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Lucius woke thinking it was storming because there was a sudden flash of light. He sat up and saw Sidney holding her phone with the flashlight pointed at him.

And then she screamed.

It was such a terror-filled sound that his lion immediately went on alert for danger.

She slammed the bedroom door and ran screaming out of the apartment.

He rose to his feet but they were paws, and that’s when he realized he’d somehow shifted in his sleep and not woken up during the process.

It seemed impossible, but here he was in the fur and his mate was scared to death.

He roared, wanting to tell her to wait and that she shouldn’t be afraid, but he knew she’d hear the roar and be even more scared. He had to get to her before she got hurt or lost in the park.

Leaping from the bed, he moved to the door and pushed it with his paw, but it was latched. It was unfortunately a knob type and not a handle, and he didn’t have the dexterity to twist it. Roaring again to alert anyone in security about the situation, he did the only thing he could think of and backed up, bracing himself for a run at the door.

He hit it with all his weight and force, and it cracked but didn’t open.

With a snarl he backed up again and crouched down, his muscles tense and his whiskers twitching. He leaped at the door and hit it again, and this time as the damaged door took his full weight, it splintered and fell apart and he tumbled into the hall.

He could see the front door was open, and when he picked up Sidney’s sweet scent mixed with fear and the saltwater of tears, he let out another roar for help. Padding through the front room and through the door, he lifted his muzzle and inhaled, following her scent.

He also picked up the scent of Amadeus and knew that his brother wouldn’t let her leave the park, but would be most likely taking her to either the employee cafeteria or the security office.

It was late and the park was dark, but he had no trouble making his way through the park as he followed Sidney’s scent. He paused near the security office and didn’t hear anyone inside, so he suspected Sidney and his brother were in the employee cafeteria. The windows were made of one-way glass so he was unable to see inside, but he could feel a pull to the building and knew his soulmate was inside.

Moving close enough to the building for the motion detector to kick on, he positioned himself in front of one of the windows and bellowed out a roar for his mate.

Sidney .

The cafeteria door opened and his dad walked out, closing it quickly behind him.

“Morning, Son.”

Lucius snarled and lifted a paw to gesture toward the building.

His dad crossed his arms across his chest. “You fucked up. You shifted while you and Sidney were asleep and you scared the hell out of her. Thankfully, Amadeus was patrolling near the apartments and caught her before she went screaming through the park and left. He called Jupiter to gather the alphas and brought her to the cafeteria. Now she’s not just scared, she’s angry and wants to leave, but she also wants to make sure you’re okay.” He looked over his shoulder and then back to Lucius. “She cares for you a great deal, that’s clear, but this is a full-blown disaster…you know that, right?”

Lucius nodded and grumbled out an apology, hanging his head. His claws flexed against the pavement, scraping loudly.

His dad ruffled his ears. “It’ll be okay. The alphas want to talk, so I’ll call them out here and your brothers can keep an eye on your mate. Don’t do anything stupid.” He turned to go back into the cafeteria and then turned back for a moment. “I mean, don’t do anything more stupid.”

Lucius rolled his eyes. Sitting back on his haunches, he let out a whine, wanting desperately to get to Sidney. He wanted to shift back to human, but his dad hadn’t told him he should, so he was stuck for the moment as a lion and unable to comfort his mate or tell her what was going on.

He couldn’t imagine what she was feeling right now and how absolutely terrified she must have been.

The alphas came out and as the door shut he could hear Sidney say irritably, “I just want to see Lucius, why is that so hard? Is he okay? Someone talk to me, damn it!”

His whiskers twitched. She might be scared, but she cared about him and that meant the world to him.

Joss shook his head. “How on earth did this happen?”

“Well, it happened to Win,” Atticus said. “Which is why we said no more sleeping outside of the park.”

“Clearly that didn’t stop Lucius from shifting,” Alistair said. The alpha elephant looked at him and chuckled. “You must have felt really comfortable with her to shift like that.”

Lucius did feel comfortable with Sidney. His lion had probably picked up on the feelings that had been coursing through him all day. He felt like he’d known her forever. And making love to her? Feeling her fall apart in his arms and knowing that he was the reason for her bliss? It made him feel like they’d been together for years, not just hours.

Marcus scrubbed a hand through his dark hair. “You know the drill, Lucius. She can’t leave the park until we know for certain that she won’t tell a soul our secret. What happened tonight is dangerous on so many levels.”

Lucius nodded and exhaled, his whiskers twitching.

“I think,” Caesar said, rubbing his chin, “that we should bring Lucius into the cafeteria and let him shift in front of her. That way, she’ll see the truth with her own eyes and it won’t just be him telling her that he’s the lion.”

“That makes sense,” Joss said.

“Yeah, unless she freaks out again,” Marcus said.

“Well, if she does, we’ll all be there to help,” Atticus said. “Lexy freaked out when Win shifted to human, but it helped her see the truth.”

The alphas were quiet for a moment. Lucius leaned to the side and stared at the building, wishing he could see Sidney. He was going crazy not being with her when he could still feel how stressed she was.

Her emotions must be super high if he could feel them when they weren’t mated yet.

He chuffed and Caesar said, “Okay, so we’ll bring Lucius inside and he’ll shift. Then he can talk to Sidney. We’ll post guards outside the building in case she does try to run, but once he shifts, we can leave them alone.” He gave Lucius a long look. “You know you can’t let her leave? You have to make her understand how serious our laws are. She can’t tell anyone.”

He nodded as the heavy weight of what Sidney was about to endure settled on his shoulders.

She was about to learn a truth that few humans knew.

Shifters were real, and the guy she’d had sex with hours earlier was one of them.

How would she react?

He followed the alphas to the cafeteria and walked inside. Sidney gasped harshly and took a step back, but Amadeus was at her side and barred her from moving too far away.

“You’re okay, Sidney, you’re safe,” Amadeus said.

Lucius didn’t particularly like his brother being so close to his soulmate and he growled softly.

“Hey, turn back and we’ll talk,” Amadeus said.

“What the hell is going on?” Sidney demanded, her voice shaky with bravado.

“Sidney,” Caesar said as the other alphas began to push the tables and chairs out of the center of the room. “We’re sorry that you were scared tonight. We’re sorry that you went to bed with Lucius and woke up with a lion.”

She wouldn’t stop staring at him and Lucius took that as a good sign. She wasn’t trying to climb the walls or screaming her head off.

Maybe some part of her recognized him?

He sat on his haunches and let out a loud purr.

“Where is Lucius? Why isn’t he here and why are you guys acting like this is totally normal? Someone talk to me, damn it!” Her voice rose higher with each word and he could see she was spiraling toward panic.

“Son, you better shift back before she passes out.”

“Son?”

She looked at Caesar and then at him.

It took a moment for Lucius to stop concentrating on Sidney and focus on turning back to human, but once the shift took over, he easily returned to his two-legged form. He straightened and rose to his full height.

“Sidney.”

Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates and she started to breathe fast like she was hyperventilating.

“I didn’t just see that. I didn’t!” She took a step back and then shook her head, smacking her cheek. “Wake up. Wake up!”

“You’re awake, Sidney,” Lucius said.

Something soft hit him in the side and he saw a pair of sweats from a stash kept in the kitchen storage area. Slipping them on to cover himself, he cautiously walked to her, his hands up like he was showing her he was unarmed.

“Stay back.”

He froze. “Okay, sweetheart.”

“Nuh-uh, don’t call me that right now. What the hell is going on here? You’re…what did I just see?”

Her face flushed and she looked around the room, where the alphas stood around the perimeter. His brothers had slipped outside to guard the door in case she tried to bolt.

“I’m a shifter,” he said. “Everyone here is. I’m a lion and my dad is alpha of our pride.”

“That’s not possible.”

He moved a little closer and her upper lip curled, which made him freeze again.

“It is possible. You saw me go from lion to man.” He took a small step toward her and then another when she didn’t react to him getting closer. Lowering his voice, he said, “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry I scared you. I don’t know how I shifted in my sleep, but my lion is so enchanted with you he must have wanted to come out to see you for himself. I would never have shifted on purpose to scare you.”

“You can’t control him?” she asked warily.

“No, I absolutely can. But the lion and I are part of the same person, and I can only assume that I felt so comfortable with you that my shift just happened. It wasn’t a conscientious choice, and I’m incredibly sorry that you were frightened.”

“Frightened isn’t quite a strong enough word.” She relaxed fractionally, but her wary gaze told him she was still working things out in her mind.

“Terrified?”

“At the least.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You said that.” She rubbed her thumb between her eyes. “You say…shifters? These people here can turn into animals? How does that even happen? And how have I never heard of this before?”

“It’s a secret we’re very careful to keep from humans,” he said. “You can imagine how devastating it would be to our people if word got out that shifters were real. Humans aren’t known to be compassionate to creatures that are different than they are.”

She stared at him in silence for a long moment.

He glanced at the alphas and his dad shrugged.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” she asked finally.

“Yes,” he said. “When I knew I could trust you and you loved me. You’re my soulmate, Sidney, the one female on the planet meant to be mine. Fate brought you to the park so that we could meet.”

“A coupon brought me here.”

He snorted and she glared at him and then, very faintly, a small smile curved the corner of her lips.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he said, closing the distance between them. “So fucking mine, Sidney. Tell me that you know what you saw was real and that you forgive me for scaring you. But most of all, tell me you understand how big of a deal the secret of shifters is. It’s a secret that has to be kept at any cost.”

He stared down at her earnestly, wishing desperately that she’d understand what he was saying.

She stared up at him, and for the first time, he realized how disheveled she was. She’d probably put her clothes on in a hurry and she was shoeless with messy hair and dark circles under her eyes.

He lifted his hand and pressed it gently to her cheek.

“Sidney?”

She placed her hand against his and tears glistened in the depths. “I understand that it’s a secret that needs to be kept, but does that mean I’m…is someone going to put me away?”

The scent of her fear spiked in the air between them and he growled.

“No! Sweetheart, never. You’re mine to protect and keep safe. I would never let anyone hurt you. But you can’t leave the park until all the alphas know that you can be trusted with the secret of shifters. I’m sorry for everything, I’m sorry that I didn’t earn your heart before everything went to hell, but this is where we are now.”

“I need,” she whispered, her voice thick. “I need to sit?—”

Her eyes rolled back in her head and he caught her, lifting her into his arms.

“Damn it.”

“You want to take her down to your house?” his dad called.

“I thought I couldn’t bring her down there yet?”

“You might as well,” Marcus said, shaking his head. “The proverbial cat is out of the bag and you should be comfortable while she comes to terms with everything she learned.”

He nodded.

His dad walked outside to tell Jupiter and Amadeus what was going on, and then caught up to him as he carried his mate down the stairs to the lions’ private living area. In minutes, he’d put his soulmate to bed in his house and met his dad at the door.

“When she wakes up, tell her everything again in case she feels like she was dreaming. If she wants to see you shift again, you can do that in the paddock or here in the open area.”

“Thanks, Dad. And I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “Thankfully, you were in the park when it happened and your brother was able to keep her contained. It’ll work out. You’re soulmates and she cares for you. That’s what matters the most.”

With a nod, Lucius walked back into his house and closed the door. Climbing into bed with her, he pulled her close and she snuggled into him without waking.

“I’m sorry, Sidney. Forgive me.”