Page 14 of Crew

After a quick hug, Dani introduced Zara to her mate, Neo, who was a gorilla shifter. The two lived and worked at a safari park.

“You live there too?” Zara asked.

“They have employee housing,” Dani said. “Neo is a repairman, he works on the safari park vehicles, and I have an employee-only makeup shop, where I order things for our people and do makeovers and facials.”

“That sounds awesome,” Zara said.

“Anytime you’d like to come see the park, let me know,” Dani said.

“I will, thanks,” Zara said.

While Dani and Tris talked about skincare, Nancy gave Zara a tour of the house that Dexter had built for her. Then they all sat together in the big family room and talked about the herd’s history, which included Nancy and Dexter mating and joining their families—Dani was Nancy’s daughter and Khyle was Dexter’s son—and because of how secretive stallions were, Dani hadn’t known that Dexter and Khyle were stallions, or that the other males in the herd were too. She hadn’t known about shifters of any kind at all.

“When I met Neo, I just knew something was going on but I had no clue what it could be,” Dani said, smiling sweetly at her mate. “Then Khyle shifted for me, and he broke the laws of the stallions by showing his shift to someone who wasn’t his soulmate. The herd imploded, with Dexter disbanding it and stepping down, along with exiling Khyle.”

Nancy nodded. “The boys, as I like to call them, decided to start over with Crew as alpha, and brought Khyle back in as a member and Dexter as elder. I never thought we’d be part of a herd again, so it was a sweet surprise to be included.”

“Stallions really do like to keep secrets,” Zara said. “The females in my herd were the daughters of stallions, so they knew the truth from a young age. I imagine it was quite a surprise to see your brother shift into a horse.”

“Oh yeah,” Dani said.

“And I didn’t know stallions were a thing either,” Tris said. “I’d never seen anyone but a wolf shifter my whole life.”

Zara mused on Crew’s herd while the others talked about the herd’s history.

The Little River Herd was different than what she’d grown up with, but she already loved it.

Loved the farm, loved the whole feel of the place.

And she was already falling for Crew.

They hadn’t done more than kiss and talk, but she could picture their future together, a life filled with love and laughter, with no one making her feel like she was a second-class citizen and only worth what she could contribute.

Life with Crew would be different, but so, so sweet.

She really couldn’t wait.

* * *

Tris let Zara borrow a dress for their date because Zara never had a need for anything fancy. The pretty sundress, along with borrowed strappy sandals, and makeup, had made Zara feel pretty for the first time in her life.

She’d dated here and there, whenever her old alpha had brought in other herds to visit, but because she’d never found her soulmate, the dating had never gone anywhere.

There was a knock at the front door. Zara looked around the kitchen, where Grey, Avi, and Ford were sitting at the table and eating the dinner that Tris had made for them.

“I don’t think that’s for any of us,” Avi said with a grin.

“Oh!” she said. She hurried down the hall to the front door and opened it, finding Crew wearing slacks and a polo that was the same emerald green as her eyes, holding a bouquet of wildflowers.

“You look amazing, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear as he hugged her. She took the flowers and smiled at him.

“You look great too.” They walked into the kitchen where he pulled a vase down from a high cabinet and filled it with water for her.

“Have fun you two,” Ford said.

“Don’t wait up,” Crew said. He offered Zara his arm. “Ready for dinner?”

She took his arm, feeling the bulge of his biceps, her fingers practically itching with the need to explore him without clothes, and nodded.

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