Prologue
Janie,
If you’re reading this, I have to assume you’ve not only met Thabo, but you’re with him now. Knowing Thabo, I doubt he sent this to you by messenger. He would want to make sure you got it in person. I also doubt he handed it to you without reading it first. He’s controlling that way. All the men on Eleadia are.
It’s so very different here, and I really struggled for a long time to find my place and fit in. Chadka is amazing, and I love him so much, but it took me a while to adjust to my new life.
I miss you like crazy. I miss having a close girlfriend to sit up late at night with and talk about anything and everything. Not that Chadka would let me stay up late, nor would he give me privacy to giggle with a girlfriend. He’s too strict and controlling for anything like that.
I’m making friends here. There are a lot of women from Earth and more arriving all the time. Well, girls, I guess I should say. Or females. I notice Eleadian men never refer to females as women. Girls, Baby girls, Little girls, sometimes females. Never women.
That’s fitting since we are not exactly adults. Part of it truly is our age. After all, most of the girls I’ve met are under thirty, whereas all of the Eleadian men are over one hundred! They look thirty. They don’t age very quickly, and it turns out we don’t either after we arrive!
It’s weird to think I’ll live to be hundreds of years old. That’s a long time to be with one person! But I love Chadka, or Papi as I call him, to pieces, so I guess hundreds of years won’t be long enough.
I wish I had read some of those romance novels you were always buried in—the ones where the heroine prefers to submit to a Daddy Dom. I would have been far less shocked if I’d read your books. This entire planet is filled with Alpha males who pamper their human females in a mind-tripping game of age-play that never ends. I’ll leave it at that.
I’m secretly hoping the universe decides Thabo falls in love with you on sight and picks you to be his forever mate. I realize that’s farfetched. If not, I hope you’ll consider spending as much time as possible at Club Zoom so you can get chosen by someone and come join me!
Well, I’m rambling. What does someone write when they only get one chance to write their very best friend and too many things to say? I’m not sure if Thabo is even permitted to let me share this much detail about Eleadia with you. I hope he gives you this. Fingers crossed.
I hope you’re enjoying working as a nurse. I regret that I never even got to work one single day on Earth. That was hard for me to accept. Oh! My arm healed during our trip. Medicine here is far more advanced than on Earth. I hardly recognize any of the equipment and the kinds of ailments Chadka and Thabo see at the clinic are completely different from Earth. Mostly preventative. Girls coming in for checkups.
I need to wrap this up. Thabo is waiting for me to hand this letter to him so he can begin his voyage. It’s hard to imagine that if you somehow ended up returning with him, it will have been a year and a half since I last saw you.
I miss you terribly.
Love and hugs.
Livy
ChapterOne
Thabo
“What do you mean you can’t see her? Why not?” I stare at the Club Zoom employee in confusion, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
John fidgets nervously in front of me. “Thabo, I went to her apartment three times. She wasn’t home. Finally, this afternoon, I caught a neighbor and asked if she’d seen her. The older woman told me Janie has been in the hospital for about a week. She’s apparently very sick.”
John is in charge of the entrance to Club Zoom. He’s the man you have to get by to get into the club. The buck stops with him. Since the club is only open at night, I commissioned him to find Janie and ask her to come during off hours.
I frown. “Bring her to me,” I demand. There isn’t a chance in hell I’m leaving Earth without making contact with Olivia’s best friend. I promised Olivia I would get a letter to Janie when I arrived on Earth. Olivia wants her best friend to know she’s happy and safe.
John rubs the back of his neck with his free hand. “It’s not that simple. I can’t even visit her. I have no idea what her condition is.”
I growl, my frustration mounting. “Why can’t you see her?”
“I’m not a family member. Those are the rules.”
“Rules…” I groan. “I’m not fond of your Earth rules.”
John winces as another man joins us in the front office. Zack, the club manager, looks back and forth between John and me. “What’s going on?”
I face Zack without waiting for John to respond. “I need you to pull some strings and get the female brought to me.”
Zack lifts both brows. “Janie?” Zack is well aware of my request to see Janie.
“Yes.”