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“If you were in your shift and with a natural lion, would they want to hang out with you or do you think they’d realize you weren’t like them?” she asked.
“I’ve never met a real lion,” he said, “but the natural animals we have in the paddock, like Tank the moose? They know there’s something off about us. The prey animals recognize the predator shifters and they steer clear of us, even when we’re human. So I think a real lion wouldn’t want to hang around a shifter lion because they’d sense something was off.”
“So if the jackal had been a real jackal and not a shifter, she wouldn’t have wanted to be around the wolves in the paddock?”
“We’d hoped she would, but the truth is we just don’t know since we don’t have a lot of natural animals here.”
She’d met Ginny officially on Saturday while they’d been carting things between the apartment and living quarters. She was staying in one of the apartments because she didn’t have anywhere to go and was on the run from her dangerous grandfather.
“What made you ask?”
“I don’t know,” she said. They reached the cafeteria and stopped at the counter where sandwiches were wrapped and placed under warmers. She perused the selections and settled on a ham and egg bagel. “I just feel bad because she’s in danger.”
“She’s safe here, though,” he pointed out as he picked up two sandwiches.
When they’d picked drinks from one of the refrigerators, they left the cafeteria and he walked with her to the season ticket office. It was true that the park was safe. The stone walls were high and the surrounding space was filled with security cameras and motion detectors, and the interior of the park was patrolled by the security team made up of lions and wolves.
No one could get down to the private area without security codes, and the apartment complex was being watched while Ginny was there.
“Will she stay, do you think? Maybe join the wolves?”
“She seems pretty resistant. I don’t think she wants to join any group, but I don’t think she wants to leave just yet. She’s probably planning her next move. If my grandfather wanted me dead, I’d sure as heck not stay in one place.”
Rhomi mused on that while she took a bite of the sandwich. “I suppose not. What a lonely life, though.”
“I heard she hasn’t really left the apartment since she was put there. We can stop by after work tonight if you’d like and say hello.”
“I’d like that,” she said.
She unlocked the door to the ticket office and set her things on the desk. Turning to face her mate, she smiled and hugged him. Rising onto her toes, she gave him a kiss, tasting the iced coffee he’d picked for his drink.
He hummed. “I fucking hate having to work.” He hugged her with one arm, his food and drink in the other.
“Me too. But just think, on Saturday we’ll have our ceremony and then have a few days off to spend together. Aside from visiting my parents, I had a thought.”
“A sexy one?” he asked with a purr.
“Oh, definitely. I was thinking since the alphas don’t like to have people stay away from the park overnight that we could stay in one of the apartments and treat it like a hotel and make it special. We could get food delivered from the cafeteria.”
“I love that idea.”
“Oh, do you think we could spend the night in the paddock too? It’s going to be nice next weekend. We could get a tent and hang out by the pond.” She let her voice trail off when Mercer’s eyes flashed and his irises got darker, which she recognized as him being turned on and happy.
“That sounds amazing. I’ll put something together for us in the paddock and get us an apartment for a few days too.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Me too, sweetheart.”
They said goodbye with a few lingering kisses, and then he walked away and she shut the door.
Even though they’d only been together a week, it felt like she’d known him forever, which she knew was a clichéd thing to think, but she did really feel that way. She was looking forward to the lion mating ceremony, which involved a big bonfire in the paddock after the park was closed and a special meal that he’d prepare for her.
She sat at the desk and turned on the computer, then ate her sandwich while she waited for it to boot up. The park wasn’t open for another hour, and the morning stretched ahead of her like a gaping maw, but she only had four hours before she could meet Mercer for lunch.
Sexy times waited on the horizon.
* * *
