Page 4 of Roar Letter Word

“To talk to you.”

Irritating. He hoped she wasn’t here to try to sell her services. Even if it was really true that there was someone out there who he was destined to fall in love with, a true fated mate, he didn’t see why that should have anything to do with him.

No need to fall in love with your fated mate if you just avoided meeting them, he always thought.

He meant it as a joke, but there were real feelings behind it. Everyone on Nova Aurora believed that shifters were born with a fated mate. They said that when you saw your fated mate, you simply knew it. There was no denying it, no ignoring it. You just knew that person had to be a part of your life from then on.

He knew many people who lived happily with someone they said was a fated mate for them. But the idea scared him. He was a king. He liked having choices. The idea of meeting someone who, by some kind of love magic, would take that away from him was terrifying, not romantic. He didn’t care about anyone that much, and he didn’t want to.

Still, if he was rude to Gerri Wilder, King Alyx would make him sorry. Better to talk to her, and if she tried selling her Paranormal Dating Agency, he would politely but firmly tell her he wasn’t interested.

He sighed, stood, and followed Ruzyll into the mansion.

Gerri was sitting on the edge of the couch in his living room. There was no question about recognizing her. She looked just like she had been described. Barely over five feet with white hair done in a bob and a sharp expression that made her look like she always knew something you didn’t. She sat with perfect posture and smiled at Mahes as he sat in the armchair opposite her.

“What an honor to meet the head of the Paranormal Dating Agency,” Mahes began, smiling graciously. “May I ask what brings you to my kingdom?”

“Oh, you know my work,” Gerri replied. “Not that I wouldn’t love to be coming here for a purely social visit, of course.”

“You’re obviously welcome anytime you wish,” Mahes said, once again reminding himself that Gerri might complain to King Alyx about him if he were rude. “But I’m a little confused about you making a professional call. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I haven’t exactly hired you.”

“That’s true, you haven’t,” she admitted. “But things are a little more complicated than that. How much do you know about the Paranormal Dating Agency?”

Mahes shifted in his chair. “Not a lot, I admit. I’m told you keep a pretty tight lid on how exactly it is that you go about finding matches.”

“That’s very true,” Gerri answered, smiling. “But have you heard of our success rate?”

“Supposedly, it’s one hundred percent,” said Mahes. “Though I admit that I find that a little hard to believe.”

“Of course you do,” Gerri returned. “You don’t believe in fated love.”

Mahes didn’t like where this was going. “I didn’t say that. Exactly. But I will say that if my service really had a one hundred percent success rate, I would definitely think twice before taking me on as a client.”

“You don’t believe that I could be successful with you?”

He shrugged. “I’m sure you could find a very nice girl somewhere out there. I mean, I’m not a complicated man. All I’d really want is someone who’s beautiful and funny and famous in their own right. Creative and talented. Someone who would care about me deeply. I’m sure you could drum someone like that up easily, no worry.”

“I could certainly take a crack at it.” She smiled an oddly mischievous smile.

“But frankly, even if you did find someone like that for me, I just don’t think it would work. Relationships require effort, both from the girl you’d find and also from me. And I’m going to be totally frank with you. I just don’t think I’m interested in putting that much work in right now.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m afraid it is. See, I just like being on my own. I already have a lot of work to do running the kingdom, and I simply don’t have it in me to have a relationship on top of all that. And I’d simply hate for you to have to go around advertising that you have a 99.502 percent success rate from now on. It just doesn’t have the same punch, you know?”

“That’s very considerate of you,” she replied.

“Well, I do try my best.”

“Unfortunately, as I already explained, there are a few things that you don’t seem to understand about the Paranormal Dating Agency and its business model.”

Mahes let himself scowl slightly. “And what might those be?”

“First of all, I have a standing agreement with King Alyx. And as you know, King Alyx has authority over the whole of Nova Aurora. Including the Tellahn Kingdom.”

“I’m aware of it.”

“But the second is that once I have a client, I have to follow their needs wherever they go. It would be wonderful if I could match one client of my services with another client. But sometimes, fate has other ideas.”

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