Jupiter (Were Zoo Book 2) (4 page)

“
Here, Celeste,” he said,
cracking the lid of the water bottle and handing it to her. “I’m
sorry for nicking you. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“
Got some sharp fangs?” she
asked with a chuckle before taking a sip of her water.

“
Not normally like this.”
He smiled lopsidedly.

“
Guess I’m just a lucky
duck today. Except for the tour thing, that was extra-strength
strange.” She paused, and then said, “How did you know my
name?”

His eyes narrowed slightly and he
replied, “I was there when you told Caesar – my alpha – what your
name was.”

“
Um, no. Only Jasper and
Evan were there.”

And that big
lion.

Her mind went blank for a long moment
as she stared into his amber eyes. This gorgeous guy, who had hair
the tawny color of lion’s fur, and had the same name as the lion
who’d tried to claw his way through the fence to get to
her.

The water bottle slipped from her
hand, cold liquid splashing on her, as the idea that she was
looking at a man who had been a lion minutes before crashed through
her mind.

She let out a half-scream, half-gasp
as she pushed her feet against the floor to scoot the chair away
from Jupiter.

He grabbed the arms of the chair and
stopped her from moving far.

“
Please don’t pass out,” he
said.

“
I’m not going to pass out,
you loon, I’m going to call someone to help you because you’ve
clearly lost your marbles.”

“
I haven’t lost anything. I
am what you think I am.”

“
Crazy?”

He scowled. “I can see it in your
eyes. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

She shook her head. “No, you have no
idea the ridiculous thoughts that are banging around in my skull.
It’s the kind of thing that would make a good movie on a
science-fiction channel, but not the kind of thing that makes sense
in the real world.”

He inhaled and rolled his shoulders,
then exhaled. The way his breath pushed out of his lungs sounded a
lot like a growl, and as his lips parted she saw that he had
fangs.

“
Oh. I…that’s why…my
tongue.” She stopped talking, since she wasn’t able to really form
a sentence. She stood slowly, but he wouldn’t let her move the
chair back, and that put her stomach right in front of him. He
purred, releasing the chair and wrapping his arms around her. He
nuzzled her stomach through her shirt, that crazy rumbling making
her spine tingle.

“
Fuck, you smell good. I
scented you at the paddock and I couldn’t control my reaction. I
would have torn that fence apart if my alpha hadn’t knocked some
sense into me.”

Her knees went weak, and she had the
urge to sink her fingers into his hair and find out how soft it
was. So she did.

“
What the hell is going
on?” she whispered, testing the silky strands of his hair as he
continued to purr against her belly, his hot breath making her skin
goosebump.

“
I’m a lion shifter,
Celeste,” he said, looking up at her, his eyes an even brighter
amber color. “My pride lives and works here in the park. I’ve been
waiting to meet my soulmate, the one female in the whole world
who’s perfect for me. It’s you.”

“
We just met,” she said,
even though there was something about his words that rang
true.

“
Doesn’t
matter.”

“
I don’t
understand.”

He smiled, and her stomach fluttered.
“We don’t have to rush anything. But you do have to keep the
existence of shifters, and this park, a secret. I want you to stay
with me.”

She arched a brow at him. “I have a
life outside of this park, a job and friends. Oh! My friend Adriana
was in the Jeep behind mine. She must be finished with her tour by
now, and she’s probably worried about me!”

A soft growl rumbled from his chest
and he stood, not letting go of his hold on her waist as he strode
to one of the desks and picked up a walkie. He pressed a button and
said, “This is Jupiter. I’m looking for a VIP guest named Adriana.
She was in Jeep number four.”

There was static and then a voice
said, “There was a problem at the gorilla paddock. Caesar is
handling it because you’re busy.”

“
What do gorillas have to
do with my friend?” Celeste asked.

“
Is the guest
okay?”

There was a brief pause and the man
replied, “Yes, she’s fine. She’s Zane’s soulmate. But we have a
bigger issue that will have to be addressed with a
meeting.”

He let out a short growl. “Fuck. Damn
it.”

“
No, not you,” the man
said, “you’re out of things for now.”

“
I want to be kept
informed,” he said. “It’s important to my mate.”

“
Will do.”

“
What’s going on?” she
asked as he set the walkie on the counter and turned to face
her.

“
I don’t know, but the
important thing is that your friend is safe.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Are you
sure?”

“
First of all, she found
her soulmate in Zane, a gorilla shifter, and he would rather die
than let anything happen to her. And secondly, that was Xavier, a
member of my pride, and he wouldn’t lie to me.”

“
Why?”

His brows rose. “We value honesty, and
I’m second-in-command of the pride. He knows he’d have a big
problem with me, and the alpha, if he was dishonest.”

“
And the big guy who pushed
you away from the fence is your alpha?”

He nodded. “Caesar. He’s my dad,
too.”

“
I’m…not sure what to make
of all this. It’s impossible.”

He pressed his big, warm hand over her
heart, which made it skip a beat. “In here, my beautiful mate, you
know the truth. You can feel it, even if your head is telling you
that it’s not possible. Don’t ask me to let you go, because I
can’t, and I won’t.”

“
So I’m a prisoner?” she
asked, tilting her head and gazing up at him. His eyes flashed as
his nostrils flared, and she saw the little bit of hurt that slid
through his golden gaze.

“
You’re mine. If not being
able to let you out of my sight makes you think of prison, then I’m
not doing a good job of making you understand what I am, and what
we are together.”

“
Mates.”

“
Like husband and
wife.”

It was her turn to raise her brows.
“Normally I like to get to know a guy before I go making plans for
the future.”

“
Nothing about this is
normal.”

She snorted. “That’s the
understatement of the millennium.” Taking in a deep breath, she
exhaled slowly and said, “I want to see you turn into a
lion.”

He glanced at a clock on the wall and
said, “I can’t shift for you out in the open until the park is
closed.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because shifting’s a
secret, remember?”

She blushed. “Oh, right.”

“
I
can
show you my home, though, and
shift for you there.”

“
All right,” she said,
taking his offered hand.

She followed him out of the security
office. The moment her feet touched the concrete, his hand
tightened on hers, and she had a feeling he was wondering if she
was going to bolt. With a chuckle, she said, “I said I’d go with
you, you don’t have to turn my bones to powder with your awesome
strength.”

He glanced at her as they headed into
the park. “It’s not that.”

“
Oh, sure.”

“
Well, maybe part of it is,
but mostly I’m concerned about all the unmated males around. I
don’t like it.”

“
Unmated like
single?”

He nodded. “Makes me feel
extra-strength protective.”

She hummed. “That’s weird
and sweet. I’m not going anywhere. Even though I kind of feel like
I’m dreaming, there’s something very
right
about all of this. I can’t
explain it, but I’m curious and I want to see what you want to show
me.”

“
You’re very fierce,” he
said.

“
If you say so. Curiosity
killed the cat, though, right? I should probably be
careful.”

He snorted and then laughed. “You are
too precious, Celeste.”

Chapter 5

Jupiter had a hard time keeping his
cat in check while they walked through the park to the employee
cafeteria. It wanted to pounce on Celeste and make her theirs
permanently, and also tear apart every other unmated male in the
vicinity. He didn’t think his human mate would appreciate seeing
him maul a bunch of park visitors, so he kept reminding his cat
that she needed time to get to know them. She’d agreed to see his
home, and getting her to his pride’s territory underground would
help him feel less like snarling at everyone.

Her hand was warm in his, which he
took as a good sign that she wasn’t too scared. He didn’t know what
he’d think if he was human and had no clue about shifters, only to
be introduced to them at a zoo when he discovered one was his
soulmate.

“
Do humans have soulmates?”
he asked.

“
I guess there are people
who believe in that sort of thing.”

“
You don’t?”

She shrugged. “An hour ago, I might
have said no. Now, I’m not sure what to believe.”

A part of him was bothered that she
didn’t just fall into his arms, but he knew that was romantic
thinking and not reality. She was wary, and he could understand
that. “It’s easier for me because it’s how things are with our
kind. Your people aren’t like mine.”

“
But you still believe that
we were meant to be together.” Her hand tightened on his
reflexively.

“
I do.”

He swiped his security card to unlock
the door to the employee cafeteria. Once inside, he scanned the
room and found it empty save for three wolf males who were eating
their meal. They looked up at him, their gazes pinging to Celeste’s
for the briefest of moments and then returning to their food. He
led Celeste to another security door that led to a short hallway,
with another secured door at the end.

“
Why is everything locked
up?” she asked as he swiped his badge and unlocked the stairwell
door.

“
To prevent park visitors
from accidentally coming into our private living area. Underneath
the park is where all the shifter groups live.”

“
All?” she asked, arching a
delicate brow at him.

“
Lions, wolves, elephants,
gorillas, and bears.”

“
Oh man, I knew I wasn’t
seeing things!”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
I could’ve sworn that one
of the elephants waved at me. And I thought it looked like the
animals were communicating with the guys from the Jeep.”

He smiled wryly. “They’re not supposed
to be so transparent with their behavior.”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have said
anything. So those were all shifters? Were the guys in the Jeep
with me wolves?”

“
Yeah, how did you
know?”

“
Because Jasper said that
wolves were his favorite.”

He stopped in front of the security
door that led to the pride territory. “What’s your favorite
animal?”

Her cheeks flamed scarlet and she
lowered her eyes, chewing on her lower lip. He cupped her face and
lifted it until he could gaze into her pretty blue eyes. “Tell me,”
he ordered gruffly.

Her eyes darkened to the color of a
stormy sky and he could hear her heart quicken. “Big
cats.”

He purred, and her eyes widened
slightly. She planted her palms on his chest and rubbed them
against his shirt, and he knew she could feel the vibrations. Using
the keypad, he entered the code to unlock the door. He wasn’t sure
if any of his pride members were around, but he suspected they were
all dealing with whatever the issue was with her friend.

Pushing the door open, he said,
“You’re the first human to come down here.”

“
Do you mean for
lions?”

“
Yes. There are some human
mates who live here, but they’re in the older
generation.”

She didn’t say anything for a long
moment as she followed him into the pride territory and the door
shut and locked behind them. She stopped at the edge of the
wheat-colored flooring and looked around the vast area. She turned
to face him, her arms folded.

“
Did you guys send the VIP
tickets?”

“
It was a joint effort by
all the shifter groups. The zoo is run entirely by shifters. We not
only pose as the animals in the paddocks, but each group handles a
different aspect of the park. Lions are security, wolves are tours,
and so forth. There are normal, non-shifting animals like deer and
buffalo within the park; they’re dealt with by the
elephants.”