Chapter 2
Bear shifter Seneca Whitaker set the burger of the day into the paper basket and added a scoop of fries next to it.
The mac-and-cheese-topped burger was very popular.
He wasn’t sure he’d had a hit like this since the BBQ brisket burger a few months earlier.
He handed the basket to the customer with a smile and told them to enjoy.
He’d be sure to let the other food workers know so they could put the popular burger into rotation.
With the last customer in line served, he looked at his watch and got to work cleaning up. His stall stayed open until eight p.m., and it was nearing that time now. Then he’d get to grab dinner himself.
He’d been working the burger stall in the Amazing Adventures Safari Park since he was a teenager.
He loved handling the grill, and making burgers was his specialty.
He usually worked the dinner rush, and his friend Tarquin—a fellow bear shifter—worked the lunch rush with his mate Lucy, an albino deer shifter.
Seneca wasn’t lucky enough to have found his soulmate, but he sure as hell hoped she showed up soon. He was only twenty-five, but he was so ready to find his soulmate and start a family.
In fact, his bear had been acting up quite a bit the last couple of days, and it made him wonder if something was changing for him.
Like maybe his soulmate walking through the big wrought iron gates of the park.
The park had a safari tour, and the alphas of the different shifter groups—elephants, bears, wolves, gorillas, and lions—had agreed to send out free coupons to humans in the tri-state area listed as single in various government databases.
The hope was that some of the humans passing through the park would be shifter soulmates.
It happened, but not as often as everyone hoped.
Plus, there was the issue of shifters being a very well-kept secret from humans.
They didn’t know shifters existed and shifters intended to keep it that way.
So if a human and a shifter were soulmates, the policy for their people was that they’d keep the secret until the human and shifter were in love so they could guarantee the human would keep the secret from their family and friends.
Seneca didn’t care if his soulmate was a shifter or a human, he just hoped she’d turn up soon.
He rubbed the space over his heart as his bear let out an agreeing grumble.
Someone came up next to him, and he turned and saw his dad, Marcus, alpha of their bear clan, standing beside him.
“Hey, Dad,” Seneca said, returning to the task of cleaning the grill.
“Hey, how was the dinner rush?”
“Good. The mac and cheese burger was a hit.”
“I bet. It’s one to add to the rotation.”
“I think so too.”
The bears, along with a few other shifters and some of the soulmates who enjoyed cooking, provided food for the park patrons and for all the shifters who lived and worked there.
“I was thinking we could have a strategy meeting for the food, maybe plan some food events,” Marcus said.
“Oh? Like what?”
“Well, you know how we did colorful popcorn for the macaw?”
“Sure.” Seneca dropped the cleaning brush into the bucket and looked at his dad, who continued with his thought.
“What if we did more stuff like that? Like a themed day for the petting zoo, or for fall? We could do sliders for a petting zoo promotion, or something for Tank, like a lumberjack burger with maple bacon and sweet potato fries.”
Seneca smiled. “That’s a really cool idea. I’ll start gathering some ideas and you can figure out when to do the strategy meeting.”
“Perfect.” He clapped Seneca on the shoulder and helped him finish closing up the stall. Then they headed to the employee cafeteria, which was across from the security office, where lions and a few others handled security for the park.
“I’ve been feeling a little weird,” Seneca said as they walked into the cafeteria.
“Weird how?”
“Like something’s going to change, or something’s coming. Not bad, like I’m not feeling like something dangerous or wrong is going to happen, I’m just feeling a little off.”
Marcus hummed. “Maybe your soulmate is on the way. Sometimes our beasts get an inkling about things.”
Seneca’s bear let out a happy, hopeful chuff.
“That would be awesome.”
Marcus smiled but there was sadness there. His soulmate Bethany, Seneca’s mom, passed away when he was young. Bear shifters only got one soulmate, so his father would never have another, but he was hopeful the other bears in the clan would find their soulmates.
They headed down a secure stairwell to the underground area where their people lived.
He parted ways with his dad at the bears’ private living area, where they all had small homes in a huge room that was decorated to look like the woods.
Seneca continued on to the marketplace, where the shifters could grab supplies from the small store run by a wolf couple, get manis and pedis from the soulmates of two of the shifters, or a makeover from another soulmate, or get meals three times a day from the cooks.
“Yo!” Alfie called, raising his hand in greeting.
Seneca waved and headed to the counter to order the dinner special—meatloaf and mashed potatoes—and after grabbing his tray and a drink, he found two of his good friends at a table—Alfie the wolf and Indio the elephant.
It was late so the cafeteria wasn’t busy, but his friends were on a similar work schedule so they were able to meet up for dinner most nights.
While they ate, they talked about their shifts.
“Zero exciting things happened on my shift,” Alfie said. “We had a couple of big tours on the safari, but it was pretty quiet. We’re all booked for the VIP tours tomorrow, though.” He waggled his brows. “Maybe our soulmates will show up.”
“That would be awesome,” Indio said. “I’m the only one in the memory without a mate.”
The elephants had only four members. The gorillas and bears had low numbers in their groups too, but the lions and wolves had more.
“My bear’s been acting up the last couple days,” Seneca said. “Either of you have that going on?”
They both shook their heads.
“Maybe your soulmate will show up soon,” Indio said. “And maybe she’ll have a couple of sisters or friends for us.”
“Hell yes,” Alfie said.
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” Seneca said. “For all of us.”
“Hear, hear,” Indio said.
* * *
After they finished eating, Seneca still couldn’t shake the weird feeling from his bear. Talking to his friends and dad about what it might mean just reinforced his thought that maybe there was actually something good coming his way.
Like fate being kind and bringing him his mate.
Leaving his friends to make plans of their own, he decided to head back topside and take a walk around the park.
The park was set to close in an hour. There weren’t many humans in the park still, but the security team was on patrol to ensure none remained once the gates were closed.
Seneca stopped outside of the employee cafeteria and inhaled, tilting his head to listen to the park.
The air felt different, charged with anticipation.
He could hear people talking and milling around, and he could pick up the scents of the animals in the paddocks and the food stalls that were all now closed.
He opened his eyes and looked both ways before he followed his bear to take a circuit around the park.
He wasn’t sure what he was going toward, but he felt the need to simply walk.
He’d check out the paddocks and the safari tour, long closed but still with shifters milling around in their designated spaces in case any humans happened to get past the barriers, and around to the apartments in the back that were used by shifters who needed a home to show their human soulmate.
Maybe he’d pet a few of the baby animals at the petting zoo or see the birds in the aviary. Or maybe he’d just walk and take in the evening.
His bear rumbled in his head, very loudly, and he stopped in front of the paddock of normal, non-shifting animals that included the unofficial mascot of the park: Tank the grumpy moose.
Turning slowly, Seneca felt compelled to return to the main part of the park.
And this time, he didn’t question anything—he just walked.
Was something waiting for him there, by the cafeteria and the security office?
Or someone?
His bear let out a curious bellow and his heart clenched.
Holy crap.