Chapter 2
Elephant shifter and vet tech extraordinaire Indio hauled a bag of feed over his shoulder and carried it into the petting zoo.
He’d taken on the task of restocking the feed for the petting zoo and aviary, while his family—his uncle Alistair and his cousins Cael and Kelley—handled feeding the non-shifting animals on the safari tour and cleaning the paddocks ahead of the VIP tours that afternoon.
The only animals in the paddocks all the time were the non-shifters—a single paddock of deer, antelope, and a disgruntled moose named Tank.
The other paddocks only held shifters, and those shifters lived and worked at the park.
The elephants, lions, bears, gorillas, and wolves took turns during the weekend tours in their shifts.
It had been the hope of the alphas that soulmates for the unmated shifters would come from the tours. And some had. But not many.
Still…Indio hoped that he’d somehow meet his soulmate, and soon.
He was the last unmated elephant in the memory run by his uncle, who’d recently found his soulmate in a teacher who’d come with her class for a private tour of the park.
He didn’t expect to be in his mid-twenties and single, but that was his life right now. All he had was hope. Hope that he might meet his soulmate at the park or when he was out picking up supplies.
Hope that his bed wouldn’t be empty forever.
“Hey, Indio,” Tarquin, one of the bears, called to him.
“Hey, yourself,” he said. He dropped the bag in the storage room and took out his phone, checking off the delivery and counting supplies for the small animals that park patrons came to play with. Among them was a stubborn goat named Jonas, who liked to eat shoelaces and butt people in the knees.
After ensuring the petting zoo had all they needed to operate for the week, he put his phone in his pocket and stopped at the entrance where Tarquin and his mate, Lucy, a rare albino deer shifter, watched as Lucy’s younger sister, Luna, tried to keep Jonas from eating all the feed in her hand.
“How’s everything in the petting zoo?” Indio asked.
“So fun,” Lucy said. “We’re heading out of town later today to a rescue that takes in small animals.
A traveling carnival shut down when the owner died, and they were able to rehome all of the animals except for two ponies.
The rescue reached out to us, and we have space for them.
They’re really great with kids. I don’t suppose you know about taking care of ponies? ” she asked, sounding hopeful.
“Well, I know they need a farrier to trim their hooves, but other than that, I can do some research and get you whatever supplies you need for them.”
“That would be awesome, thank you,” Tarquin said. “Their names are Jack and Jill, and I think the kids who visit the petting zoo will love them.”
“They sound like they’ll be good additions to the animals here,” Indio said.
“Ah, dang it, Jonas,” Luna said, pushing his head back gently with a laugh. “He’s going to weigh a hundred pounds if he doesn’t stop hogging the feed.”
“It’s because you spoil him,” Lucy said.
“But he’s so cute!” Luna said.
Indio chuckled. “See you guys later, I’m off to drop the dolly at the storage shed and check in with Alistair.”
“Bye,” Lucy said, her statement echoed by Tarquin and Luna, followed by an annoyed bleat from Jonas, who clearly wasn’t getting his way.
Indio made a note in his phone to research pony feed and supply needs, then pulled the dolly behind him as he made his way through the empty park.
It would open soon, but it was November and that meant less people venturing out to the park—except for the few who’d gotten VIP tour tickets and scheduled tours, which were sent by the park to single people in the tri-state area by snail mail and email from a database they’d purchased a while back.
Something tugged in the center of his chest, and he paused.
What the heck was that?
His elephant let out a curious sound in his head.
He didn’t see anything, but he sure was feeling something. But whatever the heck it was, he didn’t know.
Continuing on to the storage shed by the safari tour, he passed by the carousel that had been refurbished by a gorilla named August and his mate, Ginny, a jackal shifter, several food stalls that were staffed and gearing up for the day, and the security office, manned by the shifters who called the park home.
There weren’t many humans on staff. Because shifters weren’t known to humans, the secret was kept unless a human was a shifter’s soulmate. Like Alistair’s mate, Maggie.
He passed by the newly rediscovered botanical garden, where lion Mercer and his human mate, Rhomi, were having a baby shower. The shower itself was for Rhomi’s human family and friends, as well as the pride, but the other park shifters had been invited to stop by and wish the couple well.
Life was sure different in the park than what he’d grown up with.
As a member of a traveling circus, he’d never stayed in one place more than a couple weeks, which meant he never attended traditional school until he went to college to get his veterinary tech license.
His parents had hoped he’d find his soulmate at some point, but when he’d finished high school, his Uncle Alistair had decided to join some other alpha friends at a safari park in New Jersey, and Indio had opted to go with him.
Two of his cousins—Kelley and Cael—had joined them soon after, and their four-person memory had not had any new members until Kelley found his soulmate in a panther shifter named Rhapsody, then Cael had found his truemate in a half-human, half-polar bear named November.
Indio being the last unmated member of the memory sucked.
He was happy for his family finding their soulmates, but he craved finding his forever-girl like he was missing a limb.
His heart panged again, and he shook his head from thoughts of the past and continued his trek to the storage building.
He passed by the old botanical gardens’ building that had been cleaned out to be used for the baby shower. It was an entirely glass building, but only the roof was clear. The wall panels were one-way glass, so while he could hear the muffled sounds of the party, he couldn’t see who was in there.
Why the hell was his heart pounding?
His elephant let out a curious trumpet in his head.
But it wasn’t like he could actually talk to it; he only got feelings and no actual words.
It would be handy if he knew what was up and could get some insight, but as it was, all he could do was stare at the building and wonder why he was feeling so strange.
His hand tightened on the dolly handle, and he deliberately turned away from the building and walked toward the storage shed. Whatever was up with his elephant, he wasn’t going to get any clues standing around.
Maybe, like others he’d heard of, his elephant had some intuition that he might be meeting his soulmate soon. Alistair had told him that the moment Maggie came into the park, he could feel her even though they were on opposite ends. Pulling open the door to the shed, he pondered that.
And a conversation he had with his mom a few days earlier, when she’d encouraged him to come to the circus and travel with them for a while.
You’re lonely, honey, she’d chided him.
How can you tell? You’re in West Virginia.
Funny. A mom knows, trust me. And I hate that you haven’t found your soulmate yet when I know you’d love to have her with you.
I just feel like you should come stay with us for a while.
We’re heading to the holiday carnival in South Carolina.
Do you remember how much fun we had when you were growing up?
It’s a tradition for us to be there, and it would be amazing if you could join us.
I’ll think about it, he’d answered.
Okay, honey. Well, whatever you decide, I hope we can see you for Christmas.
Of course.
You’ll think about it? About coming to South Carolina?
I promise.
Love you to the moon and back, sweet son of mine.
Love you too, Mom.
He must be getting in his feelings about finding his soulmate after that conversation with his mom. She wanted to have grandkids to spoil, and he was an only child. And hell yes, he wanted to find his soulmate and start a family, but it wasn’t like he could just make her magically appear.
Maybe his mom was right, and he needed to get out of New Jersey for a while.
He blew out a breath as he put the dolly along the wall where he’d grabbed it earlier to unload the van in the employee lot. He wanted to check in with his uncle and research ponies, but something made him stay put.
He turned in a slow circle, taking in the shed contents. For years, it had been a catch-all for anything and everything, from cleaning supplies to mechanic tools to paint, and was in desperate need of someone to clean it out.
If he was going to clean it out, he needed to get permission from Joss, the alpha wolf in charge of the shifters who cleaned the park. But maybe his elephant wasn’t worried about how clean the shed was. Maybe…he put his hands on his hips with a grumbling sigh.
What the hell was up with his elephant? It felt like he was butting him from the inside.
But to what end?
The shed door creaked as it opened.
“Hello?” The sweet feminine voice sounded unsure. The door shut behind her, pushing a wave of sweet scent toward him—all lush flowers and citrus.
He turned around and found himself staring at a beautiful female with long, strawberry-blonde hair, wearing a pale green dress.
Holy crap.
He was staring at his soulmate.