I tilt Jovie’s head back and inspect her face. “Are you drunk?”

“No.” She shivers against me. “Cold in my bones. Muscles too. I feel really weak. It hit me fast.”

Normally, I’d make a joke about bones, but I’m concerned something is wrong. I pick her up and start for the building. “I’m going to take you to the females’ medical center, okay?”

Jovie mumbles something about gauntlets in storage as I enter the brightly lit building and head for the human’s hospital wing. I hope they can help her.

I ride the elevator up and exit into the waiting area of the hospital. One other male is in the room, pacing nervously. He’s Vinym by the color-changing ripples over his scales.

“What happened to her?” he asks.

“Cold and sort of went to sleep,” I tell him.

“I bet it’s blood sugar,” a woman says, leaving a nearby door. Ohni waves for a nurse to bring a stretcher out.

“You’re familiar with this?” I ask.

“Unfortunately. Sometimes, when we get females who have lived really hard lives and sacrificed a lot to get here, they eat a ton in the buffet, which spikes their blood sugar. Then they race hard and burn it all up because they finally have energy. Pair that with the excitement and adrenaline…”

She runs a hand over her mouth and then lifts it and shakes her head. “Then they don’t eat at the Mingle Celebration because they’re too wound up. And blood sugar crashes. I think I’m going to add a new briefing for future heats to limit how often this happens.”

I set Jovie on the stretcher and try to follow, but a nurse holds me back.

“Unless she can consent, you must stay here.”

“Because I’m alien?” I ask.

“Because you’re male,” the nurse says.

Ohni puffs out a breath. “I’m sorry. But women often get no protections on Earth. When they come to us, we give them all the rights we can. No male nurses or doctors. No male guards in private spaces. I am slowly transitioning guard teams to have more females as well.”

“A human female can’t take down a male like me,” I counter.

Ohni crosses her arms. “That’s why I have added the AI backups, upgraded cameradrones, and bonded alien males on the guard rotations. Now, please take a seat. We will get you when we have news.”

I don’t like it, but when the squad of guards, all female, forms up just inside the doors, I know I better keep my cool or risk going viral intergalactically. “She said something about gauntlets in storage. I don’t know what that means, but I got the sense she thought they’d help her.”

Ohni glances between me and the Vinym male, then to another couple entering the hospital.

The male Alustri—tall, red, and shirtless—adjusts his grip on the female in his arms. “She said someone named Cora gave her a metabolism pill after she ate too much.”

Ohni’s eyes widen as she helps a different nurse wheel out another stretcher. “Damn it. Okay, thank you.”

The moment the third female is through the guards and down the hall, Ohni charges out of the medical wing, leaving the three of us males in the waiting room, staring at one another in awkward silence.

I don’t want to pace because I know it will only make the others more nervous. So I sit and motion to the chairs across from me. “I’m Aura of Amphir. Might as well get to know one another to pass the time.”

The Vinym sits first. “Kip. I was here last heat, but didn’t get picked. I don’t suppose you remember seeing me. I remember you. Zariah is a friend.”

I snap my fingers and point at him as I think back to Elix’s race. “You were helping fix the drones after they were hacked by Ominous Artifacts.”

He nods. “I got picked this time. She’s really great, but I can tell she was abused before coming here.”

“Mine too,” the Alustri says. “I’m Solta. Mine worked in an assembly plant for fourteen hours a day at half pay because she had to live in onsite housing due to where the manufacturing plant was. She tried to leave a day early. Let’s just say the staff didn’t let her go. ”

Kip nervously bounces a knee. “Erissa had a similar problem with her boss. She was an assistant to a corporate executive for a company that machines metal parts for all kinds of industries. He locked her in a room and tried to take her. If I ever meet him…”

“Don’t,” I say. “Just don’t meet him. The conflict could brand your species as something you don’t want it to. Instead, show her how a male should treat her. One day, he may see you and realize his mistake.”

“Speak from experience?” Solta asks.

I nod. “My father tried to match me many times. I showed the females he threw at me more respect than they’d had in years, and that was with the rejection. Can’t tell you how many thanked me for that. Even with that treatment, they didn’t want me either.”

“How do you know?” Kip asks.

“Storms always know. Mine is…unnatural. So I have been banned.”

Solta sighs. “Few armorderms are left on my planet. The war has taken many of us.”

“Same,” Kip says. “And thank you for what you did recently, Aura. Most do not know. But because I know you through Zariah and Elix, I am aware.”

“Please do not say anything,” I beg him.

“I won’t. I understand the risks of expectations.

For me, honestly, I never cared about mating with my own species.

I want the Shimmer back. I want to know she’s it, my fated.

I always felt I’d find her here. This time I did.

But it’s difficult not to fear I have already lost her.

As soon as I get her back—” He nods to himself. “I will not waste one moment.”

Solta agrees. “My two hearts beat more in sync around Thiani.”

I hang my head, listening to my energy and how it has died down with Jovie in the hospital. “My Storm is quiet with her out of reach. It is almost as if she controls it now.”

A nurse walks through the doors and comes over to us.

Kip, Solta, and I get up.

She’s tall for a human with a galaxy-print scrub top. “Wow, you boys look like a sad sack of chaps when none of you need worry about your ladies. They’re all going to be fine. And, if you would like, you may all see them now. Just be aware that guards will be present. Follow me.”

Kip goes first. I follow him with Solta on my six.

Erissa is upright, sipping a juice box, a bruise peaking out of her sleeve. Abused. Right.

“If I can help,” I say to Kip as we pass. “I wager you know how to reach me.”

He sees my eyes on her bruises. “Denarso. Her boss did that to her.”

“You’re kidding.”

Kip shakes his head. “I wish.”

“What is one doing on Earth?” Solta asks.

“Good question.” I rest a hand on his shoulder and give it a squeeze. The muscle beneath is a surprise. “You been working out?”

He smirks. “I’ve had a little holovid help from Elix.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Solta hears something and passes the nurse into a room. Guards chase him, then stop when they look around the curtain.

I pass them, happy to see the two reunited and hoping Jovie is in similar spirits.

The nurse motions into a private room. “Here you are, Prince Aurelius.”

I cringe. “Just call me Aura. I have no title otherwise.”

“But your profile—”

“I know what it says. I didn’t add that. I am just Aura.”

“Does she know?”

“Yes, stars.” Jovie’s sitting in the middle of her bed, a foot swinging as she adjusts her metal armbands.

She pulls something out and a light switches off.

“That’s the only part associated with the defense system.

I still disagree with this, but I understand it gives me an unfair advantage over other women. ”

A woman in armor takes the chip Jovie hands her, sliding it into a static barrier bag. “I will store this for you.”

“Thanks.”

I walk to Jovie. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. They’re letting me keep my augments now since they give me data on my bodyweb.” She looks up from her screen. “I’m sorry we got off to a bad start. And if you want a healthier mate, I understand.”

It bothers me that she has so little faith in my loyalty.

Jovie looks at the nurse. “Can I go?”

“Yes. But you need to eat every three hours. Pack snacks. Until you get some more heft on you, you need extra calories.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” I inform both of them.

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Jovie remarks. “Or your responsibility.”

I offer her a hand. “I like your independence, but I want to. And all of us males are briefed on your potential statuses before we officially enter the races.”

After a moment, she takes my hand. And I realize that I’m going to have to work hard to help her trust a male again. She’s used to being considered a problem or someone to use.

Once she’s officially signed out, I lead her out of the medical wing, keeping her close. “I want to show you something.”

We walk to the balcony that overlooks the race grounds and garden below. The Mingle Celebration has ended, and the halls are mostly quiet.

I pull her in against my side and point up into the sky at a large orb. “Do you see that? The blue one.”

“I think so.”

“That is my homeworld. Do you know how I know when I am so far away?”

“No.”

“Because my Storm is reaching for it. I can feel it pulling inside me, straining for that one. It is the same feeling I have with you.”

I turn toward her. “My Storm has always known my mate was not one of our own. It did take me a long time to figure out where you were. But my Storm has always wanted you. I know it because when I touch your skin, it calms and flows through me like a river instead of a tornado.”

She braces herself against the railing and studies me.

“Jovie, I do not care what struggles are ahead. There are always challenges. But I know now, looking at you, how—”

Jovie shifts against me, her hip brushing my crotch.

Lust stirs in me. I hum a grunt. “How absolutely perfect you are. I understand you may not feel the same connection.”

“I feel something for sure. I just don’t know how to describe it.”