Chapter 12

By the time the weekend rolled around, August could tell that Ginny was going a little stir-crazy. They'd ventured out early one morning to the paddock so she could see him shift and he could carry her on his back and swing around on the trees for a while before she shifted into her sleek jackal form and they hung out together.

Although she'd been game to play zookeeper during the safari tours, the alphas had decided it was still too early to take such a risk. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of her grandfather or any other jackals, but that didn't mean they weren't watching and waiting.

She'd had a girls' night with the band females while he'd gone to work on an installation of motion sensor lights on the apartment complex. He and his gorilla had hated being away from her, but he hadn't been comfortable having her out with him.

But here he was, knowing that he needed to go to work, and she was putting on a smile that she didn't really mean to spare his feelings.

"Sweetheart?" he called to her from the bedroom.

She strode in a few moments later, looking amazing in a pair of jeans and a hoodie. How could she look so good in something so simple?

"What?" she prompted.

"Sorry, you look amazing."

She looked down at herself and then at him, arching a brow. "Oh-kay. Is that what you wanted to tell me?" She walked over to him with a sweet, genuine smile, and leaned down to kiss him.

He pulled her next to him on the bed and hugged her.

"I have a proposition for you."

"A sexy one? But don't you have to go to work?"

His gorilla snarled. "No, not a sexy one, but now that's all I can think about."

She laughed. "Sorry. So what's your proposition?"

"I was talking to Atticus yesterday when he stopped by to check out the installation Nathan and I were working on, and I told him that I thought you were going a little nuts being cooped up."

"I'm fine," she said.

"I know you're fine, sweetheart, but I also know that you're feeling kind of trapped down here."

She nodded. "It's only been a week. But it feels like an eternity in some ways too, especially when you're working and I'm just puttering around here."

There were so many things he wished he could do with her, like take her shopping to change up things in the house and add her touch to the rooms, or go on a real date outside of the park.

Hell, even going for a drive was something they didn't dare do because what if her asshole grandfather was hanging out and waiting for them to fuck up?

"I'm sorry, I really am."

"It's not your fault my grandfather is…the way he is."

"No, but I still feel bad. So I did talk to Atticus and told him that I thought there were places within the park that might be safe for you to be out in, especially if we get to them before the park opens."

Her brows rose. "Really? Like what?"

"Well, when I was walking to the job yesterday, I passed by an old storage building near the back of the park. It's off-limits to patrons and is actually in an area they can't get to thanks to security fencing."

"You said it's old, is it not being used anymore?"

"It's just a catch-all for things that the park used to use but put away for one reason or another. Anyway, I told him that maybe you and I could try to get it organized. The building doors lock from the inside and outside, and there is security around it as well with the fencing, alarms, and motion detectors."

"So we'd be cleaning and sorting? Throwing out broken stuff?" she asked with a hum.

"Yeah. It's a huge job, honestly, so it's not like we could finish in a day or probably even a month, and I do have other responsibilities, but for today at least, how'd you like to get dusty in the storage building with me?"

Her whole demeanor perked up at the notion of working outside in the park with him. She gave him a tight hug and laughed. "This is awesome!"

"You sure? I could try to think of something else we could do together. Maybe down here in the private living areas."

"No, this is great! Fresh air, dusty old stuff, and most importantly, I get to hang out with you!"

They kissed, but before his gorilla could get carried away, he ended it and stood, pulling her to her feet. "Sweetheart, it's going to be a great day, I promise."

And safe too.

He was going to be sure of that.

Alistair, alpha elephant, walked through the park on Saturday afternoon. He'd been called to check out an issue in the petting zoo, which was scheduled to open in a little less than two weeks after being closed for several years.

He, along with the other elephant shifters in the park, helped to take care of the norms—the non-shifting animals. Cael, their resident vet, was busy in the norm paddock taking care of their animals along with his mate Novi, so Alistair had volunteered to check out the issue.

He reached the petting zoo, housed in a red barn, and met with Mercer and his mate Rhomi. They'd recently started running the day-to-day of the petting zoo, along with help from Cael and Novi, and a teenage albino doe shifter named Luna, whose sister was mated to Tarquin, one of the bear shifters.

"Hi, Luna," he said to the female sitting at the entrance of the petting zoo.

"Hi, Alistair," she said. "Mercer and Rhomi are in the storage room at the back waiting for you."

He nodded and headed in, passing the fenced area at the front where park patrons could spend time with the small animals, walking into the barn and past the spacious enclosures where the animals were kept safe overnight, until he reached the storage room at the back.

Immediately he winced at the harsh smell of ammonia.

Pinching his nose shut, he said, "What the hell happened here? All I heard from Cael was that something had happened to the animal feed."

Rhomi was also plugging her nose as she stood by an open window.

"Someone tampered with the food," Mercer said with a growl. He lifted a shovel full of discolored feed and dumped it into a wheelbarrow. "It's ammonia from the cleaning supplies."

"When the hell did this happen?" he asked. Some of the feed was still in bags, but the bags were clearly soaked with ammonia.

"We don't know," he said. He straightened and rested his arm on the shovel's handle. "Luna came after school to help feed the animals and she ran out of food halfway through. She nearly passed out from the smell it was so toxic back here."

Rhomi shook her head and stepped away from the window. "This is awful, all this waste!" She took the shovel from Mercer as he moved to the wheelbarrow.

"I'm going to wheel this around to a maintenance trailer so we can get it bagged up and off the property. Stay with Rhomi and Luna, would ya?"

"Sure thing," Alistair said.

He looked around the room and then realized something was wrong with one of the windows.

"The screen is missing," he said. "When you came in here was the window open?"

"No," she said. "It was the worst smell ever, so I opened the windows to air it out. I didn't notice a screen was missing."

He ushered her out of the room. "You'll get a headache if you're in there too long. Let me call Caesar."

Caesar, the lion alpha, was in charge of park security along with his son, Jupiter. After a quick chat with them, he made some other phone calls to secure feed for the little animals.

Once Mercer was back at the barn, Caesar said, "I'm going to run to one of the feed stores. I called ahead and they're gathering enough food to get us through until we can get a replacement delivery, which Cael is going to order as soon as he gets back to his office."

He pulled Mercer aside and said, "You know the issue with Ginny the jackal?"

"Yeah."

"I think this might be related."

"How so?"

"I have no idea, but there's zero reason for anyone to break into the damn petting zoo to ruin the food unless there's an ulterior motive."

Mercer frowned. "Like someone thought Ginny was here?"

"Maybe. I truly don't know, but the whole thing is suspicious. Jupiter is running the security feed now to try to track when someone came over here, but just keep your eyes peeled with Rhomi and Luna, make sure neither of them go anywhere alone."

"You got it. You be careful too."

"I will. I'm taking along a few of the wolves to help me load up the feed so I won't be on my own."

He didn't think someone would try to take him out or anything—he was a big male even without being in his shift—but you never knew. And from all accounts, Ginny's grandfather was a murderous maniac, and who knew what he'd do if given the chance?

Ten minutes later, Caesar was behind the wheel of an unmarked loading van with three wolves: Alfie, Benjamin, and Silvanus.

The feed store wasn't too far away, but the park alphas had a rule that no one—even alphas—went anywhere alone.

"You really think someone used the baby norms to try to find Ginny?" Alfie asked.

"Maybe. It's weird," Alistair said.

"Damn, that sucks for her and August," Silvanus said. "It must be so hard knowing someone is trying to kill you."

The males nodded in agreement.

"We just have to keep each other safe," Alistair said. "That's what our people do best—watch out for each other."

He watched the mirrors frequently to ensure he wasn't being followed, and as far as he could tell he wasn't. But something in his gut told him that whoever had messed with the animal feed had done it for a reason.

And they might just be gearing up for something much worse.