by R. E. Butler
“Because of the uncertainty of your family’s intentions, just remember you two can’t go to the nest alone,” Marcus said.
“I know,” Rory said. “What Jess and Auden went through is scary. I don’t know what my mom wants to talk about, but I think going to the nest is a bad idea in general.”
“If they do want to meet with you, we’ll arrange for a neutral location and the sleuth will go with you.”
Rory nodded but didn’t say anything. She chewed on her lip and looked out through the open door into the private area. Tayme could see the tension in her body and feel her rioting emotions through their connection as soulmates.
“I’ll keep you posted,” Tayme said. “Thanks for dinner.”
They said goodnight and walked to their home.
Rory sat on the couch and set the phone on the coffee table.
“What do you want to do?” Tayme asked, sitting next to her.
“Call her, I guess. I just don’t know if I can handle another bad phone call from them.”
“I’m right here. You’re not alone.”
She gave him a small smile. “I know.”
Exhaling loudly, she picked up the phone and dialed her mom’s number, setting it on speaker. The phone rang twice before it was answered.
“Rory?” her mother said.
“Hi, Mom. I got your email.” Tayme’s bear snarled at the defeated tone in Rory’s voice.
“I’m so glad you called,” she said. “Your father and I wanted to apologize for our behavior yesterday when you called.”
“Both of you?” Her voice was filled with skepticism.
“Yes, of course. You see, your father and I were just surprised. It’s not...that we don’t want you to be happy, because we do. We were worried when we couldn’t find you, and then you called and said you were mated. You can imagine how that might have struck us wrong.”
“Are you sure that you both are glad I found my soulmate? Because Dad was really angry.”
“Of course. And we’d like to meet him. Can you come to the nest? We’ll have dinner. I’ll make your favorite.”
“You know I was there when our people attacked Jess, right? I heard the bomb. I saw her getting dragged away from her soulmate by one of the owls.”
The pause on the other end of the line was significant.
Then her father spoke. “That was a misunderstanding.”
“No, I don’t think it was,” Rory said. “You tried to separate soulmates. You hurt Jess in the process, and you could’ve killed someone with that bomb. So tell me how that was a misunderstanding?”
Her father cleared his throat. “Jess’s mating with Miles was going to ensure the security of our borders with the other nest. It wasn’t handled correctly, and in my haste, mistakes were made. Jess is no longer part of our nest and our arrangement with the other nest is over, so there’s no reason you can’t come home, Rory.”
Rory pressed the mute button. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him apologize.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Meet with them somewhere neutral. I’m not sure if I really believe what they’re saying, it’s ringing false.”
“Yeah,” Tayme said. He opened the link that Marcus had sent him for a neutral meet up location and showed it to her.
Taking the phone off mute, she said, “Tayme and I would like to meet with you. There’s a park in New Verna. It’s in no one’s territory, so everyone should feel comfortable.”
“Why wouldn’t you come home?” her mother asked.
“Because of what happened with Jess.”
“I already explained that to you,” her father said, his voice rising.
“I know, but my mate isn’t a fool and neither am I. If things go well at our meet up, then we’ll talk. But I’m not about to show up at the nest with my mate when I’m not certain that things are on the up and up.”
“This is fully insulting,” her father said, seething.
“I could just not meet with you at all,” Rory pointed out. “If your honest intention is to meet my soulmate and repair the rift you caused in our family by trying to kill my best friend’s mate, then meeting at the park is the only way I’ll believe you. Insisting on meeting at the nest is just going to make me believe you don’t recognize my mating.”
He was pretty sure they put them on mute, because the line went silent. Rory looked at him and he shrugged.
“Fine,” her father said, growling the word like it hurt his teeth to even say it. “We’ll meet you at five o’clock, the day after tomorrow.”
Rory hummed. “Why not tomorrow?”
“We’re in the middle of repairs to the nest’s security, and I won’t leave our females and young vulnerable simply because you don’t trust us.”
“All right. Good night.”
The call ended and she stared at the screen, her lips pursed.
Tayme wanted to tell her what a bad idea he thought it was for them to go anywhere to meet her family. His bear was angry they even had to talk to her parents again after their behavior with the first call. But this was her family and he’d never deny her the opportunity for her parents to set things right with her. He’d just keep her very close and very safe. He texted the details of the meet up to Marcus, who quickly replied that he’d gather a group to join them and they’d meet near the employee entrance at two o’clock.
“If we arrive early,” Marcus texted, “It’ll give us time to recon the area and ensure everyone’s safety.”
“Good idea.”
“That’s what I get the big bucks for.”
Tayme snorted and put his phone in his back pocket.
“I don’t like this,” Rory said, putting the phone on the coffee table. “I feel like we’re walking into something dangerous.”
He told her Marcus’s plan to arrive early. “I won’t let you be in danger, sweetheart. If Marcus didn’t think it was safe, he wouldn’t allow us to go. We’ll have the sleuth at our backs, and I’m going to be stuck to your side like glue.” He linked his fingers with hers and gave them a squeeze. “I just got you. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
She chuckled. “Me too.”
“You know,” he said, letting out a soft growl. “We’ve got the rest of the night to ourselves. And it appears that we don’t need to go anywhere for almost two days.”
Her green eyes darkened, and his bear picked up the sweet scent of her blooming arousal. “You don’t say?”
“I do.” He rose to his feet and pulled her with him. He swung her up into his arms and kissed her. He adored how she felt in his arms. The way she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer. The soft bark of her fox, stifled by their kisses, and the silky softness of her skin.
Carrying her to the bedroom, he laid her down and stripped them both, taking them to the heavens again and again.
Chapter Seven
By the time they were headed to the employee parking lot to meet with those coming to the park, Rory was head over heels for Tayme. He was amazing from head to toe. Gorgeous, sweet, funny, caring...and the man could cook. In and out of the kitchen. Growing up in the nest, she’d been told that her only choice in life was to be a wife and mother. Female owls didn’t get to have careers. Not unless their husbands agreed to it, at any rate. She was surprised that the females were even allowed to attend the nest’s school to learn to read and write.
When she was twelve, she’d already become proficient at sewing and cooking, although she wasn’t a fan of either activity. The males her age weren’t taught to be caretakers, they were taught to be warriors and hunters. The nest status quo had been fine with her. But in the back of her mind she’d always wondered if she’d need to leave at some point. While she’d been happy to a point, her fox didn’t really want to live in the trees forever. The question she’d started asking herself as her bestie attended college – much to the dismay of nearly every owl adult – was just what the future held for her
, and whether she’d ever be happy if she mated an owl.
“You look really serious right now,” Tayme said as they walked up the stairs to the employee cafeteria.
“I was just thinking about how I grew up. I wasn’t interested in rocking the boat with my life. I wasn’t one of those females who railed against every wrong. I knew the owls had screwy ideas about male and female roles, but I went along with it. Until Jess, anyway. She was kind of a catalyst for me.”
He held open the door into the cafeteria and she walked through. A few wolves were seated at a table eating, and they nodded their heads at them. “She was going along with things herself, though.”
“True.” If Jess hadn’t been shot by hunters and happened to land in the park, she’d be mated to Miles, and Rory would still be in the nest. Her fox shivered in her mind. “I hate the idea that you and I were so close but we didn’t even know each other existed.”
“Me too.” He rubbed her arms, soothing the goose bumps that had risen. “I don’t think you should beat yourself up about your upbringing. You were insulated from a lot of the outside world, sheltered to the point where what I might see as a really stifling way of life, you were taught it was normal. I think part of why you didn’t push back against your adoptive parents is because you were grateful they saved you when it’s clear they don’t have a lot of love for any other shifters but owls.”
“Good point. I wish I could trust they were really happy for us, though.”
He gave her a long look. “Does it really matter, though? I mean, you and I are soulmates. Nothing they say or do will change that one iota. If we walk away today and they hate me and they disown you, does that change anything?”
She shook her head. “You’re mine and I’m yours, and that’s all that matters.”
Cupping her face, he gave her a soft kiss and then smiled. “I know it’s early, sweetheart. I know we haven’t known each other a really long time, but I want you to know that I love you. You’re firmly entrenched in my heart and I’m so glad you’re mine.”
Her heart soared and she hugged him. “I love you, too.”
* * *
They reached the employee parking lot, where several rows of vehicles were secured behind a tall fence with a security gate, which Tayme explained was manned twenty-four seven by one of the wolf pack.
“Some of the vehicles have a park emblem on them and some don’t. Is there a reason for that?” she asked.
“It’s for safety. When we leave the park on personal business, we take an unmarked vehicle. For park business, we use the marked ones.”
“Why?”
“A while back, a mated couple took a marked vehicle to her home territory and were followed back here by someone intent on abducting her because they believed she was their mate. After that, the alphas decided it was in the best interest of safety that only unmarked vehicles were used for personal needs as a precaution.”
“No one was hurt, right?” she asked.
“Well, no one from the park, anyway. The male who tried to kidnap her was killed by one of the norms.”
The norms were what they called the normal, non-shifting animals in the paddocks. There were deer, antelope, giraffes, rhinos, and a huge moose named Tank.
“I’m glad no one from the park was hurt.”
“Us, too.”
“I’m going to call Jess,” she said, pulling her phone from her back pocket. “Tell her what we’re doing.”
She hadn’t seen her bestie since they’d visited in the cafeteria the day she’d met Tayme. It seemed like a hundred years ago but had only been three days.
As the phone rang, she touched the right sleeve of his shirt, where a tiny swirl of his tattoo was visible. “I love when I can see a bit of your tatt.”
“Do you?” he asked, wiggling his brows.
The tattoo on his right bicep was similar to a tribal tattoo, made up of complicated swirls and sharp points, but interspersed with bear paws and silhouettes of bears.
“Hey, Rory,” Jess said when she answered.
“I know you’re tied up, but Tayme and I are heading to meet with my parents, and I wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“You’re not going alone, right?”
“Hell no. Tayme’s a badass, but with how the nest behaved with you and Auden, there’s no way I trust them to come with good intentions.”
“Did they call and ask to meet you?”
“Mom emailed and I called. She said they wanted to meet Tayme, so half the sleuth is coming with us, and a couple of lions and wolves, too. We’re taking anyone who isn’t still in the paddock for the last tour.”
“I wish you didn’t have to go meet them. Can’t you just do a video call?”
“They’re my parents, J.” Rory sighed and rubbed the space between her eyes with her thumb. “I have to give them the opportunity to not be assholes about my life choices.”
“I hope they’re better at handling this than my parents.”
“Well, either way, we’re prepared. We’re meeting in a public park about an hour from here, so it’s neutral and visible. They shouldn’t be able to pull any nasty stunts there.”
“Watch for bombs.”
“You bet. I’ll call you when we’re finished there. Love ya.”
“Be safe. Love you, too.” She ended the call.
“I take it they don’t think we should go,” Tayme said.
“That’s an understatement.”
“We’ve got plenty of people going with us. They’d be fools to try and separate us.”
She leaned into him and he wrapped her up in his strong embrace. She wished they didn’t have to leave to meet with her parents, because her fox was dreading what she was sure would be a confrontation of some sort. She didn’t trust their sudden genial tone during the call, and she worried she was walking her mate into a battle.
Half the sleuth showed up in the parking lot, including Marcus. She was thankful the alpha was going with them. He exuded power and authority. She’d always thought of her adoptive father as being a powerful male, but being around the bears, even for only a few days, showed her what real leaders were like. Marcus was alpha because he was the biggest and strongest bear. But he was also protective of his people and cared about them on a personal level. When he spoke, her fox listened, and not because she was afraid he was going to hurt her. She’d seen Ahar lash out in anger and injure a male or female, using fear and intimidation to keep them in line. Marcus didn’t behave that way, and she was certain that was why the bears followed him willingly.
Four wolves and two lions joined them, and Tayme introduced her to the males and thanked them for coming. Marcus clapped his hands and the group quieted.
“We’re taking three unmarked SUVs. The park is an hour away. The owls are meeting us at five, and our plan is to arrive early enough to set up a perimeter and disguise our numbers to give us an advantage. While they’re fellow shifters, they’ve proven themselves to be cunning and not above using scare tactics and weapons to keep their people in line. Tayme and Rory will be doing the talking. We’re there in support, and we’ll make a show of force if we need to. Best case scenario is we walk away without baring a fang or claw in anger. But if push comes to shove, Tayme will be focusing on keeping Rory safe and the rest of us will ensure the nest never considers contacting Rory again. Keep your eyes peeled for danger and watch each other’s backs.”
The group split, Rory and Tayme riding in the second row of an SUV driven by a lion named Javan, with a wolf named Alfie in the passenger seat. Marcus sat behind her and Tayme with Lucius and Mercer, keeping their voices low as they discussed the park and security options, using a GPS map on a tablet. Tayme put his arm around her shoulders and held her close, and she was comforted on some level being surrounded by him and his masculine scent, but her stomach was still tightened in worry, her fox anxious and pacing in her mind.
The hour went fast, the scenery blurring by as she stared out the tinted window. Her
mind was spinning at how strange fate was. She’d come to help her bestie and met the most amazing male. And now she was meeting with her adoptive parents, unsure of what the outcome would be. Tayme told her to stay in the SUV while they checked the park out. He stayed near the SUV she was in, his gaze sweeping the area, from the road that led into the park, to the small manmade lake, to the woods with walking paths marked by carved wooden signs on posts.
She closed her eyes and rested her head back on the seat. She hadn’t slept well the night before, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on Tayme’s part to fully wear her out in the sexiest ways possible. Her fox was uneasy because of the meeting, and her fitful sleep had left her with dark circles under her eyes and a worry deep in her gut.
The door slid open with a loud swooshing sound and her eyes popped open.
“We can hear vehicles approaching, sweetheart, so you can get out now. You dozed off.”
“I didn’t even realize I was falling asleep,” she said, scooting to the open door and taking his hand.
“You slept about a half hour. Do you feel better? More rested?”
“Kind of,” she said, stretching and inhaling deeply as she rolled her neck. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“You needed it.”
She rose onto her toes and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“You never have to thank me for taking care of you. It’s my honor.”
She opened her mouth to respond, when Marcus called for them to join the others. She and Tayme took their position a few feet in front of the group as several trucks parked on the other side of the park and people climbed out. She recognized her father’s truck, and noted his top warriors flocking around him and her mother. But there were a handful of males she didn’t recognize at all, and her fox barked in worry.
“Something wrong?” Tayme whispered, giving her hand a squeeze.
“I don’t know some of these males.”
She looked over her shoulder at Marcus, who lifted his phone to look at his screen. “Xavier said there are two more vehicles on the road waiting. They came with this group but stayed back.”