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It takes a lot of hate to yell at a child on the street and tell her that you want to hurt her.
I pushed those negative thoughts away and repeated my mantra in my head.
I am fabulous. I am amazing. I am worthy of love.
A question chimed, popping up to the grand tune of one hundred dollars, enough money to have it plaster itself across my screen and have a robotic voice read it out.
"Do you think any guy will want you knowing you've f star star star star star a freak?" the voice read out.
My smile grew tight with the effort it took to hold it. I couldn't let anyone know that it got to me.
Humans were pack hunters.
If I acted hurt or wounded, those too timid to strike the first blow would join in to hit me once I was down on the ground. I had to face these online keyboard wannabe warriors down and not let them know when their comments hit a sore spot.
"Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't date thinking about who 'the next guy' might be," I said, modifying my tone so that I sounded gently scolding. "I date with the intention of finding my soulmate, the kind of person who really sees me for who I am, who gives me what I need to grow and holds space in his life for to be my best self, and frankly, he hasn't come and found me yet, so maybe that is because he isn't here on Earth in the first place."
I took a deep breath, ignoring the scrolling chat filled with comments and questions by those who didn't want to pay to get my attention.
"You all sat with me through filling out the questionnaire and providing the biological samples- and if you didn't, you can find that vid in my paid subscriber archive. Sign up to get exclusives on my whole journey! Whoever is coming to meet me is someone who is willing to do the work to learn about humans and see if a cross-cultural connection can happen. Whoever he is, he isn't a monster."
I was about to launch into another monologue about the subject censored with those stars when I realized the chat was filling out with the same phrase written over and over again in all caps.
LOOK BEHIND YOU!
IT'S BEHIND YOU
RUN!
[ 3 ]
AESON
I didn’t expect her to be so small.
I towered over her, using my translator implant to listen as she monologued at the screen in her hand. It sounded like she was justifying herself to the other person, explaining why she had chosen to sign up for the arranged mating service. Her reasoning was so… romantic.
I wasn’t expecting that either.
It wasn’t like a female to be romantic. A female had to choose her males based on who could best protect her nest. I tilted my head as I looked down at the small human female as she perched on the edge of a boxy piece of furniture. She was fidgeting as she spoke, flipping her silky black hair. The movement caught my attention, triggering my prey drive, inciting a primal desire to wrap myself around her and hold her still.
I wondered what that hair would feel like.
She stiffened suddenly, ceasing all movement.
My muscles tightened as I coiled backwards instinctually into a spring. Her sudden motion ceasing abruptly triggered something deep inside of me, pulling every cell in my body to focus utterly on her. She was still, I was still.
She turned and looked over her shoulder at me.
Her hand lifted up to clamp down over her own mouth as her eyes widened until they were huge saucers of white, her head shaking slightly from side to side.
Then she burst into motion.
She threw herself backwards away from me.
Her arm flung the small device in her hand at me. It bounced off my chest, falling down to the floor as she darted like a rasmita seeking the safety of a burrow. She was so cute. I wanted to catch her.
I needed to catch her.
