“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
He lowered his voice.“If she wants you to stay with her, you can, just send me a text.I’ll cover the burger stall tomorrow so you can spend time with her.We’ll have food and toiletries brought up to the apartment.Obviously, we don’t know her, and even though she’s your soulmate, you literally just met her so she can’t know about our living area or have any of the door codes.”
“Got it.”
“See you tomorrow,” Marcus said.
Seneca moved back to his mate and she took his hand, breathing out a little sigh of relief like she hadn’t been able to breathe right without touching him.
He felt the same way.
“Let’s go to the apartments,” Seneca said.
“I’ll lead the way,” Jupiter said.“The park is officially closed and there aren’t any humans around any longer, so we’re free to chat.And I’ve got the entry code for an apartment that was cleaned recently.”
“Thank you,” Sunny said.
“You’re welcome.”
They left the security office and headed to the apartment complex.No one said anything for a little while, and Seneca wasn’t sure what to say anyway.He was grateful Sunny was there, but sorry for what she’d endured.
He finally said, “I’m glad you’re here and you’re safe, Sunny.”
“Me too.”
Sunny walked beside Seneca and Jupiter as they made their way through the closed park.Overhead lights illuminated the pathways, but the only thing Sunny really cared about was checking out Seneca.
He was larger than life—tall, broad, stacked with yummy muscles.
And she couldfeelhis bear, all warmth and protectiveness.
All she could think about was being in his arms again, but she didn’t want to rush things.She needed time to sort through how quickly her life had changed in less than a day.
And she couldn’t get over how many shifters were at this safari park, hiding in plain sight of humans.Gorillasandelephants on top of lions, wolves, and bears.She’d never met any shifters but big cats, and while she’d been aware of a few other types like wolves and bears, that was the extent of her knowledge of shifters.She wondered what else was out there.
Shaking her thoughts to the present and the sexy fellow beside her, she said, “Do you have an apartment of your own in the complex?”
Seneca cleared his throat.“I have a place of my own like the others who live and work here, but the apartments are for visitors or when a shifter has a soulmate who can’t know the truth.”
“Ah.That makes sense,” she said.“So how long have you been here at the park?”
“Since I was a kid.My dad and I left our sleuth when I was young after his mate, my mom, passed away from an illness.”
“I’m sorry you lost your mom,” she said, her tigress letting out a soft, sad purr.
“I’m sorry you lost your parents too,” he said.“I’ve never met a tiger shifter before, and I didn’t know they could be so vicious as to attack one of their own for being soulmates with a human.”
“I’m thankful they didn’t care enough about me to track me down.”
He let out a low growl.“You were safe with the jaguars until the new alpha took over?”
“Yeah, Dario always was a jackass.I was a little surprised to be exiled so fast after he took over, but I’m just glad I had the opportunity to leave and he didn’t just try to kill me as a warning to the prowl about taking in outsiders.”Hehadwarned her he’d kill her if he ever saw her again, and what bothered her most about that was not getting to see Fallon and Sera again.
Jupiter snarled.“Alphas like him believe fear is the best way to lead.They move people around like pawns because it suits them.Our alphas aren’t like that.But we’ve certainly run into people like him in the past.”
She shivered.“I hope I never see him again.”
