Page 14 of Daddy's Mail Order Mate

Redhart: Will do. See you soon.

Lonebriar: Looking forward to it.

But so far, he seemed pretty solid. If love was something I could think about without dying a bit more inside, I might even have been able to say he was my type. The man seemed honest, practical, and not the sort to play games. He’d been quick to lay out the fact that he was a single father looking to find someone to help raise his infant son with, worked a job that had him away on a pretty regular basis, and he had no interest in joining a pack. We started off with rattling off facts and figuring out if this was compatible at all, and once that cleared, our conversations were decently pleasant. He wasn’t too chatty, especially since I knew he was busy all the time with work and his kid. But I liked his straight-forwardness, and he wasn’t entirely humorless. We’d exchanged a bit of dry banter that was a bit fun, so he probably was decent company in person.

All in all, we seemed to line up pretty well in our intentions. And it didn’t hurt that when we started discussing the idea of doing the bridal trial, he was quick to put down money to cover traveling expenses. Not that I’d let him strictlyknow that I was getting evicted, couldn’t find work, and was borderline broke. A stranger with everything to gain from backing me into a corner doesn’t need to know that I might not have a lot of options right now. When you are perpetually powerless, you learn what you need to hide and how you need to bluff to keep yourself safe.

I tuck my phone away, shut the trunk, and load in for a long drive. The first few hours are going to just be me, my thoughts and some driving playlists. It’ll be as good a time as any to get my fill of comfortable solitude before I meet up with my brother and need to go through introductions.

Nerves flutter in my chest at the thought. Hopefully it’s going to go well. This is going to be the first time in two years that I’ve intentionally met a new shifter. I’ve mostly been living my life skirting along the human world after Cherrygrove fell apart when I was twenty. Lucas was more inclined to roam around and lean into the vagrant wolf life, but I was done with that world by the time I could choose to be free of it.

But maybe this will be my chance to have a little corner of this hidden world to myself. Maybe even a family, with a mate who cares about me and a child to look after who won’t be punished for being born from a faulty shifter that had gotten rejected by her fated mate.

Mate.

That is such a loaded word. It had once been one of my first real joys, but has tortured me for most of my life since.

I twist the key in the ignition, get some rock going, and flip the bird to my old rotting apartment building before pulling off.

This is my last ditch effort, hinging from my old life to the chance for a new one. And if this didn’t work, it was back tothe drawing board. But as I reflexively hum along to the lyrics, I can’t help but hope that it works. Not just for my own sake, either. My match seems like he is doing his best to be a solid guy and look after his baby; pretty commendable in my book, and I know pretty well how hard that could be. My mother had raised me and Lucas on her own, and the rest of the pack hadn’t exactly been too supportive of us. That’s neither here nor there though.

For now, I try to focus on the present. I sing to familiar songs, follow the map obediently running along the route on my phone, and try to not psych myself out.

After a few hours cruising along, I finally get some respite from the road as I roll up on a rather worn looking roadside diner. It’s not that it looked run down or anything, just that it had the distinct weathered look unique to these sorts of restaurants that loiter along the open road.

And at least Lucas’ big red monstrosity of a truck makes it easy to tell that he’s already here. I’m glad he was able to take the time away from his job and pack to come help me out with this. Though I know he’d have been livid if I’d gone and done this on my own anyway. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of showing up as a lone woman to some random rural property myself. And in case anything was off, he will be able to shift if it comes to violence and get us both out of there. By myself, I’d be a sitting duck if some random wolf decided to turn on me.

When I head inside, it’s as easy to find Lucas as it was to spot his truck. He’s hunkered down in one of the booths, sticking out like a sore thumb with how he looms a good head and shoulders over the bench even with his stooped back.

I come up behind him and he turns before I even say anything; yet another subtle marker of the gap between me and ‘real’ wolves.

“Hey Gwen,” he greets with a smile, standing up to immediately take me into one of his classic bear hugs.

“Hey. Thanks again.”

“Anytime. Seriously, all you have to do is ask.”

“I know,” I reply while we both settle down into our respective spots.

He picks up his glass of coke and stares at me a second, clearly appraising me.

“You look a bit tense.”

“Just stiff from the drive.”

“Your eyebrows too?”

“What can I say, it’s bright out there and I broke my sunglasses a few days ago.”

“Jesus Gwen. You really have terrible luck.”

I guffaw, smirking bitterly.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

He shifts awkwardly and flashes me one of his classic charming smiles all the same.

“Well, maybe this is where it turns around. It is pretty lucky your match lives close to me! I can swing by, or you can visit me if you feel up for it.”

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