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And she was beautiful.
We ate dinner in no time and sat across from each other, the unknown hanging between us.
“Message her back,” I stated. “If we can’t have a mate, then maybe we can help her. Helping people is good, right?”
Orion laughed and finished off his milk. No matter how old he got, he always had milk for dinner. “Are you sure? You were singing a different song this morning.”
I was. He was right. Somewhere in between baking and overthinking, I’d come to the conclusion that Orion was right. Plus, I had found myself going back to the app in between baking and rising times to look at her photo. That had to mean something.
“Respond to her. I saw that some people video chat before deciding things. What if we suggest that?”
Orion scrambled for his phone. “I’m doing it before you change your mind.”
Chapter Nine
Orion
Koa and I had taken seats at opposite ends of the living room in our log cabin home with the fire roaring. He had some recipe book with him, and I had my eReader and couldn’t decide in that moment whether I would start a new series or journey down a comforting favorite.
I had opened up an older series when my phone beeped. Koa slammed his book shut. “That better not be your mom.”
Chuckling, I picked up the phone and saw that we had a message from Druscilla. “It’s her.”
“What did she say?” Koa could put up a shield all he wanted, but I saw the glint of hope in his eyes.
“She wants to video chat. Asap.”
Koa’s eyes widened, and his jaw ground. “Should we try now?”
“Yeah.” We moved to sit next to each other on the couch and hit the camera button. While it made a noise like a ringing telephone, I wondered if we should’ve asked her first. Maybe she was busy. Perhaps she was sleeping. I didn’t even know what time zone she was in, and here we were maybe disturbing her…
“Hello?” she answered and soon after came into view. Her hair was up in a messy bun, but several sable tendrils were loose around her face. The camera didn’t do her justice—not by a long shot.
“Druscilla. I’m Orion and this is Koa. We were a match for you. We sent you a message?” Gods, one second into the call, and I was a blithering idiot. Of course she knew who we were. She’d responded with the information that had us so conflicted.
She let out a laugh that had goose bumps breaking out all along my skin. Her laugh was the one of fantasies. No. I couldn’t let myself go there. We had to keep this about business.
“I know who you are. You were the only ones I had a match with. I knew my profile was unique but that’s what I was looking for as well. And I found you two. This app is something else.”
“How did a human find out about the app?” Koa prompted. I hadn’t even thought of that question. Honestly, I didn’t care. She was here. Right in front of us—well, kind of right in front of us.
“My friend Anais met her mates through the app. They are tiger shifters. She did it a bit differently than I did, but I thought if it worked for her, then it might work for me.”
“How so?” Koa pressed. She then told us the story of how Anais went into the project for research but ended up finding her mates.
A warmth took root in my chest at hearing the story. Gods, what if Druscilla did the same? She came in here for an interview and then we found out she was our mate. Of course, we Bigfoots weren’t the same as other species. Other shifters could look at someone and know that they were their mate.
Bigfoot shifters had to touch their mate to know. Yeah, we could be attracted to someone and have that tingling inside, but it wasn’t until we touched her that we knew. But as a human, I didn’t think she would feel the same. Humans didn’t have that instinct, the one that connected to Fate in that way.
“Tell us about your schooling. Your research? You’re writing a paper?”
She told us everything, making sure we knew that she wanted to be completely honest about everything up front. She wasn’t looking for a mate. Or mates. She wanted to know more about our species, whatever it was to further her education and career.
At least she was honest.
“Can I ask now what species you are?” She bit down on her full bottom lip.
Koa and I both looked at each other and took a long pause. “We would like to disclose that at a later time. Over video is not the place for it. This is all through the app, and we’d like to remain anonymous even in your research and interviews.”
