Mates, Inc.

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Some restrictions may apply. Contact Mates, Inc. for details.

Who in the hell would send him a Mates, Inc. gift card? Why in the world would Mates, Inc. even have gift cards?

Just plain bizarre. Some kind of sick joke.

He shook his head, grabbed the rest of the mail, which consisted of bills and “occupant” crap he would throw away up in his apartment even though there was a garbage can next to the mailboxes where most of his neighbors pitched the unwanted stuff. Grey half considered tossing the gift card in it, but it actually had his name on it so he headed up the stairs with it still in hand where he would shred the damn thing.

Who could have done this?

But then again, maybe no one had. Maybe this was simply one of those tricky-ass advertisements designed to get someone sucked in. When they got to the information about the fated mate, Grey bet the “some restrictions may apply” would pop up and obtaining such knowledge would take a small fee. Or a large one. Didn’t matter to Grey which. He wouldn’t pay either. He had had enough of dating websites.

Which was why this irritated him.

Grey wriggled the key in his apartment door until the lock finally gave way, opened the door, pitched the mail on the kitchen counter, and turned to close himself in.

And fated mate? Ha! Ridiculous. As far as he was concerned, they didn’t exist. At least not for him. He had done enough dating to know that. All those damn websites were the same. None of them had been a wise decision for his heart or his bank account.

How would a mating website be any different?

Well… technically a mating website was more appropriate for him, being he was a wolf shifter and an Alpha to boot, which didn’t help matters. Except he had never known mating websites even existed, so there was that. But finding someone even compatible to be with for a few hours was hard enough in the big city, much less a fated mate, which was what this website was suggesting they had already done for him. The only guy he had met recently who fit the bill of “compatible” was the bartender at Coyote’s Bar and Grill.

Plus, somehow, they knew he was gay. The “fated mate” they had found was a him.

How?

He picked the card back up from the counter and headed to the shredder. He was going to show whoever thought he was stupid enough to fall for something like this it wasn’t true.

No, he saved all his stupidity for dating.

Well, not all his stupidity.

What Alpha in his right mind ever cut and run from his own pack? And just because the one man he had fallen for was already taken? Already mated, for fuck’s sake, and to the head Alpha?

Thankfully, he had handled the leaving well. He said his mother in the city was gravely ill and he had to see to her. Except his mother had been pretty much a no-show all his life and even though last he heard she did live here in Whiteridge, he had never stepped foot in her house. And he lied about her being ill. Well, physically ill that is. Mentally ill was a whole other story. One he had no intention of ever being a part of again.

He sat down at his computer desk. He needed to check his email, and then, even though the night was young, he wanted to figure out something to do for dinner. Maybe he would order in. With the Mating Moon on the rise, things would most likely get crazy tonight, and for the first time in ages, he wanted to steer clear of having anything to do with it.

The shredder sat next to the desk on the floor so he leaned over and jammed the card into the feeder.

Nothing.

What the hell?

He pulled his chair over so he could check if the machine was on. It was. He carefully fed the card into the entry point again. Sometimes the stupid thing was temperamental and he had to hold the paper just right in order for it to work. Still nothing. This time, Grey rose from the chair to unplug and plug the shredder back in again. Still nothing.

Damn it!

He whomped back into his chair.

Nothing ever worked longer than ten fucking minutes anymore.

He glanced at the card again.

You have a fated mate.

Well, what could it hurt? It wasn’t like anyone would know. There was no one in the room with him to laugh at him when he got to the part where he had to enter his credit card information again and he was proven right. The card was simply a cunning advertisement, a way to get some lonely slob to spend his money.

And doing this would probably give his computer a virus of some kind or, worse yet, adware or malware, whatever the latest trend was.

So, he shouldn’t do it.

He opened his computer and typed in the web address.

Welcome to Mates, Inc.! Are you searching for that someone special? That one someone you can share your life and grow old with? Well, here at Mates, Inc., we are dedicated to the art of finding that someone for you. Yes, that’s right, the art of finding that someone! Your fated mate. Whoever or even were-ever that being is, wolf, bear, cat, bird, we will find him or her or them for you. Click HERE to enter!

Nice music. Happy. Encouraging. The graphics appeared to be professional, not that he would know. But someone spent time and money on the site. Grey hovered the cursor over the capitalized word “HERE” and, after a second of hesitation, clicked on it.

Congratulations! You have taken the first step in finding your fated mate! How can we help you, you ask? Simple! Fill out the on-line form, which will tell us all about you and what you are looking for. Doing so will only take a few minutes. Just click HERE.

Yep. That was exactly what he thought. They didn’t know shit about him specifically. If he had to fill out some on-line form, they hadn’t found anyone, including him.

But then he realized there was another line below the “just click here.”

Or did you receive a fated mate card in the mail today? Then you’re one of the LUCKY ones! That means we’ve already FOUND your fated mate. You get to click HERE!

Holy fucking shit!

Grey slammed his computer shut, glancing around to check if all the curtains were indeed closed and no one was truly peeking in because he felt there had to be. The damn thing hadn’t said his name, but it might just as well have.

Why the hell that scared him as much as it did, he had no clue. But suddenly he was thinking someone was watching him, and that flat-out freaked him out.