2.

 

Rhett frowned down at the device in his hand. It was always acting up. He was shocked that it had helped to lead them to even one of the descendants, let alone two. It was unlikely to work so well a third time.

“Gavin, you’re better at things from our home world. Why do you want me to fix this stupid thing?”

“You have skills of your own as well, Rhett. I’m not sure why you don’t give yourself enough credit.”

“He’s better at human stuff,” TJ said, slapping Rhett’s shoulder as he passed. “Give the guy a break.”

“This is definitely not human stuff,” Rhett said, sighing as he sank heavily onto the couch and turned the device over to examine it closely. “This is the farthest thing from human technology as it gets, and frankly, it’s starting to piss me off.”

“Why?” Gavin asked, looking up from his book suddenly and frowning. “You fixed it last time when I couldn’t. Can’t you do it again?”

“It’s pissing me off because of the incessant beeping,” Rhett sighed. “When I’m trying to figure out what to do with it, there is always beeping.”

Gavin grinned. “Oh. Right.”

Rhett glowered. That was exactly the reason why Gavin had pawned the device off on him. But if he didn’t fix it, then they would fail the very important mission of protecting the Sun Dragon/Loni hybrids from the hands of men who wanted nothing more than to harm them.  It was of utmost importance to ensure the continuation of the bloodline. Not only for their own protection, but because, without these special beings in existence, the magic of the shifter worlds could easily be lost. And that would be devastating in ways that Rhett couldn’t even begin to fathom.

“You’ll get it, man,” TJ said, slapping Rhett on the shoulder. “I have faith in you.”

“Thanks,” Rhett mumbled. He sighed heavily and popped a flashing red sphere out of place, then stuck it back in again. The beeping stopped, almost miraculously.

“See, we knew you could do it,” Gavin said, without even looking up from his book.

Rhett sighed and stood, heading to his bedroom in an attempt to hide his irritation. He sat the device down on the desk, now fully in working order. At least, for the moment. When they needed it to be tended to again, he knew who they were going to come to.

Until then, though, he had plenty of projects to deal with on his own time. The last house their moving company had dealt with had left behind a whole variety of human technologies for him to deal with, so he was excited to get a chance to begin taking them apart and putting them back together again to get a sense of the way things worked in the human world. There was nothing more fascinating to him than learning about how certain technologies were able to come together and create functioning objects.

“Rhett! Come back out here! Max is here.”

Rhett looked up suddenly, startled by the appearance of the man who had been considered the leader of the dragon shifter group that had been banished to Earth.

“Max, huh?” he mumbled, putting down his latest project – a remote control to who knew what – and heading out the door.

“Rhett, we have good news for you,” Max said immediately upon spotting Rhett. “You are in for a treat.”

“A treat?” Rhett asked. He glanced around the living room, where the other dragon shifters had suddenly congregated at Max’s arrival.

“Sit down, there is much to discuss.”

Rhett sighed and sank back down onto the couch, eyeing Max and the others dubiously. They were all smiling in a way that was making him feel very uncomfortable. What exactly did they have up their sleeves?

“What’s going on,” Rhett asked, his eyes darting nervously from face to face. It was as if they were all in on something that he had no idea about, and he didn’t like it at all. Had he forgotten his own birthday or something? That had happened to Gavin just a few months ago and they had all ambushed him with a surprise party sort of like this.

But there were no streamers. No balloons. No human-esque cake or other decorations to try to make them appear more normal, despite their alien status on Earth. So, what was it then?

Finally, Max rounded the couch to stand in front of Rhett.

“You are going to get a girlfriend!” he said excitedly, thrusting a paper in front of Rhett’s face.

“A what?” Rhett asked, taking the paper and scowling. “I don’t want a girlfriend.”

“But this is exactly the type of thing we have been waiting for! You know how difficult it can be to track down the potential descendants with the machine breaking down all the time. And the pool of women in this place is rather small, at least, when you are out and about. You don’t know who has been claimed already, or what. But here, all the women will be looking for someone. They are all single. All potentials! In one room!”

Rhett stared dubiously at the paper in his hand. It was a bright, colorful flier, advertising for a speed dating event to be held about twenty minutes from their home in a little lodge he had never heard of before. The flier promised great fun and excitement; prospects to bring lasting happiness to all involved. But Rhett had his doubts.

“You think potentials with wise Loni blood would go to something like this?” he asked, shaking his head. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Rhett, don’t you get it? You will be able to scan the room for all sorts of potentials,” Gavin exclaimed. “It could cut the work we do down in half if you find anyone!”

Rhett sighed heavily, his stomach knotted. “I don’t know… I have a lot going on. Isn’t there someone else who can do this?”

“No. You are the best candidate right now. Carter is out of the running. He already met his fated mate. Now, it is your turn. Aren’t you excited?” Max stared earnestly at Rhett, who returned the gaze with a deep frown. “I thought you would be excited.”

“I don’t even know what ‘speed dating’ is,” Rhett complained. “This doesn’t sound like something we learned about from the movies and research. I am uncomfortable with it. It is too different and too new. How do you know I won’t mess it up?”

“We have confidence in you, brother,” Max said, slapping Rhett’s shoulder hard. Rhett winced but kept his gaze locked on Max’s. “Trust us when we say that, right now, you are the most viable candidate. Everyone has a lot going on right now.”

“I have things I’m doing too,” Rhett mumbled.

“Yes, you are learning. And it is quite valuable. But there is a greater purpose for our being here. Is that not obvious to you yet? Two of us have found fated mates. We have begun to help to keep the bloodline of the ancients alive, so the shifter magic will not fade from the universe. Isn’t that more important than sitting in your bedroom, tinkering with microwave ovens?”

Rhett wanted to be offended, but when he thought about it, he knew Max was right.

“I suppose so,” he mumbled, frowning down at the flier in his hand. Speed dating, though? It just seemed so weird. So impersonal. What was he even going to encounter when he got to the lodge? A room full of random human women that he would have to try to get scans of, so they might be able to sift through the potential descendants and identify them more easily?

“You know it’s more likely for you to find your fated one this way,” Max said, nodding sagely. There will be many females there, many of whom are going to be in search of a fated mate for themselves as well. And if you find that connection, you will never be lonely again.”

The words struck Rhett with a strange sense of sadness. Each of them had felt lonely here on Earth, where none of their customs and traditions were observed. He knew they had all suffered tremendously, and although their suffering was similar, it was also deeply individual. They each had families that were still on Fiora. Friends and loved ones they were missing. A sense of loss so deep and all-encompassing that they had a difficult time moving forward in their new lives on Earth. Even now. After several years of banishment.

It had been especially traumatic for the six of them because they had been high-ranking and honorable officials with their entire lives ahead of them. To be falsely accused and convicted of criminal intent had devastated their pride, and the respect they had worked so hard to earn. Usually, the Elders were able to see past deceit, so it was very strange to Rhett to think that they would somehow find it impossible to prove their innocence. He had even begun to suspect that perhaps the Elders did know the men were innocent. But then why would they have banished them to a strange world like Earth, where their shifter magic was so misunderstood and feared? Why would everything be so hopeless in terms of returning back to the world they knew.

Whatever their motivations might be, if that were the case, Rhett wouldn’t find it worthwhile. All this suffering. And for what? Perhaps only the Elders knew. He had been raised to trust their divine judgment implicitly, but this was all going a bit too far as far as he was concerned. If this was intentional, didn’t they know how painful it was to have to build a life over in a completely foreign world? Hell, they had been forced to resort to watching movies to try to get the hang of human social customs. And sometimes, that was far from accurate and they found themselves missing the mark. It was embarrassing to go from powerful, admired dragon shifter men of high ranking to bumbling, socially outcasted humans.

But perhaps the others were right and there was some merit to finding the descendants. Maybe this speed dating thing was actually going to help them get back home faster. They would have a chance to meet a bunch of potentials at once. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“So, Rhett, what do you think? Are you ready to do this?”

Max was looking at him intently. The flier crumpled involuntarily in Rhett’s hand and he sighed, nodding briskly. “Yeah. I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Max said, beaming. He turned to the others and laughed. “This shouldn’t be hard. He’s almost as handsome as I am.”

The others chuckled, and Max took his leave. The others began to disperse, and Rhett was left alone on the couch, deep in thought. He was going to have to try his luck with a room full of humans. But if everything went according to plan, it could mean that they would return back to Fiora sooner rather than later, being able to boast the continuation of the sacred bloodlines.