Chapter 5

August couldn't stop his gorilla from coming out. He managed to get out of his jeans and boots before his huge form took over, shredding his shirt and making him dizzy for a moment with the swiftness of the shift.

He didn't think he'd ever shifted so fast, but he knew his soulmate was in trouble.

They'd found the park SUV abandoned on the side of the road along with two other vehicles both smelling of jackals.

He lifted his head and inhaled deeply, finding her lush scent in the air.

With a soft hoot at Jupiter and the others, he loped away, swinging himself up into the trees and leaping from tree to tree.

He reached his soulmate in no time, coming to a stop in a tree overhead, and watching silently as she stood surrounded by a handful of males.

She begged to be let go, her voice wavering with fear.

They were going to take her to her grandfather who planned to kill her himself.

He couldn't imagine how crazy the male was to plan something so horrific, but he'd already killed a handful of people in his quest to remain alpha, so what was one more? The problem was that "one more" person was August's soulmate, and he wasn't about to let her be taken from him.

The male speaking to her seemed to be in charge, so August narrowed his gaze at him and leaped.

The air whooshed around him as he fell silently toward the jackal. The male looked up at the last second and managed to avoid behind crushed under August's full weight, but he did grab his arm and take him down, rolling him underneath himself.

August roared in his face, leaning heavily on his chest until there was a crack.

The male grunted and snarled, his fangs extending.

August made a fist and thumped the male on the head, rendering him unconscious. He moved off him and turned to Ginny, who stood, eyes squeezed tightly shut and body trembling, in the midst of August's friends battling with the other jackals. August was the only one who had shifted, but that didn't mean his friends were slouches in the fierceness department. The jackals were swiftly beaten into submission, running away and taking their unconscious friend with them.

August approached Ginny slowly, sitting in front of her.

He knew he was intimidating, but he hoped she realized he didn't mean her any harm.

He hooted softly.

She jolted and let out a little whimper. Then she opened one eye just a fraction.

He raised his brows and hooted again. It would be awesome if he could talk in his shift, but that simply wasn't possible.

"Ginny?" Lucius, one of the lions, said. "That's August. You're safe now."

She opened both eyes and blinked rapidly a few times. Staring at him intently, she inhaled softly and her eyes flashed to amber, then back to a deep forest green.

"I… where did they go?"

"They fled," Jupiter said, brushing his hands off on his jeans. "We need to get the hell back to the park before they decide to come after us again."

"I can't go back there," she said. "It's not safe for anyone." She met August's gaze. "It's not safe for you."

She was worried about him? His gorilla was absolutely in love with her right that very second.

"It's not safe for you, period," Jupiter said. "In case you didn't realize it, the jackals came to the park looking for you and nearly hurt the mate of one of our people. You were surrounded by them and about to be abducted until we got here. You might be strong and independent, but don't add idiot to the list."

Her eyes flashed angrily, but then her mouth turned down and her eyes went glossy. She crumbled, like the adrenaline coursing through her finally dissipated. August grabbed her before she hit the ground, pulling her against his chest and holding her close.

She tucked herself against him, her face in his neck and her fingers twisting in his fur.

"Let's go," Jupiter said. "August, you can lay down in the back of the SUV and I'll drive. Someone needs to drive the SUV that Ginny brought here."

"I'll do it," Benjamin said.

Jupiter nodded. "Let's roll out."

August carried Ginny in his arms back to the road, keeping an eye out for her attackers. Once they reached the road, he didn't leave the trees until Jupiter had the back of the SUV open and the coast was clear.

Someone put the second row of seats down so August could fit. He set Ginny in the back and then crawled in with her, tucking his feet up so the back door could shut.

Ginny sniffled and wiped at her wet cheeks.

She gave him a watery smile. "August?"

He nodded with a low hoot.

"Th-thank you," she said in between hiccups, taking in a deep breath and shivering. She snuggled into him, resting her cheek on his arm. He put a hand on her hip and gave it a light squeeze. "I'm so tired. And scared."

"I'm sure August would tell you that he'll keep you safe, Ginny," Jupiter said from the front seat, "and our people will help."

She looked up at him and he nodded.

"Okay."

August wasn't sure she really believed them, but he was going to do his level best to ensure she was safe. Nothing was more important than his soulmate.

He couldn't believe how close he'd come to nearly losing her.

He'd make sure that never happened again.

Ginny didn't remember falling asleep, but she did remember feeling something that was very close to safe for the first time since her grandfather had started down his murderous path. August, as a gorilla, was super warm and his dark fur was so soft.

The last thing she remembered was looking into his amber eyes and knowing that he'd dropped out of the sky to save her, even though she hadn't even spoken one single word to him.

As she slowly woke from the rest she hadn't meant to take but had so very much needed, she thought over the feelings her jackal was humming in her mind.

Soulmate.

August was Ginny's, and that put him in danger of being used by her grandfather to get to her. But gorillas were much, much larger than jackals, and maybe August was the sort of male who wasn't going to let her walk away from him.

Because she already didn't want to.

Opening her eyes, she stared up at a white ceiling. She was sure she was lying on a bed, a blanket covering her. Her hands were on her stomach, the fuzzy blanket soft under her fingers.

"Don't freak out," a low, familiar voice said.

She barked out a laugh and rose up slowly onto her elbows. The male who spoke was familiar in a small way, mostly that her heart and jackal knew who he was—her soulmate.

She'd only seen him briefly as a human, and this time she wasn't too freaked out to drink her fill of the sexy, sexy male.

He was a big guy, even seated on the far edge of the bed.

"Saying don't freak out probably wouldn't stop me from freaking out," she said with a smile.

"I wasn't sure what to say," he said, shrugging. "I didn't want to scare you and I wasn't sure how much you'd remember since you fell asleep so fast."

"And also, you were a gorilla when I saw you last."

"There's that too." He smiled and she just about melted into the bed.

Dark hair, dark eyes, and she'd been right about his kissable lips because they were calling to her to try them out, again and again.

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay. How long was I asleep for?"

"A couple hours. You're in my house under the park."

She frowned. "Under it? Underground?"

He nodded. "Our people live underground. All the shifters live in their groups, so our private living area has our homes and is connected by a hallway to the other private living areas. There's also a central marketplace with a store, cafeteria, and some other shops."

"Damn. I had no idea. I figured since I didn't hear anyone else in the apartments while I was there that no one else was living here, but I didn't have any idea there were living areas under the park."

"Well, it's not really safe to live away from the park."

That was for damn sure.

"Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For coming for me and saving me. Did you… do you know what they were going to do to me?"

"I overheard that they were going to take you to your grandfather so he could kill you. Jupiter told me what you'd explained about your people, but I just don't understand it."

She sat up all the way and rolled her neck. "Which part?"

"All of it, I guess. If you don't want to be alpha and you left the pack, why won't he leave you alone?"

"That's the million-dollar question." She sighed. "The truth is I don't know. I don't think my brother really wanted to be alpha either, but he would have fought my grandfather to make him step down. He'd encouraged the males in the pack to be brutal and violent, and anyone who didn't do what my grandfather wanted was killed or hurt badly."

"I'm sorry you lost your family," he said.

"Me too. I'm sorry that you had to fight for me and chase after me, and I'm sorry I stole the SUV. I should have stopped when I saw you in the lot."

His brows rose.

"So you did recognize me?"

The unspoken word hung between them: soulmate.

She scooted toward him. When she was close enough to touch him, she reached for his hand and linked her fingers with his. A frisson of heat wove through her and she smiled.

"I did. I saw you and the other male working on the security booth, and I knew exactly who you were but I wasn't…" She stopped, not really sure how to phrase what she'd been thinking.

"What?" he prompted gently.

"I never wanted to take a mate," she said. "When my parents were killed and my brother cautioned that we needed to leave, I knew that we'd be on the run for the rest of our lives, or at least until our grandfather died. My brother said that our mates would be used against us, like our aunt was against our uncle, so my grandfather could lure him to his death and then kill her too. The first thing I thought when I saw you was that I wasn't going to put you in danger by claiming you."

He squeezed her hand a little tighter. "You don't have to be afraid anymore. You're in a safe place. Not only are the doors code-locked and secure, but I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"But I was worried about you too."

He leaned closer and his warm scent enveloped her like a hug. "I'm not going anywhere, Ginny. I just got you, I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

She opened her mouth to tell him that he was stuck with her too, when someone knocked on a door.

"Hold that thought," he said. He got up and walked out of the room. She took a moment to look around, seeing the big sleigh bed made of dark wood, with a matching nightstand and long dresser with a small flat-screen TV. A closet door was open, showing neatly arranged clothing on shelves and rods. There was another door, which she thought might be for a bathroom, and the thought of that made her realize she needed to pee.

Scooching to the edge of the bed, she stood and walked to the door, opening it and peering inside. She found the light switch, which illuminated a bathroom done up in dark green. She closed the door and used the toilet, then washed her hands.

She walked out of the bathroom and followed the sound of voices to the family room, where she found Atticus, the gorilla alpha, that she'd met when she was first freed from the cage in the aviary hospital.

"Hello, Ginny," he said. He had his arm around a female, who smiled.

"I'm Lori, his mate," she said, extending her hand. "How are you doing?"

"It's nice to meet you, and I'm doing well, thanks."

"We wanted to stop in and see how you were both doing," Atticus said. "And go over a few things."

The four of them sat, she and August on a couch and Atticus pulling Lori onto his lap as he sat on an oversized chair.

"What's up?" August asked.

"First, of course, is that we're so glad to hear you're good. Second," he said, "is that we want to be sure we know everything about your past, Ginny, as well as share the ground rules for you going forward."

Her brows rose.

Ground rules?

She glanced at August, who gave her an encouraging smile and took her hand.

For a brief moment as she felt the warmth of his skin against hers, she wondered if it was a mistake to be here, to stay, knowing that her grandfather would never give up, but she shook the thought away.

She'd never really trusted anyone as her grandfather systematically took out her entire family, but she felt in her heart that she could trust August, and his alpha and the others in the park too.

She'd never had much in the way of romantic dalliances in the past, a quick tumble here and there to stave off the need that made her ache from time to time, but mostly she refused to get close to anyone for fear they'd be killed.

She inhaled and cleared her mind as she let the breath out slowly. She wasn't going to live in fear, but she knew she'd need August's help with that.

"I'll tell you everything from the beginning, so I can be sure I haven't left anything out," she said. "It started a few years ago, when my aunt suddenly went missing…"