Page 7 of Delivered to My Alpha Alien Lovers (Mail-Order Matings #20)

Amaris

My eyes had been opened to a world of knowledge with this app. There were shark shifters, for one. Shark. Shifters.

Even the thought of spending an amount of time underwater with a shark mate, well, it didn’t sit right with me. I’d never felt pulled to learn scuba diving—largely because of fears of being eaten by sharks. His words were pretty though. He should find someone who liked his poetry and smooth moves, but that girl wasn’t me.

I chatted through the app with some of them, but they didn’t click. Not that I expected a click necessarily, but there had to be some kind of connection, even through something like typing on the phone.

There had to be.

I gave up my search, or being searched for, for a few hours and cleaned my house and cooked up some chili and left it to stew in the slow cooker. Cheddar jalapeno cornbread would go in right before I was about to eat. There was nothing like steamy cornbread fresh out of the oven.

Once my laundry was done and I’d put away the last of my clothes, I went back to the phone. Finding a mate and searching through the app had become somewhat of an obsession.

It was more than lust or wanting someone in my life. My soul craved love. Real love. Giving and receiving it.

Of all the people I’d spoken to and whose profiles I’d viewed, one that stood out among the rest and silly me had blocked them based off one word: Urgent .

I didn’t consider their perspective or a scenario in which that word could mean anything other than a red flag.

I clicked onto my settings, hunting for the blocked profile, but found nothing. A sinking feeling took over my chest. What if that person was my mate, and I’d simply misinterpreted the meaning in the subject line and made a judgment that would change the course of my life.

After a chat online with one of the customer service people for the app, they informed me that blocked profiles could not be accessed for the safety of the user.

Damn it! He had been hot and interesting and nice. I’d gotten myself so caught up in one word and picture that I’d even missed his name somehow. And he had a friend as well. Two tall, handsome, powerful shifters, and I’d blocked them over a trigger that had more to do with me than with them.

And now, they were gone.

Because here I was, urgently seeking them out when they had been doing the same thing. They had only been bolder about the approach than I had.

That night, I ate and chatted with the Mail-Order Matings customer service about the blocked profile, but they answered swiftly saying that the profile would remain out of reach for both users once someone blocked them.

In my frustration and stubbornness, I scrolled through the app with new fervor, hoping that the customer service person and facts would be wrong and sway in my favor.

I was almost done for the night when a message popped up in my inbox. It was from a new match and a new profile. In fact, the app said the profile had only been created the day before.

Gasping, I clicked on the message when I saw the word, the same word as before in the subject line. Urgent.

This profile had no picture but it had to be them. Fate wouldn’t do me that dirty and I only half believed in the concept—or the person? Some people talked as though Fate was a woman, weaving love into people’s lives. Either way, maybe she would help me.

The body of the message read the same. Please respond to this message, Amaris. They used my name again. Before using this app, I’d never experienced so many people taking the liberty of a pet name on first contact—shark shifter called me babe on his first message—but these men did not.

I had to take this chance. What was the worst that could happen?

His name was Tylan. The other message with the same wording was from someone named Farsel.

Farsel and Tylan. At least I had names for them both now. That was under the assumption they were the ones I was looking for.

I opened the chat window and sent them a message. What does one say to someone when you already rejected their friend?

Tylan,

Who are you? Have you messaged me before?

Jenny called after dinner, begging for an update. I thought maybe my best friend would say I was being picky but she cheered me on, encouraging me to follow my instinct.

I took my phone to bed with me that night, and as I was getting ready to sleep, it beeped.

I hopped over to it with one shoe still on and found a reply from Tylan. I have not messaged you before. You have a beautiful name, female. I’d love to talk more if you are interested.

Female. Something about that made me shiver. I’d heard Rex calling Jenny that a few times and figured it was a shifter thing. Tylan’s profile didn’t say much about his species, but I hadn’t put humans on my desired list.

I pushed away the alien notion from my mind. Just because I’d wished since I was a girl that my mate would be an alien didn’t mean it would happen for me. The most important thing was love and attraction and common interests.

A tail wouldn’t hurt though.