Cael (Were Zoo Book 11), R. Butler [best management books of all time txt] 📗

He’d have to play it cool and get to the bottom of things fast. He didn’t want to waste a minute of time in getting to know her.

“Was she why you were so excited?” he mentally asked his elephant. “Did you sense her when she came into the park?”

A happy trumpet was the answer.

He couldn’t believe his beast was so in tune with their soulmate that he’d sensed her like that. No wonder he’d been feeling so anxious.

Fate had just given him the greatest gift in the world.

He reached the office and saw his soulmate sitting at the row of chairs by the windows. He took a moment to calm himself, not wanting to rush inside the building like an idiot. The last thing he wanted to do was come on too strongly.

When he felt passably normal, he opened the door to the office and walked in. He nodded to Xavier behind the counter and turned to face his female.

Damn she was gorgeous.

His tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of his mouth.

Clearing his throat, he smiled at her. “I’m Cael. You must be the VIP guest.”

She rose to her feet and smiled at him, and it made his heart thud in his chest. “Hi, I’m Novi.”

Their hands clasped in greeting, and he nearly fell to the floor with the power of the touch. He’d felt a jolt in his shift when he touched her fingers, but this full contact was almost too much for his system. His elephant was stomping happily in his mind.

Gathering his wits quickly, he said, “It’s nice to meet you. I heard the photo albums are backed up a bit, so I came to take you on a private tour of the park.”

Xavier cleared his throat. “I told her that she was also getting a free meal because of the wait.”

“Of course,” Cael said. They had a script they followed when a soulmate was found to give the illusion that the park was providing a service like the tour and meal to make up for the wait for the album. In reality, there was no wait for the album—they were put together really quickly. But it was important for the shifters to spend time with their soulmate and make a connection, and hopefully be able to see them again.

Cael opened the door for her and followed her out into the park. As he took her on a tour, leading with the bird sanctuary run by Auden and his mate, Jess, he asked Novi questions, trying to gently prod her to reveal information about herself. He didn’t expect her to come right out and say she was a shifter, but he hoped she’d tell him something that would open up the conversation further.

By the time they made their way to the burger stall for dinner, he found Novi to be super sweet and nice, with a penchant for funny quips and occasional hilarious sarcastic comments. He and his elephant were one hundred percent smitten with her.

They sat down at a nearby picnic table with their baskets of burgers and fries. “I’m sorry you’ve had to move around a lot, that must be hard,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“Can I ask why you moved so much?”

She peered at him as she took a bite of the day’s special burger—BBQ bacon and cheese—and chewed slowly. She averted her eyes.

“I’m sorry if I’m prying,” he said. “I’ve only lived two places my whole life—Indiana with my parents and here. You seemed sad when you talked about moving so much.”

She took a long drink of soda and put the cup down. “I don’t know you. I’m not used to telling strangers too much about myself right off the bat.”

He opened his mouth to tell her that she could tell him anything, but she put her hand up and he clicked his teeth together.

“But that being said, I actually feel comfortable with you. I haven’t felt that way in a really long time. Maybe...ever? It’s so weird too, because I feel like I’ve met you already, but I don’t know how that’s possible.” She chuckled. “I probably sound crazy.”

“It doesn’t sound crazy at all. You’re right—we don’t actually know each other, but I kind of feel like I’ve known you longer too.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “So if you’d like to tell me your story, I’d be happy to listen. Mine is pretty boring, unless you count the time that I almost got gored by a bull when I was helping one of my professors on a farm.”

She chuckled and then looked down at the half-eaten burger on her plate. “It’s...not the greatest story, but I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”

“I promise I won’t.”

“Okay.” She blew out a breath. “So my dad tried to kill me.”

Chapter Five

Novi winced at the blunt words she’d just uttered. Who the heck started a conversation like that?

Oh yeah, nice to meet you, super sexy guy who took me to dinner, by the way my dad hates me enough to try to kill me.

Cael’s gray eyes went wide. “What?”

She pressed her lips together for a moment and then nodded. “I was the product of a one-night stand. My biological father didn’t want anything to do with me, so my mom thought she was going to be on her own. But he showed up at the hospital after I was born and tried to take me. My mom got a restraining order against him, which was easy enough to do because he refused to get a blood test to determine paternity. She moved in with her sister and didn’t see or hear from him for two years. Then one night she heard