Page 8 of Delivered to My Fury (Mail-Order Matings #19)

Zyon

There was a new coffee shop in town. They sold the overpriced, sugar-filled coffees everyone loved. I’d gotten up early and went to get everyone a cup and some breakfast. Mabel loved it when we treated her on Fridays, and I wanted to continue the tradition.

When I walked in, to my surprise, no one blinked an eye, or, worse, yelped or screamed.

It still happened from time to time, which was why my brothers, my wolf and bear brothers, did most of the big-box-store shopping and trips to the city. There were fewer scared humans that way.

I had hope for the future. Hope where orcs could go about their business like anyone else, minus the stares and gaping mouths, but I’d also accepted that future might be beyond my lifetime.

Juggling the coffees and full bags of pastries in my arms, I pushed open the back door of the brewery. The smell of hops, honey, and caramel instantly reached my nose. Those were the familiar scents of the business we’d busted our asses to build but also, there were traces of what was once my home. The orcs in my horde were longtime ale makers.

“I brought fancy coffee and a variety of bagels with more cream cheese than legal,” I announced.

Mabel looked up from her desk. “What’s the occasion?”

Raising one eyebrow, I noticed she was on her phone instead of working. She always got everything done, so I had no problem, but that was different. “Since when do I have to have an occasion to spoil you for breakfast.”

Cackling, she got up and squeezed my biceps. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I was thirty years older, I’d be begging you for a lot more than coffee.”

“Goddess, are you two flirting again?” Eero walked in the back door and grabbed a coffee and the entire bag of bagels and pastries. “I thought you were on the app now, Mabel.”

“I am. I only took a break for the treats.” She winked at me. “Only half talking about the coffee.”

I shook my head, set the coffees down on the breakroom counter, and took out a bagel stuffed with eggs, cheese, and bacon. Double bacon. “What app are we talking about?” I asked, taking a huge bite.

“That Mail-Order Mating App. The one those girls were talking about the other day. You get on and get matched with shifters, monsters, all kinds of sexy hunks.”

I was kind of sorry I asked.

Eero sat beside her. “Let me see.”

While we ate breakfast, they clicked on pictures and profiles. Mabel oohed and ahhed on some pictures. Whooped at others. And some were too nasty to show, according to her.

“You already had a mate,” I said to her.

“Who says there’s only one mate for you? Fate knows I’m a lonely old woman. She knows I need a hottie warming my bed.”

“What in the hell did I walk in on?” Shay asked, stumbling in. He wasn’t a morning guy most of the time, but today, he looked like he rolled straight out of bed and into our brewery.

“Mabel is man shopping,” I answered.

“Is that right? On that app?”

“You know about it too?”

“Yep. Ooh. Bagels.”

Mabel went back to work, and we eventually made it to the lab where there was plenty of work to do. I had to admit, my mind wasn’t on ale or anything close to it, though. “Do you think we can find our mate through that app?” I boomed. “Sorry about that. But do you?”

Sometimes when I got excited about stuff, my voice became loud.

“I’ve been thinking about it too,” Shay said, putting down what he was working on and taking off his safety glasses.

“Same,” Eero answered.

“Is it legit? Have we really researched it beyond what Mabel says?”

Shay nodded. “I’ve been looking at it since those females mentioned it the other day. There are all kinds of questions, and there are plenty of females on there looking for a harem.”

“Even a ‘harem’ like us?” I had to ask the question. We weren’t your typical pack.

“Yeah. Even like us.”

“What’s there to lose?” Shay got on his phone and showed me he’d already downloaded the app but hadn’t made an account.

“Nothing,” Eero was quick to answer. “We lose nothing but we stand to gain everything.”

I nodded. “Everything, being a mate.”

“Our mate would be our everything,” Shay said. “Let’s sign up.”