Chapter Three

We gargoyles didn’t sleep as much as other shifters, half as much as humans. After midnight, I emerged from a hot bath, relaxed but nowhere near ready to sleep. Grabbing my book and my phone, I walked out onto the stone veranda that connected to my bedroom. We had all kinds of lookouts around the house. Our gargoyle nature demanded we perch in places outside our abode and watch over the land and city around us, scanning the place for anything amiss.

Watchers, that was what they used to call us. Back then, they assumed us unintelligent and a waste of space because we moved a bit slower. Took our time with things. Observed before acting. Thought before speaking.

I sat on my chair and looked out over the city. The place where we lived was at a greater altitude than the rest of the area and far away from other homes. In the village, where the Pub was located, most people had gone home, but a few were still visible making their way to their vehicles or houses, none lingering since the weather had turned.

The rain felt good pelting against my skin.

I stepped back under the awning only to save the paper pages of my new hardback. I preferred physical books, although I had an app full of digital versions to read at tip of my fingers. I held up my phone, clicking the button on the side, hoping for what I would not likely ever see.

My craving for a mate had never waned. Not once had I stopped seeking a female who would not only accept me for who I was but also Koruk. We knew, almost at first sight, that for the rest of our lives, we would be inseparable and if we ever found one, would share one female. Love her and care for her—have her carry our young. Koruk was the only family I’d ever known. He was my chosen family since my birth mother had abandoned me on the steps of a church.

If we found a female, she would be ours. Not mine. Not his. Ours. But our odds were not good.

I’d witnessed Koruk’s growing sadness over the years. He and I both longed for a mate, but while I thought my best friend might have given up hope, I hadn’t. I would keep it, for the both of us. Koruk and I both deserved to be happy.

But dating as two monsters turned out to be an even harder task than we imagined. Few human females would go for men who turned to stone. Everyone loved the glamorous shifters like wolves or big cats, but monsters? Not so much. Especially when we could not produce young with anyone but a human.

I’d downloaded the Mail-Order Matings app almost a year ago on a whim, registering under nonspecific monsters since we didn’t fit into the typical shifters category and the other choices weren’t anything close to us. I received an email from the service shortly after with their apologies. They’d created a category for gargoyles and even asked if there were any more paranormal entities I knew of who were underrepresented.

The category didn’t help matters. Registering for a mating app would be a long shot. A human female wanting to be the mate to not only one but two gargoyles was almost beyond imagining, but having that female sign up for the same mating app as us? A shot in the dark at best.

Still, I checked. Sometimes several times a day. Today had been busy, so tonight was my first opportunity to see if I had any notifications.

I nearly dropped my book onto the wet floor at seeing the notification box pop up.

We had a match.

I got up and went inside, tossing my book onto the bed before grabbing a towel to dab the droplets of rain from my skin.

We had a match.

With shaking fingers, I clicked onto the notification and took a long breath. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high. It could be a ruse. Someone making a joke about us. I had prepped myself for the usual onslaught of messages asking questions about our kind. If we were always hard as a rock. If our cocks were stone cold.

I had heard them all.

Sitting down on the bed, I watched as the swirls on the screen cleared up and showed me a picture of a woman. Long brown hair. Slim and yet curvy. Deep-brown inviting eyes.

Her name was Malinda.

And she was matched to us. In fact, looking at her profile, it seemed that her only interest, as far as mating, was for a pair of gargoyles. She worked as a graphic artist. And a fine artist too.

The problem with finally finding a match? Someone who actually wanted to mate or potentially be mated to a gargoyle or two?

I hadn’t told Koruk what I had been doing. I signed us both up but never told him. I used one profile with both of us on it and considered mentioning it but decided to wait and see if a miracle occurred. Hadn’t been a problem until now.

A sinking in my belly made me think that this match might be fake or some kind of prank on us. The last thing I wanted to do was to get Koruk’s hopes up only to have them extinguished because I wasn’t careful enough.

So, I clicked on the little envelope and tested the connection.

Hello.

Pathetic message, but it was the only thing I could send without risking coming off creepy or overly interested before I knew if this was real or not.

Now, I would wait. Not say a word to my friend yet. Not a hard task since I’d kept this secret for so long, but now, now I had something to smile about.