Page 30 of Lucius

“Our dad and Amadeus, plus Javan and Xavier,” Lucius said.

Amadeus grumbled, “I need to find my soulmate like yesterday. Do you have any sisters, Sidney?”

She smiled. “Sorry.”

“Crud.”

“What do the lions do?” she asked.

“Security,” Lucius said. “Our pride isn’t too large, but Jupiter runs things and our dad is his backup. There are wolves and bears who also work in security.”

“That’s wild,” she said. “So are there humans who work here who aren’t mates?”

“Nope,” Lucius said. “Mercer, who’s also a lion, has a human soulmate named Rhomi. The alphas let her work at the park before they were mated and she knew the truth, but she had limited access in the park. It’s not something that would normally be done.”

They ate and talked, his friends sharing stories about shifting and hope for finding their soulmates, and then her sharing her sketches from the day before.

“Wow, you’re really good,” Amadeus said. “And I’m not just saying that because you’re my sister-in-law.”

“Thanks,” she said and then pushed her plate away. “I’m stuffed.”

“I’ll finish it,” Lucius said.

“You’re still hungry? There were eight pancakes on your plate!”

“You bet,” he said. “Shifters always have huge appetites. Plus I’ll need my energy for shifting.”

“Speaking of shifting,” his dad said as he stopped next to the table. “When are you going out?”

“As soon as we’re done with breakfast.”

“Okay, so the tours start at noon today, which means you need to be back in the maintenance building before eleven or you’ll be stuck for the day in your shift.”

“That’s no problem,” he said. He looked at his phone. It was just after eight, which meant he should have no trouble shifting at eleven, and if he wasn’t ready yet, he’d just hang out in the shed until he was.

“We should get going?” she asked.

“Yep. I texted Jupiter and Celeste to meet us up there.” He finished eating the rest of her pancakes, and then they took the dishes to the cleaning station. She put her crossbody bag over her shoulder and took his hand.

On the way out of the marketplace, they stopped at a small market run by two wolves named Anke and Zeger, who greeted her warmly. Lucius told her that they could get her anything she needed. Then he introduced her to Celeste’s best friend Adriana, who did manis and pedis in a small salon, and Dani, who was mated to gorilla shifter Neo, and ran a small makeup shop.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Dani said with a warm smile. “If you’d like to come hang out with me, I can give you a mini facial and get whatever products you like. I’m putting a bag of supplies together for my friend Tris.” She fluffed some tissue paper and gently placed it between packages of face wash and body wash.

“Does she live here?” Sidney asked.

“She lives in Little River with her mate,” Dani said. “So I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like, but Little River isn’t too far away. She lives on a farm and is the caretaker for the guys who own it.”

“That’s really neat. I hope to meet her someday, and meet everyone else too.”

“The park is a really wonderfully welcoming place,” Dani said. “Holler at me anytime.”

“I will, thanks. It was so nice to meet you.”

“You too!”

Lucius led her out of the market, down the hall, and back into their private living quarters.

“What did you think of the marketplace?” he asked.

---