Kristin clapped her hand over her mouth to suppress a yawn. The Hope Valley town hall meeting was long, and so far there hadn’t been much to report on. Only stuff like planning permission disputes and various petitions, which Kristin only put in the paper when she was really desperate for news. The room was hot and airless, and she fidgeted uncomfortably, wafting her face with a folded-up pamphlet. She hated being cooped up anywhere for long periods of time.

As the lead councilor droned on and on about some tedious, who-gives-a-shit issue, her brain bounced a single thought around: there’s a dating app full of men who sometimes shift into animals! The thought was accompanied by a whole range of emotions – skepticism, shock, curiosity and excitement. She reached for her purse, snuck her phone out of it and tapped the little orange paw print of the Shiftr app. It opened on the profile photo of the last guy she’d seen. He was powerfully built, with bulky muscles and washboard abs. He had messy hair, narrow eyes, and a lazy grin. He had to be a lion. A swipe to the left confirmed it, and she smiled to herself. In the photo, he was lying in the middle of a forest trail, like the king of the jungle. Would it be a good thing to date a lion? Weren’t they supposed to be lazy? Whenever she’d played that game of what animal would you be? she’d always picked a lion, because she knew she projected a tough, intrepid character. But did that mean that she should have a lazy partner, who expected her to make all the effort? Or should she be looking for someone who shared her qualities instead? She scrolled up and down. The wolves looked interesting. Some of them seemed tough and dominant, while others looked softer. Didn’t they have that alpha/beta thing going on? Maybe she’d like an alpha male, as long as he didn’t try to dominate her. But perhaps that’s the whole point of being an alpha wolf – you’re always superior to your partner? She paused on one guy. He had golden-brown hair in a stylish cut, and a broad, angular face, with defined cheekbones and a very square jaw. She adored men with chiseled features. She zoomed in on his face. His eyes were a very unusual shade of green, almost like grass – and they sparkled beguilingly.

“Wow,” she said aloud.

“I know, it’s awful, isn’t it?” the guy next to her muttered. “Can’t believe they’re cutting the budget again!”

“Yeah; it’s terrible,” she replied, sucking in her lips to stop herself from giggling. She tuned the guy out and returned to the phone screen. So what kind of shape shifter is he? Lion? Tiger? She swiped to the left, and a huge, beautiful, orange and black tiger was revealed, surrounded by dense green foliage. The animal’s cool green eyes were the exact same shade as the man’s, with the same glowing intensity. At this discovery, a shiver ran through her body. She shook herself. What? Why am I suddenly finding it so hot that he’s half tiger? She swiped right and stared at the guy’s torso. He had the body of a sprinter, with huge, sinewy muscles: her absolute favourite kind of athlete. His skin was olive-toned, with those small, flat brown nipples that she loved on men. She swiped from tiger-to-man, man-to-tiger a couple more times. Her clit was actually tingling. There was just something about the thought of him being so powerful and wild that did something crazy to her.

She scrolled through his profile. He was 6’2”, which meant that he’d still be taller than her when she was in heels. He enjoyed traveling, rock music gigs, dirt-bike racing, reading, painting and visiting art galleries. He loved hanging out with his friends, but valued his independence too. He was looking to meet a curvy, feisty woman who was his equal in all respects. He’s not only smoking hot, but his personality sounds perfect too. She tried not to let her mouth hang open. Ok, how do you let someone know that you like them? She scrolled down to the ‘send this member a message’ icon. Her thumb hovered over it.

And she let her phone drop into her lap. Who the hell was she kidding? This guy was absolutely stunning. Ridiculously good-looking. She needed to be more realistic. She picked the phone up again and swiped to her profile. Dina and Lauren were utter sweethearts. They’d listed her hobbies as writing, basketball, traveling, hiking, and hanging out with her best friends. In the ‘seeking’ section, they’d said she was looking for a man who was as fearless as she was, who loved travel, adventures and cozy Sunday lie-ins. They knew her so well. The face shots they’d picked out were nice too. Kristin was pretty much ok with her face. She’d always been told she was pretty as a kid, and she’d dated a lot in high school. It was her body that she could never come to terms with.

When she was 22 and just finishing college, she’d broken out in acne for the first time in her life, her periods became really irregular, and she put on 35 pounds for no reason at all. She’d completely freaked, and been to see several specialists. And they’d all told her the same thing: her ovaries were growing cysts, which were making her hormones unbalanced. There was nothing they could do about it; all they could do was treat the symptoms. She’d recovered from the acne by going through a controversial treatment program, and it was pretty nice only having four or five periods every year. But the weight wouldn’t shift. She was an athlete, and she knew how to push her body to its limit, but six punishing sessions a week weren’t enough for her to regain her previous figure. She was stuck being 40 pounds overweight. And if she missed a couple of sessions, another five pounds crept on, as if by magic.

She’d wasted most of her twenties not dating, hiding from people she’d known at school. When she ran into guys she’d dated when she was the school basketball star, she felt ashamed, convincing herself that she saw surprise and disappointment in their eyes. By the time she was 29, she was borderline anorexic, living on 800 calories per day, which was what it took to keep her weight at a level she was happy with. One day, she was so weak from hunger and over-exercise that she collapsed in the shopping mall. When she regained consciousness, lying on a hard marble floor with a splitting headache and a crowd of people standing around her, she’d promised herself that it stopped right there. She’d started eating sensibly, with normal portions, and continued working out hard. Her weight had stabilized, and her figure was shapely and well defined. She still didn’t feel like herself, but people said she was sexy. She had boyfriends on and off into her thirties, but she could never let her guard down. Regardless of what they said to her, she thought they’d leave her for the skinnier girl. She was always defensive, always trying to stay one step ahead of them. She mostly dated bad boys, so it wasn’t a surprise when they dumped her, while the nice guys would eventually tire of the endless conflict, and move onto someone else.

Kristin stared at the full-body shot gloomily. If it was someone else’s photo, she might have said that she was looking at a statuesque, voluptuous woman, but she couldn’t help zeroing in on the things she hated about her body – like her wide hips and oversized boobs. Still, Dina and Lauren had said it was a dating site for curvy girls. She looked at the tiger’s profile again. Under the family section, he’d selected the option “no kids yet, but planning on having a big family some day.” And that was the other issue right there: she had no idea whether she’d be able to provide a partner with children. And that made her feel like she was on the dating scrapheap.

Kristin jumped at the sound of chairs scraping across the floor. Damnit! She’d missed the last 20 minutes of the meeting at least, and now she had nothing to write about. Tomorrow afternoon’s paper was going to involve some heavy creative license. Oh well, that was nothing new. The truth was that there wasn’t too much to write about in their local town. There had never been a murder or a kidnapping. Violent crime was almost unheard of. Regardless, she loved working for the Hope Valley Echo. It was all about community. When she’d graduated from college, she’d gotten offers from several high profile papers, but she’d never wanted to live anywhere but her hometown, and write about the daily happenings of the people she cared about.

She dropped her phone, her notepad and her pen in her bag, and got to her feet. She needed to head back to the newspaper office and complete half a dozen articles for tomorrow’s paper, as well as covering for the subeditor who was off sick. It was going to be a long evening. And the last thing she needed was to be distracted by sexy tiger-men that she couldn’t have. She took her phone out of her bag and moved the app to trash. She didn’t even have the log-in details, so there was no way she could access it, even if her resolve weakened.

* * *

Late into the evening, when the sky had already been pitch black for several hours, Kristin’s eyes slid to the bottom right of her computer screen. 10:15pm. Her eyes were stinging, and the fluorescent light overhead buzzed dismally. There was an empty container of chicken salad, a half-eaten packet of dry-roasted peanuts and two diet coke cans on the desk next to her. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the office. She was the only person there. All her news stories were written and everyone else’s were subbed. She sent all the final versions to the editor in chief, and she leaned back in her chair and stretched. Work is over for the day! she told herself, and she was immediately filled with elation, and thoughts about what she was going to do with the rest of the evening. She’d been thinking about Shiftr on and off while she’d been working. The tiger wasn’t the one for her, clearly. But Lauren and Dina had both found gorgeous men for themselves, so she wasn’t ready to ditch the app altogether. Maybe there were shifters on there who weren’t so keen to have kids. She was itching to go and see the girls and find out more about these shape-shifting men. But was it too late? She tapped out a message to Dina, since she tended to be a night owl when she didn’t have to get up for school the next day.

Dina replied as Kristin was walking across the parking lot to her car:

Yes, I’m still up, hun! We’re at home and Lauren’s here too. Come see us!

Kristin deliberated for a moment. She was tired, and a drive out to the national park seemed like a lot right now. But it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. The thought of her lonely bed wasn’t too appealing either. She messaged Dina back, asking her for directions.

Half an hour later, Kristin turned into a very dark road. From the car’s headlights, she could barely make out that it was a dirt track. Dina had given her exact coordinates for her GPS, and she followed the soothing male voice as it told her to continue for 623 yards and then stop. “You have reached your destination,” it said. There was absolutely nothing around. Just woods on the right, and a steep bank on the left. She called Dina.

“I’m here – I think,” she said hesitantly, as Dina’s chirpy voice came on the line.

“Hang tight, Logan will come pick you up,” Dina replied.

Moments later, Logan came bounding through the trees.

“Hey, Kristin!” he called, enveloping her in a giant hug. He was built on such a large scale that they made her feel tiny.

“Hey, Logan! Good to see you,” she replied.

“It’s this way,” he said and dived back into the woods. She followed him closely as he picked his way among the trees, asking her all about her day. The enveloping darkness lifted as they came to a row of cute wooden cabins.

“Ours is the third one along,” Logan said, showing her in. Kristin walked up the steps leading to the veranda, and into the arms of a grinning Dina.

“Hey, girl!” she yelled. “I’m so excited that you finally get to see our place! Come on, I’ll show you around.” She took Kristin by the hand and led her inside. Lauren was in the living room, reclining on a big leather sofa, and she pulled herself up with difficulty to hug Kristin hello.

The cabin was adorable. It was cozy and rustic, but also stylishly furnished, with a lot of beautifully-carved wood.

“Like a drink, Kristin?” Logan asked, as she sat down on the sofa next to the girls.

“Why not?” she replied. “I don’t suppose you have whisky?”

“Of course,” Logan said with a chuckle, and poured her a tumbler-full. It was rich and peaty, and as she sipped, the stresses of the week drained away.

“So?” Lauren said expectantly. “How’s the app?”

“Um, you’re going to have to give me the password, since I had to disable it after it resulted in me not getting any stories out of that damned town hall meeting,” she said, laughing.

“Oh, it’s just Shiftr. But let me download the app for you. I need to use a link from my email, because it’s not available in the regular app store. It’s a secret app.” Kristin handed her phone over and Lauren fiddled with it. “Ooh, you haven’t activated your messages. Let me fix that right now!”

As Lauren gave the phone back to Kristin, it began to emit all kinds of beeps. “Wow, Kristin, you’ve got mail!” Dina exclaimed. She and Lauren huddled on either side of her as she accessed her mailbox. There was a total of 15 messages waiting for her. Kristin tapped to open the first one, and immediately caught her breath.

“Oh my god, it’s from the tiger!” she said.

“Who’s that?” Dina and Lauren said at the same time.

“Oh, this insanely hot guy I was staring at earlier,” she replied. Her pulse had quickened, and perspiration broke out on her palms. “Ok, what’s he saying to me? – Hi there, beautiful. I see you’ve left your scent on my trail. You sound very interesting. I’d love to get to know you better,” she read. She paused, frowning. “What’s he talking about? Scent? Trail?” Lauren laughed.

“One thing I didn’t mention is that when you visit someone’s profile, you leave a track behind, so they can see you’ve checked them out.”

“What? This is terrible!” Kristin exclaimed.

“Shifters are pretty direct; there’s no hiding yourself on this site,” Logan said in his warm, rumbly voice.

“And what are you worried about?” Dina said. “He thinks you’re hot!”

“No. Just no. He’s way hotter than I am.”

“Uh, hello?” Lauren snatched the phone out of Kristin’s hand and pulled up her profile photos. “Not from where I’m standing, chica!” she said.

“I appreciate you putting up those photos of me, but they’re really flattering. If he saw the real me, he’d be sorely disappointed,” Kristin said firmly.

“But – ”

“No buts. Now, I’m going to check out my other messages.”

Most of them were simple ‘Want to find out if we’re a match?’ alerts, followed by a happy face and a sad face icon.

“I feel like I’m going to really offend these guys by looking at their profiles, leaving a track, and then saying no,” Kristin said, clicking on a profile of a beaver shifter. “I mean, this one looks like a great guy, but – a beaver? I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

“Guys don’t work like that, especially shifters,” Logan said, with a grin. “We’re all about finding our perfect match, so anything else is a waste of everyone’s time. If you’re not interested, you’ll be doing these guys a big favor by telling them straight up.”

“Uh, ok,” Kristin said, giving the beaver the sad-face treatment.

“You know you can filter by animal, right?” Lauren said.

“Oh, really?”

“Tell me what kind of shifters you see yourself with? Or at least, which ones you wouldn’t rule out?” Lauren said, swiping to the options page. Kristin leaned back on the sofa and stared up at the cabin’s wooden beams.

“All big cats, I guess,” she said. “Wolves kind of intrigue me.” She slid a glance at Logan. “Bears, of course.”

“Are you sure?” Dina said. “You’re such a city girl, Kristin, and bears always live out in nature.”

“We’re earthy and kind of homely. And we get a little slow and grizzly in winter when our bodies want us to hibernate,” Logan chipped in.

“Ok, fair enough,” she said, her voice tinged with regret. “What else is there?”

“Um, horses, deer, moose, sea creatures. Everything you can think of really,” Dina said.

“No. I think I’m good with felines and wolves. I feel like I need to be with a shifter that’s high up in the food chain. I want a guy I can wrestle with, you know? The kind who challenges me.” Dina shuddered and snuggled into Logan.

“It’s a good job there are so many types of shifter out there,” she said. “Conflict is the last thing I like in a relationship.” Kristin looked at Dina with affection. Logan’s hand was resting on her pregnant belly, and he looked like he couldn’t be happier sitting with her, just chilling, while she gossiped with her friends. They were absolutely adorable together, she thought, as she got up to visit the bathroom.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” she announced, and headed out of the living room. The second she’d gone, Dina leapt to her feet.

“Quick, give me her phone before it locks itself!” she hissed.

“You’re going to message the tiger, aren’t you?” Lauren said, handing it over.

“Absolutely. I’ve got a hunch that they’d be good together,” Dina said, tapping and scrolling on the screen. “Ooh – wait – the app has a new setting. There’s a perfect match analysis. Apparently they’re 100% compatible. How crazy is that?”

“Wow! Let’s send the guy a message, and when she starts to complain, point out that they’re a perfect match,” Lauren said, eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Ok. I’m writing: ‘Hey, handsome. I was just padding by, when your profile made me stop in my tracks. Looks like you and I might have a thing or two in common.’” Dina hit send just as Kristin skipped back into the room.

“I’m just applying the animal filters for you,” Dina said, hurriedly, her thumb moving fast.

“Thanks,” Kristin said, taking her phone back.

“Oh. That’s made half my messages disappear. So that leaves – ” She clicked on the next message in her inbox. “A wolf. Ooh, he’s hot,” she said, opening the guy’s profile. Dina and Lauren craned their necks to see his photo. He had black hair and amber eyes, with a narrow, slightly hard face. As with the others, he was bare chested, but he was also wearing a leather jacket. His hair was done in a quiff, and he was raising an eyebrow, cockily.

“He looks interesting,” Kristin said.

“So he’s into bars, JD, his Harley, video games, and biker chicks,” Dina said. “He sounds like one of those guys you used to date. You know, those ones who weren’t good for you. At all.”

“I don’t know. I think we could be good together,” Kristin said. Lauren and Dina shot a warning glance at each other. Kristin had that dreamy tone in her voice that meant she was close to making a bad man-decision. It always amazed them that someone as smart as Kristin could be so dumb when it came to men.

“Ok, look. It says you’re 43% compatible,” Dina said, swiping to the bottom of his profile. “That’s not a good match at all. Whereas – ” She located the tiger’s message. At that moment a message popped up: “According to Shiftr, we have everything in common. Shall we meet up for dinner and find out if our little matchmaker has got it right?” it said.

“Huh?” Kristin shook her head in confusion. “That doesn’t make sense. Oh, it’s from the tiger.” At the realization, her heart began to beat fast again. “But what does he mean?” As she looked at the messages more closely, she let out a gasp. “What have you done?” she exclaimed, her eyes blazing as she looked from Dina to Lauren and back again.

“You were being ridiculous about not contacting the tiger, so, as your friends, we made an executive decision to give you a helping hand,” Lauren explained, matter of factly.

“You’re a perfect match. 100%,” Dina added.

“That doesn’t mean it’s true. No way am I hot enough for him.”

“Kristin, listen to me,” Lauren said. “Shifters like curvy girls. All the women with a profile on the app are at least as curvy as you are. You’re like the minimum. So you don’t need to feel self-conscious about that. And you’re more than hot enough for any guy.”

“No. I’ve made my decision,” Kristin said. “I’m not going to humiliate myself.” She stared typing:

Sorry, it was my friends who messaged you just now. They were messing with my phone without my permission. Thanks for your interest, but I don’t think we’re compatible. I hope you can respect my decision.

Regards,

Kristin.

“Girl, you’re making a big mistake,” Lauren said, her voice heavy with disappointment. “And who ends a dating app message with ‘regards’ anyway?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to make sure he knew I was being serious,” Kristin said. Another message came through:

I’m sorry to hear that, but I’ll do as you say.

Sadly yours,

Roman

“And he even sounds like a nice guy,” Dina said.

“Maybe he is, but he’s not the nice guy for me,” Kristin replied. She didn’t want to admit that his stunning good looks weren’t the only reason why she didn’t want to speak to him. She was superstitious about mentioning her fears that she wouldn’t be able to have kids, scared that every time she mentioned it, the possibility would increase by one per cent. She knew it was silly; it was just something that was so outside of her control that it seemed to belong in the realms of fate.

“Can you promise me one thing: after making one monumentally silly decision, can you at least not compound it by messaging the wolf?” Lauren asked her.

“I can’t see you with a wolf, Kristin,” Logan said. “I’ve spent enough time with different shifter species to know them pretty well, and I can tell you’re not compatible. They’re too hierarchical for you.”

“Which is why you get a low compatibility rating,” Lauren added. Kristin flicked through her messages. It was true that none of the wolves were more than a 70% match.

At last, she put her phone down with a sigh.

“I think I’ve maxed myself out on shifter dating for one night,” she said. “It’d be good to chill with you guys for a little while before I have to head back home though.”

“Or you could crash here, and have a couple more whiskies?” Logan suggested, shaking the bottle temptingly.

“Ok, done. I’m not a girl who needs much persuasion,” Kristin said with a grin, and held out her glass for a refill. She curled up on the sofa, tucking her long legs underneath her. “So what’s going on with Melissa?”

“She’s dating a shifter too,” Lauren said.

“What? So I’m the last one to join the party?” she said, eyes flashing.

“Kind of, but Melissa doesn’t actually know that this guy is half bear.” Kristin gaped.

“How is that possible?”

“They met at our wedding,” Connor said. “Timo’s part of our clan.”

“So it’d be great if they were a perfect match, but we’re not convinced that they’re right for each other,” Lauren said.

“Why not?”

“Well, they’ve been on a few dates, but it doesn’t look like sparks have been flying.”

“Mmm, Melissa’s shy with guys though. Especially after all she’s been through,” Kristin said.

“I was hardly Miss Confident,” Dina said. “But when you meet your mate, everything’s different. It’s like – like a whole new world opens up to you, and you just want to be with that person. You want to be part of them, as close as two people can be.”

“Ok, ok, pass the sick bucket!” Kristin said with a laugh. Dina’s eyes widened.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to make you feel bad. But I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t know you were about to meet your mate too. Trust me, he’s waiting on Shiftr for you.”

“And I think he’s a tiger!” Lauren sang.

“Stop!” Kristin said, and batted her with a cushion.

The four of them chatted for a while about this and that, the girls telling Kristin how much fun it was to live in the national park. Dina was talking excitedly about the hike she’d done last weekend, and the animal species she’d seen. Before long, Connor came to pick Lauren up. He’d been catching up with a few of the guys. Kristin looked at him with envy. He was just as good looking as Logan, and obviously a really nice, gentle guy, despite his huge bulk. Could she really dare to believe that there was a shifter out there who was perfect for her too?

Dina, Logan and Kristin stayed up for a while longer, and Logan kept topping up Kristin’s glass. She was glad for it. Thinking about dating made her nervous. She’d been single now for more than a year, after her last relationship had ended in disaster when she’d caught her boyfriend cheating on her. With a tiny, skinny girl. Putting herself out there again brought her insecurities rushing to the surface.

At last Dina started yawning.

“I’m off to bed, guys,” she said, pulling herself up from the sofa.

“I think I’m done for the night too,” Logan said. “I’ve got to do fire drills with the boys tomorrow morning.” They hugged Kristin goodnight, and brought her a pillow and a blanket. She was asleep in seconds.