Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection
Lola Kidd
One
“Pack your bags!” Lily Aris bound into Addison Little’s room.
Addison didn’t look up from her book. “You didn’t knock.”
Lily sighed and left the room. There were three rapid knocks on the door and Lily flung the door open again. “You’re going to die when you hear what I just got for free.”
Addison still didn’t look up. “I didn’t say come in.”
Lily scowled and left the room again. She knocked three times. “May I come in, Princess Addison?”
“Yes, you can.” Addison knew she was being picky, but she had to break Lily of that habit. There had been some very awkward moments thanks to Lily’s spontaneous visits. Addison would actually die if Lily caught her while she was having alone time looking at her favorite male model’s fan pages. And that happened a lot more than liked to admit these days.
“Try to guess what I won,” Lily crowed. She bounced up and down, throwing her head side to side.
“Was it free sandwiches for a year?” Addison guessed.
“Nope.”
“Darn. I was really hoping it was the sandwich contest.”
Addison couldn’t think of any other contest Lily had entered. They used to apply to all kinds of different contests together. It was how they had met. They were competing in a hotdog eating contest during freshman orientation and made it to the final three. They’d lost the game to a girl who was half their size and had beat them by a hefty margin. Lily had made jokes about the irony of the situation afterwards. Another contestant had overhead and told Lily off for making offensive jokes. Addison was a very curvy girl, but she wasn’t ashamed of her size and thought Lily’s jokes were hilarious.
The pair had become friends instantly. It also didn’t hurt that she and Lily were the same size and Lily never minded sharing clothes. They were inseparable for the rest of the year. By junior year they had moved into an off-campus apartment together.
“I’m going to give you a hint,” Lily said. “Lions, tigers, and zebras.”
Addison knew what it was right away. She tossed her book on the bed and got up. “Oh, Lily! I didn’t know you entered that contest.”
Lily nodded, and her grin got even bigger. “Yup. I didn’t just enter. I won that baby!”
Addison started jumping up and down too. “I can’t believe this. We’re going to Safari Island! Lily, have I ever told you how much I love you?”
Lily grabbed Addison’s hands and they jumped around together until they were out of breath. Then they lay on the floor staring at the ceiling together.
“We’re going to have so much fun,” Lily declared. “I’m going to buy a whole new wardrobe. I’m thinking Out of Africa chic. Lots of khaki and orange.”
Addison put her hands over her stomach. “I think I’m going to cut my hair.”
“No way. A cute little pixie?” Lily had been wanting to cut Addison’s hair for years. Her blonde curls reached down to the middle of her back.
“Not a pixie. I was thinking maybe something a little more nineteen-twenties.”
“You’re going to look like a blonde Betty Boop!”
“She had a pixie.”
“Whatever. You’re getting closer to your cartoon doppelganger. We’re going to get you a sexy little sparkling number for the club.”
“What club?”
Lily rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow. “Didn’t you hear that Safari Island has a new attraction? They just opened a massive nightclub on the beach. It’s part of their new singles imitative. That’s why they were giving away tickets.”
“Oh.” Addison had heard nothing past “free tickets to Safari Island.” She had applied to the giveaway without reading any of the terms and conditions or anything else. She had wanted to go to Safari Island since it had opened. There was no place like it on Earth.
A company had bought an island in the South Atlantic near Africa with the intention of opening an exclusive club for big game hunters. Once word had gotten out about it, the public wasn’t happy. A group of shifter investors bought out the company in a hostile takeover. Then, instead of a hunters’ club, they turned it into a giant vacation island. But there was a special twist to this one: the island was staffed mostly by shifters. There were different areas of the park, including a safari-themed amusement park, an actual safari tour, Safari Town where the staff lived, and a five-star beach resort.
The hunky shifters were a big draw for people. There was nowhere else you could be on safari and the lions would stroll over and turn out to be one of the tour guides. It was wild. As a poor kid turned even poorer college student, Addison could never afford to go. She didn’t think she’d be able to wait the week until they left.
“You deserve this, Addison,” Lily told her. “After the crappy two years you’ve had, you need a little holiday. I’m really proud of how you’ve handled yourself. I don’t think I’ve said that before, but I am.”
Addison teared up. It had been a tough two years. Her parents had lost their home and couldn’t co-sign for her loans anymore after mid-junior year. If it hadn’t been for Lily’s parents offering to foot her half of the rent and getting her a job at the local grocery store, Addison didn’t know how she would have stayed in school. The whole Aris family had been so kind to her and had helped her through her rough patch. It had taken her an extra year to finish school but she’d done it. She was proud of herself too.