"There's always adoption, or fostering. Both from the shifter world, and the human world. But I'm sure it won't be a problem for you to get pregnant. Shifters are very sexual, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to try," Tamika said, with a mischievous grin.
"Dixon's adopted," Tamika said in a low voice. "His father – a fox shifter – was shot by hunters when he was a baby. His mother was human, and couldn't cope with taking care of a shifter baby by herself, so she gave him up for adoption to a lovely human-shifter couple, who already had two cubs of their own, and just fell in love with him when they heard about his situation. I've known him for years. He's working as my assistant this summer before he goes off to college." Kristin smiled faintly. She was open to the idea of adopting, but she also wanted to have her own child, growing inside her. In the last couple of years, the need had become almost unbearable.
"So how's it going with the sexy tiger?" Tamika asked, breaking into her thoughts.
"Oh. It's not," Kristin said, staring into the dregs of her Bloody Mary. "He looks so amazing, but he definitely wants kids. It's such a torture for me. I couldn't stand the thought of falling for him, and then finding out that I can't be a mother to his children. I actually right-swiped him, so I don't have to see him anymore. But, would you believe that he lives on my street?" Tamika laughed.
"Yes, darling, I would. We created the proximity locator, remember?"
"Uh, good point," Kristin said, rolling her eyes at her own naivety.
"You might just have a hard time avoiding him if he's your neighbor."
"Oh, it's worse than that. I was messing around with the locator, and I got close enough to him that he scented me." Tamika's eyes got very big.
"And has he messaged you since?"
"Yup. He said something about not being able to leave me alone now that he knows my scent." Tamika's pretty face lit up with delight at Kristin's words. "What? What is it?" Kristin said.
"Oh, nothing," Tamika replied, her expression turning mischievous again. "These shifters are very tenacious, you know? Once they scent their mate, it's hard to stop them in their tracks."
"I am not his mate," Kristin said, anger beginning to rise up inside her. "He's got no right to think I've got any association with him at all!"
"If that's the case, and you're absolutely sure, you might have to meet up with him and tell him straight. Otherwise, who knows how long he might pursue you?"
"You're right!" Kristin said forcefully. "I'll meet up with him – go to a café, or some other neutral place, and tell him straight up: he's not the guy for me."
"Ok," Tamika said, nodding.
"I'm sorry," Kristin said, suddenly realizing that she'd ruined Tamika's celebrations. "I didn't mean to put a damper on things. I know you were all excited about the 100% match."
"It's fine," Tamika said lightly. "There'll be another fully compatible pair out there someday, for sure."
"I mean, I'm not saying the app didn't do a good job of identifying us as compatible. I just didn't mention my issues with having kids on my profile, so that wasn't included in the mix," Kristin said, desperate not to offend her.
"It's ok, dear, really." Tamika squeezed her hand. "All I care about is that my girls and shifters end up happy and with their destined mate."
After they'd finished eating and drunk a strong coffee each, Kristin excused herself, sensing that Tamika had things to do. She also needed to go home and finish up an article for tomorrow's paper. As they said goodbye, Tamika hugged her fiercely.
"Be happy. I'm not worried about you, Kristin," she said. Kristin stared at her curiously. There was more in her eyes than she was saying. As she turned to go, Tamika called her back. "Can you please watch out for Melissa though? I don't think she and Timo are compatible, and the faster she realizes that, the faster we can hook her up with the right shifter."
"Sure thing," Kristin replied, with a wave.
Chapter 4
Kristin's head was full of thoughts as she drove back home. Tamika was one of the most intriguing women she'd ever met. She sensed that a big brain was working away behind her cool, mannered English façade. If the Shiftr app hadn't been a secret, she'd definitely have asked to interview her for the paper. But why had Tamika looked so happy that the tiger had already scented her, and then been so accepting of the fact that she was going to tell him she wasn't interested? It was all so confusing. How was she going to contact the tiger anyway, since she'd deleted him from the app? She knew which building he lived in, but not the number of the apartment. He'll probably track me down anyway, she realized. And then I'll tell him how it is. She drove on a big loop again, to avoid the tiger's place.
When Kristin got indoors, she took the app out, and spent a pleasant half hour staring at the eye candy of the many guys who wanted to find out if they were her match. The trouble was, they nearly all said that they wanted a family some day. She looked through her personal settings, but there was no way of searching by guys who said they weren't interested in having a family, or who left the family section blank. The wolf had messaged her, but she intentionally left his message until last. When she finally clicked on it, her heartbeat sped up a little. It said:
Hey, sexy. When I checked out your profile and saw your smoking-hot body, I thought to myself, here's a chick I wouldn't mind seeing some more of. And my wolf agrees, lol. I think you and I could have a lot of fun together!
Kristin puffed her cheeks out. This wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting. Flirting, sure, but this was on the verge of being sleazy. Still, he'd given her a compliment on her body. Guys usually didn't say much about her body. And when she told them what she hated about it, they didn't usually say much to reassure her either. Independently of her brain, her thumb typed out a reply:
Is that so? ;)
He replied immediately:
Yes it is, sexy mama. Damn, you've got some curves I wouldn't mind getting my teeth into ;)
She squirmed a little. This wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to be romanced, treated like a princess. She wanted someone who wanted to spend time getting to know her. She wanted what Lauren and Dina had. Again, her thumb took over, tapping on the phone's glass display.
You might find out that I'm more than you can handle,
she wrote, and bit down on her lip. Who is this person being so coarse and snarky? I don't even recognize myself. But it was her – it was the familiar persona that she slipped into with guys to prevent herself from being hurt. They thought she was so tough and smart-mouthed, never realizing that she was actually extremely vulnerable. Another message popped up:
"I'm willing to take that chance. How about we go on a date together and find out if you're right?"
She barely hesitated before replying:
"Ok"
"Tuesday. 8.30, Silver Dime Saloon? You know it?"
She did know it. It was a dirty biker bar on the outskirts of town; not her thing at all.
"Yeah, I do."
"See you later, sexy."
And he was gone. The little dot on his profile showing whether he was online went from green to red. Kristin propped her chin up on her elbow. She had a date! On Tuesday! But why did she feel so deflated? Because you can tell he'll be bad for you, and he's obviously looking for a booty call, a little voice in her head told her. It was actually Lauren's voice. When it came to things to do with men, her conscience always spoke in Lauren's smarty, peppy tone, as if she had a miniature version of her hanging out in her brain. She let out a long sigh. Whatever. A date is a date. The wolf guy finds me attractive, and that has to be good for my self-esteem.
A couple of hours later, and Kristin had finished the article she needed to write. When she worked, she was like a machine, never letting herself get distracted by anything, and in the years of bad relationships she'd had, this was something to be extremely grateful for.
As usual, she felt ambivalent about going for a power walk. Her body felt sluggish and achy, but she knew it would help clear her head. She went into her bedroom to get changed into her exercise gear. Her sports bra was like body armor, made out of an inflexible type of mesh, but it did the job, keeping her large breasts in place as she worked out. Although, the side effect of them being lifted and crushed against her chest was that she ended up with some crazy cleavage, which was a little embarrassing. She sorted through her workout tops. It was still hot outside, even though it was late afternoon, and the only sleeveless one that was clean had a low v-neck that would put her crazy cleavage out on display. Oh well, she wasn't planning on going out on the streets today, in case the tiger was around, so few people were likely to see her. She teamed it with some loose navy shorts that finished just above her knee, and some high-tech sneakers. She put her phone in an armband and left her apartment.