Chapter Six

When I stumbled across an ad for the Male-Order Mates app, I thought it was a joke or some random satirical kind of content. What was this? The 1800s? Who orders up a mate? But then the loneliness started to kick in. It was one thing to be mateless. I'd been that way always. But adding the isolation and lack of friends nearby? It was getting to be too much.

Out of a combination of curiosity and desperation, I looked the app up and saw it was real. Not only was it real, but it had amazing ratings—so amazing, I half wondered if they bought the reviews. But the more I read them, the more I saw real shifters on the other side. People had legit found their fated through their phone with the help of this technology. I figured, why not give it a try? Maybe, eventually, I would meet somebody who might be willing to come here and then I, too, could leave a testimonial for all to see, one that was super sappy and sweet and made everyone cry.

I was a catch on paper, too. I had a place to stay, and, sure, it was the middle of nowhere, but it was shifter paradise. We were able to shift here far more freely than any place I'd ever been or heard of, for that matter. And I didn't need their money to survive. I was doing that on my own. Three wins in my favor.

When I signed up, I set my expectations low. If I got even a pen-pal kind of friend out of it, I was going to call it a victory. Never, in my wildest imagination, had I so much as suspected that filling in the app information would lead me where it had. I had not one but two people connect with me. And, more than that, both of them were people I was potentially interested in.

But, at the end of the day, it was crystal clear who I had to say yes to. While Ripley was great—beyond great, really—Zeus and his daughter needed me. It wasn't just Zeus needing me; it was the reason why he signed up for the app in the first place that made him my first pick. He was a widower raising a daughter on his own. He needed a place for him and his daughter to be, and that was always going to supersede any feelings I had for Ripley.

The feelings I had for either of them weren't real, not yet. How could they be? We'd barely communicated, aside from a few emails and a little bit of talking and, when I thought about it, that was not much of anything before the decision was made.

Was that how all of these male-order mates worked? Was it all connect, move, hope for the best? Not that it mattered what other people did. This was my life, not theirs.

And now? Now they were both coming. My panther was on his way just to kind of hang out for a while, check out the area, possibly do some landscaping. My bunny? He was traveling with his daughter to start a new life with me. My life was about to change in ways I couldn't begin to imagine. I was both excited and freaking out.

I'd wanted the motel to be cleaned up far better than it was. There were certain areas that were habitable and others that still had a long way to go. But it was getting done, little by little, and they say slow and steady wins the the race and all that. When I was small, I used to say, Slow and steady won the train. I wasn't sure where that came from, but it sure was fitting.

I was getting ready for the train, the one that was about to turn everything upside down. They were both coming in today, on the same train—not that there were many that came through town, and even fewer that stopped here at the tiny station. They didn't even start from the same location—it just happened to end up that they boarded along the way.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, indicating it was time to get ready to pick them up. I looked around the room I was currently working on. It was looking worse than when I started, but that was usually a sign that I was doing it right. I'd have loved to stay and finish it and, on any other occasion, I would have. But I was a future mate and needed to go shower and get ready to pick them up.

Hopefully, Zeus wouldn't be upset about Ripley. I turned him down. It wasn't like I was leading them both on, but I didn't know enough about either to know for sure if it was going to be a problem. I wasn't even sure how I knew that Zeus and his daughter needed me, if I really thought about it. It was just something in my gut that said he did, and I learned a long time ago to always trust my gut.

I'd find out how they got along soon enough; we all would. I had a sneaking suspicion that my life was about to change in ways I hadn't even considered. Please let it be for the better. I hated to think that me bringing them here was unfair to them both.

This rural shifter-rich area wasn't for everyone. Some people lived for their daily chain-coffee-shop java and access to live theater and their gym membership. None of that was here. Sure, there was coffee to be had and, if you wanted a show, just go to the town meetings. As far as gym memberships? If a shifter wanted to work out, they'd find a way. But still, objectively, I could see this place wasn't everyone's cuppa tea.

Please let it be Ripley and Zeus and his beautiful daughter's cuppa tea because everything inside me said they belonged here, too.