The Mating Game Bundle

“This will piss off a lot of packs that have been things doing the same way for-ever, but it’s time to think differently about the way we find fated mates. Times have changed, and each pack, pride, and clan is being challenged in ways our ancestors could have never imagined. If our species are going to survive—hell no, we deserve more than that. Let me start over...five, four, three—” I held up two perfectly manicured fingers to finish the silent count. “If we expect shapeshifters to thrive, we can no longer be expected to settle for the wolf next door.”

Every shifter in the room gaped at me, and that was exactly how I liked it. I had their attention now.

“You might be asking, who the hell I am to make such a claim? Darlings, my name is Bibi le Bonnet. Until recently, your only chance to discover me was at the Orchid Lounge, hosting Dames and Dolls burlesque night or drag bingo, drag charades...if you can do it in drag, I’m all over it.” I winked at the camera.

My producer, Marissa, bounced on the balls of her feet and waved to me. We’d only started working together two months ago, and this was our first filming, so I wasn’t sure what the gesture meant, but I was in the groove, and there was no stopping me now.

“Like I said, times have changed. The Real Werewives found me at the Orchid Lounge, and they gave me my own show: Welcome to The Mating Game.

“Our mission at The Mating Game is to find the perfect mate for all of our brave and beautiful contestants. But physical beauty is only skin deep, and we need to go to the foundation of what makes a fated mate. It’s a soul deep connection. Our contestants have agreed to choose their mate sight unseen. That’s when the real work begins. Think of this as a choose your own adventure dating extravaganza. We’ll work to make sure we build a meaningful, lasting relationship, and if the lucky contestant has won over our lady’s heart...we’ll give them the mating ceremony of their dreams.

“You might be asking yourself, what does a drag queen know about fated mates? Under all this glam and glitter are some fierce fur and fangs. Ask for makeup tips if you see me in the street, but trust me, you don’t want to cross my wolf deep in the forest. Wait. Cut.”

“Why? That was amazing,” Marissa said. Didn’t need wolf instincts to know that my producer was flustered. This job was a big step up for her, but I was confident she could pull it off. Her experience was mostly with gossip sites, but I’d been so impressed with her during the interview there was no way I was letting someone else have her. The shifter community deserved something fresh and new, and we were ready to deliver.

“It was aggressive. The last thing we need is a bunch of stuck-in-their-ways wolves showing up here to issue a challenge.” I wasn’t afraid of the big bad wolf, but I had better things to do.

“I liked it,” Bjorn, our camera guy, said. In his human form, he was a gorgeous six-and-a-half-foot wall of muscle with long blond hair that belonged on the cover of a romance novel, but he hailed from the frozen tundra and shifted into a polar bear. “It says you won’t take any shit.”

“It was a tad bit aggressive,” Marissa challenged. The two of them hadn’t agreed on one thing since we started working together. The only reason I didn’t put a stop to it was because they pushed each other to come up with better ideas.

“You’re human. It’s different for shifters.” Bjorn grinned at her, and she steeled herself, like she took that as an insult.

My glam squad took advantage of the break. I usually handled these things myself, but The Mating Game was far beyond the scope of anything I’d tackled before, and even I couldn’t do everything myself. This was a much bigger undertaking than The Real Werewives, which had been shot guerilla-style, with just a producer and a camera. The Mating Game had stages, lighting, hair and makeup teams, wardrobe people, and a whole team of consultants to help me be the fairy godmother I’d promised each and every contestant I would be.

My makeup artist reapplied my baby pink lipstick. It had a slight sparkle to it and matched my favorite wig of the moment.

“I’m so glad we went with this dress.” The wardrobe designer beamed at me, the silver sequins reflecting on her face. The dress was sleeveless, with a modest neckline and a cut that skimmed my body. The slit revealed an almost scandalous amount of thigh, and of course, I had the perfect silver heels to match. “You look like a total goddess on the monitors.”

I tapped my chest over my heart and mouthed thank you before she disappeared into the shadows behind the monitors.

“Let’s continue, shall we? We can decide whether to keep that aggressive bit in the final edit. Five, four, three...” I gave Marissa and Bjorn a chance to get settled, but the bear shifter had gotten under her skin. “Cindy Charon doesn’t believe in fated mates, and that makes her our perfect first contestant. She was one of those she-wolves who did the right thing to make her pack happy. But the man she married was not her mate. How do we know that? Her she-wolf said so. If that’s not enough proof for you, he abandoned her and her three small children.” I paused to let the gravity of that settle with the viewers. “We’re going to pull out all the stops to find the wolf that’s right for Cindy, and give her the life she’s forgotten she deserves.”

“That’s a cut.” Marissa started clapping, and the rest of the crew followed suit.

“Thanks, everyone. We’re off to an amazing start, but the real magic will take place on the stage, when we bring our fated mates together.” I could not wait for that moment, when the couples looked at each other, and everyone could see that zap of electricity between them, the one that bound their hearts together until the end of time. It was enough to make the coldest, hardest heart believe in true love.

“So, I need to talk to you about that.” Marissa moved forward, but her eyes kept darting back to her tablet. We’d have to have a chat about multitasking. “One of our contestants canceled. Their agent said—”

“Agent?” I couldn’t have heard her right. “Why would one of our contestants have an agent?”

She let out a deep sigh. “The pool of interested wolves wasn’t as deep as we anticipated. Once we weeded out wolves that weren’t up to our standards, the pool wasn’t very deep at all. Other species got far more applicants, and I wanted to keep Cindy with a wolf. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of options—both good and bad. So I reached out to some talent agencies.”

“You hired actors?”

She nodded.

A few things would have to freeze over before I allowed an actor to grace the stages and screens of The Mating Game. “No. Absolutely not. We can’t have actors. The fastest way to destroy trust is if the contestants think their mate is faking what they feel for them.”

“But the contestant wouldn’t pick one of the actors, right?” Bjorn asked. “He wouldn’t be her fated mate.”

Marissa brightened, and we had a first on The Mating Game: She agreed with the big bear.

“People love the drama that reality shows bring,” she added.

I shook my head. “That’s not what The Mating Game is about. The purpose of this show is to give women the courage to stand up and demand what they deserve. Forever’s too important to mess around with. And that’s why we need wolves to compete for Cindy’s heart.”

 “Okay, I’ll get to work. Maybe there are some wolves I overlooked.” Marissa sighed and hurried off the stage.

I was about to tell her we couldn’t afford to overlook anything, but for The Mating Game to be a hit, I’d have to send my inner perfectionist on an all-expenses-paid trip to Tahiti until the end of the season. I’d loved Marissa because she didn’t have the same tired ideas as the rest of the people I’d interviewed. I had to give her a chance to bring these ideas to fruition, even if she didn’t make the same decisions as I would.

Focus on the positive, I reminded myself. And I had an embarrassment of riches to choose from.

This segment was being filmed in our brand-new headquarters in the heart of downtown Sunset Springs, Colorado. We had an indoor stage for occasions like today, a confessional room, makeover rooms, and an outdoor stage, so viewers could attend the actual mating game competition and the mating ceremony live.

The rest of the crew still waited for my instruction. “That was amazing, everyone. Take a break—we have some time before our next segment, and once we start the episode, we’ll be full speed ahead.”

“You don’t have to do everything yourself.” Hugo was all wolf, even in his human form. He brushed his lips against my cheek. Public displays of affection weren’t his thing, and we were working.

I’d explained when I’d hired him as The Mating Game’s head of security that we needed to keep things strictly professional, even though we hadn’t in the past. My career was my focus right now, and I didn’t do anything I couldn’t put my all into.

“How did I not see a smoking hot hunk of wolf like you slip in here? I guess I picked the right head of security.” I cursed myself as I put my hand on his arm. The man was solid muscle, and I couldn’t deny there was something magnetic about him. But I couldn’t give in to this pull, because it could very well end in disaster. “Did you bring me a present?”

He looked down at the flowers in his hand. Pink roses, lilies, and some cute little filler flowers.  “Can’t let an occasion like this go by without celebration.”

“You shouldn’t have.”

He met my gaze. “I wanted to, Bibi. I’m proud of you. This is a huge undertaking, and you’re making it look easy. And it’s a big deal for my pack. We’ve been down on our luck for a long time, and we might not be good at showing our appreciation, but I can tell you every wolf in Green Mountain is excited about what Cindy’s fresh start might mean for them.”

“They’re beautiful. Thank you.” I took the bouquet from him. The last thing I wanted him to think was that I was ungrateful. The Green Mountain pack had a lot in common with the pack I turned my back on, and maybe there was a little more on the line with this first episode for me than just finding Cindy a fated mate. I wanted to see this pack thrive. And do a little healing myself.

We were standing in the middle of the stage. The crew should’ve been wrapping the equipment and getting ready for the next setup, but all eyes were on Hugo and me. We’d become the show.

I gave him my best camera-worthy smile. “Come with me to my office?”

He nodded.

We’d been on a few dates after we’d been introduced during a Green Mountain crisis. They’d gone well. Too well. I wasn’t looking for a relationship right now. On paper, hiring Hugo could be considered a huge mistake. But I didn’t make those. I had opportunities to pivot and do better.

No one knew the Green Mountain pack better than Hugo. The opportunities for growth as well as the potential for massive pitfalls. He’d be my eyes and ears in the forest. He’d do the things that I didn’t want to do when things got messy.

Like fight. I’d never seen another wolf rival me in a fight until I met Hugo.

And yes, I definitely had some feelings about that. Anything that came under the heading of Hugo would be labeled “complicated” and dealt with later.

Because this wasn’t my turn to go to the confessional. I was laser-focused on finding Cindy the wolf fated to be by her side.

I scanned the office. Allies had been hard to come by until I’d settled in Sunset Springs. It was one of the reasons I’d hired Hugo—to teach myself to relax. The wolves here weren’t out to get me, but the local packs had more than their fair share of drama to deal with, and I’d shined a giant spotlight on myself. A girl could never be too careful.

The aroma of the bouquet had already filled the tiny room, mixed with Hugo’s earthy wolf scent. It would linger, and I’d enjoy it later. I put the flowers in a vase and took a moment to admire them. Poor Hugo stood in the doorway, looking so out of place in the state-of-the-art production studio.  

“Did you get me a card, too?”

“No, I found that taped on the outside of the stage door. It had your name on it, so I wanted to make sure you got it.”

“That was sweet of you. The flowers are more than enough.”

My mind was spinning in a thousand different directions. Hugo was not quite grasping the fact we were coworkers. Marissa had hired actors without telling me. We were slated to film Cindy on stage with her potential suitors in a matter of days, and if Marissa’s assessment of the current mate pool was correct, would I actually be able to fulfill my promise that I’d be able to find Cindy the wolf of her dreams?

Of course I would. I was Bibi le Bonnet, and I made things happen. Not only that, I made things shine.

I sat on the desk and crossed my legs, aware of Hugo’s appreciative gaze as I slid my thumb under the envelope flap. It was heavy black paper, and my name had been written in metallic magenta ink. Whoever sent this knew what I liked.

I gasped as soon as I read the first word.

Bronson,

Only my old pack still referred to me by my male name. I could still be Bronson, if I wanted to. But since coming to Sunset Springs, I’d fully embraced being Bibi le Bonnet, and that’s what all my friends and coworkers called me.

Congratulations on your new show. We love the idea of updating traditions and bringing fated mates together.

Are you ready to make amends?

There was no need for the author to sign their name.

“Hell no,” I growled, like the paper could hear me. “Not in this lifetime.”

Hugo took the piece of paper from my hand. His eyes darkened, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he ripped off his leather jacket and went full wolf. “Fuck. Montana’s back.”

“Have you seen them around?” I was glad Hugo was here. I didn’t want to be alone right now. The Montana pack brought chaos with them everywhere they went, and I was not proud to have been born into that pack. They’d made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with me, and I was better off bringing my sparkle elsewhere. The letter might have seemed like a good thing, but with these wolves, it was anything but.

“No.” He spit the word out. “But they love to recruit new wolves into their fold. Rogue, dangerous wolves. I’ll make sure every wolf on my team is on the lookout.”

“Of course they’d reach out once we start the show.” I slid off the desk and paced my office. It was too small for all the wolf energy in here. And the last thing I would do was shift. That was exactly what Montana wanted. To lure my wolf out. To take The Mating Game away from me.

“They won’t get their hands on you, or anything associated with the show. I guarantee it.” Hugo stepped in front of me, putting his hands on my arms. Energy rocketed between us. Hugo was ready to fight.

But was I?

I closed my eyes.

Yeah, I was ready. Montana wouldn’t set the terms this time. Sunset Springs was my turf now, and I determined the rules of this game.