by R. E. Butler
Cael was watching her when she put her phone on the coffee table and straightened.
“Alistair would like to meet us for breakfast in the employee cafeteria tomorrow,” he said.
“Is everything okay?”
“Of course. He’d just like to hear you say in your own words what you know to be the truth, about yourself and me.”
“Can I see you in your shift again? Not through a fence this time?”
He looked really pleased that she made the request. “I’d love that. Maybe after breakfast. We don’t do VIP tours during the week, but there are tours in the afternoon, so we don’t want to have you wandering around in the paddock without a uniform on.”
“That would be strange for the tour guests for sure.” She let out a breath and looked up at him.
Part of her wanted to move things forward physically and just move in with him, but the other part of her knew that it would be better to take things slow.
“I think I just want to sleep tonight,” she said, toeing off her shoes. “I mean, I want you, no doubt about that, but I can’t just move in with you without making sure my mom’s okay with everything.”
“And there are rules in the park for us, so I can’t move into your place.”
She chuckled. “That would’ve been handy. I’m worried Mom will be afraid to be alone. Or that she’ll be worried about me.”
“It’ll work out, Novi, I promise. The good news is that we get to hold each other tonight, and I’ve been aching to do that since we met.”
“Me too.”
He took her hand and pulled her close, lowering his head slowly until their lips were almost touching.
He whispered her name.
“Yes?”
“Let’s go to bed.”
She grinned and threw her arms around his neck as he kissed her. Her toes curled as the kiss deepened and a happy rumble grew in her chest. He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He gave her a shirt of his to sleep in and went into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later wearing track pants and nothing else, his sexy muscles on display.
She used the bathroom, brushing her teeth with a spare toothbrush. Tugging on the hem of the shirt which brushed the tops of her thighs, she smiled at her reflection. Her brown eyes flashed to blue, and she whispered to herself in the mirror, “I see you, she-bear, and I’m so happy you’re part of me.”
Her chest vibrated with a growl that sounded a bit like a purr.
She was the happiest she’d ever been, and she wasn’t even planning to have sex with Cael tonight. She couldn’t imagine how much happier she’d be once they were tangled together as lovers, and mated, and she was his and he was hers.
She opened the door to the bedroom and saw him sitting up against the pillows and leaning against the headboard.
“Come to bed, sweetheart,” he said, patting the space next to him with a sweet smile. “Tomorrow’s going to be a great day.”
* * *
Keir Montague leaned back in the chair and looked at the report from his polar bear celebration’s tracker. After nearly two years of chasing dead ends and rumors, Brandon finally found the bitch who’d consistently thwarted his attempts to right a wrong. His alpha had been pissed at Keir for two decades and refused to allow him to move up in the celebration and take his rightful place as second-in-command. And perhaps worse was that he wasn’t allowed to take a mate until the mistake that had been born twenty-two years earlier was eradicated. No female would mate him while he was a marked male, and no alpha would support a mating between a female and a male like himself who’d made one grievous, drunken mistake.
He should’ve simply killed the human female when she’d sought him out with news of her pregnancy and been done with it. Then he wouldn’t have suffered all these years, kept at a low-rank, refused even the basic right to take a mate and start a family. Keir had made a mistake, however. The protection he’d used had failed and the resulting child was part polar bear shifter and part human, and couldn’t be allowed to live.
He had no parental bond with her, no familial attachment. He simply wanted the child and her mother dead so he could move the fuck on.
“You’re certain it’s them?” he asked, staring across the kitchen table at Brandon.
“One hundred percent.”
The tablet showed a map with a star on the location of a house where the two were living. They were in New Jersey now. He’d lost track of them two years earlier. They were exceptionally good at staying off the radar. But now, fucking finally, he’d have the upper hand.
“Do you want me to put a crew together?” Brandon asked.
“I’ll do it. You’re dismissed.”
Brandon nodded and left Keir’s trailer, leaving him to his thoughts. He sent a text to his brothers—Donovan and Dorian. “It’s finally time to set the past right. We leave in one hour.”
His brothers replied they’d be ready.
Keir stood with a growl in his chest. He was so fucking ready to nail the coffin of his past shut so he could move the hell on to better things. Once the females were dead and his alpha had proof, Keir would finally take a mate and start a proper family. It was all he’d been wanting the past two decades, and it was all within reach.
He just needed to kill two people to make it happen.
* * *
Novi woke the next morning in Cael’s arms, feeling more rested than she ever had in her life. While it had been tempting to take things all the way with him physically, they’d decided it was best to keep things as they were for now. They’d kissed and held each other several hours once they were in bed before drifting off to sleep with her tucked close against him.
She felt closer to Cael now that they’d shared so much. There was a freedom between them to talk about anything, because she knew his secret and he knew hers. She’d also learned that the park shifters lived in a huge underground compound with each group having their own private living quarters.
“Morning sweetheart,” Cael said, kissing her shoulder.
She turned her head back to look at him with a smile and kissed him. “Morning.”
“You look like you’re thinking about something serious.”
She turned to face him, resting her head on his biceps. “I was thinking about living arrangements.”
“What about them?”
“Well, I guess more specifically I was thinking about living arrangements and my mom.”
“I’ve had some thoughts about that as well.”
“Oh?”
“I need to speak to Alistair, but I think that the alphas would be willing to let your mom move into one of these apartments. Since we can’t tell her the truth of your father—or that shifters even exist at all—you and I could move in here. Then you’d still be close to your mom—we’d have our place and she’d have her own. That way we don’t have to explain you live in the park but she can’t come visit.”
Novi let that roll around in her head. “Do you think she might someday figure out about shifters?”
“It’s possible. She may already think it but feel it’s too crazy to say out loud.”
And Novi couldn’t help her along with that knowledge. Cael had stressed to her how important the secret of shifters was. While she trusted her mom and knew her mom would never say anything to put anyone else in danger, Novi understood she was simply forbidden from telling her the truth in this matter.
“I like the idea of all of us living in the same complex. Can I see your real place, though?”
“Sure. Maybe after we meet Alistair I can show you around, and then you can help me with the norms if you want.”
“Norms?”
“Normal, non-shifting animals.”
“Is Tank really a shifter?”
“No, he’s just a cranky, real moose.”
“Are there moose shifters?” She sat up and stretched, her mind swirling with possibilities for different kinds of shifters.
“I’ve never met on
e, but who knows? Because we keep secret from humans, there are all sorts of shifters hiding in plain sight.”
“So if you were out at a store or something and you smelled a shifter, you’d just ignore it?”
“It depends, I guess. It’s honestly never happened, though. Well, aside from Dani’s father and brother, who are horse shifters, but they smell human to us. If I was out in public and I scented another shifter, I’d be curious about them, but it wouldn’t be like I’d out him or her to humans or something, that would be crazy. The shifters in our area all live in the park. Shifters by nature are territorial so they stick to their own areas.”
“It’s so strange to learn that there’s this whole world I never even knew existed. It’s too fantastical.”
He chuckled and kissed her, then got out of bed. “We should get ready for breakfast.”
His phone buzzed, and he picked it up from the side table and read the screen, then smiled as he typed. “There’s a bag of clothes for you outside the door.”
“There is? From who?”
“Trina.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet.”
They checked outside the front door and found a paper sack which contained a pair of light gray leggings and a short-sleeved tunic in a buttery yellow. There were also a pair of flip flops and a bag of toiletries.
“Wow, this is so nice,” Novi said as she looked over the items. “How did she know?”
“What, that you were staying here or that you’d appreciate clothes?”
“Both, I guess.”
“I told Justus last night that you’d be staying with me in the apartment, and I’m sure she just assumed you didn’t have any clothes with you.”
“He’s not an elephant but he cared about me because I’m your mate?”
“Yep. We all look out for each other.”
Her heart clenched a little at the idea of having a big group of people from all different walks of life looking out for her because Cael was her guy. She loved that idea hard. And she thought her mom would love it too, once she got used to the idea of being around people and not staying in hiding. How long had it been since her mom had had a real friend besides her? They both deserved this.
“Thank you,” Novi said, her eyes stinging with sudden tears.
“For what?”
“Just...thank you for everything.”
Cael moved to her and gave her a tight hug. “Sweetheart, I’d do anything for you, up to and including giving you and your mom a safe place to live. You’re everything to me, and I want us to have a long and happy life together.”
“I want that too.”
He tilted her face up to his and smiled at her. “Let’s get to breakfast. The sooner we meet with my alpha, the sooner we can get on with the rest of our plans.”
Suddenly she couldn’t wait for that. Because she’d get to see him in his shift again. And then they’d....maybe come back here and see where the day took them.
Her gaze slipped to the unmade bed and her stomach flipped.
She couldn’t wait.
Chapter Ten
Cael punched in the code to unlock the employee cafeteria and held the door open for Novi. Inside, a long table was set with breakfast items. Alistair was seated at the table, as was Joss and his soulmate, Jeanie, and the bear alpha, Marcus. Cael introduced Novi, who shook hands with everyone and got a hug from Jeanie.
“Have a seat,” Alistair said, gesturing to the empty chairs across the table from him.
“Thanks,” Cael said as he pulled Novi’s chair out for her.
“Before we get to the meal,” Joss said, clearing his throat, “we wanted you to tell us, in your own words, Novi, what you know about Cael and the park.”
Novi nodded. She spoke softly at first, her voice touched with nerves, but the longer she spoke, the more confident and animated she grew. She told her whole story, ending with the connection she felt to Cael and the truth she now knew about her father and herself, as well as shifters in general.
The room fell into silence when she finished, and she looked to Cael with raised brows.
“You did great,” he whispered, and kissed her cheek.
“You did,” Alistair said. “Your story is...well, it’s frankly a miracle that your mother was able to keep the two of you hidden for so long, particularly from a predator like a bear shifter.”
“I’m thankful every day for all the sacrifices she did to keep us both safe.”
“You’ve no idea why he’s after you, though?” Joss asked.
“No,” Novi said, shaking her head. “From what I’ve learned from Cael about soulmates, I don’t think that’s what he’s feeling toward my mom. I mean, I don’t think he’s chased us for twenty years because he’s in love with her. I think it’s because I’m part whatever sort of bear he is. He has no evidence that either of us even know about shifters, and he’d know by now that we haven’t told anyone the secret about shifters. If it was because he was afraid we’d tell, I think we’ve proved all this time that we’re really good at keeping secrets.”
“Indeed,” Alistair said. “And you’re certain your mom doesn’t know?”
“I think she knows there’s something different about him, and about me, but if she believes people can turn into animals she’s never shared it with me.”
“You and your mom must be so scared,” Jeanie said.
“It’s been a tough life,” Novi admitted. “But I wouldn’t change the journey that brought me and Cael together. I hate everything about the way my father has treated us, but without the constant moving from area to area, we wouldn’t have come to New Jersey and I wouldn’t have met Cael.”
Cael grinned.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen your father or any evidence that he’s still after you?” Joss asked.
“Almost two years. I told Mom that I thought it was time for us to settle down, but she’s always got one hand on the go-bag, watching and worried that he’ll show up and she won’t be ready to get away.”
The alphas went quiet again, and Jeanie said, “Let’s eat before everything gets cold. I think our alphas have a lot to talk about.”
The bears handled the food, from the stands in the park to the cafeteria to the market in the center of the underground living space. Cael wasn’t one to do much cooking, so he normally took his meals in the cafeteria and market, but now that he and Novi were going to be living in the apartment, he’d have to change that. The bears had set the table with trays of food—breakfast sandwiches and wraps, hashbrown patties, and individual bowls of fruit. The males all waited for Novi and Jeanie to fill their plates, and then they set into the food. Male shifters ate a lot, their beasts burned off calories at a high rate. Cael didn’t think there would be much in the way of leftovers once they were finished.
While they ate, the alphas explained the park operations to Novi and how it had become a haven to them, enabling them to keep the secret of their shifts.
Novi settled back in her chair and picked up her second cup of coffee. “It’s amazing. I don’t know how the secret’s been kept all these years, I mean you’re not the only shifters in the world, but humans don’t have a clue. Not really, anyway. There are always myths and legends, but most people don’t put stock in them.”
“We’re careful,” Alistair said. “All our people are. We’ve had some slipups here and there, but fortunately nothing major has gotten out to the public.”
Cael thought back to the “slipups,” which included Win the gorilla falling asleep at his soulmate Lexy’s place and shifting while they slept. It could easily have made their secret public if he hadn’t been able to convince her to keep things between them.
“I promise I understand why you need to live in secrecy, and I wouldn’t do anything to endanger Cael or any of you.”
“Good,” Alistair said. “Until you’re officially mated, however, you won’t be allowed to live underground with our people. Cael mentioned that the two of you could stay in t
he apartment complex and had asked if your mother could also have an apartment. The alphas have discussed it, and we’d like to offer an apartment to her.”
“That’s so nice, thank you,” Novi said. “I’m just not sure how to broach the subject with her.”
“What do you mean?” Cael asked.
“Well, honestly, how often does a guy meet a girl and a few days later asks her to move into his apartment, and also makes arrangements for her mom to have a place to stay in the same complex? It’s...I don’t know, it’s unbelievable.”
“Good point,” Cael said. “Since we can’t tell her about our people, we can’t say that taking care of her is part of my nature—you’re my soulmate and that makes her family to me, to the memory.”
“What do you do for work?” Joss asked Novi.
“I work at a thrift store. It’s mostly logging and sorting donations and dealing with customers. Why?”
“We heard about the photo album mishap,” Joss said. “I was just thinking that we could use a dedicated person to print out the albums and look for that kind of thing, as opposed to having whoever is in the security office put them together.”
“What mishap?” Novi asked.
“My eye color change in the picture of you and me when I was an elephant. We’re not sure it’s happened before, but it’s something to watch out for in the future.”
“You want me to work at the park?” she asked, looking at Cael first and then the alphas.
“A lot of the soulmates work here,” Jeanie said. “I joined the bears on the cooking team, Trina and Lexy work in the candy shop, Adriana and Celeste work in the market at a nail salon, and Dani has a makeup studio, Devlin works in finance, and Rhapsody helps out with the norms.”
“You forgot about the bird sanctuary,” Marcus said. “Auden and his soulmate Jess oversee it. And Tayme and Rory handle the ice cream stall in the park.”
“Wow,” Novi said. “That’s pretty neat. I’ve only been working at the thrift store for a few weeks, so I’d be willing to work at the park and do the albums or whatever else needs to be done.”