Chapter 10
Sunday night, when the park was closed and the security team had given the all-clear, Caesar and Sera went for a walk.
He’d listened to her talk about her past and her family while he’d been in his shift, and he was humbled by her trust in him.
She was such a strong female. She’d taken in Sunny when she was a child after her family was killed and raised her alongside Fallon, the two growing up as close as sisters could be.
When Sunny was exiled from the prowl for being half-human, Sera recalled hearing from a wolf shifter female at a farmstand years earlier about the safari park full of shifters in New Jersey.
Sera had figured the female thought she might need to flee the iron-fisted rule of the prowl alpha and had shared a place to find sanctuary, but she hadn’t realized the information would come in handy at the time.
It wasn’t until Sunny needed a place to go that Sera remembered the safari park and sent her there, hoping it was true.
He was thankful for that wolf shifter, whoever she was.
While they strolled around the park, with all the exhibits, shops, and food stalls closed, they talked about the mating and joining ceremony, which the pride females had filled her in on earlier that day.
“Is there a specific time of the month to do the ceremonies?” she asked.
“Nope. It’s entirely up to our discretion, so you and I can choose when we do it.
” She didn’t say anything for a few moments, so he added, “There’s no rush, of course.
If you’d like to wait until we’ve known each other for a while, that’s fine with me.
You’re my marked mate and that makes you alpha female of the pride.
The ceremonies—joining you and me as mates, bringing you into the pride as a member, and declaring you my alpha female—are just a way for our people to celebrate and recognize matings and a change in leadership. ”
“It’s not really a change, though,” she said. “You’re still the alpha.”
“Yes, but you’re my counterpart. The alpha male is the head of the pride, but the alpha female is his other half. His counsel, his confidant. I’ve been leading the pride since I created it, but I haven’t been as effective an alpha as I will be now that you’re in my life.”
She gave his hand a squeeze. “Do you want to wait?”
“Not even a little bit.”
She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “How about Friday? We’ll have the week to really get to know each other.”
“Friday is perfect.”
They walked the entire park, talking about the ceremonies that would join them not only as mates but as alphas, and then they made their way back to the house underground, where they made love, slowly and tenderly.
With every little piece of herself she shared with him, he fell harder for her.
She was a spectacular and beautiful person, and he was a better male for her being in his life.
* * *
Otto Magnus paced the length of the crappy motel room, his jaguar clawing just under his skin. He could feel the alpha-ship of the prowl slipping through his fingers.
Dario’s prowl had been unstable the moment that tiger female had killed him at the safari park, but Otto hadn’t cared.
He swooped in and claimed what was left of it before Dario’s blood had cooled.
Merging it with his own prowl was what he’d wanted all along, so he could be the leader of a single, large prowl.
But being alpha meant nothing if the shifters he ruled were eyeing the exit or sharpening their claws behind his back because they didn’t think he had the ability to lead them.
And the males were losing confidence in him. Not only Dario’s prowl, but his own that he’d ruled for years! He’d seen it in their behavior recently.
His people had wanted him to take Fallon as his arranged mate to cement the new power structure and officially join the prowls together. Dario thought Otto was going to go along with having two alphas, but he’d planned to kill him at some point anyway and lead on his own.
Then Fallon ran off and mated a damn horse shifter and was now pregnant. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t going to take some already-bred-bitch for a mate.
So he’d turned his attention to the mom, Sera. She was older than him, but still fuckable. And she was the only thread left to pull it all back together.
He slammed his palm against the motel’s flimsy desk, sending a lamp crashing to the floor.
“She should be mine,” he growled. “That bitch is costing me everything.”
Breathing through his rage, he turned his attention to the laptop where a satellite image of the safari park glowed.
He’d been watching the park for days, utilizing drones.
Beside the laptop was a case that’s contents were going to solve a lot of problems for him.
All Otto needed was the right moment and he’d take out the alpha lion who’d dared to stand up to him.
“You’ll fall, Caesar,” he said, resting his hand on the large case. “One way or another, I’ll have my reckoning. And my mate.”
* * *
The week leading up to the ceremony passed in a blur.
Sera embraced her new role in the pride with grace, spending time with the pride members to get to know them, and stealing sweet moments with Caesar, which he loved.
When he wasn’t working a security shift, he was with her.
He couldn’t get enough of her and was happy for every moment they could get together.
She turned the small house into a home just with her presence, making him feel—for the first time—that he really, truly was home.
Thankfully, they hadn’t seen or heard from Otto all week, and he took that as a sign the male might have moved on.
Not that they were slowing down security measures at all. Everyone in the park was still on alert, just to be safe.
By the time Friday night rolled around, the pride was buzzing with excitement.
For the first time since he created the pride, there would be an alpha female.
The first part of the ceremony would happen tonight—when they would join as mates in front of the pride and then someone would set a rabbit free to be hunted.
Normally, the male would leave his female next to a bonfire with the pride and go hunt the rabbit, proving himself a worthy mate by catching and killing the rabbit, then cooking and feeding it to his mate.
But since Caesar and Sera were alphas, the tradition was for them to hunt as a pair, proving to each other and the pride that they could work well as a team to accomplish a single goal.
Together, they’d dress and cook the rabbit, then feed each other.
The next night was the joining ceremony, when she’d officially become the alpha female and a part of the pride.
Tonight, after the first ceremony, they’d spend the night in the paddock, under the stars on an inflatable mattress, the bonfire keeping them warm in the cool fall night.
Not that he’d have trouble keeping her warm, of course.
They stopped in the maintenance shed and waited to be called to join the pride by the bonfire.
Sera shifted from foot to foot.
“You look adorable,” he said.
He was wearing black trousers and nothing else, not even shoes.
She wasn’t wearing the traditional form-fitting black dress the other females had worn; she’d chosen a pair of black pants and a fitted tank, leaving her hair loose around her shoulders.
“Thanks,” she said. “You’re looking pretty delicious yourself.”
He purred and pulled her close. His fingers dug into her hips and she purred back at him, her eyes flashing amber.
“Don’t get me riled up, we’ve got a mating ceremony to perform.”
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I’ll get you plenty riled up after we’re alone tonight, don’t you worry.”
She looped her arms around his neck with a sigh. “You’re the only one who gets my cat purring, Caesar.”
Preening like a peacock, his lion let out an appreciative growl.
He was going to kiss her when there was a knock on the shed door. “We’re ready for you,” Jupiter called.
“Thanks, kid.”
He pushed open the shed door and took Sera’s hand, leading her out into the paddock. Closing the door, he walked with her toward the blazing bonfire where the pride was gathered. Normally, he would lead the ceremony, but Jupiter was standing in his place as second-in-command.
As they reached the bonfire, Caesar brought Sera’s hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he said with a loud voice, “Jupiter, I present to you my soulmate, Serenade Caldwell.”
Jupiter smiled. “Welcome, Serenade. As second-in-command of the pride, it is my honor and duty to witness the alpha hunt tonight. One prey, two alphas, proving their ability to work together and watch over the pride.” He glanced around, smiling when he laid eyes on Celeste, belly round with child.
“Our pride isn’t large, but we hold fast to our traditions, and it’s my pleasure to say how grateful we are to finally have an alpha female.
Sera, do you come tonight of your own free will, to accept Caesar as your mate? ”
“I do,” she said.
The pride growled in approval.
“Caesar, do you come tonight of your own free will and accept Sera as your mate?”
“I do.”
Jenni stepped forward with a cage, a small rabbit inside.
“The pride will be here when you’ve caught your prey. Good hunt and good luck!”
The pride cheered as Caesar led Sera into the darkness so they could strip and shift.
“Release the prey,” Jupiter called.
“Ready, baby?” Caesar asked.
“More than ready,” she said.
The words I love you sat on his tongue, but he didn’t say them. He’d fallen for her over the last week as they’d spent time together, learning about each other and growing closer. He’d never been in love before, and he’d never said the words to anyone outside of his family.
He wanted to say them now, though.
But the squeak of the cage door reminded him they had a purpose tonight, and that was to perform the first part of the ceremonies—the hunt.
He’d tell her he loved her later.
When they were alone in the paddock under the stars.
For now, he was going to hunt with his mate and bring the kill back to the pride, proving he and Sera were the right alphas to lead the pride.
“Let’s do this,” he said, shucking his trousers.
“I’m ready,” she said.
He tried not to ogle her as she stripped, but he couldn’t help it. She was one sexy female.
She chuckled and tossed her tank top at him. He caught it with a grin and dropped it with his clothes, then he shifted, slipping quickly into his lion form while she changed into her jaguar, sleek gold fur with black rosettes.
Beautiful, human and cat.
And his precious mate.