Page 26 of Crew

“It’ll make great tea, and also have you ever tried lemonade with strawberry and fresh mint? Now that I know Crew likes lemonade, I want to try to make him different kinds.”

“That’s so cute, and no, I haven’t ever had it that way, but I’d love to try it.”

“With the late strawberries in the garden, we should be able to make a pitcher for dinner.”

“That’ll be perfect for the burgers we’re planning to grill.”

Nancy and Dexter were hosting dinner for the herd, and Zara was looking forward to it. She’d never been part of such camaraderie like she was here; it was incredible to be part of. Her whole life she’d wanted to be really included, and thanks to Crew and his herd, she was.

They gathered several bunches of mint and Zara logged the location on her map. They continued their trek for a while longer, then turned back to the farmhouse, after Zara had spied daisies that Nancy picked for a dinner-table bouquet.

With a hug, they parted ways at the shed, and Zara watched Nancy get in a small golf cart and drive down the dirt road. Zara waved with a smile and then walked to the farmhouse to take care of the mint. When she walked into the house, she heard Crew talking in the den and decided the mint could wait.

She wanted to see her mate.

* * *

“So tell me about the safari tours,” Zara said as they sat around the big dinner table at Nancy and Dexter’s and ate burgers with fresh-cut fries and a large pitcher of lemonade with fresh mint and strawberries.

“A few years ago,” Neo said, leaning back in his chair, “the alphas decided they wanted to send out free coupons for VIP tours to humans in the tri-state area who were single, according to a database they purchased. The coupons were for an individual tour and photos at all the animal paddocks, with the idea that soulmates might be among those who came on the tour.”

“That’s pretty neat,” she said. “How many soulmates have been found?”

“Not nearly as many as we’d all hoped for, but the alphas are happy for even just a few of them. Most recently, they started sending out the coupons by email, and Lucius, a lion shifter, had his soulmate come through. But he wasn’t even in his shift for the tour; he was working security and they met that way.”

“It’s incredible that so many groups live and work together. Talk about safety in numbers,” Zara said.

“And the herd is an ally of the park as well,” Crew said. “We met them when Dexter’s company was hired to build an apartment complex at the back of the park. We didn’t know there were shifters there, and they didn’t know about stallions.”

“Holy crap,” she said with a chuckle.

“The alpha wolf’s mate gave me a tour coupon,” Dani said. “My parents didn’t want me to go—they’d planned for a herd to come visit, hoping that I’d be soulmates with one of the stallions so I could share in the secret— but I snuck out and went to it anyway.”

“Thank goodness,” Neo said.

“It really worked out for the best,” Dexter said. “If Dani hadn’t gone to the park and met Neo, then Khyle wouldn’t have felt compelled to shift for her and broken the laws which caused me to step down as alpha. Tris came to the park because of a wolf named Auden, and she wasn’t happy there—right?”

“Nope,” Tris said. “I liked the park, I just didn’t feel at home there, so Dani brought me to meet the guys, and I took the caretaker job.”

Khyle brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “And that’s where we met.”

“Wow,” Zara said. “How incredible that all your lives were intertwined like that.”

“So the unmated shifters are always hopeful every weekend,” Neo said. “Like my buddies Patton and Seneca.”

“Are there many unmated females?” she asked.

“Just Heidi, she’s a wolf,” he said. “Most of the shifter groups didn’t have any females at all until soulmates were found, like the gorillas and the elephants. It’s just the way of shifters—it seems like they’re mostly male.”

“Stallions are like that too, mostly male.” She reached for Crew’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m glad to be here and part of the herd.”

“Speaking of that,” Crew said, “we wanted to have a party, to do a joint mating ceremony and make it official for Zara to be the alpha female and join the herd. Maybe Saturday?”

“That works,” Tris said. “What would you like for dinner? Something special, like steak?”

“Perfect,” Zara said. “And mac and cheese too.”

“You got it,” Tris said.

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