Chapter 49.6
“Dace- Dace save my Joalee from Krampus,”
Buu blurted.
“She what now?”
That was news to me.
Swallowing thickly, Buu nodded. Miming bashing something until it was no more, his head bobbed eagerly, so eagerly he looked like a wild bobble head for about two seconds.
“You saved me?”
Now I was the one squeaking.
Dace shot a look at Buu. “You weren’t supposed to tell,”
she squawked, sounding oddly alarmed.
“Buu no choice. Buu have to tell,”
he softly argued.
“You don’t understand…”
Dace swallowed thickly. That terror tremble of before was nothing compared to now.
Celuk paused, glanced between the pair sharply. “Buu clan Dace save my Jo?”
he grumbled out curtly.
This once more activated Buu’s bobble head impression. “Kill Krampus. Dace save Jo.”
“He was a very, very bad beast man,”
Dace whispered. Her gaze stayed on the ground and she’d started blinking rapidly. It was like she was remembering the whole thing and it too had traumatized her in unexplainable ways.
There was something oddly childlike about the woman. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was the baby voice, how ridiculously malnourished she seemed, or quite possibly how young if I was gauging things right… something was just definitely off.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt a hunt but… he was hurting her.”
Dace’s voice cracked and she choked on whatever else she was going to say. “It wasn’t right,”
she got out finally.
Buu let out a long, beleaguered sigh. “Dace…Buu tell, yes? Tell Dace all the times, Krampus not Lo denaii.”
Dace’s gaze darted to meet Buu’s briefly before sliding away. Whatever she’d smeared all over her face, tear tracks sent it cracking as wetness rolled down her cheeks. “You’re the only nice beast man I know of,”
she croaked out hoarsely. Her nose crinkled as she added, “That doesn’t want… something from me.”
“Buu never want from Dace,”
Buu assured her.
Dace smiled as if Buu had just given her the best compliment, the greatest present. “I know,”
she replied softly.
I supposed she missed that barely perceptible half shudder he let out. It definitely put any and all worries I’d ever had about Buu harboring an anything for Dace to rest.
Rek started to grumble something as I made my way over to Buu that had Buu shoving one of his lower hands in Rek’s face, gently mushing it into his mug to nudge him out of the way, as his other arms spread open wide, waiting for me.
The soft chuckle that issued from inside matched the one Odix, Gopher, and Celuk collectively let out at Buu’s handling of Rek. My Buu caught on fast.
I ran-walked to my big old cat-man-beast as fast as my thick legs could carry me without Celuk barking at me to be careful. “You heard them, right? You’re ours and we’re keeping you,”
I whispered as he scooped me up and began nuzzling my face. His click-purr was everything as he cradled me to him, rumbled that I was his and he was mine, and buried his face in my neck.
“My Joalee,”
he purred.
A soft grunt issued from beside us. “Buu softest,”
Rek called out, angling towards Jeh-kal just inside the house as he pulled his face free from the death grip Buu’d had on his furry mug.
“Rek sure? Maybe Rek need check ‘gain,”
Gopher called out, ever the king of snark.
“Jeh-kal can keep biggest penis, Celuk Bride, Odious big butt, Goober big mouth dummy head, but Rek not softest prinnedcess no more!”
my demented sock monkey bellowed back towards the house.
Gopher snickered at that, even as he gathered snow to cradle it to his aching testicles.
“Can- Can I be untied now?”
Dace called from the ground, where she was wriggling around like a worm. “I’d like to go home now.”
“Dace tell Buu Suns caves grow too snowy, cold, like Moons caves,”
Buu pulled away from nuzzling my throat to rumble down at her. His brow puckered up into a frown. “Where Dace go home, no one there help Dace?”
“I- I can do it,”
Dace stubbornly grumbled. “I did for this long, all by myself!”
Buu gave her a look that said he’d beg to differ but he wasn’t going to.
“Yeah… Okay… Fine…”
she conceded quietly. Lower, she mumble-muttered, eyeing him pleadingly, “But I can’t stay here. I can’t.”
“Why not stay Lo denaii village?”
Odix rumbled out, eyeing her curiously.
Dace’s blue eyes darted around, the action nearly frantic. “I just- I can’t,”
she squeaked out, then winced at her own voice.
“Dace not welcome Lo denaii village,”
Buu said for her.
A hiss left the small woman and she glared at Buu.
Buu gave her a funny look. “Where Dace go, she not stay? Nowhere go. No choice.”
“I don’t have a choice!”
she fairly growled. She sounded like an angry chihuahua. “Now untie me and let me go! Before-”
“Dace do bad things,”
Buu admitted. “Lo denaii no want. Dace go home, no want there neither. Come through ported hole, into woods. Dace find Buu-”
“Buu!”
Dace fairly wailed.
More than a few of us grimaced at the awful keening sound she let out that followed.
“Joanie!”
As if to save us from Dace, Mina came scrambling up the walk, Kirch and Tarnk in tow. “I came as soon as I could! I-”
Mina’s steps slowed as she approached. “Uhm…”
She got a good look at me, Buu, the chaos around us, the gun in Celuk’s hands, Gopher cradling his nuts, Rek slapping away Buu’s hand on his chest.
“Nothin’ to see here, folks, just a lil squabble between clansmen,”
I joked, hoping to diffuse the situation.
Mina’s gaze shifted from me in my big old Buu boy’s arms, settling on the woman on the ground wriggling like a worm on a hook towards us, panting with her squeaking efforts, and a loud gasp escaped her. “Candy?!”
she screeched.
Dace’s eyes widened and she rolled to jerk her head in Mina’s direction. Those peepers popped until they nearly bugged. “They took Buu! I only came to help him!”
she squealed, then began inch-worming her way towards the hut’s door. Butt up in the arm, she used her head and knees to hop-crawl over to Buu and cower at his feet.
“Candy?”
I barked, incredulous. I’d heard about a Candy. She’d hooked up with Mina’s ex while they were together. She was, like, brainwashed in love with this guy kinda crazy, and the ex was his own special kinda crazy himself. Hadn’t she gone back to Earth? Wasn’t she the woman that had been institutionalized for a while? Candy was Dace?
“What the hell is going on?”
Mina demanded to know as the males flanking her urged her back as they bared their teeth at Candy/Dace.
“Uh… funny story. Heh-heh.”
Dace swallowed thickly.
“Dace save my Jo? Truth?”
Celuk asked Buu.
“Dace save Joalee. Kill Krampus. Come get Buu, ask Buu to ‘tect my Joalee. Ask Buu let my Joalee think Buu save from Krampus. Dace hides. No want no one know Dace not in Dace wor-eld. Scared Lo denaii come find, kill Dace for help bad hoodman that hurt Lo denaii,”
Buu admitted, glancing between all parties worriedly.
“Your tail is dragging,”
I thought I heard Dace mutter under her breath.
Buu glanced down at her, then at his tail. “No, it not,”
he said simply, her comment going right over his head.
“She meant because you’re blabbing everything about her, her business,”
I elaborated.
“Oh.”
Buu let out a soft grunt. “Jes. Buu tail drags then.”
“She’s his best friend. Like Odix and Doogie. Like family,”
I chimed in quietly, for Buu as much as the fact Dace had apparently been the one to come to my rescue initially. I owed her, big time.
“Dace Buu clan. Dace nowhere else go. Dace stays. Celuk protect,”
Celuk announced. Walking over to step in front of Dace, me, and Buu, he crossed his arms over his chest.
Tarnk let out what sounded like a curse, and Kirch flat out snarled. “She no goot. Bad. Bad female,”
Kirch growled out. “No want here.”
Mina began rubbing at her forehead like she had a headache coming on. “You don’t understand,”
she said simply.
“Celuk know. Understand. Dace save my Jo, too. Buu clan. Celuk protect,”
he reiterated firmly. With a glare down at Dace, he growled out softly, “Dace be on best ‘haviors.”
“Y-y-yes sir,”
Dace splutteringly answered, shaking in her boots at the look Celuk leveled on her.
Maybe he looked scary or crazy to others but that look, to me, whoa, mama . It made me all warm and tingly in fun places.
Buu gave a soft sniff, followed by a grunt, no doubt picking up on my reaction.
“Believe me, I don’t want to be here either! The cave had a cave in, Buu dug me out, and practically dragged me here along with him. Then the skinny one beat up Buu,”
she jerked her chin at Gopher, “and that mean looking one with fluffy hair,”
she jerked her chin at Rek, “piled on. They dragged him away! I- I just came to save Buu!”
Dace cut in as she frantically wiggled.
“Stop moving, blondie, if you know what’s good for ya,”
I hissed down at her through the side of my mouth.
Dace wisely stilled.
“Rek hair not… fluffy,”
Rek muttered, taking offense. He quieted as Buu let out a comforting warble and patted the spot his hand was still splayed out across his chest.
Kirch barked something at Celuk in Lo denaii that had Celuk nodding as he listened, to then rumble something back that had Kirch blinking, lips parting in a soft little o, to eventually nod his understanding as Celuk finished.
Kirch turned to Tarnk, and Tarnk, though reluctant, nodded.
“What the hell’s going on?”
Mina asked.
“Kirch and Tarnk tell on way home,”
Kirch promised her.
“Look, I dunno what the fuck’s going on or why the walking tits has seen fit to come traipsing back into our lives, but just keep her the fuck away from me and mine,”
Mina barked. Shaking her head, she allowed her males to turn her around and lead her away from this wild ish. “I swear! One thing, I don’t care what- I’m gonna bury her ass!”
Mina ranted.
“Someone pissed off the Meanie,”
Rek mumbled, frowning as his gaze darted from Dace’s bug-eyed face to Mina’s retreating back. “No more piss off Kirch’s Meanie. She no like you.”
A loud harrumph left Rek. Lower, he muttered as he turned to enter his McMansion. “Mina scary… like my Jojomine. No piss off my Jojomine… She get you…”
When Rek turned to find Buu still standing here, staring at Rek as he fidgeted in place, still cuddling me close, Rek walked back, snagged Buu by the fur on his wrist, and led him inside, making the choice for him.
“Bring Crazy Face,”
Rek grumbled, pausing to wait for Buu to collect Dace and follow him in. “Leave it out… no know what happen.”
“I’m right here,”
Dace squeaked indignantly.
“We knowed,”
Rek informed her with a dirty look aimed right at her.
She cringed and would have cowered away if Buu wasn’t holding her up by her tied hands. “He’s scary,”
Dace whispered to Buu.
“Rek not scary.”
My sock monkey let out a loud snort. “Celuk scary, you hurt our Jojo, do bad things in Lo denaii village. No hear him say Kirch. Wish you not, you know.”
“I want to go home,”
Dace whispered.
“Suns cave broke,”
Buu pointed out. “Dace stays with Buu clan. Be goot. Stay safe.”
Buu set Dace gently down in the middle of the living room, walked over to settle me next to Rek on the couch with a nuzzle and a kiss, then walked back over to Dace to work on the ties on her hands and feet.
Dace grimaced as she sat up and began rubbing her wrists. “They hate me here,”
she softly whined.
“No talk like that,”
Rek grumbled. “Use high, squeak voice, more squeaky. Crazy Face not baby. No cry whine like baby.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
she mumbled dejectedly. Her hands lifted, one brushing what I hoped was mud off of her person. Looking to Buu, she did the lower lip jut thing again. “See? They hate me.”
“Rek no hate Dace,”
Buu gently argued. Joining me on the couch, he scooched in, mashing me in between him and Rek.
“Rek no like Dace neither,”
Rek huffed and puffed out under his breath.
“Quiet you,”
I ordered, wiggling a finger at him warningly. “You’re not helping the sitch any, bleach-squatch.”
Instead of getting upset at my mouthy retort, a purr began to rattle his chest. Reaching out, his hand closed around my finger. He brought it to his lips to kiss the top, then settle our hands together and placed them on his furry thigh. “My Jojoknee needs nap.”
A pointed glance at my filled to aching breasts told me he had more on his mind than just helping me catch a couple winks.
Pretending I wasn’t getting all jelly goo insides at that look, I pursed my lips and raised an eyebrow at him. Rek’s grin was all fang. The male was unrepentant. Ugh, I fucking loved his crazy ass.
“No leave. No be bad. Stay ‘way from Meanie and Meanie mates,”
Celuk ordered Dace as he closed the door behind him and made his way past her.
Gopher limped along beside Celuk, accepting his assistance over to the couch.
“Least they not fall off,”
Rek graciously offered.
When Gopher gave him an incredulous look, Rek shrugged. “Gopher tall but skinny. Babies with my Joanie not hurt like big fat head babies from Odious or monster babies from Jeh-kal.”
Gopher laughed and shook his head at that. “No know why my Jo loves you but she does.”
With a look at me that begged me to explain the phenomenon that is my love for Rek, he told me on a blustery sigh, “Makes for funnies, him ‘round. Rek easy.”
“Rek not easy! Goober easy!”
Rek was huffing and puffing, glaring at Gopher.
“Gopher only easy for my Jo,”
Gopher egged him on with a smirky smile and a shrug of his wide shoulders.
“Bah!”
Rek waved him off. Looking to Buu for support when it looked like no one else was going to entertain his delusions of grandeur, he grumbled, “See what Rek have to put up with?! ‘Diculous!”
“‘Diculous,”
I happily chirped in agreement, making Celuk snort, Odix chuckle, Jeh-kal snort-grunt, and Gopher laugh.
“Makes fun of me,”
Rek mock-grumbled.
Nabbing me up, he acted like he meant to bite me, going right for my throat. Rek played it up, pretending to snap his jaws at me, snarling, and dove right in.
Buu let out a shocked shout but it cut off as Rek blew an enormous, sloppy raspberry on the spot, and an ear piercing squeal, followed by a peal of laughter left me. A surprised noise and a relieved sigh followed.
It was the squeak and loud thunk that had us pausing to glance towards that loud thump simultaneously.
“Dace do that, some the times,”
Buu admitted as we all leaned forward to study her prone form.