I am not in the best mood today.”

I hadn’t been in the best mood since yesterday, when Tasha had informed me of the bride program changes shortly after her arrival with Warden Tenn. For one thing, the marriage trial period had been shortened from thirty days to only fourteen. This meant I had much less time to impress my future bride and convince her to stay with me once she arrived.

And that was only if she arrived.

Because even more disheartening than the newly shortened trial period was the fact that Tasha seemed to think it would now be much, much harder to get human women to agree to come here at all. This planet’s status as a penal colony would be revealed to the potential brides before they decided whether to take a chance on a new life – and husband – in this world.

Which, of course, was ultimately a good thing. I did not truly want my wife to come here under false pretences and then be disappointed when she found out I was actually an incarcerated exile, even if I’d never actually killed anyone.

But still…

Still, a bitter, shrivelled, selfish part of me – a part that made me feel very ashamed – wished I’d somehow managed to get a bride in the first batch of women, before the truth about this planet had come out.

Because now, as Tasha had explained, it could take many human months, maybe even many Zabrian cycles, until a new bride could be convinced to come here. And even if one did come, she would not be assigned to me as Magnolia once had been. No, Tasha had decreed that she would set up some sort of social event for future potential brides to meet several of the unmarried males – Zohro, Warden Hallum’s men, and me – all at once.

There was no guarantee a human woman would choose me above any of the others.

“But I am young enough,” I said aloud, as if the volume of my voice would make the optimism of the words more convincing, even as Nali gave me a mercilessly doubtful look. “I have time,” I insisted. “And I think I could win over a human woman eventually. If one would but give me a chance.”

I’d read the book Tasha wrote – the one about human women and their cultures – so many times that I had great swaths of the text memorized by now. I knew about weddings and flowers, religions and rings. In fact, I’d already made a wedding ring for my bride. I carried it with me always, the heavy metal circle of it a constant weight in the pocket of my trousers.

It might be a weight I carried alone for a long, long time.

“Well, if you’re not going to do any of your exercise, I suppose we should head back,” I said to Nali, standing and adjusting the brim of my hat beneath the hot morning sunshine. “Tasha and the warden will be leaving soon, and we must say our goodbyes.”

I moved to lift Nali into my arms – because she’d so far made no effort in getting up – then halted and straightened once more. The way my nose might become slowly aware of the warm whisp of distant smoke, my ears picked up on… something.

Engines . Getting closer.

Not a slicer. I knew it at once. These sounded further away, but I could already tell they were part of something much larger than the warden’s vehicle. And it did not sound like the engines of the Zabrian vessels that sometimes delivered supplies to my property. I had no orders due for delivery, anyway.

So what, then?

I removed my hat, letting my ears twitch and move in their attempt to pinpoint the origin of the sound. My ears told me which direction to look at the precise moment that a small vessel came into view overhead. It was descending – and quickly.

This was not normal. This did not happen.

Ships that had not been granted access to the planet by Zabria or the wardens did not just show up and land among the mountains here.

Ever.

Never, in all my cycles living here, had I seen an unknown vessel approach this way.

Something is wrong.

I was either in imminent danger from some sort of unforeseen attack…

Or the pilot was in trouble.

“Stay there,” I told Nali as I scooped her up and placed her atop the very ledge I’d sworn I would not lift her to before.

Then, I put my hat atop my head.

And ran.