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“My mate, Charlie, said he was going to?—”

“Yep. Just go on in. Did you pay at the other gate?”

“I did.”

“Hand it here, and I’ll stamp it. If you take it in with you, when Charlie gets you your family pass, you can get your money back.”

“That would be great, thanks,” I told him as I handed the parking pass over. He disappeared inside the booth for just a moment before he was back with it.

“Here you go. Just be sure to take it in with you, and you can get your refund.”

“I don’t need it in my dash?”

“Oh, yeah, give me a sec.” He disappeared again but was back in a blink. “Here, put this in your dash. They don’t really patrol the lot until later in the day though, but put this in there just to be safe.”

“Thanks again,” I told him. He waved me through, and I went in search of Charlie’s little car. It was actually easier to locate than I expected. There were several cars that were similar in size, all parked together in a row. I couldn’t help but smile at that sight.

“Cutie, I’m here and just parked. I forgot to let you know that I was at the gate. I’m parked by your car though, so it might take me some time to get to the entrance.”

“I knew you were coming. Dave at the gate radioed me when you went through the employee gate.”

That worked for me. “Sorry I forgot to reach out. I do have lots of food though.” I reached over and grabbed the bags, then the drink holder with our large drinks.

Once I slid from the truck, I used my hip to close it.

I gave up, though, and had to set the drinks down in order to lock it.

After picking them up and starting toward the entrance, I spotted a familiar face about halfway there.

He gave a little jump and then started rushing toward me.

I couldn’t keep the smile from my face as my adorable mate came rushing toward me.

“Hey, you,” I said as Charlie reached me. I leaned down and stole a kiss, thankful that Charlie was all for showing affection toward each other when in public. When I stood up, the smile I received told me all I needed to know. “How has your day been?”

Charlie groaned. “Long. It’s going so slow too. And I’m extra irritable, and I can’t figure out why. But I’m really happy to see you.” Charlie bounced on his feet a bit. “Do you need help carrying anything?”

“I’ll take it,” I said, holding up the drink carrier with two sodas in it. Charlie took the drink carrier, which left my hand now empty, and I could place it around Charlie’s shoulders. “Did you want to talk during lunch? Or do you feel we should discuss things once you get home?”

Charlie sighed. “I think at home. I love that you came to see me though. It’s been a rough morning.”

“You should have reached out earlier,” I told him.

“You can always interrupt me, not that you ever could.” I stopped Charlie by pulling a bit on his shoulder.

It worked because he looked up at me. “You are more important than any meeting with any client. Always. I will always drop everything to come to you if needed.”

Charlie stared at me a moment before he nodded and then looked away.

I could feel the embarrassment through our bond, and I was certainly going to touch on that while I was here for lunch.

But we’d reached the entrance, and Charlie swiped his badge.

The light turned from red to green, and then the door clicked.

Charlie quickly opened it and led me through.

“Charlie,” I said quietly because there were others around. He glanced up at me but shook his head. “Charlie, I want to talk about that,” I told him through our mate bond. “There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You are my mate, and we are partners in all things.”

Charlie nodded. When he said something out loud, I looked up and saw that he was talking to someone else.

“We will,” Charlie said to me. “Just not here, okay?”

“That’s fine. But we are going to need to discuss things that probably aren’t what you’re going to want to talk about.”

“I know.” Charlie groaned. “Just ignore her as much as you can.”

I didn’t quite understand what Charlie was saying until we were suddenly descended upon by an overly excited woman.

“Charlie Brown, you absolutely have to introduce me.”

My adorable mate sighed. “Mia, this is Silver,” Charlie said, then looked up at me. “Silver, this is Mia. She works with me.”

“Hi,” Mia said.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet one of Charlie’s coworkers.”

Mia stared at us, seeming to wait for something. I wasn’t sure what, but I really wanted to spend lunch with my mate and not her.

“If you’ll excuse us,” I said. “I really want to spend lunch with my mate. That’s still new for us, so I’m sure you understand.” I tried to pull Charlie around Mia, but she wasn’t budging.

“Mates? Really?”

Charlie groaned. “Not now, Mia. Really. Just let us have lunch together already.”

Mia made a face, then turned and all but stomped off. I looked down at Charlie, wondering what was going on. He sighed and shook his head.

“Mia is nice enough, but she’s a gossip. I’ve only told my supervisor that I’m mated now. She’s human, as you probably could scent, so she didn’t pick up on the fact that I’m mated. Now, everyone in the zoo will know by the end of lunch that I’ve been claimed.”

I winced. “Sorry about that. I didn’t realize.”

“No, don’t be. I’m not upset about them knowing. I just didn’t know how to announce it. The zoo usually gives newly mated or married employees extra time off. Like, if I have a week of vacation, they will double it and give me two.”

“That’s generous.” I started walking again. “Speaking of vacation. We need to talk about you taking some time off. There’s a lot of places we need to go to file paperwork, but the offices close by the time you’re off of work.”

Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking about that.” He led me to a covered picnic table that was outside the Under the Sea restaurant, which seemed to be quite busy. It smelled wonderful, and I had to question why Charlie had me bring food instead of just getting it here at the lunch window.

I sat and started emptying out the bags.

One had six burgers in it; the other had two large fries and two large onion rings.

I didn’t know if it was enough food, but I figured if not, Charlie could always get something else here at the zoo since they had a restaurant, and I knew there were several other food carts here and there throughout the zoo.

“How much food did you get?”

“Umm…enough for us. Maybe? Did you need more? I got us each three burgers, a fry, and onion rings. You can have one of my burgers if you want.” I was leaving before him and could certainly grab something else before I headed home.

“No,” Charlie said, laughing. “Silver, I can’t eat all of this. I’m a shifter, but I’m not nearly as big as you are.”

I shrugged. “No big deal. Whatever you don’t eat, I will.” I passed Charlie a pair of burgers, keeping four to myself, and then pulled out the fries. I handed him his onion rings next, then dumped mine together in the bag before tearing the top of it off so I could just eat them out of there.

I caught Charlie staring at me, and I winked.

“Hey, Charlie,” someone called out as they walked by. Charlie looked up, waved, but quickly refocused on his food.

“How long do you have for your break?”

“Hi, Charlie,” someone else said as they walked by. I looked over and saw her smiling at us, and then she rushed off toward the other girl who had said hello.

“Umm…”

“Yeah. So Mia has already spread the word. I knew it wouldn’t take long.

” Charlie sighed. “I have an hour for lunch, and if I wasn’t starving because I didn’t get breakfast, I’d say let’s go to the office so I can get you registered for a pass and then beg my supervisor to go home early. But I really am hungry.”

I reached over and touched Charlie on the shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He looked at me and offered a lopsided smile. “Ignore them. Eat your food, and then we’ll go to the office together. I can growl at them if I need to.”

Charlie snorted just as someone else called out to him. He rolled his eyes but did as I’d suggested: he ignored them and picked up a fry and started eating. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be nearly the enjoyable lunch that I’d envisioned.