Page 9 of Delivered to My Fury

Sitting there, I weighed my options. I could delete the app and forget it ever happened and wonder what-if, or I could keep the app and maybe, just maybe, someone would catch my attention.

The way Derek looked at Ceci and spoke about her so lovingly? Yeah, I wanted that more than anything. I wanted someone to care about in return as well.

I left the app on my phone and headed to the lab. I had a month or so of funding left, if I used it only for absolute necessities and I wouldn’t let it go to waste. I’d stewed in my own pity long enough.

Once at the lab, I poured myself into work the best I could with the end looming.

Perhaps it was time for a change in my life and not just a job. What if I found a mate or three or seven and they were perfect but lived in a paradise I’d dreamed of all my life. There would be no way I would have them move here with my future on shaky ground.

A little after dark, I hung up my lab coat and went home, treating myself to some Chinese food on the way.

Ceci texted me a few times that day, saying Derek enjoyed our dinner and wanted to do it again soon.

I replied that I’d joined an app for finding a shifter and she called, squealing, excited that I was trying to find someone.

Planted on the couch, I ate my pineapple chicken and allowed myself to dream. If my life were different, what would I change?

In the current climate, grants were going to be nearly impossible to get, it seemed, making my stable, dull life way less stable.

Maybe it was time for a change. What would be important to me? A reliable income. I could get that from Ceci’s company…but it still didn’t appeal.

Someone to come home to would be nicer.

I scrolled the app, looking at options. There were many more matches than that morning.

Three of them were orcs.

Huh.

Of course, seeing an orc as a match sent me on a spiral of research, but this time without the accompaniment of alcohol.

I went to bed that night, encouraging the changes in my life instead of fighting them.

Change was inevitable.

Change with some hot shifters or an orc was more than welcome.

Chapter Eight

Zyon

There was a new coffee shop in town. They sold the overpriced, sugar-filled coffees everyone loved. I’d gotten up early and went to get everyone a cup and some breakfast. Mabel loved it when we treated her on Fridays, and I wanted to continue the tradition.

When I walked in, to my surprise, no one blinked an eye, or, worse, yelped or screamed.

It still happened from time to time, which was why my brothers, my wolf and bear brothers, did most of the big-box-store shopping and trips to the city. There were fewer scared humans that way.

I had hope for the future. Hope where orcs could go about their business like anyone else, minus the stares and gaping mouths, but I’d also accepted that future might be beyond my lifetime.

Juggling the coffees and full bags of pastries in my arms, I pushed open the back door of the brewery. The smell of hops, honey, and caramel instantly reached my nose. Those were the familiar scents of the business we’d busted our asses to build but also, there were traces of what was once my home. The orcs in my horde were longtime ale makers.

“I brought fancy coffee and a variety of bagels with more cream cheese than legal,” I announced.

Mabel looked up from her desk. “What’s the occasion?”

Raising one eyebrow, I noticed she was on her phone instead of working. She always got everything done, so I had no problem, but that was different. “Since when do I have to have an occasion to spoil you for breakfast.”

Cackling, she got up and squeezed my biceps. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I was thirty years older, I’d be begging you for a lot more than coffee.”

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