by R. E. Butler
She stopped speaking for a long moment and just stared at him. Fuck she was so close to the truth that he almost blew his cover and told her everything right there. Instead, he said, “Say it, Dani.”
“It’s too crazy.”
He cupped her face. “Say. It.”
Her hands wrapped around his wrists. She inhaled then blew the breath out sharply. “You’re the gorilla.”
* * *
Dani half expected Neo to laugh his ass off or tell her she was the nuttiest person he’d ever met. But when she’d spoken what was on her heart, she just knew that it was the truth. As fantastical as it seemed, as crazy as it sounded, Neo could become a gorilla.
Right?
He hadn’t actually confirmed or denied what she said.
She opened her mouth to ask him if she was right, when he grinned and kissed her.
“You’re right,” he said, his eyes turning brown.
“I’m right? Are you serious? How is that possible?”
He sat on the cot, and she sat on the other, facing him. “Shifters are real, but our natures are a secret from humans. That’s why you don’t know about our kind.”
“There are more of you out there?”
With a nod, he linked their fingers. “Yes. There are different types of shifters and they all live in secrecy.”
Her mind spun. Then something occurred to her. “You live here.”
He nodded. “Underneath the park.”
“Wow.” She ran a hand through her hair with a laugh, the weight off her shoulders. “It’s a relief to know. I honestly thought I was cracking up.”
“You’re not. You feel drawn to me, right? The way you did to the gorilla?”
“Yes.”
“It’s because I am that gorilla. My people believe in soulmates–the one right person for us. Someone our beast agrees is who we should be with.”
“You said you asked Jeanie about me.”
“Right. My gorilla was agitated, and I followed the feeling to the office where I picked up your scent. I knew you were my soulmate. Joss wouldn’t let Jeanie give me your contact information, so I had to wait until you came by on the tour. It was the longest time of my life.”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
He told her how the park had set up the VIP tours to bring in unmated males and females, hoping for soulmates to be among those who received the coupons in the mail. “He wanted me to do this right, and for that to happen, it was best for me to be in my shift.”
“All those gorillas in the paddock with you, they’re human, too?”
He nodded. “The alpha is the leader and the others are my friends. We handle the maintenance in the park. I work on the park vehicles including the Jeeps for the tours.”
She hummed. “What is Joss?”
“A wolf. Caesar is a lion.”
“Geez, I really can’t believe it. It’s so fantastical, but it also feels very right.” She rubbed the space over her heart. “I feel like I’ve known this for ages, but it’s not possible. Do you think my dad and brother know about you guys and that’s why he didn’t want me to go on the tour?”
“I don’t know. It certainly seems suspicious that he actively tried to keep you away from here. He never gave anyone any hints that he knew we were more than human, though, so if he did...” His voice trailed off.
Dani finished the thought. “You think he’s a shifter?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. And that’s the honest truth.”
She mulled that for a bit and then shook her head. “When he shows up today, I guess I’ll ask him. Maybe this is what he’s been hiding from me lately. Which means my mom knows about it, which is why she wanted to help me out by letting me come here. Man, I hate that I feel like I’ve been lied to.”
“I’m sorry.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I understand why you kept the shifting secret from me. It’s too dangerous for you to just tell anyone without knowing what their motives are. That you’re unique and that’s why I feel so drawn to you is amazing, and I feel really lucky.”
“Trust me, sweetheart, I’m feeling really, really lucky, too.”
She sighed wistfully as she looked around the room.
He tugged on her hand. “What’s that for?”
“I wish we weren’t here. I wish we were in a more private place.”
She also wished neither of them were wearing clothes, but she kept that part to herself. For now.
He took his phone from his pocket and said, “Let me see if I can do anything about that.” He swiped the phone’s screen and then gave her a very serious look. “If we do this, sweetheart, if we go somewhere private and things happen between us, you won’t be able to leave the park. At least not until the alphas are satisfied that you’re willing to keep our secret.”
She inhaled deeply, her thoughts roaming. “I’d need to quit my job. But I wouldn’t be able to tell my parents why I won’t be home anymore, and my dad would know that there aren’t any apartments available in the park for me to live here. Unless he’s also a shifter, or knows the truth, then that puts me in a position to lie to my parents.”
“I don’t want you to have to lie, sweetheart, but if we go forward physically, I won’t be able to stop myself from mating you fully and that means my gorilla isn’t going to want you sleeping anywhere but in my arms. If your parents try to get in the way of that, I have to know that you’re going to pick me.”
“I will.”
“Even if it means you might harm your relationship with them?”
She nodded. “You’re my guy, Neo. I don’t want to be anywhere but with you, and I want to be yours in every way.” She pursed her lips for a moment and then said, “Can you come with me to my parents’ house, though? I mean, if my dad still wants me to meet with his friends, would you come so I could do that?”
“Of course.”
“Then yes, let’s go somewhere private.”
His eyes flashed to that brown she loved, and he lifted his phone to his ear. “Hey Atticus, did I wake you? Oh, good. Listen, Dani knows the truth now, and she’d like to be somewhere more private. Could I bring her down to my house for the rest of the night?”
Neo winked at her, and she smiled.
“Okay, thanks.” He put his phone on his knee and said, “He’s going to check with Joss and the other alphas, but I don’t think they’ll say no.”
They waited a few minutes, and then his phone buzzed with a text. He looked at the screen. “Atticus said as long as you understand that you can’t be away from me overnight–even if it means going against your family–then you can come down to my place.”
“Tell him I understand completely.”
“I can’t tell you how happy I am,” he said, smiling as he answered the text. It chimed again and he said, “Atticus is going to come to talk to us first, and then we’ll be cleared to go down.”
He rose to his feet and pulled her with him. “I’m really happy, too,” she said. “But I think we’re about to be a whole lot happier.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Chapter Nine
Atticus met Neo and Dani in the cafeteria ten minutes later. Neo was a bundle of nerves, his gorilla pacing in his mind and anxious to get her into their home.
“I hope we didn’t wake you,” Dani said.
“You didn’t, actually, I was up reading. So before we go any further, I need you to tell me what you know, Dani.”
“I know that Neo is a gorilla.”
Atticus smiled. “How did you reach that conclusion?”
She blew out a breath. “It was a combination of things. Mainly, though, it was because when I saw him in his gorilla form in the paddock, his eyes changed color and I felt weirdly drawn to him. Then when he met me in the office and he said his name was Neo, which is what I was told the gorilla’s name was, I first thought it was a prank. But then Neo’s eyes changed color, and even though I didn’t believe what I was seeing, I felt it in my he
art.”
Atticus’s brows rose. “The tour guide told you what the gorilla’s name was?”
“Uh huh. Was he not supposed to?”
“I just didn’t realize that he did.”
“Did he tell you any other names?” Neo asked.
“He told me a couple of the wolves’ names. And then he apologized to you and said your name.”
Neo nodded and looked at Atticus. “I haven’t been on a tour with the wolves, but it sounds like they don’t mind telling the riders our names.”
“I think they shouldn’t do that,” Atticus said. “But I don’t know if Joss knows they do that either. I’ll speak to him later this morning. In the meantime, Dani, did Neo explain what’s happened now that you know our secret?”
“That I can’t be away from him overnight.”
“Right, it’ll drive his gorilla nuts. You’re not officially mated yet, but I can already see how connected the two of you are.”
Neo took Dani’s hand and gave it a squeeze. When she looked at him, he said, “I think that Atticus is making sure you understand that no matter what your family says, you and I are together now and that means where you go, I go.”
“Except overnight of course,” Atticus said.
“Right,” Neo said. “I can’t stay away from the park overnight.”
“I get it,” she said. “I don’t want to be away from you. But if my dad asks me to come to the house, and I can bring you with me, is that okay?”
“You’ll need an escort,” Atticus said, rubbing his chin. “But yes.”
“I’d like to get my sweetheart down to the house so we can rest,” Neo said.
“Of course. The patrols know to expect your family. We’ll let you know when they show up. We’ll be bringing them in here for privacy sake.”
“Thanks,” Neo said.
“I’m glad you two found each other.” He smiled and headed toward the door that led down into their underground living space.
Neo gave Dani’s hand a squeeze and followed his alpha. When they were in the gorillas’ private living area, Atticus said goodnight to them and left the two of them alone. Dani turned in a slow circle, taking in the room.
“Holy crap,” she whispered. “This is incredible.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you like it.”
He led her to his home, atop the steel and bark-covered fake tree. “How do we get up there?” she asked.
“There’s a set of stairs I can let down, but I think it would be more fun to carry you up there this first time.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Carry me how?”
He dropped to one knee and pointed to his back. “Climb on.”
She did, wrapping her arms and legs around him. He rose to a crouch, his gaze on a branch above their heads. “Hold on, sweetheart.”
He leaped for the branch and caught it, swinging them up into the faux canopy. She stifled a small scream of surprise and then giggled. He moved onto the platform that supported his home and walked inside.
Shutting the door, he helped her off his back and said, “Welcome home, Dani.”
She looked around the front room the same way she had in the main living quarters, turning in a slow circle, her eyes wide. The family room had a dark brown leather couch and a wooden side table with a lamp. He’d hung a flat screen TV on the wall and added some bookshelves for his knickknacks. He liked to collect antique car parts.
She walked to the bookshelf and peered at his collection. “Are these parts for anything in particular?”
“Not really, just older models that I liked the way the pieces looked.”
“I like to collect carousel horses. It started with one I got from my dad on my fourth birthday. Every year after that he’s gotten me one, and we look for them on vacation, too.”
He smiled. She turned to face him, and her voice dropped to a husky tone. “Can I see your room?”
His whole body reacted, his gorilla hooting in his mind. “I need to share something with you first, sweetheart.” He sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to him. She joined him and gave him a curious smile.
He cleared his throat and took her hand, linking their fingers. “You know what I am. Because I’m not entirely human, my reactions to you won’t be what you’re used to.”
“Like what?” she asked, her brows arching.
“Well, when I’m really happy my gorilla will hoot, and sometimes I can’t stifle that sound. I wouldn’t want you to be scared or startled by any sounds I might make.”
“Do you pound your chest when you’re angry?”
“When I’m in my gorilla form, yes. Not when I’m human, though.”
She grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Okay. I promise not to be freaked out by any sounds you make.”
“Also, though we’re heading toward the bedroom, maybe we won’t do anything tonight or maybe we will. But if we do, Dani, my beast is going to want to mark you. That means using my teeth to bite your neck to leave a scar. I’ll have to let my beast out a little to make my teeth sharp. It will hurt some, but I will do my best to distract you with pleasure.”
He put his free hand on her neck and lightly pressed his thumb to her pulse.
“Why?”
“It’s a mating bite,” he said. “It’s a way for my beast to claim you in a primal way. Any shifter who would see the mark would know that you’re mated.”
“Mated like we had sex?”
“No, mated like married. It’s why I couldn’t just take you back to the bedroom without telling you what it means to be with me. My gorilla wants you so much, that I’d have a hard time not biting you while we make love. I’d never do anything without your permission, so I’d rather not make love to you tonight if you’re not ready to be mine. And when I say ‘be mine,’ I mean you’ll essentially be my wife.”
She looked at him intensely for a long, quiet moment. Her gaze dropped to their joined hands and then slid up to his neck. “Do I get to bite you?”
His beast liked that idea a hell of a lot. “You can do anything you want to me, sweetheart. But your teeth aren’t sharp, so it would just leave a bruise. Which I would love and wear with pride.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her gaze meeting his. “Do you want to do that to me? Do you want us to be married?”
“Since the moment I scented you in the office,” he said. “But you’re not used to this. For me, it’s the instinct of my beast to make you mine as soon as possible. But I’m in control, not him, and I’d never try to pressure you. We can wait until you’re ready.”
“What if I’m ready now?”
“We just met, sweetheart,” he said gently. “We don’t have to rush.”
She straddled him suddenly, sitting on his thighs and cupping his face. “I felt drawn to you when you were in the paddock even though it felt weird. I can’t explain it, but knowing that you’re that gorilla makes me feel like I was destined to find you. Soulmates is a romantic notion for humans, you know? But I feel like it’s very real for me and you. I want to be yours in every way. When we meet my family, I want to be able to tell them that you’re mine.”
“I am, Dani,” he said. “I’m yours all the way to the center of my being.”
“I’m yours, too. Neo?”
She leaned forward, her eyes darkening.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Make me yours.”
Chapter Ten
Neo gave Dani the most intense look she’d ever seen. She felt like she could burn alive under his gaze and love every second. It had been the craziest day of her life, from the strange behavior of her family to the tour to finding out that there were people who could shift into animals whenever they wanted. She still had a million questions about his people and the safari park, but the only thing she was certain of at that moment was that she wanted to make love to Neo and be his mate.
He gripped her hips and pulled her against him. She could feel the ridge of his erection, and her body went t
ight and hot. She leaned in for a kiss and he took over, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly as he deepened the kiss. Shivers raced over her skin as their tongues danced together, her stomach flipping with anticipation. She moved her hips and he groaned, bringing a hand up to tangle in her hair. He tilted her head and deepened the kiss.
She slipped her hands down his sides and fisted the material of his shirt. She’d been dying to see what he looked like without his shirt on, and now that they were finally somewhere private, she wanted to see all of him. Pulling from the kiss, she tugged on the shirt and pulled it from his waistband. He straightened and grasped the back, pulling it swiftly over his head and tossing it aside. He settled back on the couch with an arched brow, looking all cocky and sure.
She grinned and laid her hands on his abs, feeling the taut, smooth skin. “You’re so sexy. I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to see you naked.”
“The feeling is wholly mutual.”
She traced the ridges of his abs, feeling like she’d never get tired of touching him.
She pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it with his. He made a happy grunting sound, and she met his gaze with a smile.
“Now who’s the sexy one, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice low and gruff.
He cupped her breasts, his thumbs tracing the lace edge of her bra. Her skin goosebumped under his touch as he moved lazily over her cleavage, his gaze dark and intense. She reached to the decorative bow between the cups and unhooked the clasp. He spread the cups open, moving slowly up the straps and pushing them off her shoulders. She wiggled free of the material and then let out a moan as his warm hands closed over her breasts. He moved one hand to her back and drew her close, lowering his head and catching one of her nipples between his lips. He licked a slow circle around the bud sending shivers down her spine.
She wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders and played with his hair, closing her eyes as the sensation of his lips on her nipples made everything within her heat. He teased her nipples, tugging and nipping at them until her body was aching for more.