by R. E. Butler
“Sorry,” Mercer said, giving her an apologetic smile.
Caesar glanced at his watch and said, “We need to shift, the first tour will start soon.”
She stripped and shifted, wanting to get out of the shed and into the open space of their paddock, which had been created to mimic the Sahara. She knew exactly where she wanted to go – straight to her favorite rock for a nap, and then seeing if there were any tasty rabbits or small rodents she could chase for fun.
Caesar tapped her nose. “You have to be visible to the tours, even if you’ve found your soulmate. No laying on the rock all afternoon.”
She let out a gruff sigh and grumbled at him, which just made him smile.
“I love you, Jenni. You’re like a daughter to me, and I just want you to be safe. I want that for all of us.”
She nodded and bumped his knee with her head. He held open the shed door for her and she padded out, ignoring the desire to head right for her napping spot. Behind her, Justus and Mercer came, and then Caesar. She stretched, sinking her claws into the dirt and flicking her tail, and then she joined them.
It was going to be a long day.
Chapter 6
Devlin stared down at his suitcase on the bed. He’d been attempting to pack all afternoon, but he hadn’t gotten very far. He wanted to leave. To go back to Rhode Island and forget about the striking blonde with curves for days. But he was too torn up to walk away. Leaving would hurt but staying hurt, too. She’d been calling and texting him, but he hadn’t answered, which was a super chicken-shit way to act. He hadn’t wanted to hear any excuses for why she’d chosen her friends over him, because he’d known the moment she dressed so hurriedly when they were woken up that she was going to leave with them. He knew they’d just met, but still… she hadn’t put up any kind of fight at all. Not a single protest had left her mouth when Caesar said it was time to go, she’d only uttered apologies.
He deserved a hell of a lot more than apologies, that was for damn sure.
And maybe it had cut him so deeply because part of him had hoped she’d want to move up with him so he wouldn’t have to make the choice to leave his job. When she’d picked them over him, he’d known immediately that she wouldn’t be moving anywhere, which put the ball firmly in his court. If he wanted Jenni, he was the one that would have to quit his job and move.
He dropped his dress shoes into the suitcase and sat on the bed with a sigh. He did want her. Which was the problem and the solution at the same time. Staying with Jenni this weekend would have been easy, but come Sunday night he’d have to go and deal with his job, and that came down to a simple question – would he take the job or would he resign. Right now, he was torn in two with the question.
He looked at his phone on the dresser. He should call her, but he felt like a gigantic asshat and the truth was that he just didn’t know what he was going to say to her.
There was a knock on the door. His heart rate kicked up and he wondered if she’d come for him. Then he heard his sister’s voice through the door and his shoulders slumped.
“Open the door this instant, Devlin!”
“Go. Away.”
“No! We need to talk. Open the damn door.”
He stood and walked to the door, resting his hand on the knob and looking through the peephole. Which Trina had obviously covered with her finger. Typical.
“Who is ‘we’?”
“Me and Lex. And our boyfriends. Now you’re making a scene, so open the door.”
He flipped the security bar and opened the door, finding Trina, Justus, Lexy, and Win in the hallway. “I’m not the one who’s making a scene.”
Trina sniffed. “You’re making me make a scene, which is a lot worse than actually making a scene.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
He stepped aside and the group trooped in, the guys going to the window and standing, and the girls sitting on the couch. He shut the door and joined them, sitting on a chair that faced the couch. “What can I do for you, sweet sister of mine?”
Trina rolled her eyes. “You know why I’m here. Why aren’t you answering any of Jenni’s calls? She was a wreck today and it’s entirely your fault.”
He stared at his sister, and then Lexy, letting his gaze ping to the guys. “You know that Caesar and two others came for her last night, right?”
Trina looked at Justus and he shook his head just slightly as if in warning. She sighed. “Look, Caesar is like a father to Jenni. And like any family, they have rules. And one of those rules is that they have to be back home at night. When she didn’t come home, Caesar was worried.”
“She’s an adult.”
“It’s a family rule,” Win said. “I’ve known Caesar for a long time and he cares about Jenni very deeply and doesn’t want her to get hurt. Think of it like a curfew. She broke it, and he had to be sure that she was okay.”
“You think I can’t keep her safe?” He stood abruptly.
Win put his hands up. “Your relationship is very new. Of course, her family would want to make sure she was making good choices.”
He snorted at the word “relationship.” They hadn’t talked about the future at all, and maybe that had been part of his plan to just take things easy until he absolutely had to talk about it, hoping that she’d be the one to bring up the distance between their homes and offer to just hop in his car and leave with him.
“There are things about Jenni that you don’t know,” Lexy said.
Win made an odd sound that reminded Devlin of a warning growl, like their old family German Shepherd used to make. Devlin’s gaze snapped to him and he cleared his throat and said, “What Lexy means is that the girls would like you to come to the park and see Jenni.”
Lexy stood. “It’s important, Dev. Please? Don’t pack your bag and disappear, or I promise that you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. Something bigger than your giant ego is going on here, and you need to put your injured feelings aside for a minute and come with us.”
“My ego is not giant.”
“It’s enormous,” Trina quipped, standing with a grin. “Like it needs its own zip code.”
“What happens at the park?”
“Just trust us,” Trina said.
“The last time you said that, I nearly burned my tongue off with chili infused chocolates.”
Lexy grinned. “Yeah, well, you never volunteered to be a taste-tester again, either.”
“Lesson learned.” He rolled his shoulders and glanced at the bed and the half-packed suitcase. “Okay. I’ll come with you.”
They left the hotel, and he sat in the third row of an SUV with the park’s logo emblazoned on the side. He stared out the window, the conversation between the two couples became background noise as he thought about what might happen when he saw Jenni. Was she angry he hadn’t answered her messages? If the situation were reversed, he’d be pissed to be ignored, but he also wouldn’t have put anyone ahead of Jenni.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
If his parents needed him, or Trina or Lexy, he’d have left in a heartbeat to help.
They’d known each other for a day, and he was putting a lot of pressure on things. She’d told him she couldn’t spend the night, but when she fell asleep in his arms he didn’t wake her up. He’d liked it – liked holding her and watching her sleep. He should have woken her up. Then none of this mess would have happened. Instead, he’d pitched a fit like a little bitch and potentially ruined the most amazing thing that had happened to him in years.
As the SUV pulled down a side road that ran alongside the park, Devlin asked, “Did Jenni ask you to come get me?”
“Nope,” Trina said from the second row, turning around to face him as she leaned on the back of the seat. “We offered but she said no. I think she thought you’d come for her today.”
“I thought she’d come for me,” he admitted.
“Way to be chivalrous,” Lexy said from the passenger seat.
“
Hey, she walked away from me,” he pointed out. “I know she called, but she could have come to the hotel to talk to me personally.”
“He’s got a point,” Justus said.
Trina shook her head. “No, he doesn’t.”
Justus parked the SUV and they got out. Devlin followed them to a large golf cart. Win sat in the driver’s seat and Justus, Trina, and Lexy stood next to it.
“What’s going on?”
“There are safari tours going on right now,” Trina said. “So, to get where you need to go, Win’s going to drive you in the golf cart.”
“Where do I need to go?”
Lexy kissed Win and then said to Devlin, “Everything will make sense soon, I promise.”
He arched his brow at his cousin and then sat down next to Win. He waved as the golf cart took off, heading down a wide path. “We use golf carts to get around the park. Me and my friends work in the garage and handle vehicle maintenance.”
“Have you worked here long?”
“I started fixing things when I was a teenager. Did you know I met Lexy when her tire blew on the way back from a baking competition?”
“Yeah, I heard the story.”
“Life’s funny like that, I guess.” Win said. He lifted a walkie from a holder, twisted the dial on top, and then said, “This is Win. I need a delay on the tours.”
There was a crackle and then a masculine voice said, “How long? We’ve got VIPs waiting.”
“Thirty minutes. We have an emergency meeting at the third paddock.”
“Um, what?”
“Just don’t send anymore tours, and let me know when the lion paddock is clear.”
“You bet.”
Win hung the walkie back in the holder and put his foot on the gas. The golf cart lurched a little, and then sped up as they maneuvered along the path. Devlin could see that the path ran parallel to another, this one a wide dirt path with tire prints. Beyond the path he could see a fenced in area with elephants. A Jeep left right as they arrived, and they followed them to another paddock with white-tailed deer and buffalo, and then to a paddock full of wolves. They waited while a woman was escorted from the Jeep to the fence by one of two men where she had her picture taken.
“Why is there only one person on the tour at a time?” Devlin asked.
“It’s a VIP tour. The Jeep is smaller, so it only holds the driver and the guide, plus the guest and gear. There are larger Jeeps for families to take the tour, but the VIP tours are for individuals.”
“Must keep you guys busy with maintaining the Jeeps.”
“Oh yeah.”
After the woman and her escorts left, they didn’t move until the walkie crackled and a man said, “The lions are clear. You have thirty minutes.”
Win answered, “I’ll let you know when we’re done.”
“Where are we going exactly?”
“You’ll see.”
Win pressed on the gas and they moved along the path. They stopped at the next paddock. “So, go on up there,” Win said.
Devlin looked at him in surprise. “Where?”
“The fence.”
“Why on earth would I want to do that?”
Win’s brow arched. “You told my girl that you trusted her, so you should also trust me.”
“I don’t know you.”
Win grinned broadly and said, “Yeah, well, I’m wonderful.” His expression instantly sobered. “Go to the fence.”
“And then what?”
“You’ll see.”
Feeling disgruntled, Devlin got out of the golf cart. He looked at Win, who simply pointed a finger to the paddock. Devlin turned and made his way across the mulch bed that separated the two paths and then walked to the fence. The chain-link fence was tall and topped with barb wire. He curled his fingers around the links and looked inside, where he saw a group of lions. They were all males with big manes, except for one female.
“Lucky girl,” he said under his breath.
All the lions looked at him, as if they’d heard him speak. The biggest male made a chuffing sound and then the female raced around the males and headed right for the fence. She was a beautiful lioness, with tawny fur and long whiskers, and when she reached the fence, she rose onto her hind legs and curled her paws around the fence links the same way that he had.
He was six and a half feet tall, and the lioness was just slightly shorter than him standing up. She purred loudly, and rubbed her nose on his fingers. He was so entranced by the sight that it didn’t occur to him that he wasn’t heeding the posted signs and keeping his fingers off the fence.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said as she licked his knuckles. “I have no clue why Win dropped me off here, but I kind of don’t mind.”
She butted his fingers with her head and stared at him, rising even taller onto her toes until she was looking him square in the eye. She yowled softly and insistently, and he wished he spoke lion. As she yowled again, more earnestly, he was caught by the golden hue of her eyes. They were the same lovely color that he’d sworn he’d seen Jenni’s eyes change to when they’d made love. He’d never gotten a chance to ask her about it, because he hadn’t really thought he’d witnessed her eyes changing color so dramatically.
“You remind me of Jenni,” he said. “Fierce and determined.”
She purred loudly and then her eyes changed color from gold to blue. The exact shade of blue as Jenni’s.
Devlin took a step back and released the fence. “What the hell?”
The lioness dropped down, pacing in front of the fence. She yowled, more angrily this time, and he distinctly felt like he was being reprimanded. Which was insane on a dozen different levels.
“I think you know why you’re here,” Win called. “But if you don’t, get in the cart and I’ll take you somewhere else to figure things out.”
He looked at the lioness and she sat on her haunches, her tail curling around her paws. With a last look into her once-more golden eyes, he walked back to the cart and sat down.
“I think I’m going crazy.”
“It happens to the best of us,” Win said.
“No, I mean really crazy. Like save me a room at the loony bin.”
“You’re not going crazy,” Win said. “It’ll make sense soon enough.”
The cart stopped in front of a building with a sign that read, “Employee Cafeteria.” Trina and Justus stood outside of the building.
“Thanks for the ride,” he said to Win as he got out.
“Sure thing. I’ll see you.”
Devlin walked to the couple and said, “Win said he’d take me somewhere to figure things out.”
“Just follow us,” Trina said.
Justus entered a code in a security pad next to the door and it unlocked with a loud click. He held the door open for Trina and Devlin followed her inside. There was one large room with round tables and chairs, and a kitchen area with a counter, heat lamps, and several refrigerators.
“I know this seems all weird to you, but I still need you to trust me,” Trina said.
“I do. Now that I’m here, though, I’d like to see Jenni.”
“We’ll take you to her,” Justus said.
“Good. I made an ass of myself and I need to apologize.”
Trina smiled and held up what looked like a black napkin. “Put this on.”
“On what?” he looked at her suspiciously.
“Cover your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Oh my gosh! Stop asking questions and just do it.”
Trina rolled the napkin and handed it to him, and he gave her a long look and then covered his eyes, tying it behind his head. She put her hand on his elbow and said, “You can’t see where we’re going.”
“I figured that from the blindfold,” he said dryly.
“Smartass,” she chided, but he could hear the smile in her voice.
They walked slowly and Devlin tried to use his hearing to figure out where they were going, but he was clueless. He did
hear Justus enter codes into doors to unlock them, and they went down a set of stairs, but because Devlin was entirely turned around by the time Trina said he could take the blindfold off, he wasn’t sure they hadn’t left the park.
He blinked at the bright overhead lights, and then he was aware that they weren’t alone in the room. Along with Caesar, Jupiter, Trina, and Justus, the lioness was sitting in the center of the room, tail curled around her paws, and her eyes flashing from blue to gold.
An ancient part of him that recognized a predator urged him to run, but there was something really familiar about the lioness, and it wasn’t only because he’d seen her in the paddock on the safari tour.
“What’s really going on here?” he asked.
Trina slid her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. “It’ll be okay.”
“What will?” he asked, and then movement caught his attention and he turned to watch the lioness as she stretched, her claws scraping against the floor. She straightened, yowled, and then her whole body began to change shape. The tawny fur receded, replaced by lightly tanned skin. Claws became fingernails, paws became hands and feet. The lioness turned into Jenni, who stood tall, her hands on her hips and her eyes still changing colors.
Devlin wondered briefly if he’d stroked out.
“I, uh,” he stumbled over his words, not sure he’d actually seen what he’d seen. “What was that?”
Jenni let out a soft growl. “I just shifted from lion to human.”
His mind replayed the scene. He’d seen it. He just wasn’t sure he believed it. “Could you do that again?”
Her mouth dropped open. “No! I can’t do it again, or I’ll be stuck in my shift. I’m kinda ticked at you so you don’t really want me to have claws right now.”
He stared at the beautiful woman in front of him, and then things slowly started to make sense. He really had witnessed Jenni turn into a lioness. And since he’d never heard of such a thing happening before, then it must be a well-kept secret. Caesar’s rules were how she stayed safe.
He looked at his sister, who was smiling up at him, and then he looked at Justus, who had his back turned so he wasn’t looking at a very naked Jenni. Which Devlin appreciated.