Page 13 of Grey (Little River Stallions #2)
Friday morning, Grey, who hadn’t slept well at all—partly because he was worried about everything going on with Colton and his herd and partly because Tatum was in the farmhouse but not in his bed—finished up his chores before dawn and was on his second cup of coffee when Tatum came downstairs.
He greeted her with a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Good morning, how did you sleep?”
“Meh.”
“Same.”
“You look like you’ve been up for a while,” she said as she fixed coffee for herself.
“Long enough to take care of the animals already.”
She gave him a curious look as she sipped at her coffee. “Any reason why?”
“Mainly because I couldn’t sleep, but I also want to drive you to the library today.”
“You’ve been driving me,” she pointed out.
“I know, but after what happened yesterday, I’m going to stay with you for the day.”
She arched a brow and then she gave him a soft smile. “I appreciate that. I was a little worried about going into the library with what happened. Are you sure it’s okay for you to be gone?”
“Yeah, it’s fine, I’ll just need to take the night patrol. Also, after the library closes, Ford is going to meet us and we’re going to go to the safari park.”
While he’d told her about the safari park, he hadn’t told her everything about it because she was still learning about stallions.
He’d gotten a text from Crew after midnight that the safari park had found more security equipment in storage and asked if he could pick it up with Ford, and he’d agreed.
He told her about Dani and her mate Neo, a gorilla shifter.
“Okay, a gorilla? That’s pretty freaking cool.”
“Stallions are cool,” he said, feeling disgruntled.
She grinned with a light laugh. “The very coolest. I’ve never been to a safari park before.”
The safari park ran VIP tours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, hopeful that a patron might be the soulmate for one of the park’s shifters. “We can hang out for a bit with Dani and Neo at the park. You’ll like her, she’s really sweet.”
“And that’s Khyle’s sister?”
“Step-sister, she’s Nancy’s daughter and she’s human.”
“I can’t wait to meet her,” she said. “I’m going to grab a shower.”
“I’ll be ready when you’re finished.”
She turned to walk away and then turned back, giving him a quick hug.
“Not that I’d ever complain about you touching me, but what’s the hug for?”
“I’m just so glad I met you.”
“I’m glad I met you too.”
While Tatum got ready for work, he met with Ford to talk about the plans for the day. Ford and Avi followed him and Tatum to the library, and Ford promised to return when the library closed for the day so they could head to the park.
Hopefully, whichever asshole had been watching the library would realize Tatum wasn’t alone and wouldn’t try anything, but he’d sure as hell be ready if he did.
Grey thought Tatum was the smartest person he’d ever met.
While he stayed as inconspicuous as possible as he kept an eye on things, he listened to her talk to patrons about various subjects, find obscure books, and calm a child who couldn’t find the book about dinosaurs he wanted.
She was always professional but very charming and kind, and everyone who came into contact with her seemed to love her.
Which Grey could relate to.
He was definitely in love with Tatum.
He was wildly attracted to her, but it was more than the physical attraction to her sexy curves and the sweet way she smelled when she was turned on.
She was so gracious and kind, so witty and sweet to him.
She was passionate about legends and myths, but she clearly just loved books in general.
Her knowledge was infectious, and he’d been inspired to search for books on farming while he’d been walking around the library to look for anything suspicious, locating several books that would be helpful for his work.
When it was closing time, he helped Tatum secure the library and say goodbye to her assistant, Mrs. Fielder.
He let Tatum into the truck and closed the door, scanned the parking lot, and talked to Ford who was waiting in the parking lot. Ford led the way to the safari park.
“So Dani called me while you were patrolling outside,” she said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Nancy gave her my number and she wanted to ask me about my skincare routine because she’s an esthetician and has a little makeup shop at the park for the shifters. She wanted to put together a welcome-to-the-herd gift basket.”
“That’s sweet.”
“It is, especially since I don’t really have a skincare routine, just whatever appeals to me when I’m out at the store. She also told me more about the park, about the shifters who live and work there, and how she met Neo.”
“It was pretty crazy,” he said.
“So the shifters who are at the park really didn’t know about stallions?”
“To other shifters we smell human, so they wouldn’t have had any inkling about us. If Dani hadn’t gone to the park by herself to do the makeup of the alpha female of the wolf pack, she wouldn’t have met Neo.”
She hummed. “Fate is a funny thing. One small change, one road not taken, and a shifter might never cross paths with their soulmate.”
“Very true.”
“Humans talk a lot about the roads not taken, or the crappy roads that lead to wherever we might be in life, but I think with shifters and soulmates, it’s so much more important than flippantly talking about our pasts and where we are in the present, you know?
Shifters can take mates, but they only get one soulmate, right? ”
“Yes,” he said. “The alpha wolf, Joss, for example had a mate and she died, but she wasn’t his soulmate. He didn’t meet Jeanie until he was in his forties, and she’s human. Alistair, the alpha elephant, wanted to wait for his soulmate and he just met her right after he turned forty.”
“I bet you’re glad you didn’t have to wait to turn forty to meet me, huh?” she asked.
“Hell yes.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “But even if I did, it would be worth it because you’re the most important person in the world to me. I wanted to wait for you no matter how long it took.”
He glanced at her and she was smiling. “I’m glad you waited for me too.”
They arrived at the safari park and took the employee access road to the employee parking lot, where Dani and Neo were waiting for them.
Dani and Tatum talked quietly for a moment as Dani handed her a paper bag that looked to be filled to the brim.
“Dani’s so excited to have another human to talk to,” Neo said. “Since Tris can shift and Zara’s a stallion even though she can’t shift, it’s not the same as being full-blown human.”
“I get that, I’m glad they’re enjoying getting to know each other.”
“We can double date sometime, once things settle down with that asshole trying to take over.”
Ford joined them. “Speaking of Colton Kane, thanks for helping to locate more security stuff for us. It feels like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop with him, and I want us to be as prepared as possible.”
“Happy to help,” Neo said. “Jupiter has the gear in the security office in a couple boxes. We can grab it and I’ll help bring it out to the trucks for you.
But Dani thought it would be fun to walk the safari tour so Tatum could see it.
There aren’t any VIP tours until seven, so we have the safari to ourselves. ”
“That would be awesome, thanks.”
Ford headed to the security office to talk to Jupiter while the quartet walked to the safari tour. Grey introduced Tatum to the wolves who were manning the tour desk, and they declined the Jeep, choosing to just walk and talk since they had time before the tours started up again.
Tatum and Dani walked ahead of Grey and Neo, both talking animatedly about the animals in the paddocks. They kept the conversation off shifters, because even though they were alone, no one ever chanced accidentally talking about shifters in public.
They reached the end of the tour, the last paddock filled with natural animals. “That’s Tank,” Dani said, pointing to the big moose. “He’s the unofficial park mascot. He’s nicknamed from the word ‘cantankerous’ because he can be grumpy.”
“He’s an institution at the park,” Neo said.
“That’s awesome, he’s a handsome fellow,” Tatum said. “I wonder if there are any legends or myths about moose. I’ll have to do some poking around at the library tomorrow.”
“If you find any, let me know,” Neo said. “The caretakers for the animals would enjoy knowing about it.”
“You bet,” she said.
After stopping at the security office to pick up the equipment and getting a rundown from Jupiter on installation, they headed home. Tatum was quiet on the ride back to the farm, lost in thought.
He was busy thinking too, his mind split between how to make sure she was safe and when to tell her he was in love with her.
One of those things was clearly more pressing than the other, but he also knew they couldn’t spend their lives in a hypervigilant state watching for trouble—that was no way to live.
They dropped off the equipment in the storage barn, then they went into the house for dinner. After eating, he took a short nap to refresh himself since he was taking the night shift on security patrol, planning to also install some of the equipment while he was out and about.
He hated leaving Tatum, but he needed to take his shifts with the security patrol. He left Tatum in her bed and kissed her goodnight, then walked down into the kitchen where he found Crew looking at the tablet with the security monitors.
“You love her, huh?” Crew asked, putting the tablet down and grinning.
“I do, I just don’t know how to tell her. It’s only been a week and she’s human.”
“It doesn’t really matter how long it’s been, when you know you know. And if you’re already in love with her, the chances are good that she’s in love with you too. That’s how it is with soulmates.”
“Good point.” He sighed and it turned into a yawn.
“Night shift sucks,” Crew said, clapping him on the shoulder. “But I’m glad it’s you and not me. I need to spend some quality evening time with my soulmate.”
“I completely understand and I don’t mind it a bit,” Grey said.
They discussed the new security equipment and where things would be installed so he could work on the tasks here and there while he patrolled. The lion’s share of the work would happen tomorrow in the daytime, but he could get things ready to go.
“This could be just what we need to keep Colton away for good,” Grey said.
“I hope so. I really want him to just move the hell on and not try to cause any more problems, but I can’t help but feel like we’re just waiting for him to come at us again.
He was clearly watching the library, so he knows that Tatum is important to you.
But you also stayed there today, and he has to know you wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Crew said,
“Yeah, I just wish I could be there every day with her, but that’s not entirely feasible.”
“Zara and I will escort her to the library tomorrow so you can sleep in, so don’t worry about it.
Honestly, while I think he’s going to try something again, I don’t think it will be forever.
I don’t think we’ll still be fighting him in ten years, you know?
He’ll eventually realize he can’t get to us and go find somewhere to set up his herd and take over a territory of his own. ”
“I’d like that too. I don’t want to keep fighting with him or worrying about it, but we’ll do what we need to do to keep our people safe.”
“One hundred percent.”
He left Crew in the kitchen and walked outside. The night was dark and quiet, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen. He scanned the dark woods around the pasture and wondered if someone was watching them just outside of the security perimeter.
Planning. Waiting.
Colton Kane and his herd might give up in time, but he was pretty sure the dangerous male wouldn’t give up without another push or two, another fight against them.
And Grey would be ready to keep Tatum safe.