Chapter 4

Jasper made his third pass around the interior of the park, hugging the walls and looking for anything out of the ordinary. Although there wasn’t anything worrying at the moment—no one trying to take over or find someone or harm a park member—the security team still had to function as if something could happen at any time. Because you just never knew when the shit was going to hit the fan.

He passed by the paddocks that made up the safari tour, starting with the norms—non-shifting animals. He stopped to look into the paddock, but even with his enhanced eyesight he couldn’t see much save for the dark shadows of the animals as they moved around. Most were sleeping at this point; it was late as hell.

He made his way past the other paddocks, which were empty because they were reserved for the shifters to use during the tours to give the illusion that the park was full of wild animals, until he stopped at the elephant paddock.

He could see the flickering of flames from a bonfire as they celebrated Alpha Alistair’s mating to his human soulmate Maggie, a substitute teacher who’d come into the park with her classroom and found her soulmate—and the truth of shifters.

The problem with dating humans was that the secret couldn’t be shared until the couple were in love, as a way to ensure they valued the protection of their soulmate above all else, even keeping the secret from their families.

He envied Alistair, who was embarking on a journey with his soulmate, while Jasper was stuck in neutral.

His walkie squawked.

“Jasper,” he said, turning from the festivities as the elephant memory celebrated the mating with a party.

“It’s Amadeus. There’s someone at the front gate for you.”

“What? For me?”

He turned from the elephant paddock and walked down the path heading toward the front gate.

Amadeus’s voice was low when he continued, “Yep. A female.”

What?

“For me?”

Jasper quickened his pace, his wolf curious.

“Yeah.”

“I’m on the way.”

His mind spun over who could have come to the gate looking for him. Everyone he knew was at the park, except for his former pack. Those people he knew but they didn’t know him anymore. Being exiled meant they treated him as if he were dead, so no one could contact him without severe consequences from that dickhead alpha, Daniel Grimes.

When he reached the front gates, a sprawling wrought iron monstrosity that had silhouettes of the park animals across the front, he saw Jupiter and Amadeus on the park’s side of the gates.

On the other side was a figure in the shadows.

As he approached the trio, he got a hint of cinnamon in the air, and a memory he didn’t want to see again popped up in his mind: a moonless night, a sky full of stars, and the broken promise that made him feel like half his bones had been replaced with lead.

Then he heard a voice he never thought he’d hear again. “Jasper?”

He knew the eyes that he couldn’t see right now were an intriguing shade of violet.

“I need your help.”

He stopped in his tracks a few feet from the gates and stared through the thick bars.

She was as petite as he remembered her being, a full foot shorter than him. He inhaled and picked up her sweet cinnamon scent; the main reason he never had anything with cinnamon in it was because it made him ache in the center of his chest.

“Melody?”

His wolf let out a mournful howl in his head.

She barely stifled a sob. “I’m in trouble. My parents are in danger and so is the pack. My dad told me to come find you. I…please help me, I don’t know what else to do.”

He wanted to tell her to go to hell, tell her to fuck all the way off, that it was ridiculous that she would come to him for help when she’d ghosted him seven years ago.

But he couldn’t bring himself to walk away, not when her plea for help tugged at his heartstrings and his wolf wanted to rush her to safety and fight all her demons.

“You obviously know her,” Jupiter said. “Do you want us to let her in or make her leave?”

Melody grabbed the bars and wrapped her hands around them.

In the overhead lights he couldn’t really make out her features, but he could see that her face was shiny with tears and she was trembling.

“I want to hear her out,” he said finally.

“We’ll take her to the employee cafeteria,” Jupiter said.

Amadeus programmed the keypad and the front gates opened slowly, just enough for her to slip in. She rushed to him, but he put his hand up to keep her back, unwilling to even touch her. He had some pride, damn it.

“Let’s go talk,” Jasper said.

“Yes, please,” she said.

He stayed a few feet away from her as they walked to the employee cafeteria. Behind him trailed Jupiter and Amadeus. He could feel their eyes boring into the back of his skull, the unasked questions hanging in the air like ghosts.

He did not want to have to discuss his past with anyone, but here was his past right in front of him.

Shit.

He used his swipe card to unlock the door to the employee cafeteria. Overhead lights illuminated the room as they stepped inside, Melody first, her sweet scent making his wolf want to roll over and show his belly. As he was about to follow, Jupiter grabbed his arm and said, “Melody, hang out here, we need to chat with Jasper.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

The door shut when he joined them outside.

“What’s going on?” Jupiter asked. “Who the hell is she?”

Jasper blew out a breath and scrubbed a hand through his hair. Only Joss knew the whole story, which he’d told him when he came to the park to join up with the pack. Joss had respected his wishes to keep his past to himself and hadn’t told anyone else. But now that Melody was here, Jasper couldn’t keep things quiet.

“She’s my soulmate.”

Jupiter’s brows rose comically high.

“She’s what-now?” Amadeus asked, looking past Jasper to where Melody was inside the building.

“She…was part of my old pack, but she couldn’t shift. When I asked the alpha to let me mate her, he refused. I said I’d choose exile and take her with me, but he thought her non-shifting ability was a curse and said he’d kill her if I tried to take her with me. I sent a letter to her when I got settled here and said I’d come to get her and keep her safe, but I never heard from her. She ghosted me.”

The males were silent.

Then Jupiter said, “Well, shit.”

Jasper snorted. “Exactly.”

“Do you have any idea why she’d come here?” Amadeus asked.

“She said her family is in danger, but I don’t know why her dad would send her here.”

“I’ve already alerted my dad about her coming for you, but once we hear her story, we’ll figure out the next step and get the other alphas involved,” Jupiter said.

“Okay.” Damn, she looked exactly like he remembered, and his wolf wanted to help her in any way she needed, but his beast always had been a sucker for her.

So had Jasper.

Until everything went to hell.

Inhaling deeply, he rolled his neck and grasped the door, then walked inside.

Melody’s eyes lit up when she saw him. He saw her visibly stop herself from walking over to him, so at least she’d gotten the no-touchy vibes correct. The last thing he wanted to do was get a hug from her. He might never recover.

“Melody, this is Jupiter, head of park security, and Amadeus, one of the guards. They want to hear your story, and so do I. What are you doing here?”