Perhaps into the arms of his soulmate.
She’d been in the safari park for a week, but considering she’d hardly left the bears’ private living area save for going to the market for a few meals, she was starting to feel cooped up.Thankfully, Fallon and her mate Avi were coming for lunch, and Sera couldn’t have been more excited.
She followed Sunny up the stairs into the employee cafeteria to wait for Fallon and Avi.
“Seneca will meet us in a few minutes,” Sunny said as she pulled out a chair near the one-way windows that looked out into the park.“He had to run buns out to the burger stall for Marcus.”
Marcus was the bear alpha.The bears handled the food for the park along with a few others, like alpha wolf Joss’s human soulmate Jeanie, who managed the underground cafeteria in the market.
“Is Marcus waiting for his soulmate?”Sera asked, drumming her fingers on the table.
“He was already mated to his soulmate, but she passed away.He came here with Seneca after she died and joined up with the park shifters.”
“Oh, that’s sad.”
“Yeah.But he’s okay with how things are.He said that he had the great love of his life, and even though he didn’t get to have her in his life for nearly long enough, he cherished what they had.”
“That’s sweet.”Sera mused on that while they waited for Fallon.She couldn’t imagine finding her soulmate and then losing them like that.It would be easy to become a shell, to shut off from everything and everyone.But Marcus wasn’t like that.She’d had dinner at his house with the bear sleuth and found him to be friendly and gracious.He wasn’t lacking for family, even if he didn’t have his mate by his side.
“Oh!There she is!”Sunny said.
She leaped up and ran to the door, grabbing Fallon in a hug as she and Avi walked into the cafeteria.Sera stood and joined them, the trio hugging tightly.Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away.She didn’t want to start crying; this was a happy visit.
“How are you, honey?”Sera asked as they sat at the table.
“I’m great.”Fallon gave her hand a squeeze.“How are you?”
“I’m great too.”
Fallon tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing, but if she wanted to say something, she didn’t, smoothly switching the topic to the farm and the sewing machine they’d located in a spare room that was going to become their bedroom suite.
Sera wondered if Fallon could tell she hadn’t been sleeping well.Or that her cat was constantly on edge.Even now, she was prowling in her mind, claws out and a rumble in her chest.She didn’t know what was going on, just that her cat was out of sorts, and since she couldn’t actually talk to the furry beast, she’d just had to deal with it.
Sleepless, restless nights, enough coffee to jumpstart a freight train, and a weird longing she couldn’t place.
Fallon squeezed her hand, bringing her back to the present.
“Be sure to send me pics of the room as you’re working on it,” Sera said.“I’m sure it will look amazing when it’s finished.It’s so neat you all get to live in the same huge house.”
“I wasn’t sure I’d like it,” Fallon said.“It seemed strange for so many people to live on top of each other like that, but it’s such a big house that it doesn’t feel like that at all.Plus, with Grey and Tatum making a suite for themselves on the first floor and us doing the same on the other side of the house, it makes it seem like it’s even bigger.”
“How’s the peanut doing?”Sunny asked, smiling as Seneca joined them and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Fallon put her hand on her belly and smiled.“Craving cornbread like crazy, but otherwise wonderful.”
The conversation switched to Fallon’s baby, and Sera smiled, sitting back and enjoying the girls so happily discussing the coming bundle of joy.
Something tugged at Sera’s heart, and she looked out the window.
Rubbing the space over her heart, she forced herself to ignore whatever was pulling at her and making her feel like she was going crazy and focus on her daughter.
Soon enough, she’d be heading back to the farm and they’d only be talking by phone.She could be thankful for even that, though, because if she’d stayed in the prowl she would have eventually been forced to mate Otto, and he seemed like the kind of degenerate asshole who would refuse to allow his mate to keep in contact with exiled prowl members.
At least she had her freedom here in the park.
Even if that freedom was bookended by the fearful truth that Otto was out there somewhere, watching and waiting, and Sera might never be truly free.
* * *
