Cael (Were Zoo Book 11) by R. Butler (best e reader for academics .txt) 📗

“I’m taking her to the apartment complex. I’ll see what she says and let you know if I need her to meet you again.”

“We’ll be available, whatever you need,” Trina said.

“Thanks.”

When Cael and Novi left the parking lot, he said, “I’d like to take you to my place.”

“Okay. I heard you tell Mom you live at the park?”

“Yep.” It was true and not true, but he couldn’t tell her about the underground living space until he knew for sure wasn’t going to run when she heard the truth. Their rule of thumb for revealing their shifter nature to humans was the human and shifter had to be in love and committed. Or, as was the case with Neo the gorilla and his human soulmate Dani, she guessed the truth.

Novi was quiet on the drive to the park, and he let her have the time with her thoughts. He’d grown up knowing about shifters of course, because he was one, but he couldn’t imagine what was going through her head right then as she untangled years of wondering about her past and her father.

He used a code to unlock the security gate at the back of the park and took the road to the eight-unit apartment complex. He’d prepared earlier for the chance he might be able to bring her with him, so he’d gotten a key to unlock a unit, put some food in the fridge, clothes in the closet, and toiletries in the bathroom. She’d most likely guess that he didn’t actually live there, but it was at least a place they could be together and that’s what mattered.

He let her into the apartment on the second floor, flicking on the overhead light in the family room. Each two-bedroom apartment was furnished the same with a couch, coffee table, and TV in the family room, a table and chairs in the kitchen, and a king-sized bed in the master.

“This is nice,” she said as she walked in and turned in a slow circle.

“I haven’t been here long; they just finished the complex this winter. Would you like something to drink?”

“No.” She faced him. “I just want you to tell me I’m not going crazy.”

“You’re not crazy, Novi, I promise. Tell me what you’re thinking, no matter how off the wall you feel it is.”

She put her hands on her hips and dropped her head to her chest. “I almost lost it in the ice cream shop. I mean, your friend smelled...” She lifted her head and looked at Cael, her eyes icy blue once more. “He smelled good. Not like you smell to me, like I want to roll around with you and get covered in your scent, but he smelled familiar. When I caught his cologne or whatever it was, it made everything in me react. It’s how I felt when I met you, but not romantically. It was more like Justus felt like a part of my family. You just feel like everything to me.”

Cael closed the distance to her and took her hands. Their fingers linked and he kissed her forehead. “You feel like everything to me too.”

“My mom told me that my dad growled when they were together, and that she thought there was something different about him. Something… other. She never told me about that before, but because I told her today that I wanted to stay here and see where things go with you and not keep running, she told me more about him. I think that I’m more like my father physically than even she realized, but she doesn’t know what it is.”

“I thought you were acting different, like you’d had an epiphany.”

“I did, I guess. And it had to do in part with the photo album.”

“What about it?”

“The elephant that touched my hand? He was in the picture that Benjamin took. When I looked at the picture, I realized that the elephant’s eyes were gray and not golden brown like they’d been in the beginning. Gray like yours.”

Cael’s eyes went wide. Holy shit. He wondered if that had ever been captured in a photo before and made a mental note to tell Alistair so that those in the office who handled the photos could be on the lookout for tell-tale signs of shifts.

“Your eyes change color when you get emotional. So do mine. Tell me what you think it means?”

The silence hung between them.

He wanted to urge her to speak her mind, but he didn’t want to rush her. He couldn’t make the jump for her, she had to do it herself. She had to admit that he was different and so was she.

She had to come to her own conclusions, and no matter how much he just wanted to come right out and say it, he couldn’t.

“You’re an elephant,” she blurted.

Her cheeks went scarlet, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

He bit back a laugh. She looked adorably embarrassed.

Cupping her cheek he said, “Are you sure?”

She seemed to have been bracing for him to laugh in her face and tell her she was wrong, and when he didn’t, her shoulders dropped and the tension she’d been holding eased. Straightening, she nodded vigorously. “You have the same color eyes. And when the elephant—you—touched me through the fence I felt a connection to him. When I met you in the office and you took my hand, that same connected feeling came over me. I didn’t understand it, but I felt in my heart that we were meant to meet. And when you took me to the elephant paddock, there were only three of them in there and not four. Because you were with