The following Saturday, Lucius and Jupiter walked Sidney, Celeste, and Rhomi to the aviary to watch the afternoon show. They were going to hang out with Jess and Auden afterward while Lucius ran errands with his brother.

“I’m so excited,” Sidney said.

“You didn’t bring your sketchbook,” Rhomi pointed out.

“I was sketching a lot when I saw the show with Lucius last week,” she explained, “and I feel like I kind of missed some of it because I was concentrating, so I just want to live in the moment.”

“That’s so cool,” Rhomi said.

Sidney smiled up at Lucius as they walked. “You sure you can’t hang out with us?”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.”

“I’ll miss you.”

His lion grumbled. “I will too, trust me.”

But he had something important to do, and he only had this bit of time to take care of it.

After dropping off the trio at the aviary, Lucius and Jupiter headed to the employee lot.

“Hey, guys, pop in here for a minute,” their dad called from the employee cafeteria.

Lucius and Jupiter walked into the cafeteria where their dad and the other alphas were waiting.

After greeting the alphas, Lucius said, “Jupiter is going to accompany me on some errands. Justus and Benjamin are also going to follow us. I left Sidney with Rhomi and Celeste, and they’re going to hang out in the aviary after the show with Jess and Auden. So that’s my news, what’s up with you all?”

Caesar smiled at him. “Since we’re doing the mating ceremonies this weekend, I wanted to be the first to tell you that once you’re fully mated according to our people’s traditions, Sidney will be able to have access to the park including codes to our private areas. She’s proven that she cares for you and is intent on keeping our secret.”

“That’s awesome, thanks,” Lucius said. “She’ll be happy. She understood that she was a stranger and needed to earn the trust of the alphas, but it’ll be nice for her not to feel like she’s being constantly watched.”

Alistair nodded. “She’s been really gracious in accepting our laws, and it’s a testament to your bond as soulmates.”

Lucius looked at the group, because he felt like there was something more going on. His dad smiled and said, “I was telling the alphas about Sidney’s artistic talents, and we had a couple thoughts about her working at the park. We wanted to run them by you so you can talk to her and see what she’d like to do.”

“Really? She can do her art at the park? In what capacity?” His lion let out a happy chuff in his head. He knew that Sidney wanted to do her art for a living, but he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to help her make that a reality.

Caesar looked at Joss, who said, “We have a couple of thoughts, which you can discuss with her and let her decide what she’d like to do. We’re really flexible in this aspect because we’ve never had an artist soulmate who was talented enough to work for the park. So the first option is that she could set up a small art station in the gift shop and draw a few hours a day. We could sell her drawings, and even make prints of them and frame them.”

Lucius hummed. “That sounds amazing. What’s the other option?”

Marcus said, “If she wants to do her art out in the park where people can see her, we can set up a station by the security office and she could draw outside, maybe do caricatures if that’s something she wants to do.”

“In the gift shop,” Caesar said, “she’d be with Sarah and Requiem, and if she’s near the security office, she could be on your schedule so you’d be around her. Either way, we’d love to offer her drawings for sale in the gift shop. I think the patrons would really love that.”

“Wow,” Lucius said. “Thank you all for thinking of ways to incorporate her into the park. I think she’ll be thrilled to be able to sketch for the park and sell her drawings. I’ll talk to her about it after I meet up with the girls later on.”

“There’s no rush,” Joss said. “You two are mating this weekend and should take time to enjoy each other. Your shifts will be covered by the security team, of course, for however much time you’d like to take off. When she decides what she’d like to do, just let us know and we’ll get things set up for her.”

Lucius shook the alphas’ hands. “Thanks so much, this is amazing.”

Caesar walked him and Jupiter outside. “Has she heard from her mom?”

“No,” Lucius said with a sigh. “She keeps hoping she’ll reach out, but she said her mom is pretty stubborn and was clearly very hurt by the argument, so she’s not sure how long it will take for her to realize that Sidney was right to put herself first for a change.”

“Hopefully her mom will realize that it’s not worth losing the relationship over and can come to terms with Sidney’s choices, but sometimes parents don’t do the right thing. Present company excluded.”

Jupiter snorted so hard he coughed.

Caesar growled at him and Jupiter took a large step back. “Sorry, you’re always right. Of course.”

“Damn straight,” he said with a laugh. “Good luck with your errands. I’ll see you later.”

Lucius and Jupiter walked away from the cafeteria toward the employee parking lot, where Justus and Benjamin were waiting as their escort.

“Do you know what you’re going to get?” Jupiter asked as they reached one of the park’s SUVs with the logo emblazoned on the side.

“I think so,” he said. “But I’m trying to keep my mind open to whatever they have on hand. I think when I see it, I’ll know which one to get.”

“I’m happy for you,” Jupiter said. “Having a soulmate is the best feeling on the planet.”

Lucius couldn’t agree more.

Meeting Sidney was definitely the highlight of his life.

Sidney absolutely loved watching the bird show again. Maggie and Jess were so knowledgeable and shared about the different birds that called the sanctuary home. At the end of the show, they did a Q&A for the audience, and then the crowd dispersed.

“I loved it even more this time,” Sidney said. “I had some great sketches of the birds before, but it’s cool to be in the moment sometimes.”

“I agree,” Celeste said. “I keep wanting to record everything that’s going on with this pregnancy, but I also just want to be pregnant and enjoy life.”

Rhomi nodded. “I love that the aviary takes care of injured birds and is sometimes able to release them back into the wild. Jess and Auden do a great job taking care of them with Cael.”

Jess walked up to them after the last patron was gone and said, “What did you think?”

“Loved it,” Sidney said. “Even better the second time.”

“We try to make it a little different every weekend so people can get something new out of it if they see it more than once.”

“Great job,” Celeste said. “It’s always fun to watch the show. I wish we had more shows like this.”

“Me too,” Rhomi said. “Maybe the park will keep growing and we’ll have more cool exhibits like this in the future.”

“Well, you never know what might happen,” Jess said.

The trio walked through the aviary hospital and stopped at the huge cages while Jess talked about the birds that were under their care. When they were finished, Sidney said, “Thanks for your time today, it was so awesome. This park is amazing.”

“I’m so glad you’re here and that you and Lucius found each other.”

“Me too.”

She glanced at her watch, realizing Lucius had been gone for almost three hours.

“I wonder if they’re back yet,” she asked.

“Lemme check Jupiter’s location,” Celeste said. “If not, we can go hang out at the house, maybe grab a snack. Oh, popcorn sounds good. Or cotton candy.”

“Love those pregnancy cravings, huh?” Rhomi asked with a smile.

“I sure do.” Celeste stared at her phone for a moment and said, “They’re walking in from the employee lot, so we can meet up with them. I’ll send my guy a text.”

“Thanks again for everything, Jess,” Sidney said. “You, Auden, and Maggie really made this afternoon special.”

“Anytime.”

The trio left the aviary and headed to meet up with the guys. She was about to send a text to Lucius when she heard a very familiar voice.

“Sidney? Sidney!”

“Mom?”