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We get to the courthouse in port in record time, and the big cat alien puts a hand on my shoulder, pulling me against him as he speaks to an official. “I wish to mate this human,” he says in the barking szzt tongue. “Please to make it documented.”
“You want to mate her? Just mate her then. Don’t come to me.” The szzt waves a hand.
“It will be a mating to secure her property. She will be co-owner of mine and I will be co-owner of hers,” the praxiian continues. “Please to make it documented. It is called a ‘marriage’ amongst human peoples.”
I try to hide my surprise. I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that he had a farm, too…and now I’m getting half of it? Have I even seen his farm? I frown to myself.
The szzt official just eyes my praxiian husband-to-be. “Must we do this? My schedule is very busy. You know as well as I do that humoring humans is a waste of time.”
“How much?” the praxiian asks calmly.
“Very, very busy,” the szzt says again.
The cat alien pulls a wallet from inside the front of his tunic and pulls out a few credit chips. Oh. We have to bribe the officials to do even this? Dismayed, I reach for my own credit pouch. “I can pay—”
The cat’s big hand covers mine. “It is handled.”
The szzt snorts. “That’s right. Put her in her place.”
I could swear I hear the big cat alien give a menacing growl low in his throat. His fur seems to puff up at the back of his neck, and he points at the szzt’s desk. “Just record this and be done.”
“Fine.” The official pulls out a datapad and begins to type. “Name?”
“Nassakth.”
The official jerks his head up, eyes shining. “From Askorthi Prime?”
The cat alien grunts.
“I think I saw some of your fights. Heard you were dead.”
“Not dead.” He pulls out the wallet and hands the official a few more chips. “You’ll note that it’s a different Nassakth, though.”
“Noted. And the female?”
I like how they talk as if I’m not here. The big cat alien—Nassakth, apparently—answers for me and they keep talking, filling out the paperwork. I watch in silence, learning all that I can. It seems my neighbor has a lot of credits, evidenced by the wallet he keeps opening up, and he’s somewhat famous. A fighter of some kind? It makes sense, given his sheer size. If that’s the case, though, what’s he doing on this planet? It’s at the far reaches of the galaxy, frequented only by those that want to hide from something or have been rejected from everywhere else. What’s a famous fighter doing here?
And why does he want to marry me? It’s a mystery.
“Here. Both of you give this a digital print and I’ll file the appropriate forms.” The official holds out his datapad and we take turns pushing our palms against it. After that’s done, he looks at me. “Are there any sorts of human actions taken to end a mating ceremony?”
You may now kiss the bride rings out in my head.
“Nope!” I bark out. “Nothing at all! Maybe a handshake but that’s it. Nothing else.”
“Then we will shake hands on it, Kim,” the big cat alien says. He holds his hand out to me, palm up.
After a moment’s hesitation, I place mine in his. It feels slightly springy on the palm and fingertips, kind of like the pads of a cat’s feet, but it’s shaped like mine. Five fingers, too. There’s dark, retractable claws hiding under his finger fur, but I notice it’s less thick here than on his shoulders and upper chest. Interesting.
Not that I care about a praxiian’s hands.
He lets me rest my palm flat on his, and then jiggles it. “A shake to seal things.”
I try not to snicker. That…was not a handshake. But it’s still kinda cute. “Totally.”
“Congratulations,” the szzt says. “You are now officially mated…for some reason.” He shrugs. “The forms will be filed later tonight. Now, get out of here.”
Nassakth puts his big hand back on my shoulder and gestures that we should leave the courthouse. As we head to the door, I see a tall, lean blue figure leaning against the doorway. It’s a familiar woman in a thick, dark cloak, and she pushes the hood back as we approach. A smile curves Bethiah’s face.
“Are congratulations in order?” the bounty hunter asks, smirking.
14
NASSAKTH
To my great surprise, my small, delicate human mate lunges for the bounty hunter. “You!” I grab her before she can get herself into trouble, and Kim flails and punches at the air, snarling at the mesakkah woman. “You…cheater!”
“Someone’s not happy with their purchase, I see,” Bethiah comments. “Which is odd, considering she’s marrying it.” The bounty hunter looks over at me. “You must be persuasive.”
“I want my money back,” Kim shouts, squirming in my grasp. “You cheated me!”
