Chapter 2
Cerban
I couldn't get her out of my mind. I was supposed to focus on the upcoming meeting with the Hot Tatties Dating Agency, but instead, my thoughts centred on the little Peritan.
.. no, human. The agency had made it clear that we should use human terminology in order to fit in better with the locals.
Peritans were humans and Peritus was Earth.
My brothers and I had already acquired a basic command of one of their languages, English, while travelling here, but now lessons were compulsory for all finmen on the island.
Yes, we had translator implants that could do the job, but they weren't always completely accurate.
Something always got lost in translation.
I'd noticed that during our long journey to this planet.
Not all the finmen on the Tidebound came from the same country as my clutch-brothers and I.
Kelon, our former, now disgraced leader, had hired crew members from all over Finfolkaheem.
There had been at least one violent argument born from a simple misunderstanding that could be put down to the implants not understanding the finer nuances of language and culture.
The accommodation building came into view, and I fastened my steps when I saw Rainse was on guard duty outside.
My other clutch-brother, Fionn, was away with his mate, taking the Tidebound and half the crew with them.
In the absence of the captain, the two of us were in charge.
It was laughable. All three of us were simple guards.
Yes, we had been trained as warriors, but Rainse was the only one who had seen real fighting action.
That was before he'd been thrown out of the navy for arguing with his superiors.
I couldn't help but grin. My clutch-brother had always had an issue with authority.
And now he was one half of the authority. The irony was immense.
He raised a hand in greeting. "Ready for the meeting?"
It took me a moment to remember what meeting he was talking about. My head was full of the human female. And I didn't even know her name. Maybe Rainse knew. He always seemed to be chatting with humans.
"Not really. Why do we need yet another meeting?"
Rainse chuckled. "Because the first batch of test results is going to come in any sunpass now.
The agency wants to make sure that this won't cause chaos among the finmen.
Kelon's behaviour has made us look like unpredictable brutes.
Pam and the others are worried the rest of us will behave similarly. "
I growled softly. Kelon had betrayed us all when he'd kidnapped a human female who hadn't been matched to him.
It had all had a happy end - she was mated to Fionn now and Kelon had been sent back to Finfolkaheem to be punished - but it had left a bad taste not just with the dating agency, but also the rest of us.
We'd come to Earth to find mates with the help of a human-run dating agency, not to take females by force.
Kelon was a stain on our reputation that would be hard to rub out.
The female danced into my mind again. Did she think that we were violent brutes? Was she scared of us?
She hadn't seemed scared, just irritated. She hadn't enjoyed my presence. If she'd known that I had been standing outside her building for a while, listening to her music, watching her sway to the rhythm, she would have been even more upset. Let's hope she never found out.
"Cerban?" Rainse looked at me strangely. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, just thinking. Do you know... never mind. Can you show me how to access Earth's outernet?"
"Internet?" He laughed. "It astounds me every time just how bad you are with technology."
I flicked his greenskin in response.
He flinched but kept laughing. "Yes, I can show you. What do you want to search for?"
"A song. A beautiful song about a female."
His smile faltered somewhat. "What are you up to, brother? You know we aren't supposed to be alone with females on the island, not until we have been matched by the agency."
"It's hard to avoid when so many of the staff are female," I grumbled. "Anyway, just show me how to access this internet."
"I will. After the meeting. I need you to focus. I don't want to feel like I'm the only one listening."
I checked my holoband. I had just enough time for a snack and a piss. No time to look up that song again or find out the female's name. Fuck. It would have to wait. I had to be a responsible adult male for once.
Rainse sniffed the air. "There's a storm coming."
"I know. Can't see it yet, but it's coming fast."
As was that damned meeting.
Pam looked perfectly put together as always.
She was an older female, but she oozed authority.
She was used to telling others what to do - especially males.
In the absence of both Fionn and Paul, the human resort manager, we were joined by Eneda, a female I'd only met once before.
I dimly remembered that she was responsible of the island's finances, or something similarly dull.
She was younger than me, with thick eyeglasses hovering on the tip of her nose and hair the colour of seashells.
Rainse looked her up and down, then exchanged a look with me. Not his mate. I gave him a barely noticeable nod. Nor mine.
It had become a custom among finmen on the island. Whenever we met a human female, we would wonder, was this her? Had we finally found our mate? So far, Fionn had been the only one to be that lucky.
"What news?" Rainse asked after greetings and formalities.
Pam smiled widely. "We have finally heard from the lab after submitting all your finmen's DNA samples.
They've been analysed and compared to the women's DNA markers that we have stored in our database.
I got the results two hours ago." Her dramatic pause drove me crazy.
Was this the moment I'd been waiting for? My greenskin tightened at the thought.
Next to me, Rainse had his fists balled. His gills were fluttering ever so softly.
"There are two matches," Pam continued. I stopped breathing.
"Neither of the two women was part of the contingent we sent to the island, so it will take some time to contact them and bring them to you.
But we will work as fast as we can, of course.
We know how desperate you all are to meet your matches. "
I almost growled at her. Couldn't she just give us all the information at once?
"Who are the two males?" I asked, forcing myself to keep my voice neutral.
Pam checked her notes. "Pli'th and Hournn. It is your choice if you tell them now or if you wait until the women are on their way."
"Hournn is away on the Tidebound," Rainse said. I didn't have to look at my clutch-brother to know of his disappointment. I felt it too. Yet another setback. Another spark of hope extinguished.
I took a deep breath. "I think we should wait until he's back and then tell them both at the same time."
Rainse nodded. "I agree. They will be frantic once they find out. Let's not risk the peace on the island until we know for sure that the two females are on an air vessel."
"Air... Ah, you mean a plane," Eneda said, speaking for the first time.
"I tend to agree. Paul is back tomorrow and I'm sure he will want to organise some activities for the lucky couples, introducing them to each other slowly.
I know you finmen will want to rush into it, but remember, these women don't know that aliens exist. It will be a shock to them.
Elise handled it remarkably well, but we cannot expect everyone to behave like that. I certainly didn't."
She chuckled at the memory but didn't expand further.
Pam and Eneda continued to chat, but I couldn't focus on their conversation.
No mate for me.
When we had submitted our genetic samples, we'd been so full of hope. The Hot Tatties agency had a vast database of human females. Surely there had to be a match. And there had been, for three of us. But none for me.
For some reason, my mind wandered to the diving instructor again. Her smooth black hair that I wanted to run my fingers over, her beautiful brown eyes that seemed to sparkle around the pupil, her tiny body that would fit so perfectly against my own...
No. She was off limits. Pam and Paul had made it very clear that staff on the island, especially the females, were to have as little contact with us as possible. After what had happened with Kelon, we'd have to earn their trust again.
After the meeting, I'd get Rainse to play that song for me on the humans' internet. And then I would go for a swim in the storm. It wouldn't be long until it hit the island. And there was nothing better than surfing the frenzied current brought up by a storm.