by R. E. Butler
“So what’s happening in an hour?”
“The first of our rituals.” There was a knock on the outer door and he left the bedroom, returning a few moments later with a stack of black clothing. “Rituals and traditions are important to my people. It helps us look to the future without forgetting the past.”
“There are obviously girl lions, since your biological mother was one, so why did you have to use VIP coupons to entice people to come here?”
He sat on the bed and separated the black clothes, which turned out to be a pair of leather pants and a men’s t-shirt. “Shifters as a whole are predominantly male, so while there are females born, they’re few and far between.”
“You never wanted to be with a lioness?”
He looked at her. “I wanted to be with the right female. I wasn’t willing to randomly hookup with a female just to have a child, or mate a female based solely on her shifting abilities. A soulmate is worth waiting for. You were worth waiting for.”
“That’s really sweet.”
“It’s the truth. My DNA is dominant, so any children we have will be able to shift, but even that doesn’t matter to me. I’m thankful to have found you. I’m honored to have you as my mate. And whatever the future holds for us, I know that with you by my side I can accomplish anything.”
She’d never given much thought to having kids, or what her future would be like. Just days earlier, she and Adriana had been talking about their perfect man, focusing on the superficial attributes. Even though Jupiter was by far the sexiest guy who ever lived, he was much more than that – determined, caring, protective. Package that up with a killer six-pack and a sexy purr, and she was toast.
“So this ritual?” she asked, returning to their conversation.
“A pride male has to prove his worth to his mate through two rituals, designed to showcase his skills and abilities. The first ritual is tonight. Once the park is closed and it’s been ensured that there are no humans inside, we’ll meet the pride up in the paddock. A single rabbit will be released, and I’ll have to hunt and kill it.”
“Um, why?”
He shook his head. “If we lived in the wild, I’d go hunt something serious like an antelope, but I can’t exactly go into the normals’ paddocks and go hunting.”
“Normals?”
“Non-shifting animals. In the interest of not killing off the animals in our zoo, my dad picked a rabbit. They’re fast as hell and not exactly easy to catch, you know,” he said, looking a little disgruntled.
“Okay, sorry,” she said, chuckling. “All right, so killing a poor little bunny proves that you can hunt, and that’s important?”
“Of course. It is to my lion, anyway. Then I have to cook it and feed it to you.” She knew she was making a face, because he rolled his eyes. “Sweetheart, it’s part of what I am.”
“Do I have to see you kill the bunny? I’m not sure I can eat something after watching you kill it.”
“It’ll be dark, and no, I’ll clean it before I bring it to you. You’ll be waiting by a fire in the paddock while I hunt. The pride will be there to watch over you while I’m away. In the old days, when our people lived in the wild, this was how a male proved himself to be a good mate. When a shifter becomes pregnant, she can’t shift until the baby comes, and needs a male who can provide for her.”
“That’s pretty cool, actually. Even though we have these great inventions like cars and grocery stores now. Wait, can we even leave the park? Are you allowed to go out into the human world?”
“Yes and yes. We have a shared market underground, and they can get anything you need, but we can go shopping or out to eat anytime.”
“Okay. Let’s go take a shower.”
“No,” he said.
“But I’m sticky,” she said.
He laughed in a very male way, which made her roll her eyes. “We smell like each other, and that’s a good thing. My brother brought me these pants to wear, and this shirt for you.”
He stood and tugged the leather pants on while she lifted the men’s t-shirt and looked at it critically. “I can’t wear my own stuff? Minus the bra you tore, of course.”
“Black clothing is traditional; it keeps from drawing unnecessary attention to us.”
She slipped from the bed and excused herself to the bathroom. After using the facilities, she tugged the shirt over her head. It was a plain men’s black tee, very oversized but not nearly long enough. She knew she’d spend the entire night tugging on the back of it to keep her butt covered.
Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she examined the shirt critically and then decided to try something she’d seen online. Stretching the collar of the shirt out, she wiggled her arms out of the neck hole until it was under her armpits, making the shirt long enough to cover her. Then she crossed the short sleeves and tucked them into the collar, giving the shirt a bodice. Turning to look at herself from all angles, she decided she was covered well enough, and even looked cute in the shirt she’d turned into a makeshift dress.
Opening the bathroom door, she found Jupiter waiting for her expectantly on the bed. “Did you find out what’s going on with my friend?”
He stared at her with his mouth open.
“Jupiter?”
“Sorry, sweetheart, you look amazing. How did you do that?” he asked as he rose and came to her, ghosting his hands over the front of the dress with a curious purr.
“I saw a demonstration of it online, and since the shirt wasn’t long enough to cover my bits, I figured this was a good way to make it more modest.”
“I had no idea my sweetheart was so smart,” he murmured.
“I have my moments,” she said with a laugh.
Bare-footed, because once more he said it was important, they left his home and headed to the far side of the pride’s private area, to a security door. He entered a code into the pad. “This leads up into the paddock. We come and go through here, shifting in the storage shed. We work in rotation, splitting our time between handling the security in the park and being active for park visitors. I’ll share the codes with you. You mustn’t give them to anyone, not even other shifters. Only the lions know our own codes, and it’s that way with the other groups, too.”
“You guys sure do like secrets.”
He pulled open the door when it unlocked. “It’s how we’ve managed to stay under the radar for so long.”
She followed him up the stairs. He used another security pad to unlock a doorway at the top. It lifted up, and she couldn’t see anything except darkness. He led her into the shed and turned on a very soft, low light. It barely illuminated the area. After closing and securing the door in the floor, he took her hands and brought them to his lips.
“You don’t have anything to be afraid of,” he said.
“Why would I be afraid?”
“Because I’m leaving you to go hunt, and this is still so new between us.”
“Yeah, but it still feels right. I meant it when I said I wanted to be yours.”
“I meant it when I said you already are. Tonight is about sharing my traditions with you. When we’re done, you can share your family’s traditions with me.”
“Aside from overeating at Thanksgiving, we don’t have any that I’m aware of.”
He chuckled. “Then we’ll make some of our own, too.”
“I do want you to meet my parents. You can, can’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
“What about my apartment?”
“You have a home with me now,” he said.
“I know, but I need to go pack it up.”
“I’ll have some of the pride go tomorrow morning and pack it up for you. Do you just have one room?”
“One bedroom and bathroom. But shouldn’t we also pack up Adriana? She hates packing, and I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”
He chuckled. “It’s best to leave that to her. Whenever she’s ready to pack up her things, lions will go with her to help.”
�
��Sounds good to me.”
“Are you ready to meet the pride so I can go hunt?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her briefly, then extinguished the light and opened the door. The fall night air was crisp but not too cool. He picked her up and carried her. “I don’t want you to stumble.”
“You can see in the dark?” she asked, peering into the night. The crescent moon lent a little bit of light, but all she could really see were darker spots among the shadows.
“I can see better than you can, but I don’t have night vision.”
She rested her head on his shoulder after looping her arms around his neck. “You can feel free to carry me anytime.”
In the distance she could see a flickering orange light, and knew it was the fire where she would wait for him while he hunted. She’d never had anyone hunt for her before, and the sentiment behind it – that he would prove he could provide for her and their kids – was sweet. They drew nearer, and she saw seven figures standing around a bonfire with what appeared to be a fur rug on the ground next to it. Jupiter stopped just in front of it and set her on her feet.
“Alpha Caesar, I present my soulmate, Celeste, to you.”
Caesar, the man who had knocked Jupiter away from the fence, strode over to them and stopped next to the rug. “Welcome, Celeste. As pride alpha, it is my honor and duty to watch over you tonight as your mate proves his worth.”
Then he introduced the six other pride members: Javan, Amadeus, Lucius, Jenni, Mercer, and Xavier. “Our pride isn’t large, but we hold fast to our traditions. Do you come tonight of your own free will, to accept Jupiter as your mate?”
“Yes,” she said.
The pride growled in approval.
Jenni, who had long, tawny hair tied into a braid over her shoulder, stepped forward holding a small cage. A brown rabbit sat inside, nose twitching. “Release the prey,” Caesar said.
Jenni opened the cage and drew the rabbit out, stepping away from the bonfire and into the darkness. Celeste heard only the rustle of grass and a soft chuckle as Jenni came back into the light with an empty cage.
“Prove yourself worthy of this female, Jupiter,” Caesar said, offering his hand to Jupiter. They clasped wrists, and the other lions joined them, wishing him good luck.
Celeste turned to face Jupiter as he undid his pants. “Wait for me on the fur, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her.
“Okay. Good luck.”
He winked. “I won’t be long.”
She took his pants and tried not to stare at his sexy body, highlighted by the flickering flames. He shifted into his lion, going from gorgeous man to beautiful beast so quickly her brain still wasn’t quite sure she was seeing what she was seeing.
He chuffed at her, bumping his head against her hip gently until she stepped onto the fur rug and dropped to her knees. She rubbed his muzzle and kissed it. “See you soon.”
He bounded off into the night with a roar, and she shivered, knowing that there was a little bunny hopping around out there with a target on its back.
“Don’t feel sorry for the rabbit,” Mercer said.
She turned to face the bonfire and the pride members. “I can’t help it. He was so cute.”
“Trust me, this is far better than the way we used to do things. My parents were mated, and my dad had to track a wildebeest for my mother. It took him two days. Guess where she had to be the whole time?” Caesar said.
“On the rug?”
“Yep. And they didn’t let her wear clothes because part of the ritual was that the female would wear the skin of the beast.”
“So you’re saying it could be worse? I guess I’ll be glad I have clothes on.”
Xavier said, “Jupiter said you wanted to know what was going on with your friend Adriana?”
Celeste felt bad for getting caught up in her own situation and not thinking about her friend. “All he knew was that she was okay. Do you know what happened?”
“Apparently her tour guide recognized that she was the soulmate of a gorilla named Zane and decided to torment him by attacking her. Zane ripped the fence apart and got your friend away from him. She’s with him in the gorilla band’s private area.”
“Band?”
“Group of gorillas,” Xavier amended.
“So she found her soulmate too? Wow. How weird is it that we both found our soulmates at the same time?”
“It gives us hope that someday we’ll find our soulmates, too,” Lucius said.
“Can I see her?”
“In a few days Jupiter can make arrangements to get together with her and her mate. It’s important to him that you complete the mating traditions first,” Caesar said.
“As long as she’s fine. Does she know I’m okay? That I found my mate too?”
Amadeus nodded with a smile. “Zane was informed, and told her. She’s your best friend?”
“We’ve been friends since we were young. Her parents moved to Florida after we graduated from high school, and my parents took her in so she didn’t have to move. She’s like a sister to me.”
While she waited for Jupiter to come back, the pride members shared information about their kind with her. She was still amazed to know that there was this whole different world going on right under humans’ noses. If she and Adriana hadn’t used the VIP coupons, she most likely never would have met Jupiter. According to him, he didn’t leave the park very often, so they may never have crossed paths. She rubbed at the space over her heart. It hadn’t even been a full day and already she couldn’t imagine being without him.
A roar broke the silence, and she turned, peering into the darkness. “That sounded happy,” she said.
“I’d say he found the furry bastard,” Jenni said with a chuckle.
“Will it take him long to…prep it?” she asked.
“No. He’ll shift and butcher it properly. There’s a satchel of tools hanging from a tree,” Caesar said.
She tilted her head and listened carefully, trying to pick out any sounds, but all she could really hear was the crackling of the fire behind her. She had no idea how long it had been, but it didn’t seem like much time had passed when Jupiter strode into the little camp, a fur in one hand and the butchered rabbit in the other. It wasn’t the rabbit that made her breath catch in her throat; it was the way that the firelight flickered over Jupiter’s sexy body. She suddenly wished they were alone.
As if reading her mind, Jupiter stopped next to her and purred. He moved to the fire and threaded the rabbit onto a long piece of metal; then he picked up two other pieces of metal from near the fire pit and sank them into the ground on either side. Each piece had a prong on the end, and he set the piece with the rabbit onto the ends and attached a turning handle.
He chose a few pieces of wood and set them on the fire, then donned the leather pants and joined her on the fur.
“It takes about forty-five minutes to cook,” he said as he settled behind her, his long legs on either side of hers and his chest against her back.
“What happens now?”
The pride settled on the ground across the fire and Caesar said, “Now we wait.”
Jupiter nuzzled her throat with a purr and said into her ear, “When I’ve proven my worth to you, sweet mate, then I’m going to take you home and show you how happy I am that you’re mine.”
She shivered and chuckled, resting her hands on his bent knees.
“I’m really happy you’re mine, too.”
Chapter 7
Jupiter watched his mate sleep. After their long night outside, hunting for her and then feeding her his kill, he’d carried her home where they made love until dawn. He was tired himself, but he’d only slept a few hours before waking. His cat was anxious for what the night would bring. He’d been surprised by how close he felt to her already. When he was hunting the rabbit, he’d been torn between not wanting to be away from her and continuing the tradition. It might’ve been the fastest he’d ever hunted. Pride had filled him as he u
sed his claws to strip thin pieces of meat from the skewer and then fed her by hand. He was proud of her for not being entirely grossed-out by the process. It certainly wasn’t normal in her world.
His phone buzzed and he grabbed it off the nightstand. A text from his dad told him that the pride wanted to eat lunch together as a group, the start of a new tradition.
He texted Caesar that Celeste was still resting, but they would be ready in two hours for the group lunch. Setting his phone down on the nightstand, he settled back against his mate, curling around her and inhaling her scent.
Although he didn’t fall back asleep, he did spend the time thinking about the future. When Celeste woke up, stretching with a squeak and blinking still-sleepy eyes at him, he smiled and kissed her forehead.
“Hey,” she said, her voice still rough from their pleasurable night.
“Hey yourself,” he said. “We’re supposed to meet the pride for lunch, but you can sleep a little longer if you’d like.”
“I’m good,” she said, yawning as she turned into him and rested her cheek on his bicep. “Please tell me I can take a shower.”
He laughed. “Only if you let me help wash your back.”
“Is that all you want to wash?” she asked, peeking up at him, her lovely blue eyes darkening. He kissed her and then scooped her into his arms, climbing from the bed and carrying her into the bathroom.
“Eager?” she teased as he set her on the floor and pushed the shower curtain back.
“To see you wet and naked? Hell yes.”
After they made love and washed each other thoroughly, he gave her one of his long-sleeved shirts to borrow and she put on her jeans, tying his shirt at her waist and running a brush through her long hair.
“So what happens today?” she asked as she took his hand and they left the house.
“Lunch first, and then we need to harvest some items for tonight. The park is open today, of course, so we’ll be on our own until after it closes, and then there will be a ceremony and the pride will leave us alone topside.”
They walked to his dad’s house, which was slightly larger than all the rest. Jupiter knocked once and opened the front door, leading Celeste to the kitchen where a large table had been set. Platters of roasted meats and vegetables were lined down the center of the table, and the nearby island was filled with bowls of side dishes and pitchers of drinks.