Chapter Ten

Hemlock

I threw on one of my blue chambray button-down shirts and paired it with a pair of black pants. Poe wouldn't be able to see that, but I wanted to put on something nice. The whole thing was kind of like a first date, and I wanted to make the best impression I could on Poe.

Grendel and I had binged her podcast episodes since seeing her profile. We listened to them in the truck, on headphones—we even had a portable speaker playing them while we ate dinner, did household chores, and cooked.

When we turned it off, getting ready for the video chat, our home seemed empty without her voice.

I couldn't wait to hear it again, but this time she wouldn't be speaking to a generalized audience. She would be speaking directly to us.

"Are you ready?" Grendel asked, tucking in his shirt and fixing his hair for the thirtieth time that morning. Most times he threw a hat on but not today.

Not for our maybe—probably—hopefully mate.

"Yes. No. I'm so damned nervous."

"It will be okay. If it's meant to be, it will be," I said and then cracked up at my own philosophy.

"Wow. Thanks for that."

While we bickered, my phone began to ring. We'd prearranged this video chat. She would call my phone, and Grendel and I would sit together so she could see us.

"There she is." Grendel went pale and tugged his collar away from his neck.

"She's going to like us." I laughed, trying to calm him down while reaching for my phone. Grendel's nerves had never gotten to him before like this. Not when he gave speeches in college. Not when he approached women for a date. Never.

That had to mean something.

"Hello," Poe said, leaning back in her chair. Good. She was relaxed. More than I could say for my friend and me. Her long purple hair braid hung over her shoulder. She had some tattoos, but I could only partially see what they were. Her thick black glasses made her look sexy in an adorable nerdy way.

"Hi," Gren and I said at the same time.

She started laughing. "I almost said welcome to the show."

"We are just about caught up with all your episodes," Grendel said. His heartbeat had slowed from the rabbit's pace it had been before.

"Really?" she said, beaming. "That's amazing. I knew you two had listened to some, based on your messages but damn, you binged them."

We chuckled at her surprise. Her interviews were informative, kind, and respectful of the other person. Not once did she dishonor them or say anything malicious. It spoke a heap about her heart. I told her so.

"Thank you, Hemlock. That means a lot. What about you two? I looked up some things about blacksmiths, but it was mostly people making knives or iron fences and some blacksmith literary porn. I downloaded some, for the record."

This girl. I knew she was funny on her show but to hear it directed to us in a personal conversation, well, I was starstruck.

Mate-struck.

"Blacksmith porn? Damn. Text me the names of those books. We can read them together." Grendel was serious. He read romances from time to time. Had no qualms about talking about it either.

"Oh my Goddess, I so will. We can have our own book club. So…is it hard work?"

I nodded. "It is. But it's satisfying. The end result is always in direct correlation to the sweat you put in it, you know? There are some jobs where you work hard and pour your soul into projects but for one reason or another, they don't sell or aren't received well."

She snickered. "Like my job."

Grendel held his hands up and then shrugged. "Yeah, actually. No offense. I'm sure there are videos you worked hard on but they simply didn't get the views you hoped for."

Poe nodded and adjusted her posture, pulling her legs up in the chair to a cross-legged position. "It's true. I'm grateful I can do this full-time."

"Have you had many matches on the app?" I asked.

She cocked her head, letting out a long breath. "You have no idea. I've been on this app for months. I've talked to plenty of so-called matches but didn't have a connection with any of them."

"Oh," I said. There were other things I wanted to add, but most of them would've sounded pathetic.

She pursed her lips, trying to fight a smile. "What I meant to say was, until you two, obviously. Um, what about you two? I'm sure tons of females jumped on your profile. Two hot blacksmith demons?"

Grendel kicked me with his boot. Yeah, I heard her too. She called us hot. "You were our first match." I scrubbed my hand against my neck. There was no reason to be embarrassed, but I was nonetheless.

"Really? Wow. I…are you messaging with others? I don't know how it works with demons. For shifters, well, my wolf was drawn to you two."

"It's the same for us," Grendel confessed. "We didn't need to look at any other matches."

We paused for a minute, but I didn't want to get too deep too fast, concerned it would scare her off. Her cat hopped onto her lap and she introduced us to Salem.

"Do… I saw that demons and animals don't get along, but Salem isn't scared, and my wolf isn't either. I thought she might snarl or growl but there's, well, there's no fear."

So there was something else.

"It's a myth. There are a lot of myths and not a lot of truth out there. Maybe we should be on your show."

Poe laughed. "That might be too personal for me. Maybe one day."

Our video chat lasted through the evening. Poe took a break to grab some snacks and change into her pajamas but when it hit midnight, I noticed her yawns became more frequent.

The last thing I wanted to do was end this connection.

"Poe, before we call it a night, we wanted to ask you something. Take your time to answer. There's no rush. We are patient men but, we would very much like you to come here and give us a shot."

"That's not a question, Hem." She laughed, nuzzling Salem's fur.

"Would you come here and stay with us?" Grendel clarified. "That's the question. But don't answer. Go sleep on it. We'll be waiting."

"I'll think about it. Good night, sweet demons."