“Hear, hear!”rose from the group, and Sera tapped her drink against Caesar’s with a smile.
After eating, the group headed to the safari for a group tour, something that many of them hadn’t done in years.Sera was excited to see the shifters in the paddocks and experience what the tour was like.“Hey, there’s Tank, my hero!”Sera said when the big Jeep, driven by two of the wolves, stopped at the last paddock.
“I thought I was your hero?”Caesar said with a disgruntled harrumph.
“You are!But he’s my hero too.Oh, I should work his name into the coffee and pastry shop!That would be so fun.Moose Coffee and Pastry.”
“Tank’s Bean and Bakery,” Fallon offered.
“Tank’s Safari Café,” Caesar said.
“Oh, I like that,” Sunny said.“You could do lots of theme stuff with him, like mugs with a moose on it.How fun!”
“I love it,” Sera said.
When they’d finished the tour, they headed to the aviary for a show featuring Zephyr the scarlet macaw, hosted by Jess, an owl shifter, and Maggie, Alistair’s mate.They’d visited the petting zoo and taken a turn on the merry-go-round, finishing off the day at the market cafeteria, where Sera made flavored waters and introduced Fallon and the stallions to Heidi, who was working the café for the dinner rush.For dinner, they ate the special—fried chicken and mashed potatoes—and split several pieces of chocolate pie, courtesy of Lexy.
Sera had never been so stuffed.
Or so happy.
Or so much in love with her soulmate.
“So,” Fallon said as Sera and Sunny walked with her and the stallions to the employee lot so they could head back to Little River, “when are you and Caesar going to get hitched?And can I be here for it?I know that I’m not part of the group, but I don’t want to miss it.”
They stopped near the two vehicles the stallions had brought.
Sera smiled at her daughter.“A few weeks.I want the trees to turn color so it’s a beautiful fall backdrop.And you can definitely be there.You and Sunny.”
“Heck yeah,” Sunny said.
“Actually,” Sera said, smiling at Zara and Tatum, who were mated to stallions, “your whole group can come too.”
“We’ll be there with bells on,” Zara said.
“How about you?”Sera asked Fallon.“When are you and Avi going to tie the knot?”
“I’ve always wanted a winter wedding.So we’ll wait for the first snow and have it in the barn.”
“I think that sounds perfect,” Sera said.
“Can I get in on that?”Sunny asked.“I’d love to have a winter wedding.”
As the two excitedly started on plans for a dual winter wedding, Sera leaned against Caesar.
“Are you happy, baby?”
“So happy.Are you?”She turned in his arms and looped hers around his neck.
“I’ve been happy since the moment I met you, but every day is better than the one before.”
“You always know just what to say.”
Sera looked around at the group.They were a mishmash of shifters: jaguars, a tigress, a bear, lions, humans, stallions…and in the park were even more types of shifters, who lived and worked together and had each other’s backs even when things got downright dangerous.
“I never really believed in happily ever afters until I met you,” she said.“But I believe in them now.For you and me.For Fallon and for Sunny.And someday, for Amadeus.”
“Yes, please,” Amadeus said.“I’d like to get my happily ever after any day now.”
