Chapter One

Poe

I pressed the red square on both the microphone and the camera with my remotes. Another episode of Poe Paranormal was on the books. Not books, but ready to be edited by my team and uploaded at a future date.

This episode had been a doozy.

Never expected to have a vampire sitting in my studio, much less one who was over a thousand years old.

"Thank you, Lazar, for being on the show. I learned a lot today." I stood and raised my hand, extending it over the table to shake his.

The corners of his mouth lifted, revealing fangs and a heart-stopping grin. "The pleasure was all mine. And so you are not anxious, our deal is set in stone. I can hear your heartbeat from here."

"I'm glad to hear it. I understand better how you can captivate others." And was very grateful for our deal.

"I will make my way back to my lair now. Please text me once you have the release date. I'm sure my friends will find this interview entertaining. Maybe humans won't be so scared of us now."

I bid Lazar goodbye but doubted his thoughts about humans not being afraid. Shifters, fae, orcs, those monsters didn't get their nutrition from our blood. There would always be some fear in us when it came to vampires. After all, if they were hungry enough, they could simply drain our life force right out of us.

When I first started my podcast, no one listened. I had fewer than five listeners, and I was sure my parents were two of them, even though my job was something we didn't really talk about.

Truth was, we didn't talk much about anything. But now my audience had grown exponentially. This podcast would be Halloween week.

I often did episodes months in advance, but I hadn't betted on Lazar actually wanting to do the interview. Once he agreed, I had to set up and get him in ASAP. I'd never had a vampire on the show, so I made whatever concessions he wanted.

I made myself a late lunch and gave my brains a rest, but my phone had other ideas. I'd ignored the notifications from the Mail-Order Mating app for a few weeks, since every time they made a match, it was a joke.

Sure, some of them were nice and would be great friends, but I wasn't on the app to find a friend.

I wanted a mate.

At first, I had my sights set on a shifter. Shifter romance initially got me interested in the paranormal and supernatural creatures, but the shifters I'd met were nothing like the ones in books or romances. They were possessive and rude. Probably I'd met the worst of the worst, but it put a bad taste in my mouth.

When I joined the app, I opened my profile up to all shifters, monsters, and other creatures. There were a few I hadn't included. Vampires. Sasquatches. Demons. Didn't have a solid reason as to why, but I thought for sure my mate would be a shifter or maybe a hot orc.

I hadn't gotten a single match to an orc.

A few monsters.

Lots of shifters.

I'd all but given up.

But for some reason, I kept the app on my phone even though the last match I entertained started asking me very personal questions about my female cycle and if I had any vitamin deficiencies.

After I refused to answer, he finally admitted that he joined the app not to find a mate—he didn't believe in mates—but to find a female who would give him lots and lots of cubs.

Of course, my next message to him was to ask why he wasn't searching for a breeder instead of someone like me. Then I blocked him.

As I had a dozen males since joining.

My podcast was actually how I found out about the app in the first place. Two female bear shifter guests told me all about how they had met their fated mate. They shared him, but somehow it worked for them.

I downloaded the app that day, hopeful the situation would work out for me.

It hadn't.

And now I'd almost given up on the damned thing, but something kept me from deleting it.

If I had a fated mate or mates out there, I wish they would reach out and find me.