Dean

by Erin Havoc

  Table of Contents

  Opening

  Blurb

  Chapter 01

  Chapter 02

  Chapter 03

  Chapter 04

  Chapter 05

  Chapter 06

  Chapter 07

  Chapter 08

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Free book!

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  Backmatter

  Copyright

  DEAN

  SHIFTER DATING APP SERIES

  * * *

  ERIN HAVOC

  A Curvy Woman Shifter Romance

  NATALIE

  The Shifter Dating App? Yes, I’ve heard about it.

  I’m its creator.

  Oh, of course I have a profile there.

  But I’ve met my mate. And he’s so not what I expected.

  DEAN

  A shifter’s life is not easy.

  There’s hurt and betrayal. I can’t trust. And I can’t stay.

  So when I meet my mate, I’m not surprised she backs off.

  But I’m a patient wolf. And I’ll make her mine.

  1

  NATALIE

  Smiling into my computer camera, I fluffy my curly hair. It’s especially unruly today. Of course it is — I have an important interview with a local newspaper. Sometimes it feels like hair knows which days are the most important to you. These are the days it decides to be of no help.

  But my dark curls rise from my scalp in an almost mane, and I grin. Let them think I am one of them — of the famed, ruthless shifters. Let them wonder if I carry those genes. If my children will be humans or cubs. I care not. What I want is more sets of eyes upon me and my baby — the Shifter Dating App.

  Ever since the first days after the Reveal, this idea troubled my mind. Shifters, they said, had to come out to the public because they were being threatened by the absence of mates.

  And what better way to find mates than through an app?

  Lucky shifters — I had the idea, and I had the skills. The code was written in a haze of too much Red Bull and pep-talking myself. Six months, and it was ready. Ready for the rest of the process, that is. I needed betas, and I needed, of course, shifters. It wasn’t easy to find those at the beginning.

  I can’t believe they had taken so long to come out. Yes, survival and keeping safe, but wasn’t that kind of coward too? They had as much right to fight for their lives as we do. And we are not entirely discrete species — it’s stupid to have any problems with the existence of shifters. They could have been out and about for ages.

  But whatever. Not my responsibility. My one duty this week is marketing my pretty app now that it’s been launched. Several reviews ready, bugs fixed, and I have already gotten wind of a couple of marriages between couples of met through the app. It’s going to be a success. Haters gonna hate, and I’ll deal with them too. My video conference software rings and I accept the call, a smile ready across my face.

  “Miss Natalie King?” A pale, scrawny man with raring blond hair screws up his eyes at me through the laptop screen.

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I am Martin Norfax, from the Daily News Newspaper.”

  “Yes, I am aware. You’ve written it in every conversation we shared.” I chuckle, but he looks away as if insulted. “How do you do?”

  “Well enough,” he answers in a stiff voice, shifting in his chair. “We have some questions concerning your...” He squinted at something next to the computer. “Your dating app. What’s the name of it again?”

  I blink, still holding the smile. One would expect that he would have looked that bit of information up beforehand. “Shifter Dating App. Or SDA. Quite simple. Easy to remember.” I clench my jaw, knowing I’m getting impatient, but damn, couldn’t he have just looked it up? Isn’t there a memo or something?

  “Ah... All right, it must have slipped my mind. You see, so many dating apps nowadays.” He clears his throat, picking a pen and notepad. “So what makes you think your app is any different from the others? There must be a thousand out there, if not more.”

  I shift on my chair, crossing my legs. And to think I had been eager about this interview. He has no idea about the app. “It’s different because it’s the first one in the market of its type.”

  He raises a brow as if he expects me to go on. “Its type?” He releases a breathy laugh. “Surely there mustn’t be much you can change in a dating app.”

  I roll my eyes. The action’s done before I can help it. “It’s a shifter dating app, Mr Norfax. It’s the first where shifters can reveal themselves and be who they truly are.”

  The man gasps. Truly gasps. “Shifters? Are you telling me, Miss King, you’re advertising for young women an app so they can date these... monsters?”

  The word sets a flurry of adrenaline and rage running through my veins, and I feel my cheeks blossoming with color. “They are not monsters, Mr Norfax. If you were not aware of the nature of the app, you should have studied it beforehand instead of asking me such prejudiced questions.”

  He clenches his jaw, gawking at me as if I’ve just sprouted an extra head. “Excuse me. How am I supposed to know there are people out there wanting do date beasts?”

  Bile rises in my throat and I lean closer to the screen. “They are not beasts, neither monsters nor whatever dehumanizing adjective you want to use, Mr Norfax.”

  He runs his eyes over his notepad. “And it’s written here you take DNA samples from these girls and use that to find their matches? What nonsense is that? Is this even doable?”

  “It’s a technology still in development for medical areas if that’s what you want to know. Everything I do in my app is science-based and legally correct. Do you have any pertinent questions, Mr Norfax? Because truly, I am disappointed at how poor your knowledge is, and how prejudiced your words have been up until now,” I take a deep breath as a vein pulses in my temple, “who have done nothing other than being brave! We haven’t even accepted full humans yet, and they had put themselves out there! Shifters are bold and loving people, and they deserve to find love, like every other person on earth.”

  He glares at me, his forehead creasing. “Miss King. You’re not married yet. How can you be so sure there’s love out there for you if you’re such an arrogant, loud-mouth, fat woman who mistreats good man like me?”

  My voice comes out between a gasp and a snarl, “What!” I slam the laptop shut, my heart thundering in my chest as I cross my arms over the computer and drop my head to it. Another grunt leaves me, and I suddenly want to scream.

  A hand runs circles on my back. “There, there. The horrible man is gone and he can’t hurt you anymore.”

  I shoot my head up to meet Karen’s eyes. Even being my assistant, she smiles as if we’re the best of friends, her sweet blue eyes twinkling with candid emotion. She’s so lovable and so easy to live with. Patient. Sweet.

  Unlike me.

  “This motherfucker, Karen! Can you believe this little shit? ‘How can you expect to find love’! I’m gonna find this fucker and stick his notepad up his hairy — “

  “There, there,” she repeats herself, her voice soothing. “Put it all out. Let’s think of more ways to insult him.”

  “Pigheaded! The bastard didn’t even read the blurb of the app! Worse, he didn’t read the fucking name! What in the fucking bloody hell did he think he was doing?”

  Karen chuckles. “I think you’re exhausting your list of insults.”

  “Dick sucker! I hope his micro penis falls off his body and he—”

  “There, there,” she repeats, and I recognize I’m being stupid. Releasing a deep breath, I flop back on my chair and cock my head to look up at her.

  “How can you be so patient, Karen? I almost had a stroke.” I press two fing
ers to my right temple. “Really, I kind of felt a vein explode in here. What a dipshit.”

  “It happens, and it will happen again. You’ve known from the very beginning the app would find its critics.”

  “Yeah, but because everything has critics. I mean, some people won’t like blue, or green. I hate spinach. That’s an opinion, and it’s fine to have one of those.” Curling my nose, I push back the chair so I can get to my feet. “But some of these ‘opinions’ are just veiled hate-speech. I want them to tell me the app is bad because it lags, or because the colors are tacky. Not because they hate shifters. Not because they think a part of humanity doesn’t deserve love.”

  Karen drops an arm around my shoulders. “But if you stress like that every time you defend them, you are going to have a heart attack, and then who’s going to reap the results?”

  I pout, letting Karen guide me into the kitchen. The studio I rent to use as an office has a small area we use for coffee and snacks. There’s no oven but the coffee machine is the best of its kind. Karen squealed when I entered the office carrying it.

  She turns it on and picks two mugs from the drawer. Under her breath, she hums something off the top of her head as I press a shoulder to the doorframe. Karen’s a sweetheart. I watch her preparing two cappuccinos for us, even if I didn’t ask for it. She’s always been a soothing presence around me.

  “Karen,” I call, pressing a hand to my waist. “Why aren’t you married yet?”

  She laughs. “Well, for the same reason you are single.”

  I shake my head. “I’m a difficult person, I’ll give you that. But you? You’re sweet and kind, and you listen when I want to talk. You’re pretty and soft-spoken. Why in the world isn’t there a line of men wanting you?”

  She winks, reaching me a mug. “We, curvy girls, are not judged by personality, Nat. We’re fat, and that’s that. Few people look beyond the thick exterior.”

  “But these are the bad ones. We don’t want them.”

  “Yeah, but the good ones haven’t shown up yet.”

  I wait for her to pass me on the door and follow her back into my desk. “The shifters I talked with said they’re keen on finding curvy girls. It’s a perfect match. Tell me you signed up for the app. I never saw you using it.”

  She twists the corner of her lip. “I have, but I don’t look into it often. If I’m going to give one of those guys a chance, I want it to be the one-hundred percent. And I know the app will let me know when it happens.”

  I burst in laughter, the cappuccino threatening to spill onto my fingers. “You know because you’re the one who suggested that! Smartypants!”

  She shrugs. “I’m waiting for him. That’s it.” She leans forward, propping her elbows on the desk and sipping from her coffee. “What about you? I know you’re feisty and love a string of insults, but I don’t see you dating. And I’m pretty sure there are plenty of guys in that app wanting a piece of you.”

  “‘Plenty’ is too strong a word.” I shimmy my shoulders, grinning. Once we had a small meeting with some shifter representatives — clan leaders who had already come out. They gave me insights into their culture and ideas on how to make it attractive for other shifters to join.

  “It’s not. Those men from the meeting were all slobbering all over you.”

  I tap her knee. “All over us. They seemed shocked there could be over one curvy woman in the world. Remember that chunky one, the military? He looked like he wanted to eat you up.”

  She shivers, smiling. “He did. But not in the sexy sense.” A blush creeps up her cheeks and I drop the subject not to bother her.

  Because both Karen and I are waiting for the same thing. The one. A true mate. The man that will sweep us off our feet. At first, I went out with a couple of the over-eighty-percent matches, but I just don’t have the time. The app takes so much time, to fix, to market, and now, to safeguard.

  I can’t believe I have to defend shifters. As if they didn’t deserve this as much as the next person. But I don’t let anyone pick on me, and I won’t let anyone pick on them too. I don’t care they’ll say I’m too feisty for a man to love. Because I know my mate is out there and he’s going to love me the way I am.

  Dirty mouth or not. Thick thighs or not.

  And I can’t wait to find him.

  2

  DEAN

  The sun blazes down on my face, and I squint to keep my eyes protected. Even with the heat, I button down my sleeves around my wrists and stride down the sidewalk.

  When I arrived in this city, finding a job was more difficult than expected. Many places asked for proof I wasn’t a shifter. Can you believe this? They wanted me to prove I’m not a wolf so I could carry boxes from one side to the other. As if that made a difference.

  But ever since the Reveal, it’s been getting worse and worse. It’s ridiculous.

  The crowd parts easily as I take the twenty-minute walk to work. I’ve been working for a transport company lately, loading and unloading boxes. They know shifters are stronger than humans, so they didn’t mind asking if I have an animal pacing inside of me.

  Good. Because I do.

  And ever since I entered the limits of this town, my wolf’s been pacing. Relentlessly. He is probably the calmest wolf out there, used to loneliness and hard days. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this off.

  And that sets my teeth on edge.

  This sense of unease has settled into my bones. As if something is about to happen. Good? Bad? I can’t guess. But with this whole Reveal thing, I can’t count on luck. I’ve never had it in my life.

  My boss’s already waiting for me in his truck, propped up on the driver’s side with a clipboard in hand. “Hey, Dean. Just in time.”

  “Were you about to leave? Hope you didn’t have to wait,” I say, crossing the truck to jump up to the passenger seat.

  My boss, Neil, shakes his head and slams the door shut. He winces when he does that, like every other time. “Damn, these vehicles are light as fuck.”

  I chuckle under my breath, picking the clipboard as he offers it to me. We have a full day ahead, mainly taking books to bookstores around town. The job is not the best thing in the world, and it’s not what I’ve always dreamed of, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not staying long.

  This town is excellent. One of the nicest ones I’ve been in a while. I watch it pass the truck window as Neil leans and turns the radio on. The streets are clean, the air is fresh, and there’s a forest on the borders. I don’t have to drive far to get into it. My wolf is happy to be set free more than once a fortnight. Depending on the town, I had to hold him in for a month.

  “I just can’t understand why everyone has their panties in such a twist with this shifter thing,” Neil says, and I snap my head to meet his gaze.

  “Well, I guess they’re afraid,” I tell him, honestly. Humans are already able to do some evil shit. Being able to turn into fearless animals? It would make it easy for them to do nasty things. I pull on the sleeves of my shirt. We, wolf shifters, are not much better than our natural cousins. I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff when I was part of a pack.

  “But shifters have lived among humans forever. And it’s never been revealed. I say it hasn’t come out until now because shifters are good people.”

  “Or maybe it hasn’t come out because they wanted to stay hidden.” And I know that for a fact. Several times, shifters fought and killed, but in the woods. The packs kept it a secret so their entire survival wasn’t at stake.

  Neil shoots me an odd glance as if I had said something disgusting. “They’re half-animals but they’re half-humans too. If someone messes up and commits a crime, they’ll be punished like the next human. It doesn’t change a thing. And I don’t see a reason for anyone to fear a shifter as much as you fear a pit bull or one of those army dogs.”

  “The dogs are trained. Shifters, being human, have human emotions.” I shrug, crossing my arms over my chest. My shirt complains, threatening to rip, and I relax
my arms again. “The problem is not the animal, but the human with the animal potential.”

  “So what you’re saying is that shifters are a danger because they are strong and have sharp teeth, and can get angry?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Then what’s the difference between that and a human with a gun?”

  His argument shuts me up. I slide a glance at him but his eyes are on the road. He drives another fifteen minutes and parks. “Here we are. First stop.”

  We exit and unload the boxes. For the first time, I notice Neil has the same ease to carry them around as I do. They’re huge cartons, filled with heavy books. The kind of thing that would require more than one man to handle. But Neil and I do it easily and quickly, greeting the security guard as we leave the place.

  “Next one,” Neil grunts as he slams the door again. “I think it’s some two blocks away, right?” He points a forefinger to the form I study in the clipboard. “I organized it from closer to farthest, then I can drop you home on our way back. What do you think?”

  “Sounds great.” I laugh as I read his notes. “There’s a twenty-minute stop for lunch. And a five-minute one for a bathroom break.”

  “Of course there is.” He cocks a brow as if I’m crazy to ask. “One has to think the day over carefully to get the most of it.”

  “Well, I’m not complaining. If it works, it works.” I shift on the seat, leafing through the other addresses. “Besides, you’re the boss, sir.”

  He waves a hand in dismissal. “Drop that shit. Call me Neil. And don’t call me sir. I’m not that much older than you.”

  He isn’t. We are perhaps the same age. But that’s where similarities end. I am taller. My hair falls in dark waves over my brows and ears, while Neil is blond and has long hair. He looks like one of those Avengers actors. The one with a hammer. I never watched the movies, so I can’t guess the name.

  Movies are not something I do. Entertainment has been overlooked my entire life if I’m being honest. But I read. That’s the one thing I can do, tucked somewhere safe. There’s no point for me to even go to the movies, anyway. Alone? With no mate for me to drop an arm around? Please.