Page 7 of Delivered to My Fury (Mail-Order Matings #19)

Opal

The next morning when I woke up with my head pounding and my eyes burning, I regretted my little return to bourbon.

The hangover sucked. At least I hadn’t slept with any strangers.

I’d had dreams all night of running from lions and bears and wolves and then, out of nowhere, they shifted into the hottest men I’d ever seen.

My brain flooded me with memories while I showered and brushed my teeth. Shit. I’d signed up for that app. The one that promised that anyone could find their mate through their service. The one that showed humans with monsters. Monsters with shifters. Shifters with humans and more shifters.

There were so many available pairings, the bourbon wasn’t the only thing that made me dizzy.

I remembered giggling at the vast and yet extremely personal questions. Did I prefer a specific kind of shifter? Did I want more than one partner? A harem? There were even options for nannies, mates for practical purposes, breeders, and, to my surprise…orcs and gargoyles and even a unicorn shifter.

The thing was, I didn’t have a preference. No, I didn’t want to be anyone’s breeder or nanny, but beyond that, all I wanted was to be loved and cherished. I deserved that.

Did I click the box for a reverse harem?

I thought so.

Ugh, the whole thing was hazy.

I went to the kitchen where I indulged in a protein-heavy breakfast, hoping that, plus some electrolytes and coffee, would pull me from the hangover and make this throbbing between my temples go away.

By the time I’d cleaned up the kitchen and put on some laundry, I’d decided to get off the app. I didn’t even know if I wanted a shifter for a mate. I’d given up on finding the right guy and married science years ago.

The only thing I wanted was love and commitment and trust. What form that came in, I honestly didn’t care.

I plucked my phone from the charger. My thumb hovered over the app, intending to press it until it wiggled and delete it.

And I almost did. Until I saw how many notifications were at the top of the screen. Another one popped up as I deliberated.

I had a match?

Already?

Goddess, I hoped I didn’t use a selfie from the night before. That would’ve been a hot mess.

“Well, I should at least see who was a match. That couldn’t hurt.” I spoke out loud even though I was alone in my home. I sat at the table with some hot tea and scrolled through my options.

What I saw shocked the hell out of me.

Here I was about to give up on this app, and I had more than five matches already. An eagle shifter. A wolf shifter. Two bear shifters. And a demon?

When I reached the bottom of the list, there was a notification on the app saying the algorithm was still finding matches for me. To give it more time to generate mates.

What? There would be more?

Hell, I hadn’t even thought I would get one.

I clicked through the profiles and, while each one was sexy and gorgeous, they simply didn’t call to me.

Sitting there, I weighed my options. I could delete the app and forget it ever happened and wonder what-if, or I could keep the app and maybe, just maybe, someone would catch my attention.

The way Derek looked at Ceci and spoke about her so lovingly? Yeah, I wanted that more than anything. I wanted someone to care about in return as well.

I left the app on my phone and headed to the lab. I had a month or so of funding left, if I used it only for absolute necessities and I wouldn’t let it go to waste. I’d stewed in my own pity long enough.

Once at the lab, I poured myself into work the best I could with the end looming.

Perhaps it was time for a change in my life and not just a job. What if I found a mate or three or seven and they were perfect but lived in a paradise I’d dreamed of all my life. There would be no way I would have them move here with my future on shaky ground.

A little after dark, I hung up my lab coat and went home, treating myself to some Chinese food on the way.

Ceci texted me a few times that day, saying Derek enjoyed our dinner and wanted to do it again soon.

I replied that I’d joined an app for finding a shifter and she called, squealing, excited that I was trying to find someone.

Planted on the couch, I ate my pineapple chicken and allowed myself to dream. If my life were different, what would I change?

In the current climate, grants were going to be nearly impossible to get, it seemed, making my stable, dull life way less stable.

Maybe it was time for a change. What would be important to me? A reliable income. I could get that from Ceci’s company…but it still didn’t appeal.

Someone to come home to would be nicer.

I scrolled the app, looking at options. There were many more matches than that morning.

Three of them were orcs.

Huh.

Of course, seeing an orc as a match sent me on a spiral of research, but this time without the accompaniment of alcohol.

I went to bed that night, encouraging the changes in my life instead of fighting them.

Change was inevitable.

Change with some hot shifters or an orc was more than welcome.