Jupiter (Were Zoo Book 2) (7 page)

“
Um, why?”

He shook his head. “If we lived in the
wild, I’d go hunt something serious like an antelope, but I can’t
exactly go into the normals’ paddocks and go hunting.”

“
Normals?”

“
Non-shifting animals. In
the interest of not killing off the animals in our zoo, my dad
picked a rabbit. They’re fast as hell and not exactly easy to
catch, you know,” he said, looking a little disgruntled.

“
Okay, sorry,” she said,
chuckling. “All right, so killing a poor little bunny proves that
you can hunt, and that’s important?”

“
Of course. It is to my
lion, anyway. Then I have to cook it and feed it to you.” She knew
she was making a face, because he rolled his eyes. “Sweetheart,
it’s part of what I am.”

“
Do I have to see you kill
the bunny? I’m not sure I can eat something after watching you kill
it.”

“
It’ll be dark, and no,
I’ll clean it before I bring it to you. You’ll be waiting by a fire
in the paddock while I hunt. The pride will be there to watch over
you while I’m away. In the old days, when our people lived in the
wild, this was how a male proved himself to be a good mate. When a
shifter becomes pregnant, she can’t shift until the baby comes, and
needs a male who can provide for her.”

“
That’s pretty cool,
actually. Even though we have these great inventions like cars and
grocery stores now. Wait, can we even leave the park? Are you
allowed to go out into the human world?”

“
Yes and yes. We have a
shared market underground, and they can get anything you need, but
we can go shopping or out to eat anytime.”

“
Okay. Let’s go take a
shower.”

“
No,” he said.

“
But I’m sticky,” she
said.

He laughed in a very male way, which
made her roll her eyes. “We smell like each other, and that’s a
good thing. My brother brought me these pants to wear, and this
shirt for you.”

He stood and tugged the leather pants
on while she lifted the men’s t-shirt and looked at it critically.
“I can’t wear my own stuff? Minus the bra you tore, of
course.”

“
Black clothing is
traditional; it keeps from drawing unnecessary attention to
us.”

She slipped from the bed and excused
herself to the bathroom. After using the facilities, she tugged the
shirt over her head. It was a plain men’s black tee, very oversized
but not nearly long enough. She knew she’d spend the entire night
tugging on the back of it to keep her butt covered.

Staring at her reflection in the
mirror, she examined the shirt critically and then decided to try
something she’d seen online. Stretching the collar of the shirt
out, she wiggled her arms out of the neck hole until it was under
her armpits, making the shirt long enough to cover her. Then she
crossed the short sleeves and tucked them into the collar, giving
the shirt a bodice. Turning to look at herself from all angles, she
decided she was covered well enough, and even looked cute in the
shirt she’d turned into a makeshift dress.

Opening the bathroom door, she found
Jupiter waiting for her expectantly on the bed. “Did you find out
what’s going on with my friend?”

He stared at her with his mouth
open.

“
Jupiter?”

“
Sorry, sweetheart, you
look amazing. How did you do that?” he asked as he rose and came to
her, ghosting his hands over the front of the dress with a curious
purr.

“
I saw a demonstration of
it online, and since the shirt wasn’t long enough to cover my bits,
I figured this was a good way to make it more modest.”

“
I had no idea my
sweetheart was so smart,” he murmured.

“
I have my moments,” she
said with a laugh.

Bare-footed, because once
more he said it was
important
, they left his home and
headed to the far side of the pride’s private area, to a security
door. He entered a code into the pad. “This leads up into the
paddock. We come and go through here, shifting in the storage shed.
We work in rotation, splitting our time between handling the
security in the park and being active for park visitors. I’ll share
the codes with you. You mustn’t give them to anyone, not even other
shifters. Only the lions know our own codes, and it’s that way with
the other groups, too.”

“
You guys sure do like
secrets.”

He pulled open the door when it
unlocked. “It’s how we’ve managed to stay under the radar for so
long.”

She followed him up the stairs. He
used another security pad to unlock a doorway at the top. It lifted
up, and she couldn’t see anything except darkness. He led her into
the shed and turned on a very soft, low light. It barely
illuminated the area. After closing and securing the door in the
floor, he took her hands and brought them to his lips.

“
You don’t have anything to
be afraid of,” he said.

“
Why would I be
afraid?”

“
Because I’m leaving you to
go hunt, and this is still so new between us.”

“
Yeah, but it still feels
right. I meant it when I said I wanted to be yours.”

“
I meant it when I said you
already are. Tonight is about sharing my traditions with you. When
we’re done, you can share your family’s traditions with
me.”

“
Aside from overeating at
Thanksgiving, we don’t have any that I’m aware of.”

He chuckled. “Then we’ll make some of
our own, too.”

“
I do want you to meet my
parents. You can, can’t you?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
What about my
apartment?”

“
You have a home with me
now,” he said.

“
I know, but I need to go
pack it up.”

“
I’ll have some of the
pride go tomorrow morning and pack it up for you. Do you just have
one room?”

“
One bedroom and bathroom.
But shouldn’t we also pack up Adriana? She hates packing, and I’m
sure she’d appreciate it.”

He chuckled. “It’s best to leave that
to her. Whenever she’s ready to pack up her things, lions will go
with her to help.”

“
Sounds good to
me.”

“
Are you ready to meet the
pride so I can go hunt?”

“
Yes.”

He kissed her briefly, then
extinguished the light and opened the door. The fall night air was
crisp but not too cool. He picked her up and carried her. “I don’t
want you to stumble.”

“
You can see in the dark?”
she asked, peering into the night. The crescent moon lent a little
bit of light, but all she could really see were darker spots among
the shadows.

“
I can see better than you
can, but I don’t have night vision.”

She rested her head on his shoulder
after looping her arms around his neck. “You can feel free to carry
me anytime.”

In the distance she could see a
flickering orange light, and knew it was the fire where she would
wait for him while he hunted. She’d never had anyone hunt for her
before, and the sentiment behind it – that he would prove he could
provide for her and their kids – was sweet. They drew nearer, and
she saw seven figures standing around a bonfire with what appeared
to be a fur rug on the ground next to it. Jupiter stopped just in
front of it and set her on her feet.

“
Alpha Caesar, I present my
soulmate, Celeste, to you.”

Caesar, the man who had knocked
Jupiter away from the fence, strode over to them and stopped next
to the rug. “Welcome, Celeste. As pride alpha, it is my honor and
duty to watch over you tonight as your mate proves his
worth.”

Then he introduced the six other pride
members: Javan, Amadeus, Lucius, Jenni, Mercer, and Xavier. “Our
pride isn’t large, but we hold fast to our traditions. Do you come
tonight of your own free will, to accept Jupiter as your
mate?”

“
Yes,” she said.

The pride growled in
approval.

Jenni, who had long, tawny hair tied
into a braid over her shoulder, stepped forward holding a small
cage. A brown rabbit sat inside, nose twitching. “Release the
prey,” Caesar said.

Jenni opened the cage and drew the
rabbit out, stepping away from the bonfire and into the darkness.
Celeste heard only the rustle of grass and a soft chuckle as Jenni
came back into the light with an empty cage.

“
Prove yourself worthy of
this female, Jupiter,” Caesar said, offering his hand to Jupiter.
They clasped wrists, and the other lions joined them, wishing him
good luck.

Celeste turned to face Jupiter as he
undid his pants. “Wait for me on the fur, sweetheart,” he said,
kissing her.

“
Okay. Good
luck.”

He winked. “I won’t be
long.”

She took his pants and tried not to
stare at his sexy body, highlighted by the flickering flames. He
shifted into his lion, going from gorgeous man to beautiful beast
so quickly her brain still wasn’t quite sure she was seeing what
she was seeing.

He chuffed at her, bumping his head
against her hip gently until she stepped onto the fur rug and
dropped to her knees. She rubbed his muzzle and kissed it. “See you
soon.”

He bounded off into the night with a
roar, and she shivered, knowing that there was a little bunny
hopping around out there with a target on its back.

“
Don’t feel sorry for the
rabbit,” Mercer said.

She turned to face the bonfire and the
pride members. “I can’t help it. He was so cute.”

“
Trust me, this is far
better than the way we used to do things. My parents were mated,
and my dad had to track a wildebeest for my mother. It took him two
days. Guess where she had to be the whole time?” Caesar
said.

“
On the rug?”

“
Yep. And they didn’t let
her wear clothes because part of the ritual was that the female
would wear the skin of the beast.”

“
So you’re saying it could
be worse? I guess I’ll be glad I have clothes on.”

Xavier said, “Jupiter said you wanted
to know what was going on with your friend Adriana?”

Celeste felt bad for getting caught up
in her own situation and not thinking about her friend. “All he
knew was that she was okay. Do you know what happened?”

“
Apparently her tour guide
recognized that she was the soulmate of a gorilla named Zane and
decided to torment him by attacking her. Zane ripped the fence
apart and got your friend away from him. She’s with him in the
gorilla band’s private area.”

“
Band?”

“
Group of gorillas,” Xavier
amended.

“
So she found her soulmate
too? Wow. How weird is it that we both found our soulmates at the
same time?”

“
It gives us hope that
someday we’ll find our soulmates, too,” Lucius said.

“
Can I see her?”

“
In a few days Jupiter can
make arrangements to get together with her and her mate. It’s
important to him that you complete the mating traditions first,”
Caesar said.

“
As long as she’s fine.
Does she know I’m okay? That I found my mate too?”

Amadeus nodded with a smile. “Zane was
informed, and told her. She’s your best friend?”

“
We’ve been friends since
we were young. Her parents moved to Florida after we graduated from
high school, and my parents took her in so she didn’t have to move.
She’s like a sister to me.”

While she waited for Jupiter to come
back, the pride members shared information about their kind with
her. She was still amazed to know that there was this whole
different world going on right under humans’ noses. If she and
Adriana hadn’t used the VIP coupons, she most likely never would
have met Jupiter. According to him, he didn’t leave the park very
often, so they may never have crossed paths. She rubbed at the
space over her heart. It hadn’t even been a full day and already
she couldn’t imagine being without him.

A roar broke the silence, and she
turned, peering into the darkness. “That sounded happy,” she
said.

“
I’d say he found the furry
bastard,” Jenni said with a chuckle.

“
Will it take him long
to…prep it?” she asked.

“
No. He’ll shift and
butcher it properly. There’s a satchel of tools hanging from a
tree,” Caesar said.

She tilted her head and listened
carefully, trying to pick out any sounds, but all she could really
hear was the crackling of the fire behind her. She had no idea how
long it had been, but it didn’t seem like much time had passed when
Jupiter strode into the little camp, a fur in one hand and the
butchered rabbit in the other. It wasn’t the rabbit that made her
breath catch in her throat; it was the way that the firelight
flickered over Jupiter’s sexy body. She suddenly wished they were
alone.

As if reading her mind, Jupiter
stopped next to her and purred. He moved to the fire and threaded
the rabbit onto a long piece of metal; then he picked up two other
pieces of metal from near the fire pit and sank them into the
ground on either side. Each piece had a prong on the end, and he
set the piece with the rabbit onto the ends and attached a turning
handle.