Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (31 page)

Pam picked up a stack of notebooks. “So here’s
how we’re gonna work it, okay? These are your dating binders. In
them, you will find questionnaires regarding the physical and
emotional qualities you are looking for in the mate you are hoping
to meet. The second tab contains your weekly schedule of what
activities you’ll be doing and when. We’ve even included suggestion
sheets with talking points based on your interests and things that
you might want to touch on with the women who capture your
fancy.”

Leah watched as each man opened the covers and
looked over the first page of what Pam had placed in front of them
but not one of them, not even one man, licked a thumb to turn to
the second page. When the spritely blonde made her way back to the
breakfast bar to grab the box of pens, Leah frowned at the tinier
woman. “Why aren’t they doing a paper shuffle?”

Pam looked over the upturned faces before
glancing back at her bestie. “Because they’re anti-tests, charts,
and spreadsheets?”

Leah glanced at Rykhan but he, just like his
brother warriors looked at the two women instead of their binders.
“Is something wrong?”

Bronsyn was the one who broke the silence
first. “You and Pamela have put much work into these
papers.”

Pam and Leah exchanged a confused glance before
Pam responded. “Yeah, we have. Plus there was the printing and all
that kind of stuff…”

Bronsyn said something in the Picari
language—the one that sounded like a bunch of grunts dispersed with
some throat clearing—and a couple of the men shook their heads.
Rykhan only shrugged. “My apologies. I just assumed you knew. While
we can speak the English language, we cannot read it.”

Leah felt her jaw drop and quickly corrected
that motion to hide her reaction.

Pam obviously felt no such restriction. “You
can’t? Like, at all?”

“We have learned your numbering system,” Gere
rumbled. “English uses so many letters to create your
words…”

“But you guys are on the internet all the
time,” Leah sputtered. “If you can’t read English how have you been
able to look things up or perform your studies?”

Arbrynt canted an eyebrow as he looked at the
two women. “I have ensured our warriors have text-to-speech on all
of our communication devices. Once that was done it was simply a
matter of connecting it to the English-Picari translator
application.”

Leah took a step to lean back against the
breakfast bar. Her mind was racing with a thousand thoughts. Ones
that included why she hadn’t noticed they couldn’t read and trying
to think of other ways to keep the men on track in order to succeed
with Stege’s challenge.

Pam expression said she was clearly trying to
rethink their plan as well.

“Okay, then,” Leah finally sighed, tossing her
long hair over her shoulder while bringing her palms together.
Three weeks to get another two of the awkward group of men in
relationships when they couldn’t read a damn word. Freaking
great!

“Another thing that you may not yet
have realized,
mica
tisha
,” Rykhan started as Leah
wracked her brain for a way to salvage all their work, their
research and plans. Strategies that would give the Picari warriors
a fighting chance in securing a human mate. “While we cannot read
English, all those in the Picari Protectorate have perfect auditory
and photographic memories.”

Leah blinked and looked to Pam.

“Well, geesh! Why didn’t you say so in the
first place?” Pam’s giggle that accompanied her words seemed to
bring the tension in the room down a notch. “Okay so what I propose
is that we go through your binders. Only instead of you reading it
on your own, we’ll take the time and talk it through as a
group.”

Nodding, Leah let her eyes roam over the men.
Sure Pam’s suggestion meant they were going to be spending more
time than they had originally planned, but to make sure the guys
were prepared was the ultimate goal. It was the same destination,
they‘d just be using a different vehicle.

“We’ve enrolled each of you in several dating
websites. These along with several singles activities in the areas
will be your primary source of making first contact with women.”
Leah only had to glance at the words on the sheet under the tab
marked ‘schedules’ to remember what she and Pam had talked through
for hours. “You will be required to check each of the websites
twice a day. Once in the morning and again in the
evening.”

“Why twice in one rotation?” Tyshar broke in.
“Do you expect us to spend all our time doing searches through the
databases?”

Pam looked at Leah before answering. “You’ll do
your search in the morning to find three new women to contact. This
shouldn’t be hard since you have the ten different websites to look
through!”

“What is the second check for then?” Bronsyn
wasn’t actually frowning but his forehead started to
crease.

“That’s for you to respond to any requests from
the women who are interested in you, big guy!” Pam’s eyes danced.
“Yep, you dudes are just gonna have to get over your caveman, alpha
dog tendencies and allow for the fact that women can and will
contact you first.”

“What are we supposed to say in those initial
moments when the females contact us?” Bronsyn grumbled letting his
low opinion shine forth.

Leah thought for a moment. This might be harder
than she and Pam had originally figured. “Well, what would you
initially say if you were doing the approaching?”

“The thing is, guys,” Pam spoke up in the
silence that had descended around the table again. “You’re gonna
have to use your translator-thingy to read the woman’s profile
before you respond. You want to make a good impression in that
first communiqué and the best way to do that is just by being
yourself. Be nice. Ask her a question about something in her
profile that interests you. Use humor but don’t make fun or tease
her unless she does it first.”

Leah saw a couple of the men nod that she took
as confirmation they understood. “But you want to get your first
face-to-face meeting set up as soon as possible. Try to avoid those
girls who only want to chat with you online.”

“I used to call those kind of people
‘keyboard-strokers’,” Pam interrupted and all but Laxon grinned.
“You want to get your first meet-and-greet in at the earliest
opportunity. Be specific and use open-ended questions, like ‘when
do I get to meet you?’ On the other hand, even better, ‘Let’s grab
a coffee after work. Does Tuesday or Thursday work better for
you?”

Laxon appeared more than a little lost with all
the information. And she found out why when he finally asked a
question. “What if they say no to meeting you?”

“There’s always the possibility of rejection,”
Leah replied quietly. “Since your first contact is only to work out
whether or not a meeting would be good, try not to become too
attached to the outcome. You aren’t going to want to meet every
woman on every site so it’s possible she might not be attracted to
you either.”

Her reply was a little to wordy for the quiet
introvert, so she cut to the chase. “If they decline to meet you,
move on to the next girl. Think positive and keep your eye on the
prize.”

Pam added her two cents. “You boys aren’t in
this for a momentary fling. You are taking the first steps towards
finding a wife who will be with you for the rest of your life. It
is an awesome and amazing undertaking. As you navigate each step in
the getting-to-know-you process, Leah and I will be right there
with you, coaching and cheering you on from the
sidelines.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you and Rykhan’s mate
did the search and just gave us the information where we have to be
to meet the females you’ve chosen?” Arbrynt’s expression of feigned
innocence had Leah biting her lips to keep from
laughing.

“We don’t have the time and I for one don’t
want to play alien/human match-maker!” Pam exclaimed, throwing up
her hands.

“Perhaps you can walk them through the
process,” Rykhan suggested, his eyes trained on his mate. In her
opinion, he was having more fun than any of the other warriors. But
then, he wasn’t involved in the dating search.

Leah opened her laptop as Pam gave out each of
the warrior’s user names and passwords. “Who wants to go first?
Tyshar? Okay, good.” She pulled up his profile on fishinthesea.com
and the picture of his face soon hovered over the center of the
table. “Most of the websites are pretty similar. Two to three
pictures, a description of you and your interests, what kind of
relationship you are looking for and what you want in a
woman.”

“Obviously, Leah and I had to guess at or make
stuff up about you to get your profile uploaded. But it’s really
easy to change your information if need be.” Pam motioned and Leah
o moved the image down. “On this site, there’s a set of small boxes
at the bottom to show you how many times your profile has been
looked at as well as to alert you when someone is interested in
further contact.”

Leah couldn’t contain her gasp of shock. That
couldn’t be right, could it? They’d just gone live with all the
profiles the day before! “Erm, Houston? I think we have a
problem.”

“No way,” Pam breathed leaning in to re-read
the image. “No freaking way in hell. How could he already have two
hundred views and sixty-something messages?”

“I haven’t the foggiest,” Leah replied with a
headshake before raising her eyes to the dark haired, dark eyed
warrior. “It seems you’re really popular, Tyshar.”

There was some good-natured ribbing from the
other men at the table and Leah waited until it died out before
continuing. “Okay, by accessing his messages let me show you how to
review the women who are lining up to meet him.”

She clicked on the woman’s picture and pulled
up her info in a separate window.

Pam talked the men through ‘Loves to Laugh’
profile, pointing out the important parts in both how the woman
described herself and what she was looking for in a partner. “One
thing to remember is that a lot of people lie on these things like
about their age or their marital status. Shit! Some people will use
an old picture for their profile. So if you find things don’t ring
true or don’t make sense, move on to the next girl.”

“Actually, I’d say that works even in meeting
someone face to face,” Leah added, shooting a gaze around the
table. “At any time, if a woman’s behavior alarms you, run. You’re
always supposed to run from crazy.”

The men scowled and looked at one another
before Wyst finally asked, “you mean, we just get up and begin to
jog?”

“She means you need to leave at the soonest
possible moment,” Pam responded with a sigh. “If your gut is
telling you something isn’t right with the woman you’re with, leave
her presence at the earliest opportunity, okay?”

Everyone’s eyes went back to the holographic
webpage of ‘Loves to Laugh’. “Now that we know she is in the right
age group, has similar interests, and is looking for a long
term/possible marriage relationship, Tyshar has to decide if he
wants to meet her.”

All turned to look at the somber warrior as
they waited for his reply. “Okay.” He shrugged. “Why
not?”

“That’s the spirit,” Pam muttered softly but
sarcastically. “I’m bowled over by your enthusiasm.”

“You do know that the Protectorate all have
superior hearing as well, don’t you?” Wyst shot his reply back just
as snidely.

“Bite me.” Pam emphasized her reply with a
one-finger salute.

“Okay! So,” Leah interjected loudly. “We need
to do a reply. Do you want me to compose this first one?” At their
nods, Leah began typing after hitting the respond
button.

Arbrynt pointed his
tresl
at the image and
pressed the screen. A robotic, tinny voice sounded, each syllable
of Leah’s words filling the air of the dining room.

‘Thank you for contacting me, Loves to Laugh.
From your profile, we seem to have similar interests! You like to
cook and I like to eat, we are both interested in the
sciences/technology and we are both single looking for a long-term
relationship. I am new to Phoenix and live in the east valley area.
How about if we meet at a coffee or juice bar to determine more
things we might have in common?. Does Friday or Saturday afternoon
work for you? I look forward to your reply.’

“Why do we need to meet at a coffee bar?”
Tyshar finally asked after the electronic voice stopped. “Why am I
not inviting her for a meal?”

“Because just as we warned you about crazy
ladies, women need to be even more cautious. As first meets go,
stick with setting them up in very public places and make sure it’s
in the daytime. She will be a lot less leery. Also, you first
meeting should last for no more than an hour.”

“How do you get to know a female in just one
hera?” Gyard’s arms were crossed over his chest which Leah thought
was one of his tells regarding his emotional state.

Pam shook her head until her curls bounced.
“You don’t. Nevertheless, you can get enough info about her to
decide if you would like to learn more. Does she appeal to you
physically? Do you like the sound of her voice? Is she interesting
enough to consider seeing again? The first meet is brief and allows
both you and her an easy out if things just don’t click, get
it?”