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Rhomi blinked. Justus? Oh…her mate.
She closed her eyes tightly and rolled her neck. Something bumped her, and she nearly fell over when she opened her eyes and found Mercer right in front of her, his nose on her stomach and his breath warming her skin through her shirt.
Hand trembling, she reached to touch him. The prickly ends of his whiskers registered in her mind. His nose twitched and he snuffled a little higher on her stomach. She touched his cheek, smoothing her fingertips under his eye and up to his fluffy ear. He hummed, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch.
“Rhomi?” Trina called.
“I’m okay,” she said loudly. “Just a minor freak-out.”
“We’re ready when you are.”
“Thanks.”
She looked into the eyes of the lion, who was actually Mercer.
How freaking strange. But also cool as hell.
“I’m ready to go walk around the paddock,” she said, leaning her head against his. He purred again, loudly, and she hugged him. His huge paw pressed lightly against her back. “I feel really safe right now,” she whispered. “I wasn’t sure I would. I also can’t believe I’m not having a full-blown panic attack right now since you’re a dang lion.”
He chuckled in a lion sort of way, rough and wild.
“Let’s go for a walk,” she said.
She moved to the big door and pushed it open, smiling as she saw Trina and Devlin a few feet away, their lion mates with them. Justus was big like Mercer, but Jenni was smaller and didn’t have the big mane.
“You didn’t pass out,” Devlin said. He stepped by her and pushed the door almost closed so it left a spill of light in the darkness.
“No, I already did that one time tonight.”
“Right, with the jackal,” Trina said. “We were all freaked out about that. Makes you wonder what other shifters are out there.”
“What kinds are here in the park?” Rhomi asked.
Their small group began to walk together. She liked that Mercer was right at her side, his body bumping against hers occasionally.
“The main groups are gorilla, wolf, lion, elephant, and bear,” Devlin said.
“We’ve got some others that are mates, though,” Trina said. “Panther, red fox, owl, half-polar bear, albino doe, and stallions.”
“How do you have half a polar bear?”
“Novi’s mom is human,” Devlin explained. “She can’t shift, but she does have some animal qualities when she’s emotional.”
“So half-shifter kids can’t shift?”
“It depends,” Trina said. “The truth is that we won’t know if a child will shift or not until they’re old enough, which is usually in their late teenage years. It would depend on whether they took more after their shifter parent or their human parent.”
“It’s a lot to take in,” Rhomi said.
“You’re doing okay with it?” Trina asked.
She looked at her lion and smiled. “Yeah. I really am.”
ChapterEighteen
Mercer had listened to Rhomi, Trina, and Devlin talk for the last few hours as they made their way around the paddock several times, meandering to the pond and hanging out in the soft grass. They parted ways at the shed when it was time for him to shift back. He and Rhomi were the first ones in the shed. She pulled the door shut and turned to face him.
She watched him intently as he shifted back. His lion was sad to go, but he was thankful to have a chance to talk to her again. He wished he could talk in his shift.
