Page 6 of Mercer

“Which building?” Reagan asked, peering over to where she was looking. “And why?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I should walk over there.”

“Are you having a stroke?”

“No. I just…I don’t know,” she said. She smiled at her friends, who were looking at her like she’d grown two heads. “I think I need to go there.”

“Do you want us to come?” Reagan asked, tucking a lock of strawberry-blond hair behind her ear.

“Nah, I’ll catch up to you at the aviary.”

“Be careful,” Darcy said.

Rhomi nodded and walked toward the white building. As she got closer, she realized it was a security building. So why did she feel compelled to go there? She rubbed the space over her heart. Something was telling her to go there. She felt like she was being pulled in that direction.

She walked up to the building and grasped the handle, totally unsure what she’d say once she was inside and feeling very self-conscious.

As the door shut behind her, a wonderful scent caught her attention. She opened her mouth and was very surprised when she said without thinking, “I was hoping I could talk to someone about a job?”

ChapterFour

Sunday morning, Mercer reported to the security office. He much preferred patrols, being out and about in the park, instead of being cooped up in the office, especially on what was sure to be a pretty fall afternoon.

He swiped his card against the lock and waited for the door to unlock, then pulled it open and stepped inside. He switched off the security system so the door could be opened from the outside by park patrons without needing to be buzzed in.

His lion had been annoyed all day yesterday, after spending the entire day in the paddock during the VIP tours without finding his soulmate. No one had found a soulmate, not just among the lions, but with the other shifters too. It had been disappointing, to say the least. The mornings were chillier, and people weren’t booking tours as much once the weather turned. The tours dried up in the coldest months too, which meant anyone who hadn’t found their soulmate by the time the snow fell pretty much had to wait until spring, unless fate had other plans.

He turned on the lights and stepped behind the counter, then turned on the computer. The front door opened.

“Morning,” Jupiter said as he walked into the building.

“Hey.”

Jupiter paused with a frown. “You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You look annoyed.”

“Just thinking about being unmated.”

“Well, it’ll happen when the time is right. Hopefully soon for you and the others, though.” Their pride wasn’t large, and only a few of their people were mated.

“I hope it’s soon too.”

Jupiter walked into the smaller office, and Mercer set up for the day. The park was open from eleven to eight, so he had only a half hour before the park opened and patrons started coming in. He mostly had to deal with the occasional child separated from their parents and the rare fight that would break out when people got into heated arguments. The VIPs who went on the tour waited in the security office for their photo album. The tours started at noon, and the shifters all took turns being in their shifts in the paddocks. The hope, of course, was that one of the humans with a VIP ticket would be someone’s soulmate, but the truth was that it rarely seemed to be the case.

There was always the chance that his soulmate could come into the park and he’d just feel her, his lion leading him out of the office and right to her.

It had happened before. Gorilla alpha Atticus had found his soulmate Lori while she was eating lunch at the park, and wolf shifter Evan had met his soulmate Lark when she’d tried to buy a safari tour ticket for herself and her niece.

He wanted that kind of luck when it came to finding his soulmate. Or hell, any kind of luck when it came to meeting his forever girl.

The time moved at a snail’s pace, which unfortunately gave him plenty of opportunity to think about his empty bed and listen to his lion complain in his head.

And then the door opened and he was briefly blinded by the afternoon sunshine.

As his eyes quickly adjusted to the bright sunlight pouring into the small space, he saw the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on in his life. She stood in the open door, her blond hair loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes searching, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

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