Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(43)

They got off the bus in the shopping district. It was much nicer than the main drag in Safari Town. It was also the most crowded place she’d been while on the island. There were tourists everywhere. Shops lined the street and Maura wanted to go into all of them.

“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked Jimmy as they reached the third shop. It was a bakery, and Maura wanted to pick up a dozen of their safari cookies. She’d already bought a photo of an elephants in Safari Park at sunset. She wasn’t sure where she was going to hang it, but she had to have it. The picture was the perfect way to remember her time with Branch on the island.

Jimmy didn’t seem too happy that she was spending money. She should have known that he’d object to spending on tourist trinkets, but she had no problem doing the normal tourist thing. That was why she’d agreed to come to the island for her honeymoon. She didn’t appreciate his morose attitude, either. She was helping him and it was very risky. Walking around like he had a chip on his shoulder and hated the place was going to draw attention to both of them. People weren’t usually miserable on their vacations.

“I think I’d like to go lie down for a bit,” he said curtly. “We have a big night ahead of us and I think our time will be better spent resting.”

Maura bit her lip and nodded. “Sure. We can go back now.”

When they were halfway to the hotel, her phone buzzed. It was a call from Branch. She let it go to voicemail and then listened. He was asking to see her that night. He claimed he wouldn’t take no for an answer since it was so important.

“Who’s that?” Jimmy asked.

“My cousin,” Maura lied. “She wanted to know how the trip was going.”

“So far, so good?” Jimmy gave her a thumbs up. “Right?”

“Right.” As long as she could keep Branch away until they were done with their mission. She was skating on thin ice.





Six


Desperate times called for desperate measures. Branch couldn’t wait any longer. He’d been texting Maura all day, and he’d called her about a dozen times, but she hadn’t responded to him yet. Lily wouldn’t tell him anything, either. He was going crazy thinking about his potential mate and needed to talk to her. He knew it was a long shot, but maybe she was upset too. He’d talked with Chet while they were on break and that was his theory.

Maybe Maura was freaked out because Branch had marked her. He hadn’t told her that was what had happened, but she could have figured it out. She could be really mad at him.

He wanted to know what she was thinking and talk with her about the whole mate thing. Since she wouldn’t take his calls, he was going to see her.

He took the bus to her hotel after dinner and snuck in. It wasn’t that difficult, since the guy at the front desk was flirting with one of the maids. Branch just walked right in and took the elevator to Maura’s floor. He was lucky the Honeymoon hadn’t put in elevator attendants like the family-friendly hotel had. It made sense to have security in the family hotel, but it was expensive and had kinks they hadn’t worked out yet.

When he got to her room, he knocked a few times. He wiped his palms on his jeans before trying the handle. No luck.

“Maura?” His voice was shaky and he could barely contain his emotions. He didn’t know why he was so upset. Something didn’t feel right about the whole thing. She had to be in her room. She didn’t have any plans for the night, and she wasn’t with Lily. Unless she was out taking a walk, there was nowhere else for her to go.

He laid his forehead on the door before pounding on it again. “If you’re in there, please open up. I need to talk to you.”

He didn’t hear any movement and the room looked dark. He backed up and sat down on the floor opposite Maura’s door. He might get in trouble, but he was going to sit here until she came back. Whether she was in there or not, she had to come in or out sometime. Lily had said she hadn’t checked out early, so he knew all her stuff was still in the room. All he had to do was be patient and hope none of the cleaning crew threw him out for loitering.

He sat on the hard floor with a million thoughts running through his mind. Was she out with someone else? Lots of tourists did it. There were lots of single shifter men running around. You could take a guy home from every part of the park while you visited. There were whole groups dedicated to getting new notches in their bedposts while visiting the island. He’d run across them before. At the time, he’d been pleased to make someone’s night. But he would be very upset if that was what Maura was up to.

That didn’t sound like her at all. Though, she had surprised him already. She was much bolder and more aggressive in bed than he’d anticipated. Her whole shy and nervous act could be a trick. That didn’t sound right either, but he couldn’t be sure.

His elephant told him to be patient and trust in Maura. His elephant was sure she was his mate, but Branch didn’t believe it yet.

He liked her, and his friends had told him that his feelings were typical for shifters meeting their mates for the first time. Still, he had to see her again. He wanted to hear what she thought about it all.

The longer she shut him out, the less sure he was. His mate wouldn’t treat him like this.

It was over two agonizing hours before she turned up. She was almost on top of him before she noticed him.