Page 4 of Delivered to My Elves

Bear shifters. Wolf shifters. Monsters. Fae. Creatures of the night but not vampires. I was open to nearly all of them.

I sat back, answering the questions as calm came over me. It could’ve been the fruity wine. Or the chamomile tea. Or the low blood pressure from the scalding bath, but my bear was in rare form as I answered question after question.

She was serene. Peaceful even.

We were moving on.

The truth was, she never liked Rob. Of course, I’d ignored her, thinking that one day she would come around.

When I saw him screwing one of his secretaries on his desk, my bear wasn’t even upset. Not in the least.

He was a stranger to her, and she’d barely tolerated my ever-growing crush on him.

But as I turned on the fireplace app on my TV and snuggled into my covers for the night, phone in hand, she gave me a dull roar.

Maybe this step forward was what I needed.

Chapter Four

Callon

The first half of our day was spent at the Christmas tree farm nearby. Our community grew and sold them, and everyone had shifts.

Usually, it was fun, but this year, it was a profound reminder of what Aerin and I were lacking.

A family.

Children and their parents walked hand in hand, choosing their Christmas trees and getting ready for the season. Many of them were human, but seeing them stirred the same longing. A longing for something we didn’t have and if we didn’t take some kind of action, would never have.

I had an idea.

I’d seen an ad for a shifter-and-supernatural mating app a while ago but mostly ignored it. Seemed like a scam to me. But over the months since, I’d done my research and waited to pull the trigger.

“After lunch, I have something I want to talk to you about.”

Aerin stopped in his tracks as we walked up the road to our cottage. “No. Absolutely not. Talk now. You can’t do that to me. I will be freaked out until you tell me.”

I snorted. I did know that about him. “Okay, okay. I have an idea about how we can find a mate or…someone to make a life with.”

“I don’t understand,” he replied. “You make a life with a mate. How can you separate the two?”

We walked into the house and headed straight to the kitchen. Trimming trees and cutting them down for customers was hard work and different than what we were used to. Good thing we only worked there through the season. I set aboutmaking some grilled cheese sandwiches while Aerin set a pot of our homemade tomato basil soup to warm it on the stove.

“Explain what you meant,” he said, turning to lean his back against the counter.

“There are ways that we can get a mother for our children without finding a fated mate.”

He nodded. “I’ve heard there’s an app.”

“Is that right?” I asked. We both pulled out our phones and showed how silly we’d been. We both had the app downloaded. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I didn’t sign up. I was waiting for the right time to talk to you.”

“Elf females are hard to find,” I said, shrugging while I flipped all four sandwiches on the griddle.

My friend nodded. “And especially one who would accept two mates.” We stayed quiet until we got to the table where we sat, both exhaling loudly. “So what are we looking for on this app, Aerin? That’s why I asked you about the other options. We could find a female who would live here and have our children and be their mother without the promise or hope of being a fated mate?”

He shook his head. “Just say the word, Callon. You want to get on the app for a breeder.”

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