Yes, it was true. He had found his mate.
Now all he had to do was figure out how to keep her. That was, after he got her somewhere safe and put on some clothes so he didn’t scare her in human form.
CHAPTER 2
Lily sighed and snuggled her face deeper against the warmth as she slowly drifted awake. Taking a deep breath, she moaned as the scent of clean forest and healthy male filled her lungs and triggered her pussy to dampen. She tried to roll over to get more comfortable but couldn’t move.
That was when she realized she was not lying in her bed. Or any bed. Then it hit her that whatever she was rubbing her cheek against was not a pillow, a mattress, or a bus window. Whatever it was, it was warm, hard, fuzzy, and moved under her. There was also a steady thump-thump-thump under her ear.
Opening her eyes, Lily frowned when she did not recognize where she was. Looking to the left, she saw a stone fireplace. On either side of it was what looked like the wall of a log cabin.
Gazing to the right, she found her face pressed up against a chest. A deeply tanned, very masculine chest covered with black hair. Looking downward, she stared into Percy’s black, plastic eyes.
She tensed when the man holding her chuckled. “I know you’re awake, little flower. So why don’t you sit up and talk to me?”
The deep voice vibrating through his chest against the side of her face sent a shiver through her body. Moving slowly, Lily pushed herself up, not stopping until she stood in front of the couch. Without looking at the man beside her, she turned a circle and confirmed they were in a log cabin.
The cabin contained a living room, dining room, and kitchen. An open doorway along the back wall showed the bedroom. She hoped there was an attached bathroom, and she wouldn’t have to go outside to pee. Turning around, she looked out the window on the same wall as the fireplace, but all she could see was forest.
Her next thought was, where was this cabin in relation to the Bratburg Institute? Then another, even more important question pushed to the front of her brain. Where was the gorilla she’d seen before she’d apparently blacked out?
Spinning to face the man who must have rescued her and brought her here, Lily asked, “What happened to the gorilla?”
It took another few seconds before her brain caught up with her eyes, and she actually registered the man’s appearance.
Tall, dark, and yummy was the only description her addled brain could come up with. His black hair was in need of a serious trim, though the shaggy hairstyle made him look like a sexy cover model on the cover of one of those smutty romance novels. Especially with his dark-brown eyes staring at her as if he were stunned by her appearance. His face made her want to spend a day or two tracing every line and curve. Her fingertips tingled with the need to brush them over the scruff that covered his cheeks, jaw, and throat to see if it was soft and silky or rough and stiff.
Her body reacted to the sight of the man, her nipples beading and her pussy clenching with an instant need she’d never experienced with any other man.
When he did not answer her question, she asked it again. “What happened to the gorilla? Did you chase it away? Whatis a gorilla doing around here? Did it escape from a zoo or something?”
Realizing she was rambling without giving him a chance to answer any of her questions, Lily snapped her mouth shut and forced herself to hold back the rest of the questions that were zinging around her brain like a swarm of bees hopped up on a double espresso. She began to nervously twist her fingers together to keep herself quiet.
When had she become such a Chatty Cathy? If she wasn’t careful, she would blurt out why she was here and get escorted back to the highway without ever actually reaching the institute. That was the last thing she wanted or needed. She had ten more days to complete her mission. Ian, the governor, and her job were counting on her.
The man did not speak, but his expression lightened, and one corner of his mouth twitched, as if he was amused by her interrogation.
“All done?” he finally asked after she had been silent for a good ten seconds.
“For now.”
“To answer your questions in reverse order. The gorilla did not escape from a zoo. He lives here at Bratburg. He is one of the guards who keep the institute safe and secure. I did not chase him away because he is me. Or I am him.”
Lily froze at his last sentence. “So shifters really do run Bratburg? It’s not just a story made up to scare Little girls into behaving properly?”
He nodded. “Yes, shifters are real. They own and run Bratburg, and I am one of them. I am a gorilla shifter. They call me Sailor. And you are?”
“Lily Knight,” she said automatically, forcing herself to stop with just her name and not add what she’d been doing walking into Bratburg.
She needed to keep that secret to herself for as long as possible, though she had no idea how.
She shifted her gaze to stare at the fire. “So where are we?”
“I brought you to my cabin so we could get to know one another before I told the others of your presence. Are you hungry?”
Before she could answer, her stomach rumbled loudly.
“Well that answers that question. How about soup and a sandwich while we talk some more?” Sailor scooped her off the couch and carried her across the cabin to the small dining table with two chairs.
