Chapter 14

M aggie stepped into her apartment and said, "I have a thought."

"Oh?" He followed her inside, closing and locking the front door. "A sexy one? Because you smell like you have wicked things on your mind."

She paused as she was balancing on one heel to take the other off. "You can smell that I'm turned on?"

He nodded slowly, his eyes a stormy gray color edged with amber. "You smell good to me all the time, but when you're thinking sexy thoughts, it's even better." He joined her, taking her heel out of her hand and dropping it to the floor. As she took off her other heel, he kissed her bare shoulder. "Deeper. Sweeter. Sexy as hell."

"I didn't know people could smell that."

"I think it's just for me. I think," he said gruffly, hauling her against him so her breath gusted from her lungs, "that you only smell so good for me because I turn you on more than any male ever."

Male.

What a strange and primal word.

But she liked it.

"You do," she said, biting her bottom lip. "Everything about you turns me on. But tonight, when you stepped between me and that asshole and protected me? I'm…falling for you, Alistair."

He lifted her higher and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He held her so easily, like she weighed nothing. It was a heady feeling to be held by someone so strong.

"I'm falling for you too, Maggie."

She kissed him, tugging on his bowtie until it loosened and then slipping her fingers down the buttons of his shirt. He carried her to the bedroom and set her on the bed, turning her to her knees facing away from him. He undid the zipper of her dress, the sound loud in the quiet apartment. Once the zipper was down, he gathered the dress and lifted it up her body.

She was wearing only a thong, and her skin prickled at the coolness in the room. He laid her dress on the chair in the corner and turned to face her, divesting himself of his tux while she watched. It was the sexiest strip tease she'd ever seen.

Inch after inch of him bared to her, his muscles tense and his cock thick and ready for her.

Stars, she was more than falling for him!

She'd fallen.

Hard and fast, but it felt so freaking right. He wasn't like any other man she'd ever known in her life. Sweet, protective, a miracle between the sheets.

He stalked to her, his gaze riveted to hers. He climbed up behind her and pushed her gently forward. She bent at the waist and rested her head on the bed. He moved back and pulled her thong slowly off, the little scrap of material soaked with her arousal.

He swiped his finger along her lips and let out a low growling sound that made her body light up. Then he was feasting on her, holding her cheeks with his hands and licking her, finding all the places that made her writhe in his hold.

When she came on his tongue, he was inside her a moment later, riding her orgasm to his own, stretching her pleasure out immeasurably long, until she thought she'd never stop coming. Never stop feeling so much from her sexy soulmate.

When he came inside her, she realized he wasn't wearing a condom, but she didn't care. It suddenly felt like the perfect way to start this new chapter of their lives together.

Because that's what it felt like.

She turned in his arms as he cradled her close and kissed him.

"I love you."

His fingers dug into her skin. "I love you too."

Jasper Wilder followed a few cars behind Alistair and Maggie as they left the wedding venue and headed to her apartment. He was part of the security detail for the alpha elephant. No one was allowed to go anywhere alone, even an alpha. When Joss, his alpha, asked him if he wanted to stick with Alistair while he escorted Maggie to her sister's wedding, he'd jumped at the chance.

He wasn't interested in sitting around all night doing nothing.

Even playing cards with his friends had lost its luster, and not because he was on the biggest losing streak of his life.

Nothing made him happy anymore. He felt like he was just going through the motions, trudging through molasses just to get from dawn to dusk and start the process all over again.

At a stoplight, he rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes and stifled a yawn.

"You okay?" Lucius, one of the lions, asked from the passenger seat.

"Tired."

Jasper normally handled security for the safari tours, but he was also part of the general security team for the park, roaming the park at any time of day or night with the rest of the team. He also often volunteered to escort shifters outside of the park.

"Something going on, or just general insomnia?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but it was all too complicated. After a long moment, he said, "It's a combination of things."

"That sucks. You know what's weird?"

"What?"

"Every time someone finds their soulmate, it makes my lion more anxious. It's almost like he feels like there's a finite number of females for shifters and we're not going to find our own."

That wasn't exactly Jasper's problem.

He knew he'd get a soulmate.

He just couldn't have her.

Bitterness boiled up inside him, but he pushed it away before it turned him into a raging jackass.

Instead of telling Lucius his whole backstory and reliving the night that had forever changed his life in the worst way, he pressed on the gas when the light turned green and said, "I do believe there's someone out there for everyone; the question is how long you have to wait. Joss was in his forties, and so was Atticus. Alistair just turned forty."

"Shit, man, I don't want to wait over a decade for my mate. Do you?"

He'd be waiting longer than that.

The word eternity came to mind.

But again, he chose to go with jovial and not solemn to answer his friend. "Nah. It'll happen when it happens, right? And she'll be worth the wait."

"Sooner rather than later, though."

Jasper nodded and smiled, but inside he was hollow. Lucius sounded hopeful.

There was no hope for Jasper. That door had closed for him seven years ago.

He pulled into Maggie's apartment complex and parked a few spaces away so he could keep an eye on the alpha and his mate.

Lucius's phone buzzed, and he lifted it from the cupholder.

"Text from Alistair: I'm going to stay for a while, settle in guys. "

Jasper groaned. He was happy for the alpha elephant, but seeing others find their soulmates made bitterness seep around the edges of his heart. He hated feeling like shit anytime someone got their happily ever after.

"Man, I wish I'd brought something to eat," Lucius said. "I don't want to really think about how long they're going to be."

"Let's just hope they don't fall asleep afterward," Jasper said. He pressed the button on the side of the seat, the motor whirring as the back reclined.

"Facts. You want to grab a drink tomorrow night? A few of us from the security team are going out after the park closes."

"Yeah, sure."

Anything to put off the inevitable staring at the walls of his bedroom until he eventually fell asleep to dreams of what could have been if his life didn't suck in every conceivable way.

He hated the feelings that coursed through him.

"You ever think about asking your alpha to arrange a mate for you?" Lucius asked.

"Sometimes."

"I think about it too. I know that Caesar would bring females from other prides to the park for any of us to meet."

"Why don't you?" Jasper tilted his head to look at the big male.

"Because I don't want to think about my soulmate never getting her own happily ever after, you know? If I take a mate who's not my soulmate, then even if I meet my soulmate, I'll be tied to someone else. What if that means she never gets to be happy for the whole rest of her life?"

Jasper rolled that thought around.

"Good point. I think about taking a mate who's not my soulmate, but then my wolf snarls at me and I realize I'd rather be single than mess around with fate."

Lucius put the radio on and they settled in to keep an eye on Maggie's apartment and the happy couple inside.

Jasper would keep his fingers crossed that Lucius would find his soulmate soon and get the next chapter of his life started.

It wasn't in the cards for Jasper, but that didn't mean he didn't want it to happen to anyone else. Even if it did make his wolf go all green-eyed and want to run back to the pack he walked away from.

And the female with the violet eyes.

Maggie was tired, but she was excited to spend an entire weekend with Alistair and not have to leave to come back to her place. She packed a bag and changed into comfortable clothes, while he put the shirt and pants of his tux back on.

"It's freaking late," she said with a yawn.

He slung his jacket over his shoulder and held out his hand. "I wish I could stay here, I have an early morning with the animals."

"No sleeping in for you, huh?"

He grunted. "I should probably assign one of the others since it is late, and we did just share our love for each other. Seems like a very good reason to sleep in late and celebrate."

"Ooh, celebrate? Like with sexy stuff?"

"Absolutely, but also maybe dinner out?"

"Hold on, if we're going out to dinner I need something nicer to wear." She turned to the closet and opened the door. "What kind of dinner out?" She peeked around the door at him.

"Nice. Fancy. I'll find an amazing place for us."

She grinned. "Then I know just the thing."

She found a dress she'd bought on a whim months earlier, when she thought she might be ready to go out on a date, but in the end hadn't been. It was a perfect little black dress. She laid the dress over her arm, grabbed a pair of black heels from the floor, and shouldered her bag again.

"Ready."

He gave her a quick kiss. "Me too. I just texted Indio and asked him to handle the animals for me."

"Did he agree?"

"He has to, I'm the boss."

"I thought Kelley was the boss?"

They walked through her apartment, and he held the door for her. She stepped out, waited for him to join her on the tiny porch, then locked the door.

"Why would you think Kelley is the boss?"

As they walked to his SUV, she said, "I just assumed since he's the veterinarian and the rest of you are the techs that he was the boss."

He opened the back door and took her dress and shoes from her, then her bag. He laid his jacket on top of her things and shut the door, then grabbed the passenger door for her.

"You know, I never thought about it that way," he said. He shut her door, then got in behind the wheel. "I'm the boss, though. So even though Kelley is the vet, he still reports to me."

"Ah, okay. I guess I just assumed."

"No worries," he said. "For the most part, there are a handful of us who are in charge as a group: Atticus is over park maintenance, Joss is in charge of finance and the safari tours, Caesar is in charge of park security, and Marcus is in charge of the food for the park, which includes patrons and employees. The spouses of employees usually work at the park."

"Really?"

"Yep." He turned onto the parkway and pressed on the accelerator. "For our group, Kelley's wife, Rhapsody, works with the animals, although she has a baby now so she sticks close to home a lot. And Cael's wife, Novi, helps out with the animals too. Indio is the last one of the animal handlers that isn't married."

"Aw. So you were the last two bachelors and now it's just him?"

"Yep. He's young, though. He's just hoping he doesn't have to wait until he's forty to find his soulmate." Alistair looked at her briefly, then said, "I told him it was worth the wait."

"You're adorable," she said.

"Just for you, I promise."

They reached the park a little while later and walked to the apartment, where she hung up her dress and put her bag on the dresser, then collapsed on the bed.

"You know what?" she said as she rolled to her side and rested her head on her upturned hand.

He took off the dress shirt and laid it on the dresser. "What?"

"Tonight kind of sucked. I mean, my sister believing that jackass, and even my mom thinking the worst." She sighed. "If I'd been by myself, I would have been so distressed. But I have you. All that just felt like…getting closure for real. I never had anyone really stand up for me like you did. When I think that I might have faced that alone and not had anyone on my side in that moment? I'm really glad you were there. You turned something crappy into something pretty damn cool." She chuckled thinking of the look on Seth's face when Alistair threatened him.

"I'm glad I was there too. Do you think your sister will realize she was wrong?"

"I think she'll come around eventually. She's on the way to her honeymoon and she may reach out when she's home and we'll patch things up." They always did. They might not be close, but they were family.

"I'm sorry things went to shit, but the night ended really great for us."

He patted the bed, and she sat up and stripped before sliding in next to him under the covers.

"I like it here," she said, cuddling into his chest.

"I'm glad. In the morning, we can talk some more."

She yawned. "About…?"

"The future." He kissed the top of her head and reached over to turn off the side table lamp. As the room was plunged into darkness, she smiled.

Now that she had his heart, and he had hers, they could figure out what the future looked like for them. She couldn't wait.