by R. E. Butler
When she’d left the house, they were getting the food ready for the Monday night party. She didn’t miss how her family stopped talking when she walked into the kitchen to say goodbye. She had no idea what they were discussing, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was the topic.
Pulling into line behind a few other vehicles, she waited her turn to go through the gate into the parking lot.
“Hi,” she said, greeting the man in the booth.
He scanned the VIP tour ticket then handed it back to her. “Follow the signs to the VIP parking area, then hand your ticket to the person at the gate, and they’ll direct you from there. Have fun!”
She set the ticket on the seat and thanked him, pulling forward and following the signs. She parked and grabbed her ticket and crossbody bag, then got out of the car. It was a gorgeous fall day. She’d dressed casually in jeans and hiking boots, with a short-sleeved shirt and light jacket. Putting her bag over her shoulder, she headed toward the entrance to the park, then through a huge set of wrought iron gates with animal silhouettes in the center of each one.
After her bag was checked and she walked through a metal detector, she was given a map and directed to the safari tour check-in. There were a few people in line ahead of her. She leaned against the rail and looked at her phone for the first time since she’d left home.
She had several text messages. One from her brother, asking if she wanted to see a movie with him and the guys, one from her mom asking if she’d be home for dinner, and one from her dad asking where she was.
The line moved forward one person as a blue camouflage-painted Jeep pulled up and a man escorted the first-in-line woman to it.
Dani answered two of the texts but couldn’t decide how she wanted to answer her dad. If she told him she’d come to the park against his wishes, he’d be pissed, and she didn’t like to disappoint him. But she was an adult, and she’d made a choice. How could she explain to him that she’d felt compelled to come to the park and go on the safari tour? That the whole drive to the park had felt like it was leading to something important?
He believed in fate and love at first sight, but he’d think she was a lunatic if she told him she thought she was supposed to come to the park. She wasn’t even sure she understood her own desire to be here herself.
“I don’t want you to be disappointed,” she typed to her dad, “but I’m at the park about to go on the safari tour. I feel like I need to do this. Hope you understand.”
“Hi, are you Danielle?” a man asked.
She looked up from her phone, unaware that the two women in front of her had already gotten into Jeeps and disappeared. “Yep.”
Not waiting for a reply to her text, she put her phone in her bag and shook the man’s hand as he introduced himself. “I’m Greg.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, following him to the waiting Jeep.
Two young men smiled at her as Greg introduced them.
The driver, Silvanus, welcomed her to the VIP tour. The guide, Felix, helped her into the back seat and then faced backward to talk to her.
“Have you ever been to the park before?” Felix asked.
“Not since I was a kid.”
“We hear that a lot,” he said.
“Hold on, Danielle, the Jeep lurches a bit,” Silvanus said.
Dani held onto the seat in front of her, steadying herself as it jerked forward and moved to a tall gate that was slowly opening.
The first stop on the tour was the elephant paddock. The Jeep stopped in front of a tall chain-link fence. Beyond the links she could see elephants milling around.
Felix got out and offered her his hand. “I... I’m getting out?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m going to take your picture at each paddock for the souvenir album with all your photos you’ll get after the tour’s over. Free of charge, of course.”
“Neat.”
She got out and waited while he took a fancy-looking camera out of the bag and slung it over his neck. He rattled off a series of facts about elephants and then took her picture.
They returned to the Jeep, which started on its way to the next paddock. “The next one is our favorite,” Felix said.
“Oh? Which one is that?”
Felix had an excited look in his eyes, and she gave him a smile. He was cute. Not take-him-home-to-mom cute, but not bad looking at all.
“The wolves.”
“Ah. Any reason?” she asked.
Felix cast a side glance at Silvanus who was grinning. “We just like them. Wolves rule, you know.”
She laughed. “I didn’t, but that’s good to know.”
Once they’d stopped in front of the next paddock, Felix helped her out of the Jeep and walked with her to the fence. The wolves noticed their approach and began to move toward them. Craning her neck, she looked at the top of the fence and then dropped her head to look at the wolves.
“Do they have names?”
“Sure,” he said. “See that one with the white feet? That’s Benjamin. And the one next to him is Thomas.”
“Who decides the names?”
Felix frowned and then said, “The zookeepers.”
“That would be a fun job.”
“Naming wolves or being a zookeeper?”
“The naming thing. I don’t know if I’d want to be a zookeeper. Seems dangerous.”
“Our animals are all really friendly.”
“What about Tank?”
Felix grinned. “He’s not dangerous, just grumpy.”
After her picture was taken, Felix looked past her to the wolves, and she had a strange feeling that he was communicating with them in some way. Which seemed entirely odd and not at all likely.
She was going to ask him what he was doing, when he smiled brightly and said, “Ready for the next paddock?”
“Sure,” she said.
He helped her into the vehicle and in moments they were driving slowly along the dirt trail, leaving the wolves behind. The next paddock contained lions. After her photo at the fence, Felix said, “Up next is the gorillas.”
The Jeep moved slowly along the path and drew to a stop in front of another paddock. She couldn’t explain it, but something was pulling her from the Jeep before Felix even got out. She climbed over the side and hopped down, brushing suddenly trembling hands down her jeans.
She looked through the fence at the handful of gorillas milling around and her eyes locked with one. He was a foot away from the fence, and he was staring right at her. A connection shot through her, like she was meant to be there, meant to see this gorilla.
Which sounded entirely absurd in her head.
Really, why would a girl be destined to meet a gorilla at a park?
She walked right up to the fence, drawn by some invisible thread, and hooked her fingers in the links. The other gorillas were watching them, their dark eyes on her.
That’s when she noticed the gorilla didn’t have dark eyes. Or, rather, they’d been dark, but then they were blue. An oddly human blue.
The gorilla moved forward and rose onto his back legs, covering her hands with his own. He was much taller than her petite five-foot-three. He settled his fingers over her hands, the warm, calloused pads rubbing lightly.
“Your eyes,” she whispered, mesmerized.
Some part of her thought she was crazy for being so close to such a huge beast. She knew he was strong and could probably rip through the fence if he wanted to. But she wasn’t afraid.
He hooted softly, his eyes flashing from blue to brown and back to blue again.
“I think we should get on with the rest of the tour,” Felix said.
She felt him come close and put his hand on her shoulder. The gorilla snarled, a deep growl rumbling in his chest. His gaze turned murderous, focused entirely on the man behind her.
Felix’s hand jerked off her shoulder. “Sorry, Neo.”
She didn’t take her gaze from the gorilla as she spoke to the tour guide. “His name is
Neo?”
“Yes.”
“You just apologized to him.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“It’s pretty weird,” she said, not taking her gaze from Neo’s. “I feel like I was meant to be here.”
“I think it’s pretty clear that you were,” Felix said. “We’ll finish the tour and go to the security office to wait. Understand?”
She tilted her head and looked at Felix. “Are you talking to me or Neo?”
“Both,” he said. Then he smiled. “I think it’ll all make sense to you in a little while. Just trust me.”
“Okay.”
Neo moved his hands from hers, hooting softly. She felt reassured by the sounds, even though it seemed very surreal.
“Maybe I’ll see you again someday,” she said to him.
Sadness swept over her, and she had to remind herself that this was an animal and whatever strange connection she was feeling to him didn’t really mean anything.
Right?
Chapter Five
Neo knew the moment that the Jeep Dani was riding in was on the way. Hell, he’d felt her come into the park. Something within his soul pinged like echolocation, and he was certain he could have found her right then if he’d been allowed to leave the paddock in his shift. Which he absolutely wasn’t.
He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before, and he’d been up before dawn, anxious for the hours to speed by so he could see Dani. While the consensus among their group was that he had in fact found his soulmate, he was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to get her contact information earlier. He understood about protocols, and the need for their people to be sure Dani was his soulmate, but damn if he was irritated by the wait.
He’d been fine before he scented her. Now he felt like part of him was missing, aching.
Three Jeeps came by ahead of hers. He sat near the fence, scenting the air and watching for her. He had no idea what she looked like. Joss had told Jeanie to keep the details to herself because they didn’t want to influence him.
He really thought they were going overboard with the secrecy thing.
In the end, he hadn’t needed to know anything about her. His beast was one hundred percent attuned to her, from the moment she stepped foot in the park until the Jeep she was in stopped in front of their paddock.
Damn she was beautiful.
She looked like a goddess, with long dark hair and pretty hazel eyes. She was dressed casually in jeans and a top, and he liked the way the jeans clung to her, highlighting her curves. She came right up to the fence, never breaking eye contact with him.
He could feel his beast wanting to let go and shift into his human form. He struggled mentally with keeping a tight leash on the beast, who wavered between wanting to shift and wanting to rip the fence apart to hold her. He didn’t scent any fear from her, only curiosity.
She’d mentioned his eyes, and he knew it was because he was having a hard time holding onto his beast. He could feel that his eyes were changing color because they ached a little every time his beast tried to shift back into human.
Then he’d wanted to rip Felix’s hand off for touching her shoulder.
As the Jeep pulled away with his soulmate, he turned and raced toward the maintenance shed in the center of the paddock, his band hooting and slapping their palms on the ground in celebration.
Once inside the shed, he was so excited to see Dani that he had trouble shifting into his human form, which was ironic since he’d spent quite a while in front of Dani trying not to change forms. Once he’d settled down enough to be able to shift, he dressed in jeans and a golf shirt with the park logo on the breast pocket. He lifted the door hidden in the floor and hurried down the stairs. He’d made this trip hundreds of times but felt like this one took forever.
When he finally made it to the security office, he stepped inside and looked around.
Jupiter, one of the lions, said, “She’s at the norm paddock right now.”
Neo let out a sigh that was part relief that he hadn’t missed her and part irritation that she wasn’t in the office already. “Okay, thanks.”
“I went through the same thing when I met Celeste,” Jupiter said. “It’s hell waiting for them. You can have a seat in the office.”
“I think I’ll just pace, if that’s okay.”
“Sure, I get it.” He paused for a moment and then said, “The alphas asked me to make sure you understand the protocol.”
“I do.”
Jupiter leaned on the counter and gave him a long look.
Neo stopped pacing and blew out a breath, forcing himself to think clearly. “I can’t share the secret nature of our people until I’m certain she’s in love with me and won’t tell anyone else about it. And I can’t stay overnight with her outside of the park.”
“Right, and you can’t do anything that might arouse suspicion with her family, like try to move her into the park before the apartment complex is finished.”
“I promise I won’t do anything to jeopardize our people.”
“Good.” Jupiter’s phone buzzed on the counter, and he looked at the screen. “All right, they’re finished with the tour. Jasper is going to escort her here.”
Jasper was one of the wolves who handled tickets at the Safari tour.
Neo paced by the windows. He could feel Dani drawing closer to the office, and he watched out one of the windows until he saw her.
His beautiful soulmate.
Jasper opened the door to the office and let Dani in, but didn’t follow her. “Neo, this is Dani. I told her you’d explain about the photo album.”
“Thanks,” Neo said.
Jasper smiled at him. “No problem. Nice to meet you, Dani.”
She stared at Neo, her hazel eyes wide. “Yep.”
Neo smiled. She looked as flustered as he felt.
Jasper gave Neo a thumbs-up and shut the office door. Neo was aware of Jupiter leaving the main room and going into one of the offices to give them privacy.
“Hi Dani,” Neo said, extending his hand.
Her gaze slipped from his face to his hand. She grasped it, her fingers cold and her hand trembling. “Hi.”
“Would you like to sit?”
“Sure.”
Their hands still connected, they walked over to a row of padded chairs and sat. He turned slightly so he could face her, drinking in everything about her. She smelled amazing–sweet like vanilla and spicy like cinnamon. Her hair wasn’t just brown, it was a mixture of shades from chocolate to caramel, hanging past her shoulders in glorious waves.
She bit her bottom lip and gave him a tentative smile.
“Did you enjoy the tour?” he asked.
“Yeah. It was fun. Weird, but fun.”
“How was it weird?”
“Well...” She shook her head. “No, you’ll think I’m crazy.”
“I promise I won’t.”
“I really liked one of the animals. It was so strange. I felt like my whole life was leading up to the moment I met him. I...” She rose to her feet suddenly, her eyes wide. “Oh my gosh, your name is the same as the gorilla. Is this some kind of joke?”
He stood slowly. “It’s not a joke, Dani. My name is Neo.”
“So you and the gorilla have the same name? That doesn’t make sense.” She took a step away from him, her eyes darting toward the door.
He didn’t like that she was scared. The smell made his beast crazy. “Dani, please–it’s okay, I promise.”
“Nothing about this is okay,” she said. “Is that what you people do on the tours? Tell the VIP an animal’s name and then have someone meet them with that same name? I should go.”
The sound that came from his mouth was all gorilla.
She squeaked in alarm and took another step back.
“Dani, please,” Neo said. “Don’t be afraid of me.”
“Everything okay out here?” Jupiter asked from the office doorway.
“It’s fine,” Neo said. “I w
as just about to take Dani on a tour of the park so we could talk.”
“Dani?” Jupiter asked.
She swallowed audibly, and he could scent her fear subsiding. “I’m good, thanks.”
Neo offered her his hand, and she shook her head. He dropped it and turned to open the door, allowing her to walk out ahead of him. She didn’t bolt like a rabbit, so he took that as a good sign.
“I’m sorry you’re upset and confused. There’s nothing going on here except what appears to be a coincidence regarding my name and the gorilla’s name.”
“You’re not trying to make a fool of me or anything?”
“I’d never do that.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, then she relaxed a fraction. “Okay. This has been a weird day. I just overreacted, I guess.”
“It’s okay, I promise. I’ve had some weird days myself, so I can understand. Are you hungry?”
“A little. I heard that there’s an ice cream stall that’s pretty awesome.”
He hated to disappoint her. “Sorry. They’re closed until spring.”
“Oh, shoot. I was looking forward to that.”
His mind spun, then he said, “There’s some in the employee cafeteria. I could take you there.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
Although he wanted to hold her hand, he refrained, and they walked together toward the employee cafeteria.
“So you work at the park?” she asked.
“Yep. I work on the park’s vehicles in the maintenance department.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do, actually. I heard from Jeanie that you’re a makeup artist?”
“She told you?”
“Yeah, I was curious.”
“But how did you know about me?”
She stopped walking and stared at him.
What the hell was he supposed to say? Not only were they in public around other humans, but he couldn’t exactly tell her the truth–that his beast had scented her in the office and knew she was his soulmate. He unlocked the door to the employee cafeteria, glanced inside to see it was empty, and held the door for her.