Page 1 of Delivered to My Shadow Unicorn Alphas

Chapter One

Amber

I joined a book club because I needed to do something besides work and watch television. It wasn’t my first attempt at a hobby, at making myself a more interesting person. Just the most recent. And for a research librarian who read all day for a job, book club was probably a cop-out. But I’d tried knitting, crocheting, tennis, golf, and even pickle ball only to determine I was the worst at all of them. Even with lessons involved. And the quilting debacle? I imagined the local granny who attempted to teach me would require therapy to recover from the experience.

A person needed a hobby. My mom was adamant of that and asked me every Sunday when she called. What did I “do” that week? She seemed under the impression that the reason I was single was because my life was so dull.

I found my work stimulating, loved helping people locate helpful information. Every day people called, emailed, or came into the big downtown branch where I had my office in search of facts for term papers, genealogy projects, scientific work… Legal matters. Everything. And I thought that was exciting. But my mom? She kept insisting I find something interesting to do. A second thing I could do well. Not because I thought I’d find my life partner by now. Or because I needed to find one at all. Something to make me more intriguing to a man.

“You could take French cooking classes,” she urged. “Or ballroom dancing. Join a bowling league.”

Sometimes I wondered how she even met my dad with her ideas. And her belief that a woman was nothing without a man.

Sure, if I were to meet someone I liked, I wouldn’t hate that, but unlike Mom, I didn’t see them as the answer to all of life’s issues. But I did need to have something to tell her about whenshe called, and I’d pretty much run out of things to try and suck at.

Reading, I could do. And I’d spotted a flyer on the grocery store community board. A book club featuring paranormal romance, meeting on a weeknight at various members’ homes. I read a ton of those things, and while I’d never been a fan of tearing books apart to find all the hidden meanings, I hoped this would be a gathering of those who enjoyed reading about sexy wolves and bears and the women lucky enough to meet them. It was all fantasy, of course. Why would a shifter settle for an ordinary human with no superpowers at all?

They wouldn’t.

The few I knew were at work, all wolves, and they were all happily mated to other wolves.

But I loved reading about them. So, I showed up at the next meeting and discovered I was surrounded by women—and a couple of men—who loved the fantasy. They brought treats of various kinds, homemade and so good! They were welcoming but didn’t push me to share until I was ready. I was very quiet that first night, but the second one, I was a little more comfortable and made a couple of comments. It helped that the book was by one of my favorite authors. I didn’t know how good it would feel to share my guilty pleasure.

The third week, I baked cookies to bring with me, even though I didn’t have nearly the skill level of the others. Everyone was very kind about my offering, never mentioning that a few were underdone and others too brown.

“Okay,” said Cindra, the leader for tonight, “who wants to share their thoughts about the hero in our story?”

“I do!” Jenny, a pretty blonde with sparkling blue eyes, raised her hand like in school. “I have some big thoughts about him.”

Considering how gorgeous she was, I had been surprised she had time for book club instead of being on dates every night of the week. But Cindra said Jenny had a bad early marriage and was still healing. She herself was widowed, and the others, including the one guy who was a guy who preferred guys, all seemed to be either turned off by men or not interested at the moment, but that worked for me.

I wasn’t here to pick up someone. Just to discuss the week’s book. The conversation launched while everyone talked about the alpha jackal in the story and his ego. They seemed in agreement that he was a narcissist who thought only of himself and of the heroine, a human woman, as an accessory. Someone whose only value lay in how she added to his life, his pleasure. Whose overprotectiveness held his female back.

Up until now, I’d enjoyed the meetings, but this time, I didn’t agree at all. He was a magnificent male whose embrace held safety and heat. Maybe it was just me, but sometimes taking care of myself every minute of the day and night got tiring. Having a hot jackal who kept the hyenas of the world at bay didn’t sound half bad.

“I don’t think he’s too bad,” I blurted out just as my phone chimed in my pocket.

“Could you please silence your phone?” Cindra asked.

“I am so sorry.” Pulling out the device, I smiled apologetically to the rest of the women. I knew the rule and had simply forgotten. But when I glanced at the screen, my face must have shown something.

“What’s wrong?” Jenny asked.

“Nothing, it’s just…have any of you heard of the Mail-Order Matings dating app?”

“Oh, just an ad,” Cindra scoffed. “Anyway, about the jackal…”

“No, wait.” Jenny held out her hand, and I passed her my phone. “I have heard of it. It’s a shifter dating site.”

“Come on, Jenny,” said Gwen, an older divorcee. “I love our stories, but you don’t believe in shifters for real, do you?”

“Don’t you?” She studied my screen and shook her head. “This isn’t a pop-up ad. It’s an actual app. When did you download it?”

“I didn’t.” At least not on purpose. “Do you think it’s for real?”

My paranormal-reading club mates passed my phone around, a real breach of phone etiquette, I thought, but by the time it got back to me, they were all wound up and excited. Demanding I fill out the bio and see what happened. I got caught up in the moment and let them help me set everything up. Because even if some of them were nonbelievers, I was not.

I had to be out my mind, but it certainly was an opportunity to become less boring.

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