Page 29 of August

“I’m fine,” she said.

“I know you’re fine, sweetheart, but I also know that you’re feeling kind of trapped down here.”

She nodded. “It’s only been a week. But it feels like an eternity in some ways too, especially when you’re working and I’m just puttering around here.”

There were so many things he wished he could do with her, like take her shopping to change up things in the house and add her touch to the rooms, or go on a real date outside of the park.

Hell, even going for a drive was something they didn’t dare do because what if her asshole grandfather was hanging out and waiting for them to fuck up?

“I’m sorry, I really am.”

“It’s not your fault my grandfather is…the way he is.”

“No, but I still feel bad. So I did talk to Atticus and told him that I thought there were places within the park that might be safe for you to be out in, especially if we get to them before the park opens.”

Her brows rose. “Really? Like what?”

“Well, when I was walking to the job yesterday, I passed by an old storage building near the back of the park. It’s off-limits to patrons and is actually in an area they can’t get to thanks to security fencing.”

“You said it’s old, is it not being used anymore?”

“It’s just a catch-all for things that the park used to use but put away for one reason or another. Anyway, I told him that maybe you and I could try to get it organized. The building doors lock from the inside and outside, and there is security around it as well with the fencing, alarms, and motion detectors.”

“So we’d be cleaning and sorting? Throwing out broken stuff?” she asked with a hum.

“Yeah. It’s a huge job, honestly, so it’s not like we could finish in a day or probably even a month, and I do have other responsibilities, but for today at least, how’d you like to get dusty in the storage building with me?”

Her whole demeanor perked up at the notion of working outside in the park with him. She gave him a tight hug and laughed. “This is awesome!”

“You sure? I could try to think of something else we could do together. Maybe down here in the private living areas.”

“No, this is great! Fresh air, dusty old stuff, and most importantly, I get to hang out with you!”

They kissed, but before his gorilla could get carried away, he ended it and stood, pulling her to her feet. “Sweetheart, it’s going to be a great day, I promise.”

And safe too.

He was going to be sure of that.

Alistair, alpha elephant, walked through the park on Saturday afternoon. He’d been called to check out an issue in the petting zoo, which was scheduled to open in a little less than two weeks after being closed for several years.

He, along with the other elephant shifters in the park, helped to take care of the norms—the non-shifting animals. Cael, their resident vet, was busy in the norm paddock taking care of their animals along with his mate Novi, so Alistair had volunteered to check out the issue.

He reached the petting zoo, housed in a red barn, and met with Mercer and his mate Rhomi. They’d recently started running the day-to-day of the petting zoo, along with help from Cael and Novi, and a teenage albino doe shifter named Luna, whose sister was mated to Tarquin, one of the bear shifters.

“Hi, Luna,” he said to the female sitting at the entrance of the petting zoo.

“Hi, Alistair,” she said. “Mercer and Rhomi are in the storage room at the back waiting for you.”

He nodded and headed in, passing the fenced area at the front where park patrons could spend time with the small animals, walking into the barn and past the spacious enclosures where the animals were kept safe overnight, until he reached the storage room at the back.

Immediately he winced at the harsh smell of ammonia.

Pinching his nose shut, he said, “What the hell happened here? All I heard from Cael was that something had happened to the animal feed.”

Rhomi was also plugging her nose as she stood by an open window.

“Someone tampered with the food,” Mercer said with a growl. He lifted a shovel full of discolored feed and dumped it into a wheelbarrow. “It’s ammonia from the cleaning supplies.”

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