A question and a statement, rolled up together.
“Yes.”The word left her lips in a soft hiss, full of promises.
“What do you want to say?”he asked.
“Besides us being soulmates?You want to know the inappropriate stuff?”Her cheeks pinked when he let out a low growl of encouragement.“I’d just like to be with you.I haven’t really felt right since I got here to the park, but at the same time, it’s felt kind of like home too.I was feeling torn in half, but I couldn’t really articulate what was going on with me.And that’s not inappropriate, that’s just the truth.But since we nearly ran into each other, suddenly everything seems to have righted itself.”
He took her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze.
“I feel the same way.”Suddenly, the last week of strange, uneasy feelings made sense.His lion had known when Sera had come to the park and he just hadn’t realized what all the push was.
If he’d have listened to what Jupiter said the night Sera arrived when they’d been on patrol, he might have realized thatshewas the reason for the agitation and gone to meet her.
But he hadn’t.
And they’d both been floundering.
Clearing his throat, he said, “So you were invited to go out to shift with the sleuth?”
“More like Sunny suggested it because my cat has been feeling cooped up.But obviously that wasn’t what was going on—my cat was trying to draw me out of their private living area to find you.”
He grinned.Damn, he was so happy to be here right this moment with her.
“If you’d still like to shift tonight, maybe you could do it in the lion paddock.With me.”
Her head tilted slightly, curiosity making her eyes look like whiskey in crystal.
“Just the two of us?”
He nodded, his cat preening at the prospect.He’d never seen a jaguar shifter before, but more than that, he wanted the first time they both shifted to be just the two of them.
“I’d love to,” she said.“When the park is closed?”
“Yes, after the security team has given the all-clear.In the meantime, can I show you around?I’ve got a thought about how to give you some much-needed sunlight.”
* * *
On the way out of the market with drinks in hand, they stopped at the bears’ private living area, where she called Sunny on her phone and the female met them with her mate Seneca.Sera wasn’t allowed to have any security codes because she was technically a visitor in the park.None of the other shifter groups had the security codes for the other private areas either, although if he’d needed to, he could have gotten into the area with an alpha override code.
“Oh!”Sunny said, seeing the two of them together.“You’re soulmates!Holy crap, this is why you were feeling strange all week.”Sunny hugged Sera and smiled broadly at Caesar.“She’s my adopted mom so that makes you my dad, I guess!”
“True, and that means you also have three brothers,” he said.“You too, Seneca.”
“Awesome,” the big male said with a grin.“What are the freaking odds that Sunny fleeing the prowl would end up with all three finding their mates?”
“Fate’s a funny and unpredictable thing,” Sera said.She gave Caesar’s hand a squeeze.“So I’m going to shift with him in the lion paddock tonight.But I’d love to shift with you sometime too, so I can see what you look like in your tigress shift.”
“Of course,” Sunny said with a nod.“Have so much fun.I’ll talk to you later.”
The door shut, and it was just him and Sera in the hall.“Ready?”he asked.
“Definitely.”
Hand in hand, he led her to the lions’ private living area and up into the employee cafeteria, heart in his throat and his lion purring like crazy.
It was just something to do, something to help her feel not so cooped up underground.
But it felt like more than that.
