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Saturday couldn’t come fast enough for Sidney. She was so excited for the safari tour and a chance to see the animals up close that she’d studied the park map until she felt like she had it memorized. Her mom had been annoyed with her all Friday, but Sidney had chosen to ignore the behavior. Her mom was used to Sidney caving whenever she tried to guilt her into doing what she wanted, but this time, Sidney felt so sure that she was supposed to go to the park that she wasn’t fazed by the guilt one bit.

When it was time for her to leave on Saturday for the park, her mom studiously busied herself in the back and she just chalked it up to her being annoyed that she didn’t get her way. But Sidney was finally putting herself first.

When had she ever done that?

It was strange that she was in her twenties and had never really been able to do what she wanted without being pressured by her mom to always focus on the family business. Times like these, with her mom acting like a petulant child, made her miss her dad even more. He’d always been a buffer for her mom’s harsher edges, and had supported her art even though he’d hoped she would go into the styling business.

The park was busy when she pulled into the line for the parking lot. She eagerly awaited her turn to greet the man who was directing people into the parking lot.

“Hi there,” he said with a broad grin. He was boyishly handsome with windswept blond hair and a tan from standing outside in the sun. His nametag read Alfie. “Do you have a ticket or are you going to buy at the gate?”

“I have free parking and admission with this coupon I got by email,” she said, showing him her reservation with a QR code.

“Oh, the VIP tour! They’re awesome, you’ll have a blast. So you get to park in our special lot, which is closer to the gate. Hang a left here at the fork and find a spot in the lot, then show this to the people at the front gate. Have fun!”

“Thanks, Alfie, I will!”

She put her phone on the seat next to her and pulled forward, taking a left and parking in the VIP lot. When she found a spot, she parked and grabbed her crossbody bag, which held her sketchbook and leather roll filled with pencils, and her phone, and got out.

Her phone buzzed and she saw it was Delia.

Have fun, kid. Don’t worry about your mom. She’s just worried you’re going to walk away from the salon and she’ll have to pay someone a living wage to answer the phone.

Sidney snorted. That’s what I figured. I plan to have a blast, don’t worry! Thanks for being so sweet.

Anytime, hon. Maybe you’ll meet Mr. Right and get your happily ever after.

Really? It’s a park.

Yeah, but you never know where love will strike. I thought your generation liked that sort of thing. Fate and all that.

Sidney chuckled. I do, but I’m mostly just interested in sketching the animals.

After texting goodbye, she turned off her notifications so she could focus on just being in the park and not worry about anything else. As she made her way to the front gates, which were tall and made of iron with animal silhouettes in the design, she thought about finding her Mr. Right.

She hadn’t been on a date in months. It was hard as heck to meet single guys at the salon and that’s where she spent most of her time. If she happened to see a good-looking guy, he was usually accompanying his wife or girlfriend for her hair appointment.

But she wasn’t at the park to meet her Mr. Right, she was there to see real live wild animals on the safari tour and sketch to her heart’s content. She would try to draw all that she could during the tour, but she also knew it wasn’t a long time, so she was going to take pictures with her phone that she could sketch from later.

At the front gate, a man and woman greeted her. She showed the woman her phone screen with the QR code.

“Hi, Sidney, and welcome to the Amazing Adventures Safari Park. Do you need a map or directions to the safari tour?”

“I know where I’m going, but I’ll take a map anyway. It’ll be a nice souvenir.” She took the map and folded it carefully, tucking it into her bag. The man asked to check her bag, and she handed it over. He gave a quick look inside and handed it back.

“You can go ahead and check in at the tour kiosk,” the woman said. “It looks like a tiki hut and is right at the entrance to the line for the VIP tours. Have fun.”

“Thanks, I will!”

Sidney smiled at them and headed through the gates and into the park. She hung a left and passed by the security office and made her way toward the safari. At the tiki hut, which was staffed by three men wearing dark blue golf shirts, she smiled and showed them her phone screen.

One of the men, who looked to be about her age, scanned it and smiled as he handed her phone back. “Hi, Sidney, welcome. Have you been on a tour with us before?”

“No.”

“I’ll walk you over and tell you all about it,” he said. “My name is Felix, and I’m one of the tour guides.”

She walked with him to a set of ropes that made up the lines for the tour and told her what to expect. “Once it’s time for your tour, you’ll be taken to a Jeep where a driver and the guide will take you on the tour. Each visitor gets enough time to see the animals in the paddocks without feeling rushed, and we’ll take your picture at each paddock as well. Do you have a favorite animal? I always like to ask just out of personal curiosity.”

They stopped when they reached two other women in line, who Felix said were waiting for their noon tours as well.

“I pretty much like all the animals, but I’ve been working on drawing elephants, so I’m pretty excited to see one up close.”

“You draw? That’s awesome.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Getting the coupon by email was so neat and really timely since I’ve been wondering how I’d get to see exotic animals up close.”

“This will be perfect for that,” he said with a nod. “And we also have the petting zoo and bird sanctuary.”

“They’re on my list to see today too,” she said.

She also wanted to get one of the park’s specialty burgers and ice cream flavor of the day, and see the carousel that she’d read on social media had been recently refurbished after years in storage.

And somewhere was a kiosk selling cotton candy, one of her favorites.

“Have a great time, Sidney,” he said.

“Thanks, Felix.”

As he walked back toward the tiki hut, Sidney pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil from her pouch before rolling the leather back up and tying it closed. She loved a fresh sketchbook and had saved this one—handmade with a beautiful green leather cover hand-stamped with flowers and leaves—from a craft fair.

Opening it, she looked around and twirled the pencil in her fingers, deciding to draw a nearby plant with broad, dark green leaves. It would be good to warm up with it so she could hit the ground running.

Or drawing, as it were.

Her mind spun as she heard the distant trumpet of an elephant.

How freaking exciting!

Lucius had the strangest feeling as he patrolled on Saturday. His lion was alert, but then again he always was because being a security guard meant he needed to be paying attention to anything that might be an issue. But more than that, for the last half hour or so, Lucius’s lion was pacing in his mind and anxious.

Over what? He had no clue.

But his lion was pestering him to go .

If only his beast could actually talk, then he might know what the issue was. But all he could go on was general feelings, and right now, his lion wanted him to move.

He passed by the security office and paused as he caught a hint of something on the air. Lifting his head, he inhaled silently and turned in a slow circle until his lion let out a curious chuff in his mind as the scent hit him again.

Like peaches and sweet cream.

Holy crap it smelled good.

His lion let out a deep purr and Lucius followed the scent, which grew stronger as he neared the VIP tour.

“What’s up, man?” Felix called to him from the tiki hut where they greeted patrons.

He waved but didn’t say anything, too intent on following the scent.

Stopping as he reached the line for the VIP tours, he saw three women in line. The one at the front was about to be taken on the first tour of the day.

Someone touched his shoulder, and he let out a low growl that was barely audible and wouldn’t have been heard by any of the nearby humans.

“Whoa, you okay?” Felix asked.

Lucius looked at him and the male’s brows winged up. With a low voice, Felix said, “Your eyes are amber. What’s up?”

Shaking his head and trying to push his lion back, he whispered, “I don’t know. Something smells really good to me.”

Felix inhaled. “I don’t smell anything but the burger of the day. I’m starving.”

It was then that he realized the reason Felix didn’t smell what Lucius did, was because he wasn’t smelling something he was smelling someone.

Happiness filled him. He was following the scent of his soulmate. One of the females in line was his mate, he was sure of it.

“Are my eyes amber?” he asked.

“Nope, back to normal.”

“Good. My soulmate is here.”

“Shit, really? Freaking cool! Who?”

He watched as the first tour Jeep pulled away and a second Jeep pulled up, but wouldn’t leave for several minutes. “I don’t know, but not the first one.”

“Okay, so the next female is Brenda, and the third is Sidney. We don’t have any other VIP tours until three. It’s a pretty slow day for tours for some reason.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“Go get her,” Felix whispered.

Lucius moved forward, walking past the females in line to speak to Ezra who was in the driver’s seat of the Jeep. He picked up the peaches and cream scent from the second female in line—Sidney.

After speaking quietly to Ezra about finding his soulmate, he waited until the first tour Jeep was gone and the second had pulled up so Brenda could be escorted to it. Once Sidney was alone, Lucius walked toward her.

Holy crap.

She was gorgeous and his lion wanted to come out to see her himself. It was a study in determination to keep himself human, but he was damn sure not going to scare the hell out of his mate the first time they met.

“Hi,” he said, inhaling silently and picking up that amazing scent.

His heart was going to beat out of his chest if he didn’t calm down.

He just couldn’t believe that his soulmate had come on the tour.

What were the odds of that?