Page 2 of Having the Bear's Baby

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with all her free time. Probably her usual reading, watching a show here and there, and then finding time for walks so she could explore the city. She used to try to fill her evenings with friends or meeting people, but it just didn’t appeal to her anymore as much as quality alone time did.

Plus, the few close friends she did have had settled down to raise families of their own. Of course, they always said Emma was more than welcome to join them or come over whenever, but it sometimes weighed heavily on her that she was still so far away from achieving her own personal dreams.

Being holed up didn’t help her achieve it any faster, but she was still trying to detox from only attracting complete losers who needed more help than the people in the community she volunteered to assist.

“At least they want to be helped. That’s more than anyone I’ve dated recently wanted,” Emma muttered to herself sourly as she poured a half glass of wine and kicked off her shoes.

She enjoyed her work, but she savored a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc on Fridays, especially when she didn’t have anything specific to do on the weekends. And maybe the rest of the bottle, depending on the book or show she dove into.

She set her glass down and pulled her dark brown hair into a ponytail to get it off her neck.

Her preference was to always have it up, but sometimes, she felt the need to have it down during an easy day at work. But now that she was home, it went up and out of her face.

She grabbed her glass and headed to her small balcony to sit and enjoy the fresh air and buzz of life leading into the oncoming weekend.

Emma had just finished her glass and was about to go for a refill when her cell phone rang.

She glanced at the screen.

SSA was the caller … Social Security Administration?

“Probably spam,” she said with a shrug as she silenced it before reaching for the bottle.

Just as she was about to pour, her eyes grew wide. SSA were also the initials on the form she filled out that morning. Shifter Surrogacy Agency.

“Shit!” She almost knocked over her glass in her haste to answer before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?” She did her best not to sound frantic as she answered.

“Hello, is this Emma Monroe?”

“It is.” Her heart slowed now that she hadn’t missed the call. It started to speed up once she realized why they must be calling. She hadn’t expected to be contacted so soon. She thought she’d have more time to psych herself up about submitting the application.

“This is Alicia with the Shifter Surrogacy Agency. I am calling about the form that you submitted to us this morning.”

“Oh, yes. Is there a problem with it?” Emma hastily grabbed a notepad and pen from her desk in case they told her there was something she needed to fix. She wasn’t going to rely on herself to remember any instructions. Not when her anxiety was as high as it was.

“No, no. Not at all. I was just calling to clarify what we do and make sure you are still interested since we don’t share much in detail over our webpage. It can be a bit confusing, so we only like to entertain serious candidates.”

Serious candidates? Emma thought. Did that mean they had already paired her with someone?

Any doubt she had before was pushed out by curiosity now.

“Yes, I am very interested.”

“Good! Well, let me tell you a little about us. Given our name, we do deal with shifters, but so far, it’s only males looking to start families. Do you know anything about shifters?”

“Not much, just that they can turn into animals,” Emma admitted.

“That’s a start. We will go over more through the call. Now, many shifters have issues finding the right mate but desperately need an heir to pass their genes or responsibilities to. We specialize in providing surrogacy services to these shifters by matching them with the best-suited female through our system who could fit with them in many aspects. We have a rigid algorithm that we use to compare your answers to the shifter’s. We aim to give you both an enjoyable experience since you’ll be seeing a lot of each other throughout the process. Do you have any questions so far?”

“How much do we get to know each other, and how often do we see each other?”

“We’ll set up a date for you to meet. We’ll move forward from there in case we’re told by you or the male that this is not a good fit. If you two get along, you two may plan the rest according to your thoughts on each other and the future of the baby. I must let you know, though, the baby will be made the old fashion way. No labs.”

Emma choked on air for a moment. She’d be intimate with a shifter? What would that be like, or was it even different?

Then she thought, did it matter? She’d be getting the family she wanted and be intimate with someone who wanted the same things. Surely, they’d make something work.

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