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. Thedance 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 forreasons 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.
I’m aware of females all around me, but I ignore them as I take long strides across the room to get to my girl. It all happens so fast that I’m in front of her seconds after watching her cover her ears.
I take a deep breath, drawing her essence into my body as I set my palms on her shoulders. I need to touch her, but the moment I do, my breath hitches. She’s in distress. I could see that from the monitor, but now that I’m here, it’s wafting off of her in waves. I don’t like it.
I slide my hands to her face so I can touch her skin and guide her head back. “I’ve got you, Baby girl. Take a breath for me.”
The prettiest brown eyes I’ve ever seen slowly open, go wide, and then roll back in her head. She loses consciousness in an instant.
“Fuck.” I squat down and scoop her into my arms before she can hit the floor. Cradling her against me, I aim for the other side of the dance floor and through the door that enters into a white hallway.
The moment the door closes behind me, the noise is blocked. Thank fuck. It was annoying, and I suspect my girl thought so, too.
She’s dead weight—completely unconscious. Not that she’s heavy by any stretch of the imagination. She weighs almost nothing, shockingly less than I would have expected. Now thatI’m holding her, I’m certain the coat she’s wearing is far too large for her. Her frame is so tiny under it.
I easily hold her with one arm while I call the elevator with the other. I’m worried about the fact that she fainted, but now that she’s unconscious her breathing is even. Her pulse is returning to a normal rhythm. I bet she passed out because I was so close to her, overwhelming her with my size and height.
Her heart rate was through the roof when I first approached, though. I suspect she was having a panic attack. I wonder if that happens to her often.
