Page 7 of Rescued by the Alien Bull Rider (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #6)

JOLENE

I t was only once I was up on Wyn’s back that I saw the reason Zohro had thrown me up there.

There was an animal creeping towards us, its huge, slinky body low in the grass.

It was massive, somehow both feline and reptilian, like an Old-Earth panther but covered in scales.

To my eyes, it appeared far more alien than the bull had before.

And that made it all the more terrifying.

We have to ride.

I knew it with grim certainty. We wouldn’t survive an encounter with that thing, whatever it was. The ranch wasn’t far…

Could we make it?

By force of habit, I reached for the reins as Zohro leaped up to land behind me. But he snagged them from me before I could get a grip on them.

And then we were moving. Flying.

The breath left my lungs as fear and exhilaration gripped me in equal measure.

I’d missed riding so damn much. But this was too fast, too bumpy.

I was bigger and way less balanced than the last time I’d been on a horse.

Centre of gravity? Didn’t have one. My pelvis spasmed and ached as we galloped forwards.

But Zohro’s left arm was firmly wrapped around my waist. A protective support that made me feel a little less like I was going to bounce Baby Girl right out of me.

And when he’d told me that I wouldn’t fall…

Maybe it was crazy. But I believed him.

We closed in on the ranch in breathless seconds, Zohro bent over me, bellowing commands at Wyn as the genka gained on us. But terror, not relief, lit up my veins when we approached the fence. He’s going to try to jump .

He didn’t, thank God. His tail was a whipping blur, snapping ahead to unlatch a gate I hadn’t noticed in the fencing. As we rushed through it, he used his tail to slam the gate closed, yanking hard on Wyn’s reins to slow her enough so that he could snap the latch entirely shut with his tail.

“Where’s your gun?” I asked, my heart battering my ribs as a very angry something hurled itself so hard against the fencing that the planks shook with the force.

“My what?” Zohro leaped off of Wyn, leaving me alone in the saddle. Which had me feeling slightly betrayed, after he’d promised me I wouldn’t fall. Until I noticed that his tail was now secured around my hips like a wrap-around seatbelt.

And that his arms were open below.

And that his eyes were on me.

“Your gun!” I repeated. “Does that not translate? Something to fucking shoot that thing!”

That thing was pawing at the planks now, scratching and emitting low growls of frustration.

“A blaster-style weapon? Only the wardens can carry such things.”

“You live all the way out here, alone, with things like that circling your ranch?” I asked in utter disbelief. “And all you’ve got is a knife ?” I shivered, feeling both hot and cold. “What if it jumps the fence?”

“The genka preys on land animals. It is fast, and can leap far forward. But it cannot jump up into the air very well. It also cannot climb.”

“Small miracles,” I muttered.

“Dismount,” Zohro ordered impatiently. “We have to get inside.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice.”

Only, dismounting turned out to be a lot harder than I’d expected.

The movement that had once been so natural to me became nearly Sisyphean as I attempted to manoeuvre my weak, aching hips.

With an exasperated grunt, Zohro gave up on waiting, tightening his tail on me and grabbing my waist with his hands to pull me down himself.

The world tilted. My stomach clenched. I yelped as gravity sucked me down.

But true to his word, I didn’t fall. Zohro caught me easily, cradling me against his chest and moving at once, taking big strides through the fenced-in pasture.

“Wyn,” I said, craning my neck to look back at her. She still had all her tack.

“I’ll come back for her,” he growled. “She’ll be fine within the fencing. I want you inside first.”

“Oh,” I said weakly.

When was the last time someone had put me first?

I… I couldn’t remember.

Couldn’t name a single time.

How fucking depressing.

We passed through another gate. Zohro left this one open, and I saw Wyn follow us through it. She ambled towards what looked to be stables. There was a large barn, too. And a tidy little lumber house ahead.

Zohro made no move to put me down. Normally, I’d be telling him that I could walk myself.

But after that mad dash in my current condition, I didn’t exactly trust the state of my ligaments and joints.

So I just let him carry me, taking a moment to close my eyes and mentally check in with Baby Girl after all that frantic jostling in the saddle.

I wasn’t feeling any cramping or sharp pain.

And Baby Girl was kicking and rolling, as if with delight at the ride.

That’s my girl.

Zohro didn’t even have to put me down on the wooden porch to get the door open. That tail of his was pretty nifty, opening the door for us as easily as he’d unlatched the gate mid-ride.

“That must be useful,” I said when he finally did set me down on my feet just inside the door. I was already picturing how such an appendage would have come in handy for me working on a ranch all my life.

Zohro moved away from me without reply. A moment later, soft light flared to life, candles illuminating the space. We’d come through the door into a small sitting room, with a fireplace, a wooden chair with a blanket on it, and shelves upon shelves of…

“Are those books?!”

I’d never seen so many printed books in one place, except for my occasional shopping trips which involved peeking into the window of the expensive Old-Earth-style bookshop on Terratribe II.

Actual bound books like this were considered collector’s items. They took up lots of space and cost even more money.

Almost nobody read them that way anymore.

People just loaded up files on their comms tablets.

The wall behind the chair was dominated by the books, shelves from ceiling to floor.

And yet, somehow it didn’t look cluttered.

Though the shelves were stuffed, they appeared neatly arranged.

I couldn’t read the spines of any of them.

I crossed the room to them, reaching to touch one before quickly withdrawing my hand.

“Yes,” Zohro said from behind me. “Medical textbooks. I was a surgeon before I came here.”

“Before you came here?” He’d handled his shuldu like he’d been riding all his life. I’d assumed he’d been born here. But he’d come here as an adult? Like… a second career?

I turned around to ask him some of those questions, but felt them fly out of my head at the sight of him in the light.

“You’re… You’re pink!” I said, startled and shyly pleased by that fact. Zohro’s skin was pink as strawberry lemonade, pink as sunrise, pink as my favourite fucking colour, though I’d spent most of my life pretending that it wasn’t.

“So are you,” Zohro said, his eyes coasting over my face.

I pressed my palms to my freckled cheeks – hot and flushed.

It wasn’t even that warm in here. Though I had my jacket on still, the fireplace wasn’t lit.

Only the candles were, and what looked to be a small, portable lamp on the counter in the next room, which was a small kitchen.

Nope, my pink cheeks weren’t from the heat.

They were from proximity to the absolute gorgeousness that was Zohro.

I’d thought him beautiful when he rode to me before, a mere shadow on his shuldu.

Now I knew he was. He was all lean muscle, long lines, and relentlessly elegant angles – hard jaw, high cheekbones – wrapped in a pretty pink package.

His hair was windswept and a little tangled from the evening, but was still glossy and long, falling in dark strands halfway down his back.

At first glance those strands appeared black, but the glow of the lamp and candlelight revealed a subtle, inky purple sheen.

His eyes glowed like tiny moons, little light sources of their own, which was absolutely fascinating to me.

When my gaze lingered on his eyes, Zohro seemed to sense it. Maybe he didn’t like it. He scowled, closed his eyes – no eyelashes! – and when he opened them again, the were another colour entirely. A deep magenta with a brighter bolt of fuchsia in the centre.

“How did you do that?” I asked on a hushed inhale. “Change the colour of your eyes?”

“I mastered myself,” he grated cryptically.

Uh. OK…

“Now I must deal with this.” He gestured sharply to himself, as if “this” was something he didn’t want to be dealing with at all.

I couldn’t figure out why, until I zeroed in on his chest and realized the dark lines there weren’t all hair that had fallen in front of his shoulder.

Gasping, I moved to him and pushed all his hair behind his back, revealing ragged black gashes along his left pectoral leading up to his shoulder.

“You’re hurt!” I cried. Stupid, stupid, stupid . Of course he didn’t come away from that bull encounter unscathed! He didn’t have any sort of protective equipment on!

The antlers must have dragged across his chest and ripped him open. Luckily, they didn’t appear super deep, and they’d stopped bleeding. But still!

“And your chin!” I exclaimed, noting the scraped skin there. “Your poor little chin!”

“Yes, well,” Zohro said tightly, “I was more concerned about my poor little human in that moment.”

My poor little human.

My cheeks heated all over again. Part of it was shame and a big fat helping of guilt for being the cause of Zohro’s troubles tonight. But another part of it…

Was the way he’d called me his.

Which was ridiculous. He’d probably meant “my little human” as in “my responsibility since you turned up on my property without invitation and nearly got us both gored to death.”

“Can I help?” I asked, following Zohro into the kitchen where he began washing his hands at a basin-like sink.

He cast me a sideways, you’ve already helped enough tonight look , then pointedly asked, “Were you the youngest-ever graduate from the Medical Academy of Zabria?”

“Um… No?”

“I was.” Something in his tone shifted. Maybe even softened for the first time. “Go sit down out of the way somewhere.”

If it weren’t for the rasping note of what almost sounded like concern, and the way his eyes came to soft, white light again, like flickering candles on a birthday cake, making my tummy flip, then I would have thought his wording just a tiny bit rude.

But then again, the only reason this guy had to deal with his wounds now was because of me, so really, telling me to get out of his face was probably pretty fucking restrained.

Besides, I had to pee.

While Zohro busied himself pulling out what appeared to be a Zabrian first aid kit from a cupboard above the sink, I scurried away in search of a bathroom.

I didn’t find one. Not inside the house, anyway. Looked like we were dealing with an outhouse situation. That was fine with me.

The outhouse was behind the house, and a second narrow door led out there. I opened it and stuck my head out. It seemed safe enough. Fencing looked solid all the way around the property. With a shrug, I stepped out and let the door bang shut behind me.

And not two seconds later, before I even reached the outhouse, a giant pink Zabrian came barrelling out after me, big boots stomping.

“What are you doing?” Zohro asked, scanning me with scathing white eyes.

“Um… Going to the bathroom? Or, outhouse?” Baby Girl shifted, pressing gleefully down upon my full bladder, making me wince. “Can we continue this conversation when I’m done?”

He huffed out a little breath, then snapped, “Hurry up.”

A very patient man, this Zohro.

But even as I fisted the handle of the outhouse door, I was smiling.

Because, though he was impatient, and probably grumpy from the pain and the inconvenience I’d caused him, he was still helping me. He’d gotten injured saving me. When a predator came prowling into view, he got me – a complete stranger – up into Wyn’s saddle before even thinking of himself.

He was snippy as hell and not all that polite.

But I was becoming more and more sure that he was a good man.

By the time I was done peeing, my mind was made up. All that was left to do was ask.

When I emerged, I found Zohro in the exact same spot I’d left him. He could have gone back inside to bandage his wounds, but instead he was waiting for me, which only reinforced my decision. My pulse raced. My skin skittered with heat.

“Zohro?”

Reckless. Impulsive.

Funny. I didn’t feel like either of those things right now. I felt like, for the first time in a long fucking time, maybe the first time in my life, I was on the right track. Like this planet I’d never been to before tonight, this alien male I’d only just met, were exactly what I needed right now.

Deep breath. Here goes.

“Would you like to be my husband?”