I was glad Penelope wasn’t here at the moment because she would probably be inclined to puke at my sickly, lovestruck thoughts.
Locke nudged my knee with his. “This is our stop.”
I stood, almost toppling to the side as the train hit the brakes, and Locke had to put a steadying hand on my waist. I convinced myself it was the motion of the train coming to a standstill that caused my temporary vertigo and not the thoughts of Locke making me go weak in the knees.
A short cab ride from the station, we arrived at a huge park, bustling with people despite the cold weather. As we walked up to the entrance of the zoo, Locke pulled out his money wad again.
“I guess that’s one of the perks of living so long, you’d get shitloads of money. And knowledge, of course.”
Way to sound like a gold digger, Layla.
He smiled that golden boy grin at me again. He was the exact opposite of Micah’s bad boy pensiveness. “Unfortunately, I spend it as quickly as I gain it. Eden takes a lot of money to run, and holding down a job where I just never age is hard now. Social security numbers, accidentally injuring myself at work, the fact that my employee ID photo never dates, you get the idea,” he teased.
Well, that made sense. Immortal and poor it was then.
Wrapping my arm in his again, we strolled into the zoo. “So Layla, now it's my turn to ask questions. Are you feeling overwhelmed by Eden and its members?”
I contemplated how I felt about my reality being turned upside down. All the things I thought were fairy tales were really true, to a degree. I’d also fallen in love with the villain of most fairy tales instead of Prince Charming, although in Micah’s case, I wasn’t sure if they weren’t one and the same.
“I’m doing okay, I think. It's an entirely different world, and I’m still kind of an outsider, being human and all. It’s taking some adjustment but Alistair is very nice.” And hot. I didn’t say that bit out loud though. “So is Penelope. I think it’ll take some getting used to, the fact that there are so many more variations to life than just human and animal. So many shades of grey in between.” I wondered if I should bring up the brain meld thing that Micah and I had.
“Hey, have you ever heard of a person being able to feel the emotions of another person?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Like an empath?”
I shook my head. “No, I mean I can only feel the emotions of one particular person.”
Now both of Locke’s eyebrows were raised so high that they nearly touched the wispy blonde curl on his forehead. “Micah?”
I nodded. “Uh huh. If I concentrate hard, I can tell what he’s feeling, like inside my mind. It’s like there is a little fenced off section in my brain and his emotions are beamed there for me to see. Like right now, I can tell that he is frustrated and angry wherever he is, but underneath that, I can feel his longing to be home. Like, how can I even tell what that feeling is? It doesn’t make any sense.” I stopped walking and looked at him. “Do you know what it is? I asked Micah but he either doesn’t know or is unwilling to tell me.”
“It could be a lot of things? Maybe you aren’t as normal as you think, or maybe it's a Lycan thing, I can’t be sure. Why don’t you ask Alistair?”
I eyed him, and had a feeling this was one of those palm-off situations, like I’d just asked where babies come from and he was like ‘I don’t know, why don’t you go ask your dad’. Except Alistair wasn’t my father. Wouldn’t mind calling him Daddy, though.
I resisted the urge to face-palm myself.
I’d unconsciously come to a stop outside the wolf enclosure. As I stared at the shaggy animals in front of me. Tomorrow night would be the full moon. I remembered only brief flashes of how Micah looked in his other form all those years ago. I tried to concentrate, recalling his hands and his eyes but not much else. The wolves and Micah had looked similar in the same way humans and chimpanzees looked similar. You can tell they were from the same anthropological family but that was it.
I turned towards the big cat enclosure and Locke told me that Terrance shapeshifted into a puma. I looked at the puma now, lazing on its back, its belly warming in the brief glimpses of sun. It was a truly majestic creature but one born to be a predator. Was it the same for shapeshifters and Lycans too?
I suddenly wanted to leave, to run away from the disturbing thought that Micah could ever be a threat to me, despite what he said. Locke picked up on my mood, suggesting we move to the butterfly tent.
“You know, I was once a lion tamer in a traveling circus back in the early 20th century. The golden era of circuses before the world caught on to how cruel the practice was. I met a lot of other lion tamers in the profession and lived long enough to see how they all died. The trainers who treated the lions as animals, using fear and pain to train them because they feared the creatures themselves, well, nine times out of ten ended up getting mauled to death in the ring. Those who respected the animals and really loved them, who knew of their rightful place as an apex predator, as a king, well, they lived well into their old age. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you only see the bad in something, then you will always lose in the end.”
I was disconcerted that Locke had picked up the direction of my thoughts so easily. I would never have aired the thought out loud, but I appreciated the advice.
We’d reached the butterfly tent, and as we entered, dozens of brightly coloured wings floated around a tropical paradise. The humidity in the room made sweat break out on my brow as my body adjusted from the winter chill of Boston to the tropical heat of a rainforest. Locke went over to the pretty auburn haired keeper, who was smiling and swishing her hair around, and he was talking animatedly back, directing a charming smile in her direction. I turned away as I saw her write something on a piece of paper and slide it into his pocket.
As he walked back towards me, I conceded that Locke was beautiful, so I couldn’t blame the keeper. He could have been chiselled from stone by a master artisan. He had a wide unlined forehead and his features were perfectly symmetrical, right down to the dimples in his cheeks. His hair was a dirty blonde color, trimmed shortish around the sides and the top was slightly longer, finger combed in a way that made him look a little roguish.
And his body. Damn. It was the thing that wet dreams were made of. He had shoulders that tapered down into a narrow waist, strong thighs and muscular calves. He looked like the typical 1940’s leading man.
Locke’s voice broke into my perusal of his body and I instantly blushed.
“Take your jacket off, Layla.”
My eyes shot to his face as his big hands reached over and slid my jacket off my shoulders. He reached down and pulled my sweater over my head too. When I was standing there in just a holey Black Sabbath tee, he nodded. His eyes darted down my body, a lot more subtle in his perusal of my body than I’d been a moment ago.
He cleared his throat and his cheeks flushed. It was probably the tropical heat. Yeah. Let's go with that.
“Now close your eyes.” My eyes snapped shut of their own accord and I wondered if he had compulsion like the twin, Lorelei. A beat passed, and then something warm and wet slid along the bare skin of my arm like a lover's tongue. My eyes shot open, but Locke’s smiling face was the only thing in my vision.