by R. E. Butler
“Good.”
She went onto her toes and kissed him. He wanted to chase her lips and devour her, but instead he smiled and shut her inside the SUV. “I’ve got another stop in mind,” he said as he turned on the engine.
“Oh?”
“How about some ice cream?”
“I’d love that.”
He texted Justus to let him know they were on the way to the ice cream shop. When they arrived, it was deserted save for the two workers behind the counter, and Cael was glad for that. He and Novi ordered sundaes—hers peanut butter and chocolate, and his caramel and pecans. They sat in a booth and were quiet for a few minutes as they dove into their desserts.
The door opened and Cael looked up, smiling as Justus and Trina walked in.
“Hey!” he said, lifting his hand and waving them over.
“What a nice surprise,” Trina said, smiling.
“Novi, this is Justus and Trina, they work at the park. This is Novi.”
“Nice to meet ya,” Justus said, sticking out his hand.
Novi stared at him, her mouth open and her eyes wide.
Her blue eyes.
Her chest started to heave as she gasped for breath, panting as if she’d just run a marathon.
“Sweetheart?” Cael asked, his voice pinging with worry. He slipped from the booth and scooted in next to her, putting his arm around her. He tilted her chin up until she was looking at him. She looked panicked. “It’s okay, they’re my friends. He’s my friend.”
“I...I don’t...” she gasped, her words coming out in harsh whispers.
“Don’t be afraid,” Cael said. “I told you I’m with you, I’ve got your back.”
“Maybe we should go?” Trina asked, hooking her arm through Justus’s and pulling him back a few steps.
“No, wait,” Novi said. Her voice was a little deeper, her eyes a pale blue that was almost white. “I’m...I’m okay.”
“If you’re sure?” Cael asked.
She nodded, pursing her lips.
“We’ll grab some ice cream and give you guys a chance to talk before we sit down,” Justus said. “It’s okay if you want us to leave, Novi, I promise.”
She didn’t take her eyes off Cael, her hands curling in his shirt.
When they were alone, Novi let out a breath and relaxed a fraction. She blinked rapidly, her eyes suddenly glittering with tears. “What’s happening to me?”
“Tell me what it feels like.”
“Like something’s inside me and trying to come out,” she whispered. Her voice was still low and deep, and he knew the humans behind the counter wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation.
“Because of Justus?”
“Yeah. Do you know what’s happening to me?”
“I believe so, but I don’t think we should talk here.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, and then her gaze darted from his toward the counter where Justus and Trina were paying for their ice cream.
She nodded in understanding.
Trina approached the table alone and Justus stayed back by the counter. “Would you like us to leave? Or we can sit at another table.”
Novi dropped her head to Cael’s chest and inhaled deeply. She relaxed another fraction and a soft growl reached his ears. “I don’t know.”
Cael chuckled and kissed the top of Novi’s head. “It’s okay, sweetheart, why don’t we take off instead? We’re done with our ice cream anyway.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” She lifted her head and looked at Cael.
“Nothing to be sorry about.”
“Maybe we can meet you guys later at the park?” Trina asked. “When we’re not so exposed out in public.”
“I’ll text Justus and let you know,” Cael said. He disposed of their trash and took Novi’s hand, leading her out of the shop. When he shut her in the SUV, Justus met him on the sidewalk.
“Seems pretty obvious to me,” Justus said, taking a bite of ice cream from a sugar cone. Trina was behind him, holding his hand and drinking a milkshake. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m taking her to the apartment complex. I’ll see what she says and let you know if I need her to meet you again.”
“We’ll be available, whatever you need,” Trina said.
“Thanks.”
When Cael and Novi left the parking lot, he said, “I’d like to take you to my place.”
“Okay. I heard you tell Mom you live at the park?”
“Yep.” It was true and not true, but he couldn’t tell her about the underground living space until he knew for sure wasn’t going to run when she heard the truth. Their rule of thumb for revealing their shifter nature to humans was the human and shifter had to be in love and committed. Or, as was the case with Neo the gorilla and his human soulmate Dani, she guessed the truth.
Novi was quiet on the drive to the park, and he let her have the time with her thoughts. He’d grown up knowing about shifters of course, because he was one, but he couldn’t imagine what was going through her head right then as she untangled years of wondering about her past and her father.
He used a code to unlock the security gate at the back of the park and took the road to the eight-unit apartment complex. He’d prepared earlier for the chance he might be able to bring her with him, so he’d gotten a key to unlock a unit, put some food in the fridge, clothes in the closet, and toiletries in the bathroom. She’d most likely guess that he didn’t actually live there, but it was at least a place they could be together and that’s what mattered.
He let her into the apartment on the second floor, flicking on the overhead light in the family room. Each two-bedroom apartment was furnished the same with a couch, coffee table, and TV in the family room, a table and chairs in the kitchen, and a king-sized bed in the master.
“This is nice,” she said as she walked in and turned in a slow circle.
“I haven’t been here long; they just finished the complex this winter. Would you like something to drink?”
“No.” She faced him. “I just want you to tell me I’m not going crazy.”
“You’re not crazy, Novi, I promise. Tell me what you’re thinking, no matter how off the wall you feel it is.”
She put her hands on her hips and dropped her head to her chest. “I almost lost it in the ice cream shop. I mean, your friend smelled...” She lifted her head and looked at Cael, her eyes icy blue once more. “He smelled good. Not like you smell to me, like I want to roll around with you and get covered in your scent, but he smelled familiar. When I caught his cologne or whatever it was, it made everything in me react. It’s how I felt when I met you, but not romantically. It was more like Justus felt like a part of my family. You just feel like everything to me.”
Cael closed the distance to her and took her hands. Their fingers linked and he kissed her forehead. “You feel like everything to me too.”
“My mom told me that my dad growled when they were together, and that she thought there was something different about him. Something… other. She never told me about that before, but because I told her today that I wanted to stay here and see where things go with you and not keep running, she told me more about him. I think that I’m more like my father physically than even she realized, but she doesn’t know what it is.”
“I thought you were acting different, like you’d had an epiphany.”
“I did, I guess. And it had to do in part with the photo album.”
“What about it?”
“The elephant that touched my hand? He was in the picture that Benjamin took. When I looked at the picture, I realized that the elephant’s eyes were gray and not golden brown like they’d been in the beginning. Gray like yours.”
Cael’s eyes went wide. Holy shit. He wondered if that had ever been captured in a photo before and made a mental note to tell Alistair so that those in the office who handled the photos could be on the lookout for tell-tale signs of shifts.
“Your eyes change color when you get emotio
nal. So do mine. Tell me what you think it means?”
The silence hung between them.
He wanted to urge her to speak her mind, but he didn’t want to rush her. He couldn’t make the jump for her, she had to do it herself. She had to admit that he was different and so was she.
She had to come to her own conclusions, and no matter how much he just wanted to come right out and say it, he couldn’t.
“You’re an elephant,” she blurted.
Her cheeks went scarlet, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
He bit back a laugh. She looked adorably embarrassed.
Cupping her cheek he said, “Are you sure?”
She seemed to have been bracing for him to laugh in her face and tell her she was wrong, and when he didn’t, her shoulders dropped and the tension she’d been holding eased. Straightening, she nodded vigorously. “You have the same color eyes. And when the elephant—you—touched me through the fence I felt a connection to him. When I met you in the office and you took my hand, that same connected feeling came over me. I didn’t understand it, but I felt in my heart that we were meant to meet. And when you took me to the elephant paddock, there were only three of them in there and not four. Because you were with me and in your human body.”
Relief swamped Cael. He was so happy that he wanted to whoop a cheer and dance.
Instead, he pulled her close and kissed her. She moaned softly and a growl rumbled in her chest.
She put her hands on his chest and leaned away from the kiss. “So what is my father, then? Do you know? Oh!” Her eyes went wide. “Is Justus an animal too?”
“We’re called shifters, sweetheart. And yes.”
“What kind?”
“You said you felt a connection to him, not romantic but like family.”
“Yeah.
“He’s a bear. You smell like a bear to me, but it’s subtle, like it’s diluted. I think it’s because you’re only half-shifter, and not a full one as if you had two shifter parents. We have grizzly and black bears at the park, but you don’t smell quite like them, so you may be a different species of bear.”
“But I can’t change into an animal. I just have these weird animal-type things like the growling and my fingers and teeth.”
“Teeth?”
He led her to the couch, and they sat down.
“It all happens when I get emotional. My gums will ache, and my fingernails will turn black. Then there’s my eyes of course, but not many people notice it.”
“What about your mom?”
“When I was younger, I’d tell her when I felt strange and she’d freak out if I was around anyone. We’d end up moving since she was so worried that someone would come after me because I was different or that my father might hear about it. So I stopped telling her and tried to hide it. But I always felt so caged. Like I couldn’t really be myself.”
“That changed tonight, though. You weren’t trying to hide it.”
“It was a relief.” She smiled at him and laid her head on the back of the couch. “My mom’s still scared about my father. She’s tired of being in hiding but she’s willing to stay, so long as we’re vigilant.”
Cael had hoped to take Novi down to his home under the park to live, but he doubted at this point she’d want to be away from her mom. It had been just the two of them her whole life, which must have felt so isolating. He glanced around the apartment and thought about the other empty ones. For tonight, he didn’t need to worry about what the next steps in their relationship would be—although his elephant wanted to mate her immediately and start a family—he was just thankful that he didn’t have to keep anything from her.
“I need to call Alistair,” he said.
“Your boss? Why?”
“Because he’s like me. So is Kelley, and there’s one more you didn’t meet—Indio.”
“What about Kelley’s wife?”
“Rhapsody’s a black panther.”
Novi’s brows rose. “Panthers, bears, and elephants. Are there other types of shifters here?”
“Yep. We have five main groups—elephants, bears, lions, wolves, and gorillas. We also have a few individuals—a falcon, a red fox, and a horse. They’re all mated except for the horse, he’s the step-brother of a human who’s mated to one of the gorillas.”
“It’s so incredible. I never would’ve guessed there are humans who can turn into animals. Even feeling the way I did all these years, I just thought something was wrong with me.”
“You don’t know about it because it’s a closely guarded secret. You can’t ever share this with anyone.”
Understanding lit her features. “Not even my mom.”
“I know it will be hard to keep it a secret from her, but it’s imperative.”
She put her hand up. “I get it. I totally understand. If humans knew there were people around who could turn into animals, they’d be scared and probably react violently. You need to keep the secret of the park safe.” She got quiet, her brow furrowing.
Cael picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Is that why my dad tried to kill me? Why he’s been hunting us?”
“I believe so. It’s extreme, though. I’ve never known a shifter group to insist that a half-child born to one of their people needed to be killed. If one of our people had a child with a human unknowingly, they wouldn’t try to take them out, they’d want them here where they could be safe and cared for.”
“My life could’ve been so different if he’d just brought us into his group and taken care of us. What’s a group of bears called?”
“It depends on the type. Black bears and grizzlies are sleuths, polar bears are a celebration. I wish you had been part of a bear group, hadn’t been terrorized your whole life. I can’t imagine how it felt to be on the run like that and never able to really settle in anywhere.”
“I can settle in now, though.”
“One hundred percent.”
Her eyes flashed to blue and then back to brown, darkening slightly. “Cael?”
“Yes?”
She scooted a little closer, tilting her face up to kiss along his jaw. “Can I stay with you tonight?”
Chapter Nine
Novi had never been bold. In her head she always felt bold, but when it came to actually being bold, she always chickened out and got shy. But with Cael, she was bold. There was a relief that filled her because she could finally put the truth of her life together, could explain the strange things she felt and the way her body reacted.
And the mystery of why her father wanted her dead.
It angered her that she and her mom had been on the run for years to protect her simply because he hadn’t used a condom. Or accepted responsibility for being a father and brought her and her mom into his life. She understood the need for secrecy, but there had to be a point where a life mattered more than the secret. She shouldn’t have been on anyone’s kill-list simply because of her paternity.
But here she was. Half human and half bear of some sort, if Cael’s senses were reading her right.
She might never know the truth, but it suddenly didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that Cael was with her and wanted to be with her… maybe? He still hadn’t answered.
Cael cupped her face and brushed his lips over hers, sending a riot of sensations through her. “I want you to stay with me. I crave it. But we really shouldn’t do more than just sleep if you’re not ready to be with me.”
“What do you mean?” She wrapped her hand around his wrist, anchoring herself to him.
“Shifters are prone to strong attachments when they find their mate. You’re mine. Or, I want to ask you to be my mate officially. Once we have sex, my elephant is going to consider you our mate, our wife. We don’t mark like some of the other shifter groups who will bite with their fangs to leave a permanent scar, but the intention is the same. Once I have you in my arms and in my bed, sweetheart, it’s going to be impossible for
me to let you go.”
She let that roll around in her head. “You want me to move in with you, like tonight?”
“Maybe not tonight if we don’t go any further than kissing and sleeping, but yes. Once we make love, my elephant won’t be able to handle you sleeping anywhere else.”
She was in a pickle. She really wanted to make love to Cael, and she even liked the idea of living with him. Hell, she was half in love with him already.
“When shifters meet their one right person—”
“Soulmate,” he supplied.
“Right,” she said and smiled. “When a shifter meets his or her soulmate, the instant connection that I felt with you is what you feel with me?”
“Absolutely. It’s why I tried to keep you here at the park on Saturday for as long as possible. It made me feel downright crazy to be away from you for two nights. But that being said, we don’t have to do anything tonight. I’m content to have you here with me. We can move at whatever pace is right for us, the only expectation I have for tonight is that once I fall asleep, I’ll get to wake up with you in my arms.”
It was ridiculous how sweet he was. She was feeling supremely lucky.
“Do you still get married? If sleeping together makes a mating permanent, is marriage still done?”
“Yes. If the couple wants. Shifters choose mates in lots of different ways. A male might choose to have an arranged mating set up by his alpha or family, or a shifter couple might simply care for each other and want to get mated without being soulmates. But then there are shifters like me, who wanted to wait for our soulmate, the one person on the planet meant solely for us. I couldn’t imagine going into an arranged mating. I waited...for you.”
She felt like she was glowing from the inside out.
“I should text my mom and tell her I’m not going to be home.”
He nodded and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll speak to Alistair while you’re doing that.”
Novi sent a quick text to her mom. It was still early so her mom responded that she hoped she was being careful, and Novi promised she was and that she’d talk to her mom in the morning.
