by R. E. Butler
He rose to his feet suddenly, cupping her bottom and holding her close.
“Bedroom?” he murmured against her skin, his face buried in her neck.
“Hell, yes.”
He chuckled in a manly way, like he knew just how wild he was driving her and he liked it.
She did, too.
He carried her down the hall and turned into the first bedroom on the right. The room was dark, but he seemed to have no trouble navigating his way to the bed. He bent down and laid her on a soft blanket, and then there was a click and a low light on a nightstand illuminated the room with a soft, golden glow. He put his hands on the waistband of her jeans with a heated smile and undid them. Then he tugged the material down her legs, catching her panties in the process. He stopped at her ankles and removed her shoes and socks, then stripped her entirely bare.
She rose onto her elbows and smoothed her hair away from her face.
He straightened and placed his hands on the waistband of his jeans, giving her an arched brow.
“You, too,” she said, surprised at how husky her tone was.
“As you wish, sweetheart.”
He undid his jeans and shoved them down his legs, toeing off his shoes and stripping fully. He planted his hands on the edge of the bed on either side of her legs and looked up the length of her body.
“You’re it for me, Dani,” he said. “I just want you to know that I’ve waited my whole life for you, and I’ll never let you go. You’re mine and I’m yours.”
His words were intense but not frightening. She felt the same way.
“You’re mine, too.”
He nodded with a soft snarl, his eyes flashing to brown. He grasped her ankles and spread them slowly, pushing gently until she bent her knees. She’d never been so laid out bare before a man before, but she liked it. Liked how intensely he was looking at her, as if she were the only woman in the whole world and his happiness rested with her.
She had to spread her legs wide to make room for his broad shoulders. He kissed his way up her legs, alternating from one to the other, until he was heading down her thighs toward her pussy. She stretched out on her back and laid a hand on top of his head as he reached the apex of her thighs, his warm breath skirting over her folds. He settled between her legs and curled one hand under her hip and spread his fingers across her abdomen. As he spread her open with his fingers, she could hear him inhale and then nuzzle her wetness. He stroked up her folds with his tongue and let out a groan.
“Fuck, Dani,” he said, his voice harsh and deep.
Her toes curled at his tone, the demand and pleasure rolled together in the way he said her name. She didn’t think any man had ever wanted her as much as Neo did.
He tilted his head and lapped at her entrance, then slowly licked up to her clit, circling the bud before delving back down. He made the pass again, faster, his tongue sweeping past her in swift movements, a flick here, a lick there, too much and not enough at the same time. Her hand curled into his hair, her nails scraping his scalp as he feasted on her. She wanted to beg him to let her come. She wanted to demand he never stop.
Instead she just moaned his name.
He snarled softly, and then he laid his tongue against her clit and growled. Her whole body lit up at the sound and the vibrations that tingled through her. He pushed first one finger and then two into her as he played with her bud, a riot of sensations cascading through her as he drove her to the peak of pleasure. The center of her body went white hot and she came, her eyes rolling back in her head and her back bowing as she cried out his name.
He kissed up the center of her body and curled his hands under her shoulders, pulling her down onto his hard length and meeting her with a swift thrust. He was thick and long, and he waited a moment before he slowly pulled out and then thrust in again. As her body adjusted to him, she met his thrusts, lifting her hips and pulling him faster into her by hooking her ankles together.
He kissed her, and she groaned into his mouth, everything feeling too good and too much. Too everything.
She never wanted it to end.
He began to move faster, their kiss breaking as the power of his thrusts left her breathless and wanting more.
He pushed his hand under her hips and lifted up, changing the angle of his thrusts until his cock rubbed something within her that made her gasp in pleasure.
His eyes were hooded, his fangs peeking from his lips as he clenched his teeth and drove into her. Faster and deeper.
Rubbing that spot again and again.
Pleasure swirled in her core, and she let go, coming so hard that her vision blurred and she felt like her bones had melted from the intensity.
He roared when he came, his cock pulsing within her.
She was dimly aware of his snarl a moment before his fangs sank into her neck. She gasped at the sensation that was a combination of pain and pleasure. The connection she’d felt to him when he first entered her solidified in her mind, and she wrapped her arms around him as he removed his fangs from her flesh and kissed underneath the aching mark.
“I know it’s early, Neo,” she whispered, her voice raw from screaming her pleasure, “but I’m so in love with you.”
He lifted enough to look at her, his eyes the brown of his gorilla. “I love you, too, Dani.”
He snuggled up next to her and tugged up the sheet to cover them. With his arms around her, the fresh mating bite in her neck, and the truth of what they now were to each other, she felt safe and secure, and loved. And she’d never been happier.
* * *
Dani heard something buzzing as she woke, her mind a pleasant haze of sleepiness and contentment. As she slowly pulled herself out of the sleepy stupor, she realized that the buzzing sound was a phone.
“Neo?” She sat up and shook his shoulder.
His eyes opened, and he said, “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Hey yourself. I think your phone’s buzzing.”
He sat up when the buzzing happened again. “Yep. The question is, where is my phone?”
With a laugh she said, “I don’t have any idea.”
He climbed off the bed and rummaged through their clothes on the floor, finding his phone in his pants pocket. He swiped his thumb on the screen and lifted it to his ear. “Hey, Atticus. What’s up?”
He joined Dani on the bed and put the phone on speaker.
“Sorry to wake you two, but Dani’s dad, brother, and the four guys from the construction crew are here. Dexter is demanding to see her immediately.”
“They’re in the cafeteria?” Neo asked.
“Yes. But don’t come up through the interior entrance, come topside through the maintenance shed and walk to the cafeteria. We don’t want them to realize there’s an underground space where we live.”
“Okay. We’ll be up as fast as we can.”
The call ended, and Neo twisted on the bed to face her. “Sorry we didn’t get much sleep. I was hoping they wouldn’t show up too early.”
She looked at the screen, seeing it was six thirty.
“Do we have time to shower?” she asked.
“No, it’ll take too long. We’ve got a bit of a walk, so let’s just get dressed and get up there. I’ve got a spare toothbrush for you.”
After she got dressed in her clothes from the day before, she used the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Her hair was a ratty mess and her makeup had rubbed off, so she ran a brush through her hair and washed her face.
She found him on his phone in the kitchen. “I only have regular coffee,” he said, pointing to two travel mugs. “Nothing fancy or flavored. We can order whatever kind of stuff you like from the market for delivery or we can go shopping.”
“I’m okay with regular coffee.”
She used milk and sugar to fix it the way she liked and then put on the lid.
They left the house. Neo lowered the stairs so they could walk down.
“You really just swing yourself up there all the time?” she asked.
>
“Pretty much. Unless I have stuff I need to carry. We can keep the ladder down, so it’ll be easier for you to get into the house.”
“I didn’t mind the ride,” she said, smiling at the memory. Although scary at first, she’d enjoyed it when she got over her initial surprise. “But the ladder would be helpful if you weren’t with me and I needed to get into the house.”
“Exactly.”
They walked to the far wall of the private living quarters, and he entered a code into a security door, which opened to a hallway and a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, he lifted the ceiling up which turned out to be a door in the floor of the maintenance shed.
When they were inside the shed, he closed the door. “This is where I spend most of my days. Except for the weekends when I’m in my shift for the tours.”
“Will you still have to be out there during the tours even though you’re mated?”
She could feel the healing mating mark and she smiled.
“Not all the time, but sometimes, yes. Two of the guys have soulmates who are human, and they sometimes put on zookeeper uniforms and walk around the paddock during the tours so it looks more realistic. Adriana has a nail salon in the marketplace under the park, and Lexy runs the candy shop topside. Atticus will probably set up a dinner so you can meet everyone.”
“Oh, I’d like that.”
He led her to the door of the shed. “Which part?”
“Both. I’d like to see you be your beast again, since I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with you.”
“We can totally do that.” He put one hand on the door. “Before we leave, remember that the secret of the park has to stay with you. You can’t tell your family anything about us.”
“If they ask where I stayed last night?”
“Tell them in the cafeteria, and that we were up early and in the maintenance shed when they showed up. You can go home to pack your things, but I’ll be coming with you, and we can’t stay away from the park at night.”
“I wish the apartment complex was done.”
“Me, too. Your family will just have to trust that you’re making the right choice for yourself. It would be nice if you could tell them what we are and why you have to stay here, but...”
She nodded. “I totally understand, and it’s okay. I don’t want to put you or anyone in the park in jeopardy. I’ve never given them a reason not to trust me, and judging by what my mom said about understanding how I felt toward you, I think she’ll be supportive of us. My dad, on the other hand, appears to be acting like a lunatic right now.”
“I’ve got your back, sweetheart.”
“Let’s go see what my dad has to say,” she said.
Neo opened the door and took her hand, and they walked out of the shed together. The early morning sun illuminated the park, and she inhaled and rolled her neck, hating how much she felt like she was going to war with her family. She’d never expected her family to be against her like this. The only solace she had was that her mother seemed happy to help her.
The door of the cafeteria opened with such force that the glass cracked down the middle. Her father stood in the doorway, his face a mixture of fury and disappointment.
Neo took a step in front of her, acting as a shield.
Caesar rounded the building and said, “That was highly unnecessary, Dexter.”
“I want to know why you’re here, Danielle Marie, when I expressly forbid it,” Dexter said, ignoring Caesar and stalking toward her.
The way he called her by her full name made her stomach turn.
“Dad,” she said.
He stopped a few feet from them. Khyle and his four friends joined them.
“Answer me.”
She felt Neo tense, could see the way his muscles bunched up like he was barely holding onto his control. Atticus, Joss, and a few other men she didn’t know appeared, some coming from inside the cafeteria and some from the direction of the security office. She quickly stepped between her dad and Neo.
“This is so over the top, Dad,” she said, rubbing her temple. “What the heck is wrong with you? I’m not a child, I’m an adult. And before you say, ‘you live under my roof,’ I’ll just remind you that I’m being respectful to you. You’re the one acting like a whackadoodle. Stomping over here, demanding to see me like I was abducted from my bed or something. For crap sake, Dad. What did you think the end result of you coming at me like this would be? That I’d walk away from a man I’m in love with just because you said so?”
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at her dad, and then glared at the five behind him, one after the other.
Neo put his hand on her shoulder, and she glanced at him.
She slowly faced her father again. “You need to tell me what’s going on. And be honest.”
Her father’s angry glare was replaced with a frustrated look. Khyle stepped up next to him.
“We should perhaps go somewhere more private,” Khyle said.
“Back into the cafeteria?” Dani suggested.
“Actually,” Khyle said, “I think we should go into one of the animal paddocks.”
Dani frowned. “What? Why would we do that?”
“You want us to trust you, so you need to trust us,” Khyle said.
“The bears’ paddock is empty,” Joss said. “It’s the closest one.”
“Lead the way,” Dexter said.
As they walked to the path leading to the tour, she thought over what she’d learned after spending time with Neo. During one of their chats in between making love, he’d told Dani about the different shifters who called the park home. Lions, elephants, wolves, bears, and gorillas. Each one had their own private living space under the park, and they all worked together to make it safe for themselves. She was overwhelmed with the knowledge that there were so many different kinds of shifters and humans were none the wiser.
She looked over her shoulder at her family. It wasn’t just Dexter and Khyle, but Crew, Grey, Ford, and Avi who she considered brothers as well. She’d grown up with them all, and Dexter had always appeared to be like a father to them, too.
Slowly looking back to the path, she frowned as she thought about her childhood. She didn’t know anyone else who had friends who were so close like the guys were to Khyle and her dad. There was something that connected them together, and for a moment, she thought about Atticus and Neo.
Atticus wasn’t Neo’s father. He was his alpha, the gorilla leader. While Atticus’s son Zane was an only child, Neo said that Atticus was like a father to all of them. He was a rule enforcer, a friend, a father figure.
Just like Dexter.
She couldn’t help but wonder...
Chapter Eleven
Neo could tell that Dani was deep in thought as they made their way to the paddock. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with her family, but he suspected they were about to get a revelation in what they truly were. He hadn’t told Dani his suspicions about her family, but he wished he had. He’d been counseled by the alphas to keep his thoughts on the matter to himself because if they were shifters, he’d out them, which wasn’t right. Or if they weren’t, he could ruin Dani’s faith in them. Just like she’d come to the conclusion that he was a shifter, she had to reach that herself about her family.
Atticus unlocked the gate into the paddock and pushed the door open. Everyone entered, and the gate was shut behind them.
“We’ve got some privacy now,” Dani said. She faced her father, and Neo stood next to her.
Dexter looked at his son and the four males with them and shook his head. “I can’t do this.”
“I’ll do it,” Khyle said.
“You know what our laws are,” Dexter said. “I know why you wanted privacy, but this still crosses a line I can’t cross. You know that.”
“What the heck is going on?” Dani asked. “Someone please tell me.”
Neo put his arm around her and drew her close. The alphas and several other shifters were
standing with him and Dani. He was thankful for their support. Especially when the other males were acting so oddly.
Khyle pulled his shirt over his head.
“What are you doing?” Dani asked.
“Showing you the truth.”
She looked at Neo in confusion. He shrugged.
As Khyle undid his jeans, Neo knew that he was going to shift into something. What it would be, he didn’t know, but judging by the looks on his dad and friends’ faces, he wasn’t supposed to be doing it in front of strangers.
“You know what I’ll have to do, Son,” Dexter said. “Think this through.”
Khyle gestured to Dani. “She’s hurt and angry, and all because of an archaic law. She’s with a damn shifter. She’ll keep our secret, too.”
Neo’s brows rose. “It’s true then. You know what we are.”
“Yes,” Khyle said.
He shucked his jeans and took a large step back. In moments he went from a man to a horse.
A huge, black-coated horse with a black mane and long, sweeping tail.
“Holy shit!” Dani said, her voice a high squeak of surprise.
Khyle rose onto his hind legs and let out a sharp whinny, his hooves slamming into the dirt with a loud clap.
Neo was dumbstruck. A horse shifter? He’d never heard of such a creature.
He smelled salt water and realized that Dani was crying. “You okay, sweetheart?”
She shook her head. “Dad? I don’t understand. You’re a horse shifter?”
Dexter hung his head and sighed deeply. “I wasn’t allowed to tell you, because our laws forbid us from sharing the truth of our shift with anyone but our soulmate. It’s grounds for immediate exile. And we don’t call ourselves horses, we’re stallions.” He lifted his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Damn it, Khyle.”
The big stallion snorted and pawed at the ground.
Crew shook his head and slapped him on the hindquarters. “Jackass. What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
