Page 3 of Delivered to My Fury (Mail-Order Matings #19)

Opal

I’d gone through my regular morning. Getting dressed for work and having coffee—even showing up on time.

But once I was inside my lab, the whole place seemed empty and cold.

The hope for my work and making a difference in the world had been jerked out from under me without warning.

Sure, I could go through the motions and keep my head down, praying that something changed in the hearts of careless men, but that would be a waste of time and energy.

Before lunchtime, I walked out. Nothing had been done. I hadn’t even fired up my laptop. What was the point now?

I took myself to lunch, needing vegetables and nothing close to fried after the monstrosity Ceci and I wolfed down the day before. My stomach had been a wreck all night, but thankfully it was a distraction from my world being turned upside down. While I was in the middle of consuming a salad the size of a basketball, Ceci called me.

“Hello?”

“Hi, what are you up to?” I could hear the clicking and typing in the background. She was at work. In her lab.

Lucky.

“You know I told you that I met someone. He and I were talking last night, and I thought…well, I-I would like you to meet him.”

Ceci didn’t get nervous, especially around me. We told each other everything. She certainly didn’t stutter over a request. “Ah, so you’re more serious than you let on. You need bestie approval.”

She snickered. “I need to know if there are red flags that I’m too infatuated to notice.”

My turn to laugh. “Ceci, you are a red-flag detector in the flesh. If there were any, you would know it. But I’m happy to give a second opinion. When?”

“Tonight.”

We met at the restaurant that night.

Derek did all the right things. He pulled the chair out for her. He was kind to the waitress.

Five minutes into the dinner, I knew this was more than dating. My best friend was in love. She didn’t care that sometimes he became a wolf and he was already calling her mate.

“Tell me more about that word you keep calling her. Mate?” I asked before stabbing a piece of chicken.

Derek had sky-blue eyes and dak-brown hair. Once in a while, I swore the blue flashed with silver but I dared not ask about it. Sure, I was curious, but I never wanted to be rude, especially if Ceci and Derek worked out and they got married one day. He would be in my life for a long time.

“Mating is different for us. I think humans equate the word with girlfriend or partner, even wife, but the word means so much more to me—to us. A mate is the one person the Goddess made for me. We are soul mates. Fated mates. Now that I’ve found Ceci, there is no one else on the planet that could replace her. She’s it for me. It goes beyond some marriage certificate or vows stated in front of a preacher or priest. Ceci is my life now.”

Okay, my best friend acted like this was someone she was seeing, but Derek was talking about a lifetime commitment.

Good thing I didn’t ask about the eyes.

“Really? And you already know that? I thought there had only been a couple of dates.”

Ceci kicked me under the table. “Opal!”

“What? I’m the best friend. I get to ask questions. That’s why I’m here, right?”

Derek chuckled and turned to Ceci. “She’s right. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m glad you have a friend like this. The answer is yes. I knew Ceci was my mate at first sight. Actually, if you want to know the truth, it was mate at first scent.”

“Scent?” I asked. Now, I needed to know. The passion he had for my friend oozed out of his tone.

Suddenly, I realized how lonely my life had become.

The world was moving forward, and I was anchored in place.

“Yes. Shifters have a heightened sense of smell and our mates smell like home to us.”

Ceci sighed, looking up at him while he spoke.

Goddess, I wanted that. Someone to look at me the way these two looked at each other. I took dessert to go since after a while, I didn’t exist anymore. They were whispering things and sharing kisses. They needed privacy. Their happiness brought me joy. Ceci deserved someone amazing.

Still, after hearing Derek go on about mates, I needed to know more.

Sure, shifters existed and most people knew one or more, but I didn’t know a lot about them other than what I’d heard tonight.

Once I got home, I couldn’t help myself. I was a researcher at heart and would get lost in deep dives of subjects.

I’d never looked into shifters much, so all of it was new information. There were sites against shifters. Some pro shifters. History. Lore. Pictures. Videos. Some real and some obviously fake.

I had to admit, the lion shifters were awfully sexy. Honestly, all of them were.

While I read about all kinds of shifters and how they differed from skinwalkers, I ate my oversized slice of triple chocolate cake with a side of bourbon because why not. I’d lost my funding. I had no job. My best friend was out living her best life and finding the love of her life with some hunky wolf shifter.

And here I was…reading shifter lore.

Like that was going to bring a sexy lion to my front door, begging to bed me.

Maybe that was it. Maybe I just needed to get laid.

It had been a while.

“Ugh!” I slapped my computer closed and carried my refilled glass to bed. Instead of flipping on the TV, I got on my phone, and the algorithm magic had done its job. My feeds were full of shifters and hotness.

I’d almost given up on the night when a video of some shifters and monsters came up.

Searching for a mate? Look no further than the Mail-Order Matings app.

An app?

For dating shifters?

I needed more bourbon.