MATE DATE (An RH Paranormal Comedy) by M.J. Marstens

Author:M.J. Marstens [Marstens, M.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

LEKAN1

For the first time in forever, I think about making my Call. I haven’t tried in over six years since I first moved to New York. Leaving behind my family and their disappointment was enough to kill everything inside of me. My people didn’t leave their tribe. We found our mates within our community.

It has always been our way.

Until me.

The chief’s son.

Of course, I would be the one to ruin a centuries old tradition of finding a mate that’s Egbere. At first, my parents were optimistic. They told me not to worry- that my mate may not even be born yet. It might be years, decades even, before she was old enough to heed my Call. I burst their bubble when I pointed out that my mate may not even be here.

That kind of talk is blasphemous in my tribe.

It’s the kind of talk that gets your head shrunk by the witch doctor in the neighboring tribe, but being the chief’s son isn’t without its perks.

I don’t think my parents worried too much until I announced that I was leaving for America. Their gasps of dismay and disgust nearly knocked me over.

“Leave the tribe?!” my father bellowed.

“It’s unheard of!” my mother cried.

“So is a male without a mate from our tribe,” I pointed out.

Of course, this reopened the twenty-minute conversation of being patient and waiting for The One. Finally, I admitted that I went to see the witch doctor. Shrinking heads isn’t the only that he can do. For a small piece of my mat, the man told me where to find my mate: New York.

While this narrowed things down for me, I knew that New York wasn’t small by any means. The chances of finding my mate would still be slim and take a lot of work on my part. But none of this mattered because I had broken the cardinal rule of the Egbere: I had shared my mat with another being.

See, Egbere are like African leprechauns, you could say; but instead of pots of gold, we each have a mat of wealth that we are born with. From infancy, Egbere children are told to never share their mats with anyone, except their mates. The only exception to this rule is the Egbere elder. This man or woman measures each mat to find the biggest and, therefore, the wealthiest.

This person is destined to become chief of the tribe.

For six generations, my family has had this honor- the longest in Egbere history. And so far, the next longest mat in the tribe has been mine. So, aside from sharing my mat with someone not my mate- oh, and not staying to find said mate within the Egbere people, I’ve shamed my parents further by stepping down from my position as the next chief and leaving for the United States.

When I told my father and my mother my decision, they turned their backs on me.

Literally.

This is a sign of disinheritance in Egbere society.

Only my brother supported me.

And so, I left.

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