“Uh, what’s in it?” Kristin asked.
“Bacon, sausages, blood pudding, eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, broiled tomato and brown sauce,” Tamika said proudly. Wow. It sounded disgusting, as well as seriously calorific, but Kristin didn’t want to offend this kind, eccentric woman.
“Sounds great,” she said.
The Bloody Mary was delicious, and at the first sip, Kristin did – to her amazement – feel quite a lot better.
“You’re very beautiful, dear,” Tamika said, looking at Kristin with pleasure. “I was so glad when Lauren brought Dina to me. And now you’re here too! Our shifters are very lucky indeed. Now, how can I help you? You were saying that you had a problem with your requirements?” Kristin nodded and took a deep breath.
“I love the thought of being with a shifter,” she said. “I mean, at first, I thought it was pretty out there, but now I know that my best friends are with bears, I think it’s really cool. But the problem is that they all want kids. Including the guy who’s supposed to be my 100% match.” Tamika nodded encouragingly. “And the problem is that I have PCOS, so the chance that I can give them what they want is pretty small.”
Just then, the food arrived. It actually smelled amazing, and Kristin’s tummy rumbled. She’d probably have to double the miles on her walk this afternoon to make up for it, but right now, she didn’t care. They started eating ravenously.
“But, darling, a lot of us curvy girls have PCOS, you know? It’s very common. I have it myself, and I’ve got a couple of pups of my own. Of course, I’d spent my twenties freaking out that I wouldn’t be able to have kids as well, but in the end, I had no trouble conceiving. In fact, I don’t mind telling you that Kyle got me pregnant the first time we ever mated!” Tamika finished in a whisper.
“Really?” Kristin said, eyes brightening. “I mean, I know it’s not impossible, so I could be worrying about nothing. But, I just hate the idea of a guy being tied to me, and then me being unable to have children.”
“There’s always adoption, or fostering. Both from the shifter world, and the human world. But I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you to get pregnant. Shifters are very sexual, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try,” Tamika said, with a mischievous grin.
“Dixon’s adopted,” Tamika said in a low voice. “His father – a fox shifter – was shot by hunters when he was a baby. His mother was human, and couldn’t cope with taking care of a shifter baby by herself, so she gave him up for adoption to a lovely human-shifter couple, who already had two cubs of their own, and just fell in love with him when they heard about his situation. I’ve known him for years. He’s working as my assistant this summer before he goes off to college.” Kristin smiled faintly. She was open to the idea of adopting, but she also wanted to have her own child, growing inside her. In the last couple of years, the need had become almost unbearable.
“So how’s it going with the sexy tiger?” Tamika asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“Oh. It’s not,” Kristin said, staring into the dregs of her Bloody Mary. “He looks so amazing, but he definitely wants kids. It’s such a torture for me. I couldn’t stand the thought of falling for him, and then finding out that I can’t be a mother to his children. I actually right-swiped him, so I don’t have to see him anymore. But, would you believe that he lives on my street?” Tamika laughed.
“Yes, darling, I would. We created the proximity locator, remember?”
“Uh, good point,” Kristin said, rolling her eyes at her own naivety.
“You might just have a hard time avoiding him if he’s your neighbor.”
“Oh, it’s worse than that. I was messing around with the locator, and I got close enough to him that he scented me.” Tamika’s eyes got very big.
“And has he messaged you since?”
“Yup. He said something about not being able to leave me alone now that he knows my scent.” Tamika’s pretty face lit up with delight at Kristin’s words. “What? What is it?” Kristin said.
“Oh, nothing,” Tamika replied, her expression turning mischievous again. “These shifters are very tenacious, you know? Once they scent their mate, it’s hard to stop them in their tracks.”
“I am not his mate,” Kristin said, anger beginning to rise up inside her. “He’s got no right to think I’ve got any association with him at all!”
“If that’s the case, and you’re absolutely sure, you might have to meet up with him and tell him straight. Otherwise, who knows how long he might pursue you?”
“You’re right!” Kristin said forcefully. “I’ll meet up with him – go to a café, or some other neutral place, and tell him straight up: he’s not the guy for me.”
“Ok,” Tamika said, nodding.
“I’m sorry,” Kristin said, suddenly realizing that she’d ruined Tamika’s celebrations. “I didn’t mean to put a damper on things. I know you were all excited about the 100% match.”
“It’s fine,” Tamika said lightly. “There’ll be another fully compatible pair out there someday, for sure.”
“I mean, I’m not saying the app didn’t do a good job of identifying us as compatible. I just didn’t mention my issues with having kids on my profile, so that wasn’t included in the mix,” Kristin said, desperate not to offend her.
“It’s ok, dear, really.” Tamika squeezed her hand. “All I care about is that my girls and shifters end up happy and with their destined mate.”
After they’d finished eating and drunk a strong coffee each, Kristin excused herself, sensing that Tamika had things to do. She also needed to go home and finish up an article for tomorrow’s paper. As they said goodbye, Tamika hugged her fiercely.
“Be happy. I’m not worried about you, Kristin,” she said. Kristin stared at her curiously. There was more in her eyes than she was saying. As she turned to go, Tamika called her back. “Can you please watch out for Melissa though? I don’t think she and Timo are compatible, and the faster she realizes that, the faster we can hook her up with the right shifter.”
“Sure thing,” Kristin replied, with a wave.
4
Kristin’s head was full of thoughts as she drove back home. Tamika was one of the most intriguing women she’d ever met. She sensed that a big brain was working away behind her cool, mannered English façade. If the Shiftr app hadn’t been a secret, she’d definitely have asked to interview her for the paper. But why had Tamika looked so happy that the tiger had already scented her, and then been so accepting of the fact that she was going to tell him she wasn’t interested? It was all so confusing. How was she going to contact the tiger anyway, since she’d deleted him from the app? She knew which building he lived in, but not the number of the apartment. He’ll probably track me down anyway, she realized. And then I’ll tell him how it is. She drove on a big loop again, to avoid the tiger’s place.
When Kristin got indoors, she took the app out, and spent a pleasant half hour staring at the eye candy of the many guys who wanted to find out if they were her match. The trouble was, they nearly all said that they wanted a family some day. She looked through her personal settings, but there was no way of searching by guys who said they weren’t interested in having a family, or who left the family section blank. The wolf had messaged her, but she intentionally left his message until last. When she finally clicked on it, her heartbeat sped up a little. It said:
Hey, sexy. When I checked out your profile and saw your smoking-hot body, I thought to myself, here’s a chick I wouldn’t mind seeing some more of. And my wolf agrees, lol. I think you and I could have a lot of fun together!
Kristin puffed her cheeks out. This wasn’t exactly what she’d been expecting. Flirting, sure, but this was on the verge of being sleazy. Still, he’d given her a compliment on her body. Guys usually didn’t say much about her body. And when she told them what she hated about it, they didn’t usually say much to reassure her either. Independently of her brain, her thumb typed out a reply:
Is that so
? ;)
He replied immediately:
Yes it is, sexy mama. Damn, you’ve got some curves I wouldn’t mind getting my teeth into ;)
She squirmed a little. This wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to be romanced, treated like a princess. She wanted someone who wanted to spend time getting to know her. She wanted what Lauren and Dina had. Again, her thumb took over, tapping on the phone’s glass display.
You might find out that I’m more than you can handle,
she wrote, and bit down on her lip. Who is this person being so coarse and snarky? I don’t even recognize myself. But it was her – it was the familiar persona that she slipped into with guys to prevent herself from being hurt. They thought she was so tough and smart-mouthed, never realizing that she was actually extremely vulnerable. Another message popped up:
“I’m willing to take that chance. How about we go on a date together and find out if you’re right?”
She barely hesitated before replying:
“Ok”
“Tuesday. 8.30, Silver Dime Saloon? You know it?”
She did know it. It was a dirty biker bar on the outskirts of town; not her thing at all.
“Yeah, I do.”
“See you later, sexy.”
And he was gone. The little dot on his profile showing whether he was online went from green to red. Kristin propped her chin up on her elbow. She had a date! On Tuesday! But why did she feel so deflated? Because you can tell he’ll be bad for you, and he’s obviously looking for a booty call, a little voice in her head told her. It was actually Lauren’s voice. When it came to things to do with men, her conscience always spoke in Lauren’s smarty, peppy tone, as if she had a miniature version of her hanging out in her brain. She let out a long sigh. Whatever. A date is a date. The wolf guy finds me attractive, and that has to be good for my self-esteem.
A couple of hours later, and Kristin had finished the article she needed to write. When she worked, she was like a machine, never letting herself get distracted by anything, and in the years of bad relationships she’d had, this was something to be extremely grateful for.
As usual, she felt ambivalent about going for a power walk. Her body felt sluggish and achy, but she knew it would help clear her head. She went into her bedroom to get changed into her exercise gear. Her sports bra was like body armor, made out of an inflexible type of mesh, but it did the job, keeping her large breasts in place as she worked out. Although, the side effect of them being lifted and crushed against her chest was that she ended up with some crazy cleavage, which was a little embarrassing. She sorted through her workout tops. It was still hot outside, even though it was late afternoon, and the only sleeveless one that was clean had a low v-neck that would put her crazy cleavage out on display. Oh well, she wasn’t planning on going out on the streets today, in case the tiger was around, so few people were likely to see her. She teamed it with some loose navy shorts that finished just above her knee, and some high-tech sneakers. She put her phone in an armband and left her apartment.
It was nice to be going to the national park, she thought, during the drive there. Most of the time she wanted to maximize her exercise time, so she walked out right from her apartment. But she actually didn’t like pounding the sidewalk, people’s eyes on her all the time. She looked forward to being in the dark and cool of the forest.
Kristin parked the car in an official national forest parking lot and headed off into the woods. It was as lovely as she’d expected. The pine needles were soft underfoot, and there was a cooling breeze, the air fragrant with all the smells of nature. Dappled light filtered through the trees, onto the forest floor. She’d set herself a target of six miles. It was a long way, considering how hungover she’d been this morning, but she sometimes used exercise as a way of punishing herself for the things she’d eaten, or her body for not looking the way she wanted it to.
She walked aimlessly, trusting her phone’s workout app to keep her updated on her progress. She wondered how far away she was from the guys’ cabins. It was a big park, and the entrance she’d just used had been nowhere near the road where she’d parked yesterday. The forest felt different here too –mainly pines, rather than the deciduous trees that surrounded the cabins.
“You have walked two miles,” a sparky female voice announced from her phone. Wow! That had been pretty easy. She reached a junction with three paths leading off it, and she chose to go right, down the path that seemed to lead right into dense foliage. She loved the adventure of being in nature, never knowing what the next turning would bring.
This particular turning brought thick, bright green forest, pressing into the path on both sides. Kristin plunged on and on. Her favorite workout playlist was being piped through her earbuds, and the novelty of the setting was distracting her from the effort of her workout. All she was aware of was the lushness of the forest and the rhythm of her feet on the dirt.
Suddenly, something orange dashed across the path in front of her.
“What the fuck?” she exclaimed, stopping dead. Adrenaline was shooting through her limbs, and making her feel like her heart was about to explode. She’d definitely seen something, but it had disappeared into the undergrowth. She ripped her earbuds out of her ears and listened. All she could hear was the pounding of blood in her ears. She jogged forward to the spot where it had been, and peered into the bushes. There was nothing. Had it been a cat? A dog? A fox? She’d probably seen it for one-tenth of a second, hardly enough time to register it as anything. Hey, but what’s that? There was a wisp of orange fluff caught on a thorn bush. Cautiously, she picked it out and held it in her hand, rubbing it between her fingers. It was surprisingly soft. Unconsciously, she lifted it to her nose and sniffed. It had a rich, spicy smell – animal, but with something else underlying it. There was a crack of branches overhead, and a twig fell from the sky. Kristin’s head snapped up, and she gasped at what she saw. There was a huge, orange and black tiger up in a tree. It was crouched, rather precariously, on a branch that didn’t seem thick enough to bear its weight, and it regarded her with glowing green eyes. For a split second, she was transfixed by its beauty and majesty. And then she ran.
Kristin span around and went back the way she’d come, running at full pelt. Vines tangled around her ankles and she tripped repeatedly on tree roots, but she didn’t notice. The only thought screaming across her brain was, there’s a tiger right behind me, and I’ve got to get as far away from it as I can.
She ran and ran for what seemed like miles. Her boobs were bouncing painfully and her lungs were burning, screaming for her to stop, but adrenaline drove her on. She was dimly aware of the annoyingly cheerful voice from her phone announcing “you have run 4.5 miles.” Where the hell was she? She slowed her pace fractionally, ripped off her armband and tapped her workout app. Shit. Apparently she was now 2.5 miles from her car. That seemed like a very long way. But there’s a tiger on your tail! She’d just take it slower. She plunged on, panting hard.
Then, above the loud rasping of her breath was the sound of someone shouting. She could only hear it faintly, but it seemed to be a man’s voice. She stopped to listen, but the effort of her exertion caught up with her, and she bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath, drawing huge lungfuls of oxygen into her body. She felt dizzy, and nausea welled up in her stomach. When she was capable of standing up straight again, she looked around her wildly. She was in a small clearing, and there was no sign of the tiger. What was that guy saying?
“Hey! Shiftr app lady! It’s ok!” came a voice, much louder this time, and from the track behind her. What the fuck? She whipped around, in time to see a tall, well-built man running towards her. In another second he was right in front of her. Oh my god, it’s the tiger. Of course it is! Up close, he was absolutely gorgeous. His eyes were intensely green, and his face was so handsome, with lovely bone structure, and the most kissable lips she’d ever seen. His navy blue t-shirt clung to the torso that she already felt she knew so well.
/> “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, grinning a little sheepishly.
“Scare me? You almost gave me a heart attack!” she yelled. The effort of speaking made her pant again, and she paused, hand on her chest, trying to get her breathing under control. She was so exhausted and annoyed that she didn’t even care that this stunning man was seeing her all hot and sweaty. He waited, giving her time.
“So that was you up that tree?” she said at last.
“Yes,” he said, bowing his head.
“How the hell were you there? Were you stalking me?” she demanded. She could hear the aggression in her voice, but right now, she didn’t care. She was so mad at him.
“No, of course not. I was just out in the forest, running, hunting, you know. And, to my surprise, I picked up your scent. I could tell that you were working out, so, of course I wanted to take a look at you. But you were going fast, and you were suddenly closer than I’d expected, so I leapt into a tree to avoid being seen by you. I just never expected you to look up. People never do.”
“It’s my job to be observant,” she said drily. “I’m a journalist.”
“That’s really cool,” he said, looking fascinated.
“Your pants are undone,” she said, dropping her gaze.
“Oops, sorry.” He pulled the zipper up, not at all embarrassed. “I just got dressed in a hurry,” he said with a shrug. She saw a flash of dark hair before his pants were fully closed. Is he going commando? Fuck, that’s hot! He took a step towards her.
“We haven’t been introduced properly. I’m Roman.” He held his hand out. Reflexively, she did the same. His hand was strong and large, and she felt something, like a buzz of static, as they connected.
“Kristin,” she replied. He stood and looked at her seriously.
“Kristin, I need to understand why you don’t think we’re compatible. The app identified us as being a 100% match. We’re fated mates. That’s a rare and amazing thing. Some shifters spend their whole lives looking for their fated mate. Some die lonely because they never find them. For a shifter, it’s the jewel in the crown of life.” Kristin stared at him, feeling so, so torn.
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