Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Alfie couldn’t stop looking at his watch to check the time.
He had hated every second of the day as he waited for the time to pick up Myla for their first date.
He’d kept himself busy—with a morning patrol shift—and then packing a few bags to take to an empty apartment in the small eight-unit complex at the back of the park.
It had become custom for shifters who had human soulmates to move into an apartment so they had a place to bring them back to that appeared to be lived-in.
He could hardly say he lived at the park if he didn’t have a place to bring her to.
The underground living areas for the shifter groups were very much off-limits to humans unless they knew the truth about shifters.
He hoped that he’d be able to bring Myla to his home in the wolves’ private living area sooner rather than later, but however long it took to win her heart, he didn’t mind. He was just so damn happy to have found her.
His beautiful human soulmate.
He stopped at the security office and picked up a keycard to unlock the door of a first-floor unit.
The stallion shifter-owned construction company, which operated out of nearby Little River, had built the apartment complex, and it had been used many times by shifters with human soulmates.
The apartments were used by the couples even after the humans came to know the truth, if they needed a place for their family to visit.
Like in the case of Mercer and his human mate, Rhomi, who was pregnant with their first child.
Her family had visited them during a recent baby shower and they’d spent time after the party in an apartment, which they believed was where the couple lived.
Alfie unlocked the apartment, his mind suddenly on thoughts of Myla’s family, and what it would mean once she found out the truth. She’d forever have to keep a secret from her family. And clearly, she was close to them. He’d never had to keep a secret from someone he loved before.
He just hoped she felt he was worth the secret.
As he set his bags in the bedroom, someone knocked on the outer door.
“I’m in the back,” he called, unzipping a duffel he’d stuffed with clothes.
“Hey,” Mercer called.
Alfie heard the heavy footsteps of the lion male as he crossed the apartment to the master bedroom.
“What’s up, man?” Alfie asked. He dumped out the clothes and sorted them into piles for putting away, setting aside dark jeans and a quarter-zip for the date.
“Welcome to the neighborhood,” Mercer said. He held a shallow cardboard box with several items, including coffee pods, creamer, sugar cubes, and a bag of kettle corn from the gift shop.
“Thanks,” Alfie said. He took the box from Mercer and carried it to the kitchen. “Are you guys staying in the apartment this weekend?”
“Tonight. Her family is coming over for dinner so I had to pop over and drop off a few things. They’ll be gone around nine, though.
” He tapped the popcorn. “Amadeus mentioned in the market that your soulmate likes popcorn and works at a movie theater, so Rhomi wanted to send you some to take to her as a gift.”
“That’s a nice idea, thank her for me,” Alfie said.
“Better than flowers, since the popcorn won’t wilt.”
“True. How are things with Rhomi and the baby?”
“Awesome. I can’t wait to meet our little one. Rhomi’s starting to get nervous about the delivery, but she’s a rockstar.”
“I’m happy for you both,” Alfie said. His phone buzzed and he saw a text from alpha Joss asking him to come down to the conference room near the market for a quick meeting.
“Something up?” Mercer asked.
“Meeting.”
“I gotta run anyway. Good luck tonight.”
“Thanks, see you.”
Mercer left and Alfie put away the items, setting the bag of popcorn tied with a gingham ribbon on the counter so he didn’t forget it. Then he headed out of the apartment and hurried across the park to the employee cafeteria, taking the stairs underground to the large conference room.
He found all the alphas around the table, along with several of the higher-ranked males from the groups, and suddenly he felt like something serious was about to happen.
“Come on in, Alfie,” Joss said, gesturing to an empty seat at the long oval table.
He pulled the chair back and sat, his wolf letting out a curious grumble in his head.
“You can relax,” Marcus, the bear alpha, said with a smile. “You look like you think something terrible is about to happen.”
“Sorry,” Alfie said. “You have to imagine it from my point of view.”
“We just want you to know that we’re all on the same page,” Joss said. “We were meeting up to discuss park issues, and needed to talk to you about one of those issues.”
“Which is?” Alfie asked.
“Your soulmate is human,” Caesar, the lion alpha, said. “And first off, we’re thrilled that you found her.”
“We are, congrats,” Alistair, the alpha elephant, said. “We’re always happy when one of our people finds their forever person.”
Alfie was glad to hear they were happy for him, but he still hadn’t relaxed, no matter the pleasantries. He definitely felt like the proverbial other shoe was about to drop.
He waited, and the silence in the room stretched for a moment, and then Joss cleared his throat and drummed his fingers on the shiny surface of the table.
“Every time one of our people finds a human soulmate, something inevitably happens that makes us have to evaluate how we handle things, as individuals, groups, and the community as a whole. The first time a shifter spent the night outside of the park with his soulmate, Win fell asleep with Lexy and shifted while he slept. It was incredibly dangerous in many ways for him, her, and our people. So we declared no more sleeping away from the park overnight and had the apartment complex built to give our people a place to stay.”
Atticus, the gorilla alpha, nodded. “And then most recently, Mercer fell asleep with Rhomi in the apartment and shifted and scared the hell out of her.”
Caesar grimaced. “If that had happened during park hours, I don’t want to imagine the problems we would have encountered. Imagine, a screaming female and a rampaging lion trying to get to her. It would have been an unmitigated disaster.”
“Thankfully, it happened after hours,” Joss said. “But now that you’ve found your soulmate, and she’s human, and we all understand the pull to be with our soulmates, we’re setting a new rule in place in regard to overnight situations.”
Alfie’s chest tightened, his mind turning to the apartment he was moving into just before the call to this meeting.
Marcus tilted his head slightly, his eyes shining in understanding.
“No overnights, period. Once you and your soulmate have mated properly and she knows the truth, then things can change. We still would not encourage overnights outside of the park, and considering your female appears to be quite close to her family, the apartment is a good idea. It gives you a place she can eventually bring her family to, to show them her ‘home’.”
“I understand,” Alfie said. And he really did. The secret of shifters had to be protected at all costs.
“Sorry to put you on the spot,” Joss said.
“But we’re going to put out a bulletin to everyone about the new rules, and we didn’t want you to think we were singling you out.
It’s something we’ve discussed since Mercer’s incident, but we didn’t implement the no-overnights with Indio and his mate Reagan because frankly she was pregnant already when they met up again, and there’s no way a shifter would shift while sleeping in the same bed with his pregnant soulmate. ”
“I get it,” Alfie said. “I’m taking her out tonight, so I’ll need an escort. And I won’t bring her back here, or stay overnight at her place. Not until she knows the truth.”
“Thanks for understanding,” Atticus said. “Good luck winning her heart.”
“I’ll grab some people for you,” Jupiter said. “You can take one of the SUVs on your date from the employee lot.”
“Thanks,” Alfie said. He pushed back in the chair and stood up.
Alfie left the conference room and strode down the hall. He chuckled to himself, thinking how weird it was that the alphas had been sitting around essentially talking about his sex life.
Well, he may not be able to bring Myla back to his apartment tonight, but then again, he wasn’t sure what the night would bring.
Maybe they’d just kiss, or maybe more. All he really cared about was spending time with her and getting to know her.
The texts they’d shared throughout the day had not been nearly enough to satisfy his need to be around her, and it couldn’t be six o’clock fast enough.
Later, he might tease Mercer about screwing everyone by being a lion who wanted to snuggle up to his soulmate before she knew the truth. But for now, Alfie was all about getting ready for his date with Myla.
It was the first step to winning her heart and making her his.
Alfie sat across the table from his beautiful sweetheart two hours later, feeling like the luckiest male on the planet.
Her dark hair was curled at the ends and pulled over one shoulder, and the pretty green sweater dress she wore, which hugged every single inch of her curves like it was made for her, brought out hidden green striations in her chocolate brown eyes.
She smelled like a dream, and his wolf was positively panting in his head to be close to her, but he managed to stay in his seat and not crawl across the table and ravish her.
Maybe later.
If she was up for some ravishing.
The restaurant he’d picked served the best tacos he’d ever had, and their Tuesday Dollar Tacos special was one that he and his friends often enjoyed, eating their fill for not a lot of money. When she’d said she liked Mexican food, he was happy to bring her to his favorite place.
“Oh, it smells so good here,” she said. “I’ve never eaten at this restaurant.”
“It’s one we come to every now and then. The chips are made fresh, and the salsa isn’t too spicy. Unless you really like spicy stuff, then they have one that will peel paint off the wall.”
She giggled. “I’m a wimp with spice.”
When their orders were taken and their strawberry daiquiris were dropped off, he lifted his glass and said, “How about a toast?”
She smiled sweetly and lifted her glass. “How about to possibilities?”
“And tacos.”
Their glasses clinked and they both took a drink, and Alfie most definitely did not miss the way her sweet scent deepened with the hint of arousal.
Beautiful, warm, and all his.