Win (Were Zoo Book 3) Read online

  Atticus hummed. “Zane said you found your soulmate. We really don’t have a protocol in place for meeting a soulmate outside of the zoo.”

  “Right. Some of the issue is solved, but I’ve made another issue on top of it.”

  “Sounds ominous.”

  “I shifted in my sleep last night. Scared the crap out of Lexy when she woke up cuddling a gorilla.”

  “Seriously? Do you know how dangerous that could have been?”

  Win growled out a sigh. “I know! I didn’t do it on purpose. The blinds were closed in the bedroom, and no one came knocking on the door after she screamed, so I don’t think anyone even heard her. I shifted immediately and talked to her. She understands about our need for secrecy.”

  “This is bad, Win,” Atticus said.

  “I’ll apologize for whatever my beast was thinking when he took over and shifted, but I won’t apologize for finding my soulmate and being with her.”

  “I’ll have to tell the council. You’ve broken one of our main laws.”

  Lexy came into the room and went to her knees in front of him. She laid her head on his lap and wrapped her arms around his waist. He settled his hand on top of her head, letting her soft hair sift through his fingers. “I know. She’s worth it.”

  “You’re on your way in.” It wasn’t a question, so much as a direct order.

  “I’m bringing her with me.”

  “Fine. Go to the security office. I’ll have Jupiter and Celeste keep an eye on her. I’m certain the council will want to meet with you.”

  “We’ll be there in an hour.”

  “I’m glad you found your soulmate, Win. I just wish you’d been smarter about it.”

  “I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said.

  Ending the call, he looked down at Lexy and she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

  “Are you in trouble?”

  “Some I’m sure, but nothing serious.”

  “You think.”

  “I don’t care, actually. I’ve got a gorgeous soulmate and she smells like bananas.”

  She blushed. “Do I really?”

  “Yep. And it’s my favorite food.”

  “Should we go?”

  “Yeah.”

  She straightened and he cupped her face, kissing her gently. “My sweet mate.”

  “How can something so foreign feel so right?” she whispered.

  “That’s how soulmates work.”

  She packed an overnight bag and they were on their way twenty minutes later. It hadn’t escaped his notice that she brought along two banana cream pies from the fridge. He couldn’t wait to try her creations, and to share his world with her. He knew she’d fit right in at the zoo with his people; he just hoped her family liked him.

  Chapter 6

  Lexy fiddled with the hem of her top as she sat in the passenger seat of an SUV that had the Amazing Adventures logo on the doors. Win spent the drive to the park talking about his people. The gorilla shifters group was called a band, and they were led by Atticus, who was the alpha. She’d heard the term alpha before, but not applied to an actual person.

  “Atticus is like the boss of your group.”

  “Yes. It’s not an elected position, like a democracy. He decided to start a group here, and we joined him. He’s smart and driven, and he cares about all of us as if we were his biological family. We check in with him if we have a problem or concern.”

  “Does each group have its own boss?”

  He glanced at her and smiled. “Yeah, but they’re all called alphas. Each alpha is responsible not only for his group but also for the welfare of the whole zoo. The alphas form a council. They handle everything from what business ventures the park should take on to punishing those who’ve broken a law.”

  “Shifting in front of me broke a law.”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  She mulled that for a moment. “What was your plan?”

  “For?”

  “I mean, if you hadn’t turned all gorilla on me overnight, what was going to happen in the morning?”

  “To be honest, I hadn’t figured that part out yet. I would have brought you to the park, but I wouldn’t have been able to take you to my home because only shifters and mates are allowed. It would have killed me, but I would have probably brought you back to your place and then gone home to sleep. My gorilla would not have liked that at all.”

  “I guess it was fortunate that things happened the way they did. We got to skip over all the awkward how do I tell her I’m sometimes a gorilla.”

  “My gorilla likes to cuddle, I guess.”

  “That’s a good thing, because I do, too.”

  She turned her attention to the scenery flashing by the window. It was strange to think that there was an entire world of people turning into animals, and humans weren’t even aware of it.

  “Are there other parks like this around?”

  “Yes. There are parks in other states and countries, too. My parents’ band is in Canada. The shifter zoos are a way for our people to be safe together and able to shift without fear of humans finding out. There are rules for when and where we can shift. Some groups live on their own and not in multi-animal groups like zoos. I know of a wolf pack who lives in a remote area of Alaska by themselves. They founded a small town and only allow their pack members to live in their territory.”

  “Sounds lonely.”

  “We do what we have to, so our people are safe.”

  She shivered. It didn’t take a genius to know that if humans found out about shifters, things would get bad for the shifters quickly. She wasn’t entirely sure what it meant for her to be Win’s soulmate, but she felt very safe with him and wanted to be by his side. Her life was never going to be the same, and maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

  When they reached the zoo, Win turned down a private drive that ran alongside the park, and stopped at a security gate. He put his window down and entered a code into a small box.

  There was a beeping sound and then a voice came through the box and said, “Hey Win.”

  “Hey Amadeus. I’ve got my mate with me.”

  “I can see her. You need to back up and go through the front gates. Jupiter is waiting for you at the security office.”

  “Why can’t I bring her through here?”

  There was a pause and then Amadeus said, “I’m just the messenger.”

  With a snarl, Win put up the window and put the SUV in reverse.

  “Damn it,” he grumbled under his breath.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know.” He glanced at her and smiled, but she could tell that he was worried. His brow was furrowed and the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  She rested her hand on his shoulder, feeling how taut his muscles were. “It’ll be okay. I think.”

  He found a parking space in the large lot in front of the park, and turned off the engine. Turning to her he said, “They want me to leave you in the security office while I talk to the council.”

  “Will you be long?”

  “I hope not.” He let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry about all this.”

  She leaned over and hugged him. He put his arms around her immediately, burrowing his face in her neck and holding her tight.

  “You don’t have to be sorry, Win. I’m glad that you’re here with me.”

  He made a soft grumbling growl and kissed her neck.

  “I’m glad we’re here together, too.”

  He got out of the SUV and came around to her side, opening her door and offering her his hand. She took it and got out. She carried the box containing the two banana cream pies and had her purse over her shoulder, and he carried her overnight bag. She admired him as he walked next to her, from broad shoulders that tapered deliciously down to his waist, his thick thighs covered in tight denim that seemed to highlight every inch of his long legs.

  “What are you smiling about?” Win asked as they made their way toward the front gates of the park.
<
br />   “I was admiring your sexy muscles.”

  “Oh,” he said with a grin, “I’m super strong.”

  She laughed. “You must like to work out.”

  “I do. But because of what I am, I’m also naturally stronger than someone who isn’t like me.”

  She chuckled at how he danced around with his words to keep from saying that he was a shifter.

  “That’s pretty neat.”

  “I’m glad you think so. Not scared anymore?”

  “Nah.” The freak-out fest from that morning felt like it had happened eons ago. Win talking her through everything helped make it all seem all right. Even if she still had a hard time grasping that people could turn into animals, with him she wasn’t afraid.

  “Do you think we could do that some time?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Sleep like that?”

  He glanced at her with his brows high. “Like this morning? Seriously?”

  She shrugged. “Before I got scared, I was having the best sleep. Is that weird?”

  “It’s not at all. It’s incredibly cool. I’d love that.”

  They walked up to the front gates and someone waved her and Win through. They walked toward a building with a sign that identified it as the security office. The front door opened as they approached and a large man with long, blond hair stood in the doorway.

  He stepped aside as they entered, and Win set Lexy’s bag on a chair and took the box and set it on a long counter. Beyond the counter, she could see a room with a lot of monitors that showed different areas of the park. A man was sitting in front of one of the screens and talking on the phone. A woman walked out of the room and moved to stand next to the man with blond hair.

  Win said, “Lexy, this is Jupiter, the head of security, and his mate Celeste. This is Lexy Flynn, my mate.”

  Celeste smiled and extended her hand, which Lexy shook. “Welcome. Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  “I’m fine, thanks,” Lexy said. She scooted a little closer to Win and he put his arm around her.

  “They’re waiting for you in the meeting hall. Lexy can stay here with Celeste,” Jupiter said.

  “Why can’t she go with him?” Celeste asked.

  Jupiter arched a brow. “Because I don’t make the rules.”

  “You make a lot of rules,” Celeste said.

  “But not this one,” Jupiter said.

  With an exaggerated eye roll, Celeste said, “Whatever. Come on, we can sit in the control room and I’ll show you around the park in a virtual tour.”

  Lexy looked at Win and he looked terribly unhappy. His brows were drawn and his mouth was a tight line.

  “You promise you’re coming back?” Lexy asked.

  “As soon as I can,” Win said.

  He kissed her, for what felt like an all-too-brief moment, and then he stormed out of the office with a growl in his chest.

  “He’s going to give the council an earful,” Celeste said.

  “Do you know what happened last night?” Lexy asked.

  Jupiter nodded. “We’re taught from birth to be careful with our shift. I can’t imagine what his beast was doing, and I’ve never heard of anyone shifting in their sleep like that.”

  “I think it’s sweet,” Celeste said. “I think his gorilla was just that happy and he wanted to touch her, too.”

  “It might be sweet, but it was also dangerous,” Jupiter pointed out.

  “Come on in,” Celeste said.

  Lexy followed Celeste past the counter to the control room. The man on the phone hung up as they entered and groaned.

  “Trouble?” Celeste asked.

  The man glanced at Lexy and then back to Celeste. “Tayme forgot to make the cinnamon rolls last night. The dessert stall was supposed to have a special sweet today, and now they’ve got nothing.”

  “How could he forget to make the cinnamon rolls? I love those things!”

  “You and everyone who comes into the park. Marcus is pissed, but Tayme is saying he can’t make anything with the cinnamon roll ingredients that would be ready by lunch, so the shop is going to do poorly in sales today.”

  “I bake,” Lexy said.

  The man looked at her and said, “Who are you?”

  “This is Lexy, Win’s mate. Lexy, this is Justus. He’s a bear and he and his group handle the food stalls in the park.”

  Justus shook Lexy’s hand. “You bake, huh? Like professionally?”

  She nodded. “I work at a bake shop, and I compete in baking competitions, too. I just won first place in a pie contest.”

  “What kind of pie?” Celeste asked.

  “Banana cream.”

  Jupiter snorted. “Now, that’s funny.”

  Celeste snickered and then coughed to cover it up. “Can you make something out of cinnamon roll ingredients?”

  “You need something you can sell individually, right?”

  Justus nodded.

  “I’ve made a cinnamon roll cookie before. It uses almost all the same ingredients but you don’t have to let the dough rise.”

  Justus stood. “Then what are we waiting for?”

  “She’s supposed to wait here,” Jupiter pointed out.

  “Then come with us,” Justus said.

  “Hello, head of security needs to stay in the security office,” Jupiter said.

  “Well that’s too bad,” Celeste said, “because I want to watch Lexy make cookies and be her personal taste-tester.”

  Justus said, “I promise to keep an eye on her. She’ll be in the commercial kitchen surrounded by bears. She’s not going anywhere.”

  “Plus, I like Win and I want to stay,” Lexy pointed out.

  “Exactly,” Justus said. “She’s not going anywhere, and she’ll be helping the sleuth out tremendously.”

  Jupiter growled softly and then shook his head. “Fine. She’s only to go to the kitchen and nowhere else.”

  Justus saluted Jupiter, which made Celeste laugh and Jupiter snarl.

  “Let’s go before cranky cat changes his mind,” Justus said.

  Justus led Lexy and Celeste out of the security office into the park.

  “What’s a sleuth?” Lexy asked.

  “That’s what a group of bears is called.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know.” She looked around as they walked. “It’s pretty dead here.”

  “The park doesn’t open until eleven,” Justus said.

  “Have you been here before?” Celeste asked.

  “When I was a kid.”

  “It was that way for me, too. And my friend, Adriana. We’re both mated to guys here. Her mate is Zane, who’s in Win’s band. You’ll meet her after Win’s done talking to the council.”

  Lexy chewed her bottom lip as they walked toward a row of food stalls and a large building behind them.

  “Are there others?”

  “Human mates you mean?” Celeste asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Just the three of us right now. But every time they run the VIP tours, they hope that more mates will show up.”

  “What’s a VIP tour?”

  Neither of them said anything until they walked inside the building which turned out to be a large commercial kitchen. There was a row of wall ovens, a long counter with cooktops, and several refrigerators. An open door at the back wall showed shelves of ingredients. Two men were standing next to the stovetops talking quietly.

  Justus turned to face Lexy and said, “Win will tell you about the VIP tours. Right now, we need to focus on the dessert.”

  “Okay,” Lexy said.

  They joined the two men at the stovetops and Justus said, “This is Lexy. She’s Win’s mate. Lexy, this is Tayme and Tarquin. Tayme makes the main desserts every day, and Tarquin handles the ice cream stall.”

  Tayme’s brows rose. “Why did you bring her here?”

  “Because she’s a professional baker and she can save your ass.”

  “Really?” Tayme asked.

  “I c
an try,” Lexy said.

  Tayme smiled. “That would be awesome. What do you need?”

  She pulled her phone from her purse and opened an app where she kept her favorite recipes. Clicking on the cookie folder, she found the cinnamon roll cookie recipe and opened it. She read out the ingredients and Tayme, Tarquin, and Justus gathered the ingredients.

  “I need an apron and a hair net,” Lexy said.

  In no time, she had a commercial stand mixer whipping up a triple batch of her favorite butter cookie recipe. Once the dough was made, shaped, and put in the fridge to cool, she pulled off her plastic gloves and dropped them in the trash.

  “This is so simple,” Tayme said. “I never thought about doing a cookie.”

  “What do you usually do?” Lexy asked as she began to wipe down the counter before she got started on the next batch.

  “Each day we do something special for dessert at the sweet food stall. Mondays are always cinnamon rolls, but I was tired as hell and completely blanked on making the dough.”

  “I hope that the park visitors like the cookies as well as the real cinnamon rolls,” she said.

  “I’m sure they will,” Celeste said.

  The time flew for Lexy, and she thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the bears and Celeste. She wished that Win was there, and she wondered what was going on with him.

  “I think that this will be a perfect cover for you,” Justus said.

  Lexy paused in rolling out another batch of dough. “Cover?”

  Celeste piped up from where she was drizzling cream cheese icing over the still-warm cookies. “Because things happen so quickly with the soulmates, we don’t want to worry our families, so we use a job at the zoo as part of our cover story. My friend Adriana has a nail salon in the underground market, and I help with the appointments and supplies orders. Our families believe that we’re working at the zoo, and that because of our jobs, they’ve offered us a place to live.”

  Justus nodded. “We created a small group of apartments in an abandoned barn, and Celeste used it when her family came to visit her.”

  “It keeps them from worrying or wondering if something fishy is going on,” Celeste said.

  “So, I would say I work and live here?” Lexy asked.

  Tarquin lifted two cookie sheets from a wall oven and set them on a cooling rack. “Our people aren’t allowed to live outside of the park. Did Win explain about the need for secrecy?”