Chapter Four
Judah
I packed some of the brownies and a bag of GORP and headed for the trails near our rental. I’d been on them many times, but with each hike, I discovered something new. Mostly about myself.
Hiking gave me time to think. Organize my thoughts. Mentally slap myself in the head, sometimes.
I immediately got defensive when Saber brought up the dating app. We’d done the dating app thing. One specifically for shifters. One for reverse harems. We even tried one only for humans and decided to take our chances.
None of them had panned out. Not even close. We got a few bites but not one that stuck.
And it sucked to get our hopes up time and time again. Sometimes, I forced myself to be okay with no mate. It was the only thing that kept me safe.
My bear didn’t appreciate that one bit. He had hope that one day our mate would show up.
Me? Not so much.
“Hey, Judah. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” one of the locals, Layla said, waving her poles. An older woman who got out here to hike more than anyone, she was leaning against a pine tree, a trickle of blood running down her calf.
“Layla! Did you take a spill?” We had been here over a month and had learned some of the people who lived close by.
“I did. Got my old feet twisted and went knee first into a rock.”
“Sit down on that boulder.”
I pulled my pack off and took out my first aid kit. The scrapes weren’t bad, but she was bleeding a lot. Blood thinners, she cursed.
“My husband would’ve remembered the bandages. We had thirty good years together. He would’ve loved this place.”
I shook my head. “This fall today will make you remember it now.”
As I finished the bandaging, she looked off into the distance. “I sure do miss him at times like these.” She patted my head. “You’re a good man, Judah. Lots of people passed me by, but you stopped to help an old woman.”
“You’re looking spry to me. Are you on your way home?” I helped her to stand.
“I’m headed there now.” Layla walked back toward the trailhead, her words burned into my mind. If I died today on this trail—not likely since it was a beginner trail, more distance than challenge—who would care?
Saber and Aldrin would mourn me like a brother, but there would be no one else to miss me. And the more I traveled, the more I realized those precious moments were better shared. With someone I was in love with. My mate. Our mate.
Maybe my sleuth brother had a point. We could never give up trying. By the time I got home from the hike, I had a plan.
“Let’s sign up for the damned thing,” I announced, walking into the house before I lost my nerve. It was scary to put ourselves out again. To take the chance of being hurt.
Saber and Aldrin were sitting at the table. They were both hovered over a laptop, probably seeing how many views our channel had or something like that. They were always concerned about the business, while I had faith it would do well without obsessing about it.
“What?” Saber said. He looked at Aldrin. “Wait, it has to be all three of us. We have to make an account for polyamorous relationships. We need pictures. Aldrin?”
Aldrin was the unofficial alpha of this group of bears. He was also the oldest of us, and we deferred to him on decisions.
“It’s fucking hard to think about this.” He shut the laptop and pushed it back. “Not that I haven’t. In fact, it’s been the only thing on my mind since Saber mentioned it.”
I took my boots off and sat down. My backpack stayed packed and ready. There was no telling when I would wake up one morning and take off on a long hike. Drove the other planners in this house a bit crazy. “We still believe in Fate, right?”
Saber snorted. “Yeah, but she’s taking her sweet time, isn’t she?”
“But at least we would be trying something. Right now, we’ve just given up.”
Aldrin threw his hands up. I knew what was coming next. Honestly, this was how we made a lot of decisions. “Fuck it.”
Saber was next. “Fuck it.”
Who was I to break the chain? “Fuck it. Saber, tell us what to do.”
In less than an hour, we’d signed up for the app together, linked our accounts. We chose all kinds of pictures of us not only together but solo.
We put our phones down and went about our business. I grabbed some leftovers for breakfast while Aldrin and Saber went back to planning the trip to Nairobi.
I had taken one bite of my oatmeal when all three of our phones buzzed with a notification sound I’d never heard before. “What the hell is that?”
Saber picked up his phone and went pale. “We…we have a match. Already.”
“What?” I exclaimed, unlocking my own device. “Already?”
Another notification.
“Um, guys? I think the match sent us a message.”
Her name was Posy. She was stunning. A match. For us.
Hi. I’ve been matched with you guys, and I wondered if you’d like to talk a little?