Once Upon a Shifter (20 page)

“It sounds like the daydreams I used to have when I was a little girl,” she said.

“Exactly! Who didn’t have those daydreams?” Lauren replied. “It was just a bit of a let-down when we all grew up and discovered that guys were more into lying around watching the game and drinking beer than getting the most out of a relationship. But Connor’s not like that. He’s so caring and attentive, and loves doing things in a couple. Family means everything to him.”

Lauren had finished typing her latest entry. “Ok. Is there anything else you want to add about what you’re looking for in a guy?”

“I don’t think so,” Dina said.

“Is there any species you’re not willing to consider?”

“Umm, I don’t know?” Lauren laughed.

“Of course you don’t. This is all new to you. It’s ok, we can add this bit later if you like. Now, you’re supposed to describe yourself in five words, but I’m going to do this bit for you.” Dina tried to grab her phone, but Lauren held it well away from her.

“Smart, funny, caring, sassy and warm-hearted. Right, that’ll do.” She stood up. “I’m going to use the photo of you in the red dress, but I’m going to take a couple of face shots too. Look at me.” Before Dina could think twice, she was gazing up at her friend, and Lauren snapped several shots. “Perfect!” she said triumphantly. She sat down again, and Dina watched as she hit ‘upload’ and ‘create profile’. An egg timer showed on the screen for a few seconds, and then, bam! There it was – Dina’s complete, brand new profile. The full body shot was the main photo, and all her details were underneath.

“Where are the other photos?” she asked. Lauren swiped left, and a close-up of Dina’s face appeared. Dina peered at it anxiously. The light from the window was shining right in her eyes, so they looked really green, you could see the scattering of freckles across her nose, and her lips looked nice and full. The way she was looking right up at the camera made her seem a little mysterious, as if she had a secret she was bursting to tell. She actually looked pretty cute, she admitted to herself.

“Sexy chica!” Lauren said.

“Not too bad,” Dina said, blushing. Just then, a fluorescent pink heart popped onto the screen. Lauren gave a little scream.

“Oh my god, you’ve got an alert already! That has to be a record, girl!”

“What do I do?” Dina said, adrenaline fizzing in her stomach.

“Tap it, of course!” Dina tapped the heart with her finger, and the graphic burst like a balloon, leaving a message in its place:
Want to find out if we’re a match?
it said, and it was followed by a happy face and a sad face icon.

“Ooh, he looks interesting,” Lauren said, frowning at the thumbnail of the guy who’d sent it. “Click on his photo.” Dina tapped again, and a photo of a stocky, muscular guy filled the screen. He had messy, dark brown hair, with the slightest hint of red, and a wide, angular face.

“He’s really hot, but there’s something a little arrogant about his smile,” Dina said.

“I agree,” Lauren replied. “It says he plays ice hockey, but when he’s not doing that, he loves lounging around, watching movies. Mmm, I don’t think that’s the kind of guy I’d get on with. Let’s see what kind of shifter he is.” Dina flicked her thumb and a lion appeared, sauntering along a forest trail. “I knew it!” Lauren said. “I’ve heard on the grapevine that lion-shifters don’t have an easy time finding human mates because of their very ‘particular’ personalities.”

“Yeah,” Dina said, biting her lip. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, because he’s insanely attractive, but I don’t feel like he’s the one for me. But how should I tell him?”

“Just tap the sad face icon, and he’ll understand.”

“That seems a little harsh.”

“No,” Lauren said firmly. “Shifters are very straightforward. One thing they don’t do is play games. They understand that finding someone you’re perfectly suited to is super important.”

“Ok,” Dina said slowly, and tapped the icon. Immediately, the lion’s profile disappeared.

“You won’t see him again now,” Lauren said. “That’s what’s so great about this site. You don’t have to scroll past the same old faces again and again. If you say
no thanks
to someone, they disappear, and if you see a profile you don’t like when you’re searching, you just swipe right, and they also disappear.”

“That’s so neat!” Dina said.

“Ok, this is the fun part. Tap ‘search’ and you’ll start to see the profiles. You can order them by certain criteria, or you can just go random.”

“I’ll do that,” Dina said, tapping ‘random search’. A photo of a lean, black-haired guy filled the screen. He had powerful shoulders, and a muscular torso with narrow hips, forming a classic triangle shape. His worn blue jeans sat low on his hips, revealing those diagonal grooves of muscle that drove Dina crazy with lust.

“Wooh, he’s hot!” Dina said. He had a nice face, with a strong jaw and firm lips, but there was something reticent in his eyes.

“What kind of shifter do you think he is?” Lauren said.

“Mmm, something canine, definitely. A coyote? Or a wolf?”

“My guess is wolf,” Lauren said. Dina swiped left, and a wolf appeared, pale gray in color, with blue-green eyes. “Wolves are an interesting one. Because they live in packs, they have this really strict hierarchy. My guess, from the look of him, is that he’s an omega, so will be of low status in his pack.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, not at all. It might mean that he’s a very soft and devoted mate. It just depends on what you’re into. Do you feel a connection when you look at him?” Dina shook her head.

“No. It’s weird, but it’s like I’ve got a voice in my head saying no.”

“That was my experience when I was on the app too. With shifters, it seems that you just
know
whether they’re suited to you.”

“So, I’m going to swipe right, so I don’t see his profile again?” Dina said. Lauren nodded, Dina’s thumb flicked right, and he was gone.

The next guy had a shock of light blond hair that flowed down to his pecs, an unusual, angular face, and a sensitive, slightly wild look in his eyes. His muscles were long and lean, and his olive skin glistened, as if he’d just gotten home from a run.

“Is he a horse?” Dina murmured.

“Let’s find out!” He was indeed a horse – a large, pale golden animal, with a broad white stripe running down the center of his face. His mane was exactly the same color as his hair. “He looks interesting,” Lauren said.

“He looks like he’d be a lot of work to tame,” Dina said with a giggle. “Maybe I’ll leave him for later.” She swiped down to the next guy.

Every few seconds, a message alert popped up.

“Wow! All these guys want to speak to me?” Dina exclaimed.

“Of course they do!” Lauren said. “But how about we have a little fun seeing what’s out there first, before we find out who’s fighting for your attention?” She temporarily disabled the alerts and refilled their wine glasses, and they hunched over Dina’s phone, going from one guy to the next, to the next. The guys all had amazing bodies, with great muscle tone, and striking good looks, but beyond that, they couldn’t have been more different.

It quickly turned into a game of ‘guess the animal’. Most of the guys turned out to be wolf, bear, big cat, or stallion shifters, but there were also beavers, foxes, deer, and even seals and dolphins.

“This is so much fun,” Dina said. “I feel like a kid in a candy store!” Lauren looked at her friend with affection, thrilled that she was enjoying herself so much. She’d known she wouldn’t regret making Dina the one she shared the shifter secret with.

“What’s the deal with shifters that live in the water?” Dina said, shuddering as she flipped between a photo of a surfer with long, tangled blond hair, and a shark. “How does that work?” Lauren laughed.

“I guess you’ll have to move to whichever beach town they live in, so they always have easy access to water!” she said. Dina kept staring at the shark photo. “I just can’t see myself with a shark-guy,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it!” Lauren replied. “There are
plenty
of other options out there. What kind of shifters
are
you drawn to?” Dina flicked through a few more profiles while she was thinking.

“Well, the big cats are hot, but I get the feeling that they’re too independent. I’ve always been more of a dog person,” she broke off with a giggle. “Sorry, that was a terrible thing to say. The wolves are sexy, and I like the whole idea of being protected, but that hierarchy thing is probably a bit too much for me. But the bears – there’s something lovable about them.” She scrolled up to the last bear shifter she’d been. “They all seem to have these big, sturdy bodies, with meat on their bones. That’s what I really love in a man, to be honest.”

“Me too!” Lauren said. “When I first saw Connor, it was a no-brainer. I visualized those strong arms wrapping around me, pulling me against his hairy chest, and I just melted! Bear shifters are known for being reliable, protective and warm-hearted. They love the outdoors, and going hiking on weekends.”

“That sounds so perfect for me,” Dina said with a grin.

“Ok, if you like, we can change the options, so you only see bears?” Lauren offered.

“Yes, let’s!” Lauren took the phone, unticked several boxes and handed it back to Dina.

“You know, I think I really liked the very first bear-guy we saw, you know, the one with black hair and brown eyes. I felt an instant connection when I looked at his photo. How can we find him again?”

“Umm, we’ll have to search for him,” Lauren said regretfully. “The first three profiles the app showed you were just a teaser to get you interested, so his profile could be anywhere on the site.”

“Damnit! It’s going to be such a hard job scrolling though all these sexy bear shifters to look for him,” Dina said, with a glint in her eye. Lauren picked up the bottle of wine.

“Well it looks like we’re all out of wine, so how about I leave you to your search, while I go down to the store and get us another bottle?”

“Sounds like a great plan!” Dina said. “Let’s order pizza too!”

“Definitely, girl! You know what I like,” Lauren said, picking up her purse and skipping out of the apartment.

Dina ordered a meat feast supreme with extra jalapeños, and a quattro formaggio, and returned to scrolling. She was almost going cross-eyed from the parade of insanely hot guys being presented to her, one after another, and she was worried that she’d miss the one she was looking for, lost among so many other sexy man-bears. But, suddenly – there he was!

“My goodness!” she exclaimed. Her soft pink lips curled into a smile as she stared at his photo. There was no way she could’ve missed him. He had those deep brown eyes, like dark pools you could get lost in, and his goatee was so sexy. She had a real weakness for light beards; there was something so rugged and masculine about them. His body was something else. His chest was broad and deep, with well-developed pecs, and his arms were strong and meaty. He had nice abs, but he looked like a guy who really enjoyed his food, rather than a scrawny gym bunny. His skin was deeply tanned, and he had a sexy scattering of hair, beginning on his chest, and running all the way down to the top button of his faded blue jeans. His hip bones were just visible, and he had a red lumberjack shirt tied around his waist. Dina read his profile, her excitement growing by the second. It said he worked as a wood carver and volunteer firefighter; he lived out by the national park; he loved eating out, cooking at home, hiking, and playing with his two nephews. He’d love to meet a tall, voluptuous woman, with an adventurous spirit and a love of life. She could hardly restrain herself from getting up and bouncing around the room.
He was just too perfect!
At the bottom of his profile was a pink heart.
What does this mean?
She muttered, tapping it at the same time. As before, the graphic popped to reveal the message:
Want to find out if we’re a match?
Without hesitating for even a second, she tapped the happy face icon.

At that moment, Lauren hurtled back into the apartment with the wine.

“You’re not going to believe what’s happened!” Dina exclaimed. Lauren opened the wine in the kitchen and brought it through to the living room.

“What?” she said.

“The bear guy’s contacted me already!”

“Let me see!” Lauren snatched the phone out of her hand. “Oh my god, he messaged you within ten minutes of us completing your profile. Let’s see what he said:

Hi, there. This is the first time I’ve messaged anyone on the app, but when I saw you, I knew I couldn’t let you pass by. You’re so beautiful, and you seem so genuine and good-hearted. But it wasn’t just that: I felt such a strong connection when I looked at your profile, that I’m desperate to find out if we’re fated to be together.

Hoping to hear from you,

Logan.

“Wow!” Dina breathed.

“He felt the same connection with you! This is awesome,” Lauren said. “Shifters have destined mates, like,
the one
they’re supposed to meet, and they devote their lives to finding them. It sounds like you might be his!” Dina’s tummy tingled with excitement.

“But how is that possible?”

“No-one knows how. It’s just the way it happens,” Lauren said, but the end of her sentence was drowned out by the doorbell ringing. “I’ll get it,” she said, and headed downstairs again to pick up the pizza.

Dina stared at the guy’s photo, thinking of what she was going to say to him. This was all so crazy. He wasn’t playing it cool, like she expected guys to, and she felt like she owed him the same directness. While she was deliberating, she decided to see what he looked like as a bear again. She placed her thumb over his photo and swiped to the right.

“Huh?” she muttered. Instead of a photo of a bear, she was looking at the main list of profiles again.
What have I done? I must have slipped off his profile somehow.
She scrolled up and down, searching for it.

“These pizzas smell A-mazing!” Lauren yelled, coming through the door. She deposited them on the coffee table, opened both boxes, grabbed a piece, and immediately began eating. After a couple of seconds, she glanced at Dina.