* * * *
Ahm frowned as he shimmered into a dark corner of The Manacle. The music was so loud he felt like his ears were going to start bleeding at any moment. This had to be the reason he chose the soothing sounds of jazz to listen to. Rock and rave music was a monstrosity.
Pushing away from his dark corner, Ahm started scanning the main floor of the club for the prince, or at least someone that could tell him where the prince might be. He didn’t really feel like walking through the crowded place looking for Christian himself.
He spotted the man in question coming out of a hallway on the far side of the room and walked toward him. Christian’s head snapped in his direction before he even reached the man. No big surprise there. Christian seemed to be quite aware of what occurred in his club.
“I would appreciate a few moments of your time, Prince Christian.” Ahm eyed the two men standing slightly behind the prince. “In private.”
“Of course.” Christian gestured to the steps behind him. “Let’s go upstairs to my booth. We can talk privately there.”
Ahm nodded and followed Christian upstairs to a private balcony overlooking the dance floor below. It wasn’t as private as Ahm would have liked but he supposed it would have to do. He already didn’t like asking for help from anyone, but if he was going to save his race, he needed to set his male pride aside and talk with the prince.
A smaller man sat next to Christian with his arms crossed over his chest. The look in his eyes dared anyone to cross him. The two large men who had accompanied the prince took up positions behind the prince. They looked intimidating but not as much as the small man glaring at him.
“This is my mate, Minsheng,” Christian explained when Ahm looked at him. “You’ve met, but you’ve never been formally introduced. He is also my Consorapagno.”
Well, that certainly explained why the man was there. Even Ahm understood what a Consorapagno was. And truthfully, having another set of eyes on his problem might not be such a bad idea.
Ahm still felt odd as he settled back on the seat across from Christian and his mate. He wanted more than anything to not be here explaining his issues to the prince but he could think of no one else that might be able to help him.
“My people are in trouble.” Ahm began, sitting with his back rigid, showing the prince that although he was asking for help, he was still a proud and strong male. “As a species, we’re dying due to our continued inbreeding and my people’s refusal to accept anyone not a Shadow elf into our world. If a solution isn’t found soon, I fear that my people will die out.”
Christian looked as if he were considering Ahm’s words. “How many of you are there left?”
“Less than a thousand.” And that number ate at Ahm’s heart. “We used to number in the tens of thousands. But so many of our people have passed on and our infant mortality rate is so high that our women fear to get pregnant.”
“What about your men?” Minsheng asked.
“Uh…our men?”
“Male Shadow elves cannot get pregnant, little one,” the prince replied.
“Oh.”
There was a glint of sympathy in the young prince’s eyes that made Ahm wonder what the man knew that he did not. He just wasn’t stupid enough to ask. Even he had heard of the fierce possessiveness Prince Christian displayed when it came to his two mates. He liked his head where it was at.
“If I remember my history correctly,” the prince said, “at one time, the Shadow elves were asexual. Due to overpopulation, your elders devised a plan to put an end to that. I guess it worked.”
Ahm could have no more hid his surprise than he could have cut off his head. This was something he didn’t know. But it gave him a glimmer of hope. He clasped his hands together and sat forward. “Then there might be a way to reverse this?”
“After this many years, probably not.” Christian looked regretful that he had to answer that way. “Too many generations have been born. I doubt that whatever your elders did can be reversed after all of this time. You need to look for another solution.”
Damn.
That wasn’t what Ahm wanted to hear.
“I’m willing to listen to ideas.” At this point, he couldn’t think of much he wasn’t willing to do to save his people. He’d already given up any hope of claiming his mate. Everything else seemed pretty small compared to that.
“I’ll have to do some research and get back to you.”
Ahm nodded and stood to his feet. No matter how much he wanted it otherwise, he didn’t expect to receive an answer right away. This problem had been building for centuries. It would not be solved overnight.