Chapter Five

Poe

Gargoyles were a no-go. I let the app run with the algorithm for over a week and nothing. Was that enough time to find a mate? Maybe. Was I jumping the gun and switching species too fast? Probably. Would that stop me?

No.

I'd recently done a deep dive into demons and was oddly curious about the species—that was my other reason for changing my mind.

Besides, a stone dick didn't really do it for me. Did they shift into human form? Did gargoyles stay stone all the time?

While intriguing, those were questions I only wanted to explore online or on my podcast, not in person.

But demons. Demons swirled in my mind, and not in the movie way.

I didn't know much about them. I'd done some reading and found tales and myths, but that's all they were and, from my experience, such things were usually far from the truth.

But I'd never heard of shifters mating with demons.

While sitting outside on my back porch, I changed my preference once again on the app. This time, I was interested in demons. Hell, I was surprised they were even a category, but the app claimed to be a site where every species could find their HEA, so why not demons?

My phone pinged with a message, and I opened it right away. My friend Tracy. She was at the front door with cake and hot chocolate. Two of my favorite things.

I bolted to the front, the thought of double sugar and double chocolate fueling me even before I took a taste. My wolf was even excited, and she didn't get excited over very many things lately.

"You are right on time," I said, opening the door wide for her. We'd been friends since high school, and she was one of the first to believe in me when I said I wanted to start a podcast about paranormal people. She was also the first human I told I was a wolf shifter. She accepted me immediately and had never treated me any differently.

"I didn't tell you I was coming," she said, handing over the triple-chocolate thunder cake—that was what the label said. I didn't even know that was a name of a cake, but I was all here for it.

"But I kind of needed you to, and here you are."

"Let's go in the kitchen. I'm having one hell of a day myself. Let's cut this cake and have a chocolate fest while we bitch about our issues."

I laughed. "That sounds like the best plan ever."

We sat at my kitchen table, some music playing in the background, and cut into the cake. That thing was chocolate thunder, lightning, and maybe an earthquake all put together. Layers of decadent devil's food cake with chocolate ganache and a fluffy dark-chocolate icing. Heaven on a plate.

"What's going on with you?" I asked. Tracy was married with children. Human wife and human children. She sometimes came over to get away. Her kids were super active in school clubs and sports, and Friday nights were often the only times she could have some time to herself.

Tracy went on a tirade and honestly, hearing her talk about all her kids and balancing everything made me tired by proxy, and I was only listening to it.

Once she was done, she had downed two pieces of cake to my one, which was surprising since she was the one talking.

"What about you? I listened to your vampire interview. Didn't sleep that night. He was creepy over the speaker in my car. I turned it off once the kids got in the car after carpool. I thought it would freak them out."

I snorted. Tracy got advanced copies of all my interviews and had given us some great feedback over the years. "It was even creepier in person. Believe me."

"So why did you say I arrived right on time?" She came back from raiding my pantry with a bag of everything chips.

"Because I'm frustrated with that dating app."

"You're still on that?" she asked. "You didn't say anything, so I thought you'd given up on it. Not on finding some hot monster but on the app."

"I didn't. I don't know why I haven't given up on it but something tells me not to give up hope."

Tracy pulled her hair up into a bun and shoved her glasses farther up her nose. "How about you get out there in the meantime. I know you're on a vacation of sorts."

"Of sorts?" I asked, picking at some ganache that must've come straight from chocolate heaven.

"Come on, Poe. You're still working, I bet. Still answering emails, and you've done nothing since you started your break but research some creatures no one has heard of."

Well, that wasn't true. Everyone had heard of gargoyles and demons.

"My life is my work and my work is my life. They can't be separated."

She shrugged one shoulder and leaned on the counter. "I just hate to see you putting so much stock into this app when there's a mate out there for you. A sexy, possessive, growly, werewolf man. No shirt."

"Tracy!" I said. "You have a wife."

"So?" she said. "I know an attractive man when I see one. Wouldn't date them or marry them but sexy is sexy. But doesn't your Goddess say there's someone out there fated for you? Like magic or destiny?"

I sighed. "Yeah. But what if I don't find them until I'm sixty. I want to find my mates now."

"Isn't there a shifter bar or something like that in the city? Let's go there."

Snorting, I shook my head. "No. I'm sticking with the app for now."

Tracy laughed. "Yeah, because it's worked so well thus far."