Page 42 of Lucius

Lucius grinned at his friend. “Not going to be sorry about that.”

“You newly mated couples make the rest of us sick with your lovey-dovey conversations, but we also really want that for ourselves.”

“What do we want for ourselves?” Silvanus, another wolf shifter, asked as he joined them.

“A soulmate and lovey-dovey conversations.”

“Oh hell yeah. I hate hearing that kind of thing, but I can’t wait to do it myself when I find my forever girl.”

Lucius took Sidney’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”

The security guards moved on after a bit more of a chat, and he and Sidney continued their walk around the park, keeping the conversation on sharing parts of their lives they hadn’t shared yet. He told her about going to school in the park and joining the security team when he was old enough, and she told him about her dad taking her to the art museum every Sunday one summer so she could study the great artists.

When they finished their trek around the park, they returned to the house, shoved all her clothes to the floor, and drove each other wild. As he fell asleep with his arms around his beautiful mate, he felt more at peace than he ever had in his life, and it was all thanks to one very special human.

Sidney had an amazing time with the girls at lunch the following day. Celeste and Rhomi were human, so they could understand what she was going through as she learned about shifters and being mated to one. Jenni as a lioness had a unique point of view of being a shifter herself, which was pretty damn cool in Sidney’s book.

They helped her gather her things for her special date with Lucius. He was dying to know what she had planned, but she was excited to keep a secret from him for a change.

“Good luck tonight,” Jenni said, giving her a hug.

“Thank you, and thanks for hanging out for lunch.”

“I had fun, plus it’s nice to get away from the candy shop every now and then.”

After saying goodbye to the girls, Sidney found Lucius in the house waiting for her. She was so excited to see him, so very happy to be back in his arms.

“Everything feels so right when we’re together,” she said. “It’s so cool to be your soulmate. I just feel…content.”

“I do too,” he said, hugging her tightly. He buried his face in her neck and she heard him inhale and then let out a low purr that made her skin tingle and her stomach clench.

“Are you free?” she whispered.

“For you? Anytime.”

He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom, where they shared how much they’d missed each other and proved it over and over with their shouts of pleasure.

When the time had come for their date, Sidney told him they were going to the employee cafeteria.

“For our date?”

“For part of it,” she said.

He gave her a curious look and then said, “I trust you.”

“That means the world to me. I trust you too.”

They walked up into the employee cafeteria, which was empty. With the girls’ help earlier, she’d set up a corner of the cafeteria for the first part of their date.

Chairs were set in front of easels that faced each other. Large pieces of paper were clipped to boards resting on the easels, and the trays were stocked with acrylic paints, filled water cups, and brushes.

“Oh, what’s this?” he asked as his eyes lit up.

“I thought we could paint each other’s portraits.”

“Wow, really? I love that idea, even though you’re the artist and I haven’t held a brush for any kind of art project since I was a kid.”

“Well, pencil is my medium of choice, so I’m not super good with paints. I thought this would be fun for us to try.”

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