Chapter One
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆☽Ⓛ❈Ⓒ☾⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
June.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
Tiffany smiles and squeezes my hand. “Of course, baby-g. You know I’ve got you.”
I tap my fingers against my phone screen and force my leg to stay still instead of bobbing it like I want to. The ticking of the clock on the wall seems extraordinarily loud.
“June Price?”
I jump at the sound of my name being called. I get to my feet and Tiffany stands up with me. The woman in a tight pencil skirt with a bun at her nape smiles warmly.
“Follow me through to my office.”
She leads us into a room with a calm atmosphere, no doubt accomplished by the pale blue walls and cream furniture. She shuts the door behind us and offers out her hand to shake.
“I’m Jesinki, your assigned matchmaker.”
Once we’ve said our hello’s, she encourages us to take a seat and she makes herself comfortable behind her desk.
“So, you probably know the bare bones of everything from the welcome package we sent you,” she begins and I nod along. “We have analysed the results of the in-depth personality test you completed last week and we’ve compiled a list of suitable matches.”
My heart beats faster at her words. It feels surreal that I’m here, that this is actually happening. When I signed up to the dating service a month ago, I don’t think I really thought I would go through with it. I thought I would have chickened out by now.
“I’ve put together the top twenty profiles and I have them here,” she says and holds out a device that is a bit larger than an iPad. “I’d like you to scroll through the options and we can discuss each one.”
My hands feel clammy as I take the device from her. Tiffany shuffles her chair closer to me so that she can look at the matches too. The first one comes up on the screen. There’s a full-length picture with a name and age underneath.
“You can scroll down to see more photos and details. Each candidate has written a bit about themselves. They have all been chosen because their wishes and values align with yours.”
The first candidate is a lizard man. I’ve had a few encounters with lizard folk, I used to work with a woman who was a lizard humanoid. I wouldn’t be opposed to dating someone like that.
“He’s cute,” Tiffany comments.
“June?” Jesinki presses. “What do you think?”
“He’s sweet,” I reply, studying his warm yellow eyes and shy smile. “Oh, and he’s in the right age bracket.”
I’m going to be thirty next year. I’ve been single for nearly two years despite going on so many dates. I’m sick of leaving things to chance and fate. After a few too many glasses of wine last month, I signed up for this cross-species dating agency in the hopes of not entering my thirties single and alone.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve learned to love my own company. I’m very independent and I’m comfortable with being by myself, but I’d really like someone to come home to each day. I can fill my weekends with jobs and seeing friends, but my apartment just feels so damn empty in the evenings.
I’ve put my desired age range as 26-36, giving myself a nice decade of options. This lizard man is 27, he’s a lawyer from the city. I turn up my nose and Jesinki notices straight away.
“What is it?”
“I’m not the biggest fan of lawyers.”
“Noted,” she says and jots something down. “Have a swipe, maybe someone else is a better match.”
I swipe for the next one and grimace. He’s a goblin. I don’t have anything against goblins per se, but I dated one and he was slimy as hell. Not in skin texture or a literal sense, he was slimy in the creepy way he acted. I really shouldn’t hold his behaviour against a whole species, but whenever I see their black, soulless eyes, they make me shudder.
“Ooh, he’s cute!” Tiffany gasps. “Look at those muscles.”
“He’s a goblin,” I mutter.
“I know you don’t want him but maybe I do.” She looks up at Jesinki. “How much is it to join, please?”
Jesinki gives a polite smile. “I can give you a full walkthrough and get you signed up when we’ve found June a match.”
“Yeah, back to the task at hand,” I tease my best friend and nudge her. “You’re here for me, remember?”
“Sorry,” she says sheepishly. “Swipe again.”
There’s another lizard man, a centaur, a fae with wings that reach high above his head, an orc with ginormous tusks. I point out a couple that I like and Jesinki makes more notes. I swipe another time and my heart stops in its beat. My eyes land on the minotaur. His pale green eyes, the colour of sage, jump out at me from the screen. My finger hovers over the device, shaking a little.
It can’t be…
I scroll down to read his name and my heart jolts in my chest, stuttering over itself.
“Aphelion, thirty,” Tiffany says next to me.
Without meaning to, I am propelled into the past, the memory loads up in my brain.
“Aphe, I really need to go,” I tell him, worriedly looking at the clock on his car.
“I know, I’m sorry. Can I drop you near your house? That will get you back quicker,” Aphelion offers, his sage green eyes hopeful.
I shake my head. “No, I don’t want to risk him seeing your car. Remember last time? He knows you drive this Jeep now.”
“Okay.” His shoulders drop. “You should leave now then, you won’t make it home for half past if you don’t.”
“I know. I guess I’ll see you…” I trail off as I realise it was the end of school yesterday. We’re broken up for summer, I won’t see Aphelion at school because we won’t be at school. “When will I see you?”
“I don’t know, I don’t even know what my parents have planned for this summer,” he says gently and reaches over the console to hold my hand. I look down at his big hands with soft fingers in contrast to their size. His skin is coffee-brown, I love it. I stroke the downy hair on the back of his hand and up his forearm. “But we’ll work something out, June okay? We’ll meet up.”
“You promise?” I ask, looking up to meet his eyes.
He smiles and it stretches out his wide, pale pink nose. He’s so adorable. “I promise, clover.”
I smile at his nickname for me. He’s called me that all year. He loves eating clovers and he says I’m his lucky clover.
“I really need to go now,” I tell him and check the time again. “Like two minutes ago.”
“One kiss and then you can go,” Aphelion says suddenly.
My heart beats faster as I blink at him. We’ve danced around this attraction for so long now. We’ve been friends all year and nothing more, but every now and then, I catch him looking at me like maybe, we could be something more. I’ve been keeping my feelings secret for months now, hoping that he feels the same. Last week, we almost kissed when he dropped me home after school. My dad saw the Jeep and flipped his lid, stopping anything from happening. He hasn’t mentioned it all week so I thought I was supposed to pretend it didn’t happen.
“You want to kiss me?”
Aphe half-snorts, half-moo’s which makes me laugh too.
“Of course I want to kiss you, clover. I’ve been thinking about it all damn year.”
I don’t think my heart could beat any faster than it is right now. His eyes lock on mine. He leans over the console and I suck in a sharp breath. I have to remember to breathe, I remind myself as his mouth nears mine. My eyes fall closed as he brushes his lips over mine. His mouth is wider than mine but thankfully he puckers his lips to kiss me.
His lips are even softer than I expect and mould perfectly to mine. A satisfied hum comes from his chest and he kisses me more firmly. I moan and bring my hands to his shoulders, feeling his broad body. He places his hand on the back of my head, cupping it gently as he kisses me.
Behind me, the door is yanked open. I scream as someone grabs my upper arm and drags me out. I twist my ankle as I stumble out onto the tarmac. Aphelion stares with wide, frozen eyes as my dad glares at him, his hand hurting my arm.
“Dad! Let go, you’re hurting me!” I shout and try to pull my arm loose.
He spins around to glare at me. “You little whore! I told you not to associate yourself with a fucking animal. How dare you lie to me and your mother about where you were!” Spittle flies from his mouth and hits me in the face. “This is an abomination! Our species are not supposed to be together, do you understand how much you have disgraced our family? You disgust me.”
I don’t hear the rest of his lecture. My heart is breaking as I look at Aphelion and the traumatised look on his face. I want to beg him not to listen, to ignore my father’s bigoted rant. Tears run down my face as he continues shouting at me in the middle of the parking lot.
I tune in again as he whirls to face Aphelion, who has now gotten out of the car. Despite being twenty years younger than my dad, he has over a foot on him in height. Getting out of the car has only made my dad’s anger worse. His hooves are a stark reminder of his difference to us. His clothes can’t hide his tail, which pokes out of the hole carefully positioned in his trousers.
“Mr Rogers, please, this isn’t June’s fault-”
“You’re damned right it is!” My father cuts him off. “It’s yours too! You both are a disgrace. Stick to your heifers, you little oxen, because you’re never coming anywhere near my daughter again, do you hear me? If you so much as come near my daughter, I will have you arrested.” He turns on me again. “And you, if you try and contact him again, I will lock you in your room so help me God. Do you understand?”
I try to protest but he ignores me. I look back longingly at Aphelion as my father drags me over to his car. He reaches out to me, his face forlorn. I shake my head, not wanting him to receive any more abuse.
I’m resigned as I drive home. I need to protect Aphelion from my evil father. I can’t see him again, at least not until I’m eighteen and I move out. I can’t make him go through that. I’m sure my father would make good on his threat.
“June?” Tiffany’s voice brings me back to the present. “What is it?”
“I know him,” I whisper. “I think I used to be in love with him.”
