Page 16 of Seneca

“Yep,” Seneca said with a chuckle.“Let me introduce you around.If you need anything, it’s all free of charge too.Then we’ll grab breakfast and an iced coffee.”

“Yum.”

They started at the counter for the food, where Jeanie, a human mated to alpha wolf Joss who Sunny had met when they arrived at the park, greeted her warmly.Seneca explained that while the bears handled the food for the park, there were others who worked alongside them, like Jeanie as well as several females who ran a candy shop topside.

“We also deliver food to the various private living areas,” Jeanie said with a smile.“You just have to call us here at the market and order whatever you need.”

“That’s so nice,” Sunny said.

“It’s what we do for our people.”

After saying goodbye to the alpha female and promising to be back after the tour for breakfast, Sunny met Dani, who was mated to a gorilla named Neo.Dani gave her a gift bag of toiletries that she’d put together when she heard that Seneca had found his soulmate.

“This is so sweet, thank you,” Sunny said.

She met Adrianna, who was mated to gorilla Zane, and Celeste, who was mated to Jupiter, at the nail salon, and they offered to include her in the weekly get-together of the female soulmates in the park.

After meeting Anke and Zeger, who ran the store that had everything from cell phones to clothes, she and Seneca walked back to the cafeteria and ordered breakfast.When she asked Jeanie if she could have extra caramel in her iced coffee, Jeanie had smiled with a nod and said she’d call when their orders were ready.

“This is amazing,” she said as they sat at a table.She looked around.“Everyone acts like no matter the shift—or even if people can shift or not—they’re all welcome here.”

“The park is special,” Seneca said.“I’ve always thought it would be smart if other shifter groups realized that there’s safety in numbers, but many—probably most—prefer to keep to themselves and will actively shun or drive away other groups.”

They ate overstuffed omelets and sourdough toast, and she had the best caramel iced coffee she’d ever had.

And she got to know Seneca a little better.

Plus, she’d seen him naked,andhe’d rocked her world.

Her neck still tingled where he’d given her a love bite.She wanted more.

She wanted him to really mark her.

Her tigress let out a soft purr and it made more than just her neck tingle.She looked down at her hands, where her nails had changed to the claws of a tiger when she’d been in the throes of passion.

“You thinking about earlier?”he asked with a low voice.

Her cheeks flamed, and he chuckled in that low, knowing way.

“You mean my tigress?”

“Yeah.But we could totally talk about a play-by-play, repeat performance?For fun and educational purposes?”

With a giggle that turned into a snort, she reached for his hand and linked their fingers.“I was thinking about when you bit me and then I was thinking about the claws.That’s the first time I’ve had something like that happen before.Being with you has made my tigress really come out.”She paused, but didn’t finish her thought.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever shift, sweetheart, if that’s what you’re thinking about.”

“Yeah.”

“I suspect you would have shifted by now if you were going to, but maybe us finding each other has made the part of you that’s a tiger more pronounced.I’ve never heard of a latent tiger like yourself shifting in their twenties.”

“I’m not getting my hopes up,” she said.“But I am a little worried about not being able to control things.Like what if my eyes turn color in front of a human?”

He hummed in thought.“Maybe it’s only when you get very emotional.”He lowered his voice and raised a brow.“Or very turned-on.”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled.

“I’ll be with you no matter what,” he said.“If you start to get emotional and we’re out in the park, I’ll find a place where you won’t be seen.I don’t want you to worry.I’ve got you.”