Juven
When I got back to the house from my run, Shaman was in the living room on the phone with someone. On a video call.
“Hey, Juven. We got a call from Amber.”
I stopped in my tracks. Shaman’s smile told me he was sincere, but he sounded so nonchalant about it. Oh, by the way, our mate is on the phone.
“She is?” I asked. “I mean, we did?”
“Hello, Juven.” Her voice slipped through my consciousness and settled right in my heart.
More than ever, I knew she was ours. We’d never considered sharing a mate, but now that Amber was on our radar, I had no second thoughts about it.
Okay, I did, but there was no denying how she affected me and my animal.
“Hello.” I went over and sat next to Shaman. “You didn’t answer before.”
Her black hair had some silver streaks in it. I could see them now. And no matter how beautiful she was in her pictures, it was nothing compared to how gorgeous she was in person.
“I was at work. The night shift is the worst but when I got on to answer, I saw Shaman was online. I was…disappointed to hear you weren’t there.”
My chest warmed. She liked us too. Of course she did. It was fated. Or she was the first female we’d interacted with in a while and we were horny.
My human brain doubted everything.
“I was running.”
“As your unicorn? That must be incredible.”
“It’s one of my favorite things,” I answered. She sighed and covered her mouth to yawn. We were keeping her up. “You’re tired,” I commented.
“I am. I arrived at work, buried myself in research, and before I knew it, the library was closing. I have a mountain of notes to get through, but I don’t have the energy to look at it anymore.”
I felt awful. All day, I’d wondered if she was rejecting us with failing to answer our messages, but it was just like Shaman told me.
She was working and busy. How silly of me.
She was human and wasn’t blessed with a trust fund like we were.
She had to work to live, while we worked because we wanted to and none of it for pay.
“I’m sorry we’re keeping you up,” Shaman commented. I didn’t want to end the video chat with her, but my animal didn’t want her to be tired. He already cared about her well-being.
“It’s really no problem. Really. I was hoping to reply when I got home and then I saw another message from Shaman.”
I glanced at Shaman but said nothing. He hadn’t told me he sent another message. He was completely smitten with Amber already. “I’m glad you decided to contact us. You were our first match.”
“Oh?” she asked. “You sent all of your matches messages?”
Laughing, Shaman shook his head. “Only you, Amber. We were drawn by your profile, not to mention your beauty.”
A lovely blush bloomed on her cheeks. I took in her surroundings, trying to get to know her better with little information.
Her apartment, I guessed from the smallness of it, was sparsely decorated.
Comfortable and feminine but not a lot of things.
The biggest piece of furniture was a huge bookshelf that was stuffed to the brim with covers of all colors.
The titles ranged from what looked like romance to autobiographies and everything in between.
“Thank you. You two aren’t so bad yourselves. What do you do for a living? I didn’t see any jobs listed on your profiles.”
I didn’t know what to say. Of course, the truth, but I also didn’t want her to think that we were some spoiled brats who sat around and made trouble so we didn’t get too bored.
Shaman took over, thankfully. “Our parents left us a good amount of money when they passed. We don’t have to work, but we spend our time trying to help others in our community. We have a thriving greenhouse, and we keep busy.”
“Oh, wow. That sounds incredible. Living on your own timelines.”
“We think so. We try to keep a loose schedule anyway. Do you always work long hours, or do you have some time off?”
Amber smiled, and nearly everything in me melted. “I work on my own schedule. I’m contracted by companies for research. Nonprofits, students, anyone who needs information and doesn’t have enough time to find it. I can take time off whenever I like, though, as long as I hit my deadlines.”
“That’s good. At least you can work when you want to.
I wonder how close you are to us. The app hides your location.
” Shaman was so eager to meet her. He had been vocal about Amber being our fated mate, but I had my reservations.
It all seemed too easy—too convenient. Maybe I was being negative, but mates didn’t just show up on an app out of nowhere.
“Oh. Here, let me share it. I read in the rules that when we make a connection, we have the option of sharing our location.”
The app popped up a notification. It gave Amber’s address and then asked if we wanted to share ours as well. We did, of course.
Amber lived only about a half hour away from us. We’d even gone to her city a few times, though it wasn’t where we usually went for supplies.
She had been there, only thirty minutes away and we hadn’t seen her.
“We are so close!” she said.
“We are.” My stomach gathered into a knot. This was the moment. If she declined, I would be heartbroken, but I had to know. Shaman even more than me. “So what do you think? Would you like to go out on a date with us, Amber?”
She leaned back in her chair and smiled. “I really would. Have a place in mind?”