Chapter 19

August had been in a few brawls, helping save the lives of his fellow shifters when people had come for them. Hell, he'd just helped Tarquin take out some human hunters who'd threatened his mate.

And he'd been fighting his way through jackals to get to Ginny.

But he'd never been stabbed before.

And it fucking sucked.

The blade was…somewhere in his side. It seared like a hot poker, or what he imagined a hot poker felt like.

He couldn't really move, though. His whole body seemed frozen in place, and he couldn't even say anything. Ginny screamed, a wordless, gut-wrenching sound of fury and grief mixed up together.

And then the hot-poker feeling in his side sharpened as if he'd been stabbed a second time. Ginny had reached over his body and pulled the knife out.

Holy shit, she was going to attack her grandfather.

He called for his gorilla, knowing that shifting would heal his injury and get him back on his feet. Letting himself go into his shift, he managed to roll to his side so he could wiggle from his jeans without shredding them.

With a roar, he leaped from the ground, his tattered shirt hanging from his shifted form, and he grabbed Ginny and pulled her behind him, placing himself between his female and her grandfather one more time.

The knife bounced on the ground as Ginny fell against his back, fully blocked from view.

He reared back to strike out at her grandfather, but it wasn't his fists that delivered the killing blow.

It was her brother's.

He'd shifted into his jackal form and attacked their grandfather, tearing out his throat and howling in triumph as he bled out swiftly.

Ginny collapsed against August's back with a sob, her hands tangled in his fur.

He grabbed her close against his back with one arm and moved away from all the destruction, toward his people who'd gotten close just as her brother had killed the male who'd murdered their family.

Atticus reached him first. "Holy shit. Are you guys okay?"

August grunted and gestured to the jackal.

"Yeah, who is that?"

Ginny didn't say anything.

August tilted his head back toward Ginny then hooted. He wished he could speak when he was in his shift. It would be so handy right now.

"Is that her brother? I thought he was dead?"

August shrugged with one shoulder.

"Damn." Atticus hummed. "A few jackals died during the battle. The ones alive are being held in the theater since it's the best building topside with no windows and exits we can easily control. I really need your mate to talk to me. We've got some decisions to make."

August patted one of Ginny's hands that was resting on his chest.

"It's Cliff," she whispered. Then she cleared her throat and sniffled a few times before climbing from his back and standing next to him.

His fierce female.

"He'll be in his shift for a couple hours. The male he killed was our grandfather, Josiah." She shuddered slightly and August put his arm around her, letting her lean on him. He hooted at her softly when she looked at him.

Joss came over with Ginny's brother, who bounded right up to her like a puppy, barking and howling.

She dropped to her knees and put her arms around his neck. "I thought you were dead!"

"This has been a hell of a day," Joss said, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "August, can you help us cart these males to the theater? Ginny, you and your brother come along with us so you can identify them. Then we'll wait out Cliff's and August's shifts in the employee cafeteria."

"The park is obviously closed for the day," Alistair said as he walked over to them with a male slung over his shoulder. "Cael, Indio, and Kelley are rounding up the deer that got loose, and Nathan is on his way to repair the gate. Cael and the boys will check out the norms and make sure they're all okay."

"Tank saved my life," Ginny said as she stood once more and put her hand on August's shoulder.

"He's a good fellow," Alistair said. "We've seen him do some amazing things. You can tell us everything once we're settled in."

She nodded. Alistair carried the male away. August looked at his sweetheart and hooted.

"I'm okay. I'm going to follow you with Cliff. Just be careful."

He nodded and hurried over to where the other jackals were either unconscious or too scared to move. He grasped an unconscious male by the collar and hefted him over his shoulder. He caught up to Ginny and Cliff and they made their way out of the paddock and through the park to the theater, where not too long ago they'd had a group date.

Now it was a holding cell for jackals.

He couldn't begin to describe the strange chain of events that day.

He was just damn thankful they were all safe.

After dumping the male next to another unconscious one, he joined Cliff and Ginny, as she told Jupiter who each male was and he wrote their names on a pad and detailed the clothing they were wearing.

Males were left to stand guard both inside and outside the theater.

August, Ginny, Cliff, and the rest of the park shifters who'd been involved in the battle gathered in the employee cafeteria.

Doc Paula, a wolf shifter who was the park's main medical person, hustled over.

"You must be Ginny, I'm Doc Paula," she said. "Have a seat and let me look you over."

"I'm okay," Ginny said as she slumped into a chair with a groan.

"Sure you are, but it's okay to let me have a peek. August, you okay?"

August nodded and settled on his haunches next to the chair but not in the way of the doc as she talked to Ginny quietly and examined her.

The alphas were gathered in the center of the cafeteria. There were at least a dozen males inside the cafeteria along with the alphas. So many had come to their aid.

August was damn proud of his friends and grateful too.

"You're still in shock," Doc Paula said, "but your injuries seem pretty superficial. You can shift if you'd like, but your natural healing is doing the trick and you should be back to yourself in a day or so. If you need anything to help you sleep, or you need anyone to talk to, give me a holler. I'm available anytime."

"Thank you," Ginny said.

Doc Paula stood and left, returning a few moments later with a cold soda. "Sugar and caffeine will help you out a lot more than anything else."

Ginny nodded and twisted the cap off the soda and took a long drink.

Doc Paula looked at August. "You sure you're okay?"

He nodded. The knife wound had healed when he shifted, along with his other injuries.

"And your friend?"

Cliff, who was lying at Ginny's feet, lifted his head and gave a little yip.

"I'll take that as a yes too," she said with a chuckle. "I'm going to check on the rest of our people. Take care."

August put his hand on Ginny's knee, and she smiled at him as she took another drink of soda.

"That was… I still don't believe it," she said with a low voice. "I wish you could be back to human so we could talk. And Cliff too."

The time would pass soon enough, but August couldn't wait for that either.

He listened as the alphas discussed the situation, which included cleaning up the park, helping the norms, and dealing with the jackals in the theater.

"When you can shift, Cliff," Caesar, the alpha lion, said loudly, "we're going to need you to weigh in on things."

Cliff barked, which sounded a lot like an agreement.

Zane and Adriana came over with snacks. Adriana hugged Ginny and whispered that she was thankful she was okay, while Zane handed him a few bananas and clapped him on the back, then dropped a raw steak to Cliff who hungrily snatched it from the floor.

His friends had come through for him with flying colors. They'd proved once more that no one messed with the shifters of the Amazing Adventures Safari Park.

"I just want to go home," Ginny said, "and sleep for a day or two. But I'm so glad we're both safe and I can't wait to hear what happened to Cliff. I think it's got to be an amazing story."

August hooted in agreement.

Cliff Baldrich sat with his beloved sister until the instant he could feel his jackal ready to return to his subconscious and give him back to his human side. He stood and shook himself out, then barked at his sister, who was leaning against a big gorilla.

She opened her eyes. "Ready to shift?"

He nodded.

"There's clothes in the bathroom," a male named Justus said from where he was leaning against a counter and had been speaking to several other shifters.

Cliff padded off in the direction of the bathroom, where he nudged the door with his snout and gave it a kick shut with his back leg. It was dark in the bathroom, but he didn't need to see to shift. Letting go of his jackal form, he shifted back to human, the last remnants of his injuries healing until he felt whole once more.

Turning on the overhead light, he leaned on the sink and splashed cold water on his face, then dried off with paper towels. On the counter was a stack of clothing and a pair of shoes. After he was dressed, he headed back out to the cafeteria, where Ginny was now in the arms of a male, the gorilla gone.

Ginny lunged at him, and if he hadn't been prepared for the tackle-hug, he might have tipped onto his ass. He hugged her back, his eyes stinging.

"You really thought I was dead?" he asked.

She sniffled and let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "I saw them carry out a body rolled up in the rug from grandfather's office and I was sure it was you, then I heard some of the males talk about grandfather killing me."

"So you just ran?" he asked. "That was smart. Really smart."

"It doesn't feel smart," she said ruefully. "I abandoned you."

"You did the best with the information you had."

"So what really happened to you?" she asked.

"I think we'd all like to know that," her male said. "I'm August, by the way."

Ginny sniffled again and said, "Sorry, so much happened I can't think straight. This is my soulmate, August." She put her arm around the big male, who was now dressed similarly to Cliff in jeans and a T-shirt, then pointed to him, "This is my brother, Cliff."

He shook August's hand. "Thanks for keeping my sister safe." He glanced around the cafeteria at all the people watching and listening. "Thanks to all of you."

The story wasn't a long one because he'd spent most of the last few weeks simply looking for his sister. But the start of it? A doozy.

"So the day that you disappeared, I was called to grandfather's house. I just had a…fucking bad feeling that something was going to happen. You and I had talked the night before about how dangerous it was getting. Remember that I'd told you to be ready to leave at a moment's notice?"

Ginny nodded.

"But we never talked about where to go because I thought we might have more time, honestly. My plan was to take you and head to one of my friend's homes in Alabama. He's a coyote shifter and has a small family group, and was willing to take us in and help keep us hidden. At any rate, I walked into the house and knew the second I stepped foot in there that Grandfather was going to engineer my death. He had some males waiting to ambush me, but I was ready. I fought back and killed one of the males and then escaped, taking off into the woods away from our house to lead them away from you. I ran for a few hours, making sure to leave a trail so they could follow me. When I made my way back to the house, you were gone. I eavesdropped on Grandfather's house and heard you'd taken off. I searched everywhere for you. I found your trail, but it went cold when I hit the river that bordered the property. I've been looking for you since."

"How did you know to come here?" August asked.

"I saw the article in the news about the jackal being found, and I knew it was you. I came into the park a few times, but I didn't know there were shifters here. I thought you might be in one of the animal paddocks or locked up somewhere. If I'd spoken to someone, we might have been able to reconnect."

"I thought I saw you in the security videos yesterday," she said.

"You did. But I saw Diedrich's mate Celia, and I was pretty sure she recognized me, so I bolted. I knew time was running out, so I tried to intercept the pack. But when I followed their trail, it led here where you were in danger."

"Thank you for showing up when you did," Ginny said.

Cliff nodded. It was all so convoluted. Pack laws that dictated mandatory retirements and no surviving heirs were inherently dangerous to future generations, creating madmen like their grandfather who wanted to hold onto their alpha position by any and all means necessary.

They'd lost their parents and aunt and uncle, and nearly each other.

Cliff said, "Do you want to come with me as I check out the males in the theater?"

"Sure," Ginny said.

There were plans to be made and laws to follow, and while Cliff might not be entirely ready for this next part, he really had no choice.