Page 4 of Delivered to My Beasts
But after a quick shower, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to see that someone had already been there and prepared scones and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Until all this nonsense began, these females would have never cooked for me. I did all the alpha house cooking, morning, noon, and night.
“These look wonderful,” I said, picking up a scone and taking a bite. “And tastes even better.”
“Have some coffee, luna,” coaxed one of the females. “I hope the alpha-to-be comes in time to eat. He said he likes cinnamon.”
“I have no idea.” And never planned to find out. “But he’s been coming over for every meal since the contract was signed, so I imagine he will. He also likes bacon.”
“I’ll make it,” chirped another female. “I’ll fry up a whole pound.”
“I think he was hoping to have fried chicken for dinner one night soon,” I offered helpfully. “With Dutch apple pie for dessert.”
My comments were met with glee as the four women who were in the kitchen began to plan dinner. I might not want to be here by then, but if I was, I’d be enjoying my favorite meal. And since the females would be sticking around to eat, I could have my fill. Settling back with my scone and coffee, I enjoyed my breakfast while waiting for an opportunity to slip away and check the app.
It happened sooner than I expected, when one of the betas brought in a grocery order, and all the females were occupied putting it away. With no males in sight, I ducked out the front door and across the open space in front, headed for the tree line.
“Imogen!” Mateo’s voice carried to me from the side yard of the alpha house. “Imogen, come here now.”
I should have turned around, acted as if I cared that he was calling me, but that would have been more of a giveaway than the opposite. Despite agreeing to the mating and walking through all the preparations for the humanlike ceremony, I had never pretended to be happy about it. While he pretended not to notice—in public, at least. And that was where I tried to keep my conversations with him.
Deep in the woods, I settled under a tree and pulled my phone from my pocket. I carried it there, always, even before downloading the app. In a pack populated by busybodies, the device was my only source of privacy. The wedding would cost me that as well, if I stuck around for it.
Swiping the screen, I brought up the Mail-Order Matings app and tapped the notifications icon. My hand shook, making it hard to read, so I took a few deep breaths with my eyes closed then opened them.
I had a match, and to my amazement, it was to the very bears I had sent a message to. Unsure of how the system worked, I had skipped past the matching part, but that didn’t seem to have engendered a penalty of any kind. Fortunately.
But time was not my friend because Mateo had not given up, and I could hear his footsteps crunching leaves along the pathway I had taken. Damn him!
Chapter Four
Jax
Crew, Duke, and I were bears living in the woods among the mountains. Sounded like a constant good time, right?
Not really.
We’d fallen into a comfortable routine which was good for our human sides. Our bear sides, not so much. Usually bears lived in groups for protection and safety but kept to themselves. We loved to roam the forest and run wild and free. Hence the place we’d decided to settle when we found ourselves ready to leave the sleuth. After all, we were a sleuth of our own. We protected each other.
The thing our shifter and human sides agreed on? We needed a mate.
When our bears first bonded, when we were adolescents, we thought we were destined to be best friends. And that was still true. But there was more. Somewhere along the line, our bears decided we wouldn’t have separate mates. We would share one. How that decision was made was a mystery to us all, but not one of us had a problem with it. There was no one I’d trust around my mate than Crew or Duke.
Plus, there would be three of us to make sure our mate was well taken care of in all areas.
Except, I thought the others had given up on finding a mate a while ago. I had as well. Not that we were so old that we couldn’t find our mate, but we didn’t go out a lot. We didn’t date or go to bars. We had nothing against bars or dating, but we were homebodies and the small towns around us were filled with people who looked at us as though we had three heads. Not really the best place to try and flirt. If we tried, the female would’ve probably fled for the hills screaming.
“I wonder why she doesn’t have more pictures.” We were having breakfast the next morning after concluding that we should sleep on it. Sleeping on issues solved everything according to Crew. He was the quiet and calm one amongst us.
“And they are all in the same place. Same walls. Except the one that is outside. It’s like she took five pictures all on the same day but with different outfits.”
Duke chuckled. “Or we’re picking apart details that don’t matter.”
Crew threw a biscuit at Duke but he caught it midair. “What matters, then? Let’s focus on what we know.”
I took a long sip of my coffee. “She’s a wolf, but I don’t think that’s a problem. It’s not for me, and it’s clearly not for her.”
“Not a problem for me either,” Crew concurred, and Duke nodded.
“We looked at her information,” I said. “There’s not a lot there, but her preferences are for multiple mates. She commented something about our home, so she knows we live in the mountains.”
