Chapter Five

Up before the sun, I decided to go down and make us both some breakfast before the day started. Oz and I kept different sleeping schedules, though neither of us required much sleep. As I walked into the kitchen, I got out the makings for a hearty breakfast. Even though we moved slower, we had more weight to pull around than the average person or monster. We had history keepers and researchers among our people who knew the physics and the magics that went along with our makeup and physical aspects—how it all worked—but I hadn’t read those texts in a long time.

Didn’t really care. I just knew we ate a lot and, this morning, I was famished.

I pulled out the extra-large cast-iron skillet and brought out some leftover steak and eggs. With the steak cut into bite-sized pieces sizzling, I sliced some dark rye bread from the loaf we’d purchased from the local wolf shifter baker and topped it with butter before throwing it in the oven to toast. While those things cooked, I made up some cottage cheese bowls topped with berries and nuts. I took the steak out and cooked the eggs in the same skillet before plating everything. From the splashing and spray of Oz’s shower, he would be down soon.

As I made my coffee, I heard a beep. I reached for my phone and swiped the screen. Neither of us had security measures so, until I clicked on it, I didn’t realize it was Oz’s.

My best friend had always been more tech savvy than I was. He had apps for everything. I’d almost put it down when one caught my eye.

Mating app? I hesitated with my finger hovering over the square, wondering if I should pry. Oz and I didn’t keep secrets, usually, and having been close to him for so long, I knew most everything about him. Of course, everyone had their private thoughts and desires, but he wouldn’t mind if I looked at his app. Would he?

I put the phone down and took a long sip of coffee while staring at the device. I didn’t know why my curiosity was so piqued by this one thing on Oz’s phone but, no matter how I argued with myself about checking it, I wanted to know what it was.

Had he…no. Oz would not have signed himself up to find a mate without me. We had known for a long time that we were destined to share a mate.

If it wasn’t a means to finding a mate, why would it be called a mating app? I picked up the phone again and looked at it. The Mail-Order Mating app? Was he ordering a female as though she were a delivery pizza or something?

I could’ve been way off base and probably was. After all, I had to ask him how to send a video on Instagram at least twice a week.

He wouldn’t have done this without telling me.

We had discussed such things, a while ago. There were all kinds of matchmaking services available for shifters. Conferences for finding your mate. Speed dating for shifters. I’d even heard of seers who could tell you the approximate location of your mate. We’d been warned they wouldn’t work for us, so we decided to go about things the old-fashioned way. Even if we’d tried all those avenues, we believed Fate would not have shown her to us.

Fate might not have a mate for us at all. While I tried not to harp on that notion, it hovered in the back of my mind anyway.

I sat down and ate my breakfast, still waiting on Oz and trying to think about anything but that damned app. Had no clue why I was fixated on it, but I was.

I finished breakfast. Cleaned up. Got dressed for work. Came back down to find Oz’s breakfast untouched and the phone still on the table.

Rather ask for forgiveness than permission. I walked over and picked up the phone. I clicked on the app and gasped. It was an app for meeting your mate.

“Koruk?” Oz said, walking into the kitchen. “Everything okay?”

“I-I.” I searched for the words. “Oz, what is this?”