Bruno and Tad were out the back of their cabin with Niall, all working at the barbecue. Soon, the smell of roasting rabbit and deer filled the air. When the meat was ready, they carried it inside on platters and ate at the kitchen table, accompanied by beer for the guys, and soda for Tad.

“Can I go, dad?” Tad demanded, the moment he was finished eating.

“When you’ve put the plates in the washer,” Bruno said with a laugh. Tad let out a dramatic sigh, but completed his chore, whistling all the time.

Bruno and Niall went through to the living room and threw themselves onto the couches.

“Dude, have you figured out how to set up that dating site yet?” Niall asked.

“As a matter of fact I have,” Bruno said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and showing him the little orange paw print app.

“You installed it for yourself?”

“For research purposes only!”

“Uh huh. I believe you, bro,” Niall said. Bruno reached out with his foot and kicked him.

“Give me your phone, and I’ll set it up for you. Did you find a photo of your animal and a shirtless one as well?” Niall nodded, embarrassed. “It’s gotta be done. We bears have got some serious competition out there,” Bruno said with a shrug. He was silent while he filled in the various categories. “Where are these photos?” Niall showed him. “Ok, we’re done, except for the part where you answer questions about yourself, to help you find the best possible match. I’ll leave that to you though. “There you go, bro.” He handed the phone over and showed Niall how to tap on the app and scroll through the feed. Niall’s eyes got big as he stared at one beautiful curvy girl after another.

“These women are goddesses,” he said. “I’d go for all of them.” Bruno laughed.

“But only one of them will be your perfect match, and it’s up to you to locate her.”

Tad drifted into the room.

“What are you doing, dad?” he said, jumping onto the other end of the couch Bruno was sitting on. He picked up Bruno’s phone and looked at the app.

“Niall has decided it’s time he found his mate, so we’re signing him up to a dating app.”

“Cool. Shiftr? So it’s just for shape shifters, I guess?”

“That’s right, squirt,” Bruno said.

“And you’re starting to date too?” Tad demanded, fixing his father with his clear green eyes. He looked so serious that Bruno wanted to pull him into his arms and hug him. The scattering of freckles on his nose seemed more pronounced than ever. They always reminded Bruno of Karen. She’d hated them when they’d first met, and always tried to cover them with make-up, but he thought they were totally adorable, and, over time, he’d persuaded her to let them show through. He recalled her standing in front of the mirror, gazing at her reflection with eyes that were so much like Tad’s, powder puff in hand, deliberating whether to put a dollop of make-up on her nose. His stomach clenched as it always did at memories of her. But then he smiled. He was coming closer to the point that memories of her brought pleasure more often than pain.

“No, I’m just helping Niall. You know what he’s like with technology. And I don’t exactly have my finger on the pulse. So I just had to figure out how it works for myself first.”

“I don’t mind if you start dating, dad,” Tad said. Bruno looked at his son sideways. He was focusing on the app intently.

“But you said that you wanted it just to be the two of us,” Bruno said gently. Tad looked up.

“I guess I did. But I was just being immature,” he said, in an offhand tone. Bruno let out a bark of laughter.

“What? Where did you get that from?” he said.

“School. We had a class all about how we should treat others as we want to be treated ourselves. Miss Robinson was saying that putting you own needs ahead of others, even if it hurts them, is immature. And taking other people’s feelings into consideration is mature. I’m a big kid now, so I want to be mature.” Bruno smiled.

“That sounds like a good lesson. But it’s important not to hide your own feeling too. Especially when they relate to something that’s really important.” Tad screwed his eyes up tight and was silent for a moment.

“But I was honest about my feelings, dad. I’d be happy if you started dating,” he said at last. Bruno sat up on the couch and took Tad’s hands in his.

“Tad, no-one would ever replace your mom. I need you to understand that. And even if I started dating somebody, they wouldn’t become your new mom.”

“It’s ok dad, I get it. Tyler lives 50% of his time with his mom and her husband, and the other 50% with his dad and his dad’s girlfriend and their two kids. He says it’s really great, as he gets to have two families.” This time, Bruno couldn’t restrain himself. He threw his arms around his son and hugged him tight, awed by his maturity and generous spirit. After two seconds, Tad wriggled to get free.

“Aw, dad, stop it!” he protested. Bruno started tickling him instead, which soon turned to wrestling.

“Ok, I surrender!” Bruno yelled, when Tad was sitting on his chest, pinning his wrists with his small hands. He was strong for his size. He would definitely be capable of shifting – Bruno just knew it. Tad got off him and picked up the phone.

“So, I’m going to help you pick someone out,” he said, and settled back onto the couch again.

Bruno got up and sat on the arm of the couch, near Niall’s head.

“How’s it going, bro?” he asked his friend, who seemed to be deep in concentration.

“I’ve just finished answering all the questions,” he muttered.

“Awesome! Now you’re ready to find your match. Let me figure out how to set up the compatibility checker. So the app says that we should filter at 80%. Does that work for you?” Niall looked bewildered.

“I guess.”

“I’ll set the order to random, and you’re good to go.” He handed the phone back to Niall.

“Wow, this is a lot easier. I was getting overwhelmed before. Now there are only 34 women who might be my match.” Niall scrolled up and down, tapping on thumbnails.

“Blonde, brunette or redhead?” Bruno asked.

“I don’t mind,” Niall said dreamily. “As long as she’s curvy and has a kind face, I’m happy – hey, this looks like – ” Bruno leaned over so he could see better as Niall tapped on another thumbnail. The photo expanded to reveal a close-up shot of Lori. Her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders, and her violet eyes sparkled. Her deep pink lips were parted in an endearingly innocent smile.

“It says that she’s 80% compatible with me,” Niall said. An emotion tightened Bruno’s gut. What am I feeling? he asked himself. Jealousy? The word fizzled in his brain, as if it had been written in the air with a sparkler at Guy Fawkes’ night. I’m jealous that Lori could end up with Niall. Instead of me. He was too shocked to reply to Niall. Instead, he watched as Niall scrolled to her other photos. There was another close-up of her holding Nancy on her lap, her face lit with tenderness. Her baby looked so much like her, it was uncanny. There was also a full-body shot. It had been taken at the Hope Valley ball. She looked great in the deep blue dress she’d been wearing, with the nice tight waist. He felt another twinge. He’d been dancing with her, laying his hand on that dress, feeling the heat of her body radiating through. It had felt so good to hold her in his arms, and he’d loved sitting in the car with her afterwards, taking care of her after the shock she’d experienced.

“Hey, I recognize this lady!” Tad called out, staring at Bruno’s phone. Bruno jerked out of his reverie.

“Who’s that?” he said, going over to him. When he saw the thumbnail, he did a double take. “That’s a hell of a coincidence,” he muttered.

“Dad, that’s the lady whose suitcases we brought over. Nancy’s mom,” Tad said.

“I know son, I’m not blind,” Bruno said with a laugh.

“She’s really pretty! I think you should date her. And, guess what?”

“What?”

“Shiftr says that you’re a 100% match!”

“Nice try, but I haven’t answered the matchmaking questions yet,” Bruno said, ruffling Tad’s hair and taking the phone back. “Huh? That’s weird.” The app did say that they were a 100% match. Bruno scrolled to the personality questions. They’d already been answered. “Tad! What have you done?” Guilt was etched into his son’s mischievous face.

“Please don’t be mad, dad. I was just trying to help.”

“I know, but I need to answer the questions myself, otherwise it will create false matches. Ok, I should probably fix this, before I get myself into trouble.” Bruno looked through the options, until he found the one called ‘retake quiz’.

Tad went and sat with Niall, while Bruno answered the questions for himself.

At last, he hit submit. Then he scrolled back to his feed. There were 21 women who were at least an 80% match with him. He ordered them in terms of compatibility. And Lori was right at the top. A 100% match.

“Tad, I owe you an apology. You obviously know me at least as well as I know myself.”

“Does that mean the pretty lady is still your perfect match?”

“It does.” Tad let out a whoop and bounced around the room.

“That’s great, dad!” he yelled. Bruno smiled at him sadly.

“Tad, c’mere.” Tad walked over to him and draped his small arm around Bruno’s broad shoulder.

“I know Shiftr thinks we’re a good match, but it doesn’t know everything about my life. And I’m afraid Lori and I just aren’t right for each other.” Tad’s face fell.

“But, dad! Why not?” he demanded, and stamped his small foot. Bruno sighed.

“There are some things in life that you can only understand when you’re a grown up,” he said.

“But I’m not a baby!”

“I know that, I do. And I’m amazed how well you seem to know my personality. But I can’t explain. There just can’t be anything between me and Lori, and that’s all there is to it.” Tad stared at him, big eyed. It didn’t make any sense to him at all. But he knew the tone in Bruno’s voice well. It meant this is for adults only, and please don’t ask any more questions. He groaned.

“It’s not fair,” he said, and stamped his foot one final time for good measure.

All this time, Niall had been very quiet, seemingly absorbed in the app.

“What’s your next best match?” he asked Bruno.

“Uh, 88%.” Niall raised an eyebrow. “I know what you’re saying – that Lori is most likely my mate. And in a parallel universe, she probably would be. But it’s just not happening.” He looked at his feed in dismay. And now his track was on Lori’s profile, so she’d be able to see that he’d checked her out. Shit. That’s really awkward. At least she wasn’t online right now. But he had to act fast. He turned his messaging capability on and tapped ‘send this member a message’. He typed:

Hey there,

Nice to see that you’re on Shiftr too! Tad just signed me up and immediately spotted that you had a profile.

Good luck in your search,

Bruno.

Ok. That should explain it.

“Bring your phone over here, bro,” Niall said. “I want to check that we’re not getting matched with any more of the same ladies. I’d hate to go head-to-head with you.”

Bruno joined him on the couch and they compared matches. Tad perched on the back of the couch, sulkily at first, but soon draped his arms around their shoulders so he could get a better look at the screens.

There was only one that they had in common – a pretty blond with an elfin face. She was an 80% match for Bruno, but a 90% match for Niall, which made her Niall’s best match overall.

“Go for it, dude,” Bruno said. “She’s all yours.”

“Are you sure?” Niall’s deep brown eyes were full of questions. Bruno knew that Niall looked up to him as the more senior bear, and that he’d never intrude on his territory.

“Of course I am!” he replied. “I have a feeling she’s going to be your mate.”

“Really?” Niall looked at her photo again. Then he swiped left and looked at her other photos. Then he went back to the first one again. A light came into his eyes. Bruno envied his youthful exuberance. Envied his conception of romance that hadn’t been tainted by tragedy. It was very uncommon for shifters to lose their mates. He’d been one of the few unlucky ones. A similar number of shifters never found their fated mate in the first place. And sometimes, in his darkest moments, he wondered how he’d been singled out to both find his perfect mate and lose her again.

“Send her a message,” Bruno urged him. Niall looked excited and panicked at the same time.

“What shall I say?”

“Say, ‘Hi, you have a really nice profile and I’d love to get to know you better,” Tad said.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” Bruno agreed. Niall typed it out and sent it. A few moments later, Niall’s phone beeped with a new message alert.

Same here, handsome : ).

“Way to go!” Tad exclaimed. Bruno got up from the couch.

“I think we should give Niall a little privacy to chat to his match,” he said. “Let’s go outside and play ball. We’ve been cooped up in here too long.” By the time he’d finished his sentence, Tad had leapt off the couch as well, picked up the ball, and was already running outside.