Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
I’ve been here two weeks. Fourteen nights. Granted, there is no guarantee about how long it will take to find our mates among the nightly crowd of females, but I’m now outside the average. Hell, my friend Retmor was here one night, found his Little girl, and left. Lucky guy.
Nanish and Bamgin—two of my other friends from Eleadia—are already standing in the control room. Nanish arrived tonight. He’s smiling broadly. I don’t have the heart to tell him he won’t be grinning like that two weeks from now if he still hasn’t found his Little girl.
Bamgin is another story. He’s been here on Earth the longest. Longer than any other Eleadian mate. Six weeks now. Unheard of. He’s disgruntled and has been since I arrived.
I slap an understanding hand on his shoulder before turning toward Nanish. “Welcome to the land of loud music and groping females.”
Nanish rubs his hands together in anticipation and glances back at the monitor. “There are so many of them,” he comments. “I don’t have any perspective about their size. Are they really as small as I’ve heard?”
I nod. “Yep. Some are smaller than others. Their size and height vary a lot more than ours.”
Nanish steps closer to the monitor. “How close do we have to be to know if one of them is ours?”
I adjust my tie. Even after two weeks of wearing one every night, I’m still not used to the sensation. We only dress this way for the sake of humans. It’s what they expect from their men—nice suits with pressed shirts, ties, jackets, slacks, and perfectly shined shoes. The clothing is stifling, and I’m tired of it.
Bamgin grunts as he glances at our mutual friend. I suspect he’s trying not to roll his eyes. I can’t blame him. Every time someone new arrives, giddy with excitement, Bamgin probably wants to bitch slap them. He wouldn’t, of course. He’s far too nice for that. But I’m sure he’s frustrated beyond belief.
I turn toward Nanish. “You might know even from here. Sometimes our males have scented their mate from this distance, but occasionally they have also spotted her on the monitor and known.”
“Why would we bother to go downstairs then?” Nanish asks.
“Mostly because it’s expected of us. Ninety-nine percent of the females down there only come to Club Zoom so they can see what we look like. They’d be sorely disappointed if none of us descended, and that would give the club a bad reputation. The dance floor would never fill up with females every night if they weren’t certain they would get to see us.”
Nanish nods. “Makes sense. The more females pack into the club, the higher our probability of finding the perfect mate is. We’d be here for months if fewer people came.”
Bamgin chuckles sardonically as he adjusts his tie, too. It’s truly an uncomfortable article of clothing. Why do human men wear such stifling suits while the females wear skimpy dresses that barely cover their bodies? “Months…” he mumbles. “Ha.”
Nanish winces. “Sorry, man. I hate that you’ve been here so long.” He turns back to me. “Do you really think out of all the human females there’s just one perfect person for each of us out there? We’re just waiting here for her to step through the door?”
“That’s the belief,” I say. “Though it would seem Fate plays a role. I suspect she lines up all our lives so that our perfect mate visits the club within a few days of our arrival. Though for some of us, that timeline seems to be a bit longer. There must be a reason Bamgin’s mate has not come into the club yet. A reason we don’t understand.”
Suddenly my gaze lands on a woman as she steps into the club. She flattens herself to the wall, eyes wide. She looks petrified as if someone forced her to come inside against her better judgement.
She’s shorter than nearly everyone around her. She’s also alone, which is rare. Human females seem to come in pairs or even a pack of them. She’s also dressed differently from anyone else. She has on a coat. It’s too big for her. I can tell from here.
She’s shaking, and I find myself leaning forward because I need to know more. A tingle crawls up my spine as I realize, it’s her. She’s the one. She’s my Little girl.
When she lifts her hands up and flattens them over her ears, I notice she’s wearing mittens. She’s scared out of her mind for reasons I do not understand. She squeezes her eyes closed, and I spin around and rush out of the control room.
I’m partly aware that Nanish and Bamgin say something, but I can’t process it, and it doesn’t matter. I need to go to my mate.
After taking the stairs three at a time, I push through the door leading to the club and hurry in the direction of my mate. If I had any doubt she was mine, it has vanished now that I can scent her.