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Fuck. These were the times when I wanted to give up. Few humans wanted a shifter and all the possessiveness and mating that came along with us, but even fewer wanted a bigfoot shifter. Orion and I and probably most bigfoot shifters had seen the documentaries and, even worse, the movies. We were portrayed as more caveman than human. We were hairy and aggressive. We sought out to scare humans with our grunts and calls. They had discovered some of our nests and places we roamed—even some of our footprints, but though all signs pointed to the fact that we were more human than animal, the stories never stopped. We stank. There were places where we were even called a Skunkape because of the foul smells that we put off. We were even compared to Yetis. There were as many bigfoot shifter species as there were wolves or bears, but we were all lumped together under one banner of being.
So, what human would purposefully seek out a Bigfoot for a mate, much less two?
I realized I hadn’t checked my phone all day. We had been so busy I’d forgotten. At the same time, I wanted to be careful not to get my hopes up too much.
All of this effort might’ve been completely in vain.
Once we were done, I took it upon myself to get on the trail for the rest of the afternoon. Orion came with me, but we said nothing for a long while until we reached the peak.
From this point, I could see our tiny cabin. Humans wouldn’t be able to pinpoint it without binoculars, but I was able to easily.
“What’s for dinner tonight?” Orion asked. I knew what he was doing—trying to get my mind off of what I lacked and back onto what we had and were grateful for.
“Enchiladas,” I responded quickly. Hell, I knew what I was going to make with the leftover beef when I put the raw meat into the Crock-Pot the night before.
“Let’s get home, then. Have a good dinner. Cure-all if there ever was one.”
I laughed at my best friend. He sounded more like his mom every day.
Chapter Six
Orion
The longing in my best friend’s eyes mirrored what was in my heart. It wasn’t the sex or the lust we were jealous of; it was the connection to another. We stopped ourselves from getting close to anyone because eventually they would want to know what kind of shifter we were, and that wasn’t something we divulged to just anyone.
Koa’s parents had paid the ultimate price for revealing themselves to humans they thought were their friends.
“I can’t take it anymore,” Koa said, grunting. He whipped out his phone and then made a pretend gesture of putting the window down and chucking the thing out into the forest.
I snorted. “I’m guessing that we don’t have any messages from females? Otherwise, I’m not sure the way you tried to handle it is the the best.”
He laughed and shook his head. We needed to maintain our cool if we were going to get through this. Otherwise, we would be brutish, angry beasts once we found our mate and would probably scare her away in seconds. Wouldn’t that be a bitch. “Probably not. I have made myself not check all damned day, hoping my patience would pay off. It didn’t.”
“You’re not giving up yet, are you?” I asked, turning onto our long drive. My animal or other being calmed the moment we were close to home. Bigfoots were family-oriented people. We stayed together, much like a wolf pack. My parents lived about ten minutes away, but if you spoke to them, they would act like we lived across the damned country.
“No.” But he stared out the window, deep in thought. “I’m not giving up, but the chance is so slim. I looked on the app, Orion. I don’t see any Bigfoots on there. You’d think with our dwindling population that there would be more of us on there, looking for a potential mate, but there’s nothing.”
“Maybe they haven’t heard of it yet. But I added some extra things to our profile hoping to bump up our chances. Cryptid and unique shifter species being a few. I know there’s a beautiful female out there, looking for a couple of hairy giants to share.”
That made him laugh. That night, we ate enchiladas together and watched a movie that we had been waiting for.
“Wanna go for a run?” he asked out of the blue. We had to time our outings when there was no chance of any hunting season in effect and no humans traipsing around. Winter was the best time. Humans tended to stay indoors when the snow blanketed the ground.
We went outside and shed our clothing. Our shift was so different from other beings who phased from animal to human. There was no popping of tendons or cracking of bones for us. Somehow, we became taller and our strength and stamina was at least triple our human selves. Meat was preferred, but my animal had eaten more apples growing on trees than I ever had. Berries were a favorite even though in my human form, I hated raspberries with a passion.
We ran out into the woods on two feet. No paws or hooves like other shifters. Our senses were heightened, but we retained those as humans.
We played in the snow like two small, well, huge boys and exerted a ton of the extra energy we carried around despite our very physical jobs.
But, once we were back home, showered and fed, reality sank back in.
“Are you going to check?” Koa asked. As the words came out of his mouth, a notification on my phone beeped. We had a few friends but because of our highly private lives, that we liked to keep that way, we weren’t as social as others. We liked our small life. Our quiet life. He then cursed under his breath. “Maybe that’s something.”
Koa didn’t know I’d seen some shifters on the app who had spent months on it, trying and failing to find someone.
We’d only been signed up for a few days.
He was expecting not only a miracle but a lightning-fast one.
