Helping Charlotte arrange the wedding in just two weeks was the most challenging volunteer work Juliet had ever had to accomplish. But after a lot of compromising and a fair amount of tears, everything was arranged and ready to go. The groom’s party and the bride’s party would all drive to Fate Mountain Village in vans several days before the wedding.

The bride and groom had decided to spend the time partying with their friends and having separate but equal bachelor and bachelorette parties. After all the work helping to arrange the wedding and all of her troubles at work, it was nice for Juliet to take some vacation time and get out of town. Ernest had almost rejected her request for vacation days, but she had gone to his boss and had her request approved. She put Snuggles in a kennel where she knew he would be well taken care of. When she arrived downtown, her friends were all piling into the Fate Mountain shuttle vans.

Juliet handed her suitcase to the driver, and he put it in with the rest. Charlotte and Quinn and all their girlfriends were giggling and blowing air kisses at the men’s party as they piled into their own van. It was only noon, but a couple of the ladies were already drunk. And why not? If Juliet could ever bring herself to drink in the middle of the day, today would be one of those times. Especially since she was so damned nervous about what was to come.

“Did anyone bring any wine?” Juliet asked.

“We need booze!” Quinn shouted as the driver slid the van door closed.

“There isn’t any,” Charlotte said.

Juliet would have to deal with her nerves by herself. As the van drove through downtown Portland and onto the highway, Juliet pulled her phone out of her pocket. She’d been having an interesting text conversation with Levi about life in Fate Mountain Village. Juliet had been up there before and she liked it a lot. Levi was explaining to her that it wasn’t quite as rural as it seemed.

Considering it was only an hour’s drive from the most populous city in Oregon, Fate Mountain had a constant stream of tourists coming through the community. There were many businesses that prospered there, catering to the wealthy visitors who frequented the mountain. Juliet had never really thought about it that way. She’d always seen Fate Mountain Village as an ordinary rural Oregon town. According to Levi, Fate Mountain was actually a safe haven for various types of shifters and their families.

Juliet began to wonder why he had bothered with a dating app like Mate.com when he could just date one of his own kind. She had heard that there were far fewer female shifters than male shifters but didn’t know if it was truth or rumor. So many so-called facts about shifter society she’d grown up hearing had turned out to be lies. Humans had known about shifters for two decades but there was still a great deal of misinformation about them out there.

Juliet had always been fascinated by the idea of shifters. They were faster, stronger, and had more powerful senses than humans. In an evolutionary sense, shifters were superior. Like most humans, that gave her pause. She also knew that shifters had been living among and breeding with humans for thousands if not tens of thousands of years. In all that time, they had managed to keep their secrets and had never taken over the world.

There were far more humans than there were shifters and that would probably always be the case. It made her wonder about what it would be like to be mated to a shifter and what kind of life they would live as an interracial couple. It was definitely something to think about before getting too serious.

In the last several weeks, she and Levi had been texting back and forth almost every day. None of the other males she’d been matched with on Mate.com had been at all interesting to her. Although a few of them had sent her messages she’d never responded to.

She didn’t know if Levi was talking to a lot of other women, but she really hoped he wasn’t. In spite of all the history between humans and shifters over the past twenty years, she really enjoyed Levi’s conversation. He was smart and funny and had a way of directing the chat that made Juliet feel safe. Although they had only been exchanging text messages, they had gotten to know each other in a fairly intimate way.

Now they were about to meet. Juliet hadn’t been on a date in years and now she was about to come face-to-face with a shifter male who was apparently a perfect match for her. It was a little intimidating to say the least. What if he didn’t like her in person? What if he didn’t like her curves? What if he found her boring?

Juliet hadn’t put herself out there in so long that she didn’t know if she could take the rejection. As she was typing a response to one of Levi’s texts, Quinn leaned over and stared down at her phone.

“Are you texting that shifter?” Quinn asked.

“None of your business,” Juliet said, yanking the phone away.

“You are,” Quinn said, reaching for the phone again.

“Juliet’s got a boyfriend,” Charlotte said in a singsong voice from the front seat of the van.

“He’s not my boyfriend. We haven’t even met.”

“You’ve been texting him every day for the last the two weeks,” Quinn said. “I’ve been on dating sites, and I’ve never found a guy that I was interested in enough to text every day for two weeks.”

“Maybe you’re joining the wrong dating sites,” Juliet said, hoping it would change the subject. But it didn’t.

“Maybe I should sign up for Mate.com,” Quinn said in a humorous tone.

The rest of the women in the van started giggling and insisting that Quinn join Mate.com immediately so they could ogle the brawny male shifters on the site. Quinn pulled out her phone, declaring that she was going to sign up right here and now as the van made its way through the thick pine forest.

Juliet sighed and put her phone away. She couldn’t take any more teasing, especially since she was about to meet Levi. Quinn hunched over her phone, smiling and giggling as she filled out the questionnaire.

“These questions are ridiculous,” she said.

“I know, right?” Juliet responded.

Maybe Quinn would give up the whole silly idea and they would all drop the subject immediately. Unfortunately, that’s not the way things worked out.

“Done!” Quinn announced. “It’s loading my matches.”

Charlotte and the other women all demanded Quinn tell them exactly who she was matched with immediately.

“It’s still loading. Wait. Okay, here we go. Oooh, these guys are hot,” Quinn said, scrolling through her phone.

“All shifters are hot,” said one of the other bridesmaids. “I would join that site if I wasn’t already married.” The other attached girl emphatically agreed.

“Wow. I’ve got a hundred percent match. That must mean we’re fated mates,” Quinn said, giggling at the absurdity.

Juliet didn’t think it was something to be laughing about. Fated mates were an important part of shifter culture. That was something that she had learned about from Levi. She didn’t want to listen to her friends mocking such an important custom.

“His name is Drew. Isn’t that cute?”

“Where’s he from?” Charlotte asked, turning around from the front seat, trying to peek at Quinn’s phone.

“You guys aren’t going to believe this. This Drew guy lives on Fate Mountain. He owns a microbrewery or something like that.”

“Is he hot?” Charlotte asked.

“Of course he’s hot. He’s a bear shifter. Like Juliet’s guy. Except this guy has a beard and tattoos. Wow. He really is hot. Look at this picture of him without a shirt on,” Quinn said, showing her phone to the rest of the party.

The women’s mouths all dropped open upon seeing the shifter’s bare chest.

“You have to text him,” Charlotte said.

“Wait a minute,” Juliet said. “Didn’t we order a keg of local craft beer for the party? Is it possible it’s Drew’s beer?”

“Oh shit,” Quinn said with a gasp. “I think you’re right.”

“Just send him a text,” Charlotte said.

“Okay, fine.”

Quinn’s fingers moved over the screen then she clicked off her phone and put it away.

“What did you say?” Juliet asked.

“I just said hi. What else was I supposed to say? I’m your soul mate, want to get nasty?”

“That sounds appropriate,” Charlotte said.

Juliet could see the expression on Quinn’s face turn from excited to anxious. Signing up for Mate.com had just been a way to pass the time, but now she was faced with a dilemma. It was quite possible she’d meet the man who was her perfect match, according to the shifter dating website anyway. From what Juliet knew about Quinn, her family had been involved in some serious shifter hate back in the day. Juliet knew that Quinn wasn’t that way. But she had been raised around it, and the idea of dating a shifter would probably bother her for a number of reasons. No matter how hot and sexy Drew happened to be without a shirt on.

“Now we’re in the same boat,” Juliet said softly to Quinn.

“Well, you’ve been talking to yours for two weeks. I just sent mine a stupid text and now I’m going to show up where he lives. I don’t think I’ll be able to live through the embarrassment.”

“It’s not like you planned any of this,” Juliet said, trying to help her friend out of her anxiety through rationalization.

“Of course I didn’t plan any of this, but he doesn’t know that,” she said.

“What do you care?” Charlotte said, patting Quinn’s knee. “He’s just a stranger. He probably won’t even recognize you if you do even see him. Just forget about it. We’re going up there to party. There’s plenty to keep us occupied. Am I right, ladies?”