Page 33 of Alfie

He barked out a laugh. “I’m kidding! I mean seven. Eight tops.”

She arched a brow and took the paper towels he handed her to clean the spill. “Three.”

“Fine,” he said. “As long as I get to sex you up all the time when we’re trying.”

“Heck yeah, you better.” She hummed and picked up her phone. “I want to call off work. Even though I just took a week off, I don’t want to go into work today, so I’ll tell them I’m off until Monday. We have too much to talk about and I really don’t want to leave the park.”

“Sounds good to me.”

She sent an email to her bosses and left a message on the office voicemail. As she hung up, she put her phone face down and said, “I feel like I’m going to need to quit.”

“I don’t want to push you to do something you don’t want to or aren’t ready for. There’s no rush, your whole life doesn’t have to turn upside down today.”

“It kind of did already, though,” she pointed out. “Joss and Jeanie were very clear that wolf mates like to be near each other, and that includes living and working. Those two don’t work together, but they work near each other—her in the cafeteria and him in the office, which is nearby. It actually makes sense to me. Even before last night, I felt so strange being away from you, though I couldn’t explain it. Love at first sight on steroids.”

He laughed. “That’s a good way to put it.”

They talked about the park, the shifters, the alphas, his jobs with security and the safari tours, her apartment and the theater, and her brother’s upcoming wedding.

“You’re definitely coming,” she said.

“Of course,” he said. “Are you in the wedding?”

“I’m one of Alice’s bridesmaids. It’s fancy but not tux-fancy, so a regular suit and tie is okay.”

“Will you come with me to buy one? I don’t have one.”

She beamed at him. “I’d love to.”

His phone buzzed and they were told to head over to the cafeteria. They bundled up and left the warmth of the apartment, walking all the way across the park to the employee cafeteria. “Afterward, I’ll take you on a real tour around the park, okay? Since you’ve only seen it at night.”

“Sounds good to me. You said the safari is closed?”

“The park is open weekends in January, but the safari is closed until February.”

As they wandered toward the cafeteria, she said, “Are there any real animals on the safari tour?”

“The norms’ paddock has non-shifters—the antelope, deer, and Tank. Otherwise, it’s just us in the paddocks. We shift before the tours start and hang out all day.” He’d told her how the park alphas used free coupons for VIP tours to bring single men and women around in the hopes they would be the soulmate for a shifter. It sounded like a good idea to Myla, and she wished she’d gotten a coupon.

“I would have loved to go on a safari tour and meet you,” she said. “It’s really romantic. Talk about a meet-cute.”

“Hey!” he said with a laugh as they reached the cafeteria building. “I saved you from an asshole. I think that’s a very romantic meet-cute.”

She bumped against him with a smile. “It’s super romantic. But the ticket would have been neat too.”

He opened the door for her and her smile slipped as they stepped inside and she found herself facing a whole bunch of people.

Shifters.

Alphas.

Holy crap.

“Breathe, sweetheart,” Alfie whispered, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

“I told you we should be seated,” a woman said with a smile. “She looks like a deer about to bolt.”

“How about we sit, then?” Joss suggested. “We can let Alfie introduce Myla, and then we can go around to all of us.”