Chapter 12
Pain throbbed through Caesar’s body in slow waves like the surf hitting the beach. His leg ached the most, as if his bones had come unhinged and had to be reattached.
He opened his eyes, blinking against the overhead lights. The sterile scent of the clinic tickled his nose, and he knew he was in Doc Paula’s home in the wolves’ private living area.
It was chilly in the room, but he felt warmth at his side and a hand gripping his.
Sera.
He turned his head and found her seated next to the hospital bed, her fingers linked with his, her head resting on her arm. Her eyes opened and she blinked suddenly, catching his gaze and smiling.
“Oh! You’re awake! Thank the stars!”
He squeezed her hand and then gave a gentle tug, and she climbed up onto the bed next to him carefully. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m so glad to see you,” he said. “Were you hurt?”
“No,” she said, tilting her head to look into his eyes. “You saved me.”
“That’s what mates do,” he said.
Sera’s eyes shimmered. She opened her mouth to say something when Doc Paula walked into the room. “Good morning, Alpha. I heard you talking, I’m so happy you’re awake. How’s the pain?”
“Manageable.”
“That’s such a male answer,” she said with a chuckle. “I ran bloodwork about an hour ago, and the poison is gone from your body. The lingering pain will disappear with your accelerated healing, but if you want to hurry the process along, you can shift.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” he said with a grunt as he sat up, adjusting himself on the bed so he could look at his leg, which was still throbbing like it had its own heartbeat.
“One shift should do the trick,” Paula said. “But if you have any issues like pain that won’t go away, give me a holler. Otherwise, he’s all yours,” she said, looking at Sera with a kind smile.
“Thank you for everything,” Sera said.
“Yes, thanks,” Caesar said.
“It’s what I do. Take care, you two.”
“Dad?” Lucius called from the outer room.
“Come on in, kid.”
His son walked in and smiled in relief. “No lie, Dad, that was some scary shit. How about you don’t go trying to shuffle off the mortal coil again, okay?”
He chuckled. “I promise. But if Sera’s life is on the line, or anyone in our family, I won’t be able to keep that promise. I will do whatever necessary to keep our family safe.”
Sera smiled at him. “You’re the sexiest male on the planet.”
Lucius wrinkled his nose and then shook his head. “Need a hand?”
“Clothes would be great.”
Sera secured a pair of scrub bottoms for him, and Lucius helped him to his feet. He felt like he’d gone a few dozen rounds with an actual lion, but he was alive and mostly healed, thank freaking goodness.
“Where should you shift?” Sera asked.
“What time is it?” he asked.
“Just after four a.m.,” Lucius said.
“Let’s go to the private living area. I don’t want to be in the paddock in the dark with what happened.”
“Good idea,” Lucius said with a nod.
They walked out of the wolves’ area and into the lions’. According to Lucius, most of their people, along with the other shifters, were up in the park, patrolling and helping in any way that they could.
His son left them alone and hurried topside to join the rest of the security team. Caesar turned to Sera.
He remembered very clearly what had happened in the paddock.
They’d chased after a rabbit and Sera had knocked him out of harm’s way after she saw a trap that he hadn’t seen. And she’d caused herself to head right toward a trap that he’d thankfully seen before it was too late.
He had no regrets about saving her, because she was his soulmate and he was in love with her. He’d do anything to keep her safe. He’d take a thousand barbed wire, poison-laced spring coil traps to protect her.
He pressed his hand lightly to her face and brushed his lips over hers.
“I love you, Sera. I wanted to tell you after the hunt, but then everything went to hell. You’re the most important person in my life.
I feel like I wasn’t really breathing until we met.
Like I was living half a life, existing only partially.
But now I feel truly alive, and I’ve never been so happy.
You’re everything to me, and I promise to do anything and everything in my power to make you the happiest female on the planet. ”
She let out a little laugh and tears cascaded down her cheeks.
“You’re doing a really good job so far.” She went onto her toes and kissed him.
“I love you too. I also wanted to tell you after the hunt, so we are definitely two of a kind. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’m so happy to be here with you.
” She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him.
He kissed her, pouring all the emotion he felt in his heart into the kiss, pulling her close and reveling in how good it felt to be in love with her, to hold her and know that she was his.
He was one damn lucky lion.
With a final kiss, he stepped back and said, “I’ll shift back as soon as I’m able to. Do you want to shift too?”
“I’m good.”
He nodded and stripped the pants off, then let himself go into his shift.
It took a little longer than usual, the pain in his leg hampering the shift as he was healed fully.
Once he was on four paws, his tail swishing, he stretched, his claws digging into the carpeting.
Sera walked with him as he moved around the large space to burn off some of the energy of his shift, and then he stretched out at the front door of their home.
She sat on a chair she brought outside, talking quietly to him about what had happened while he’d been unconscious.
“I knew you’d make it through,” she said with a quiet voice, stroking her fingers through his mane as she leaned over to touch him. “But I was still terrified.”
The door to the private living area opened and Lucius walked in, holding a tray. Caesar’s nose twitched as he picked up the scent of raw meat. He sat up with a hum, his gaze tracking his son.
“Here you go, Dad,” he said, setting the tray in front of Caesar, with two thick, raw steaks on it. “Can I get you anything, Sera?”
“I’m all right for now, thanks.”
Lucius nodded and walked away, and Caesar tore into the meat, not realizing how starving he was.
When he finished the steaks and licked the tray clean, Sera put it in the kitchen and they walked around the area again.
He could feel that enough time had passed in his shift that he could return to human without any issue, so he murmured at her and nodded toward the house.
“Lead the way,” she said.
She opened the door to the house and he padded inside, going right to the bedroom.
He returned to his human form and stood quietly for a moment, making sure that no lingering pain remained, and he breathed out a sigh of relief when he felt fully healed, including his leg, which showed none of the torn and bloody skin that Sera had told him about.
“You look as good as new,” Sera said.
He wrapped an arm around her. “I feel that way too, but I need a shower. Join me.”
In the large bathroom, he turned on the water and tested it, and once it was hot enough, he stepped under the spray and held the curtain open so she could join him.
He watched as she slowly pulled her clothes off and saw how exhausted she was.
She’d told him she’d slept fitfully, waking frequently while he was unconscious; she clearly needed to rest.
She joined him in the shower and they stared at each other as the curtain closed them in, water splashing and steam rising around them. No kisses. No wandering hands. Just the quiet sound of the water and their beasts purring in gratitude that neither of them had been lost last night.
When her tears came a few quiet moments later, she buried her face in his chest and sobbed while he held her tightly.
“I thought I’d lost you,” she cried. “I tried to be strong, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the worst-case scenario and how I didn’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
He held her a little tighter, his lion letting out a chuff. “You’re allowed to be scared, Sera. You’re strong enough for ten lifetimes.”
“I love you so much,” she said, her fists pressed into his back and anchoring herself to him.
“I love you too, baby.”
They stayed together, bodies pressed tightly, until the water turned cold.
* * *
In the kitchen a while later, Sera scrambled eggs and Caesar made toast and poured coffee, adding a sweet caramel cream she’d whipped up the day before. He’d never been one for super sweet coffee, but her caramel cream was just the right sweetness and he was a big fan.
Then again, he was a big fan of hers anyway.
Sexy, sweet soulmate.
Someone knocked on the door and he called for them to come in. Jupiter walked in, his face grim.
“I’m glad to see you’re back to yourself, Dad.”
“Thanks, me too. What’s going on?”
He handed over a tablet and Caesar looked at it.
A video played of footage taken from outside the park along the high stone walls, illuminated by someone’s flashlight.
In a line were dead rabbits, a dozen at least. They seemed to be concentrated in front of one of the paddocks, and he didn’t have to be told that it was the lions’ to know that someone had placed them there deliberately.
“Oh my gosh,” Sera said with a gasp.
“It’s definitely a message,” Caesar said. “Otto’s watching. And clearly able to get not only close to the park without setting off any of our security measures, but also fucking drop traps into the paddocks.”
“We’re still watching the security feeds, but it’s hard to see anything in the darkness,” Jupiter said.
“Drones,” Caesar said. “It has to be how he got the traps into the paddock without tripping anything.” He handed the tablet back to Jupiter. “We should check the footage from the other paddocks, see if the perimeter cameras picked up anything.”
“Good idea.” Jupiter hesitated, then said, “Can you come help us, Dad? But I don’t want to push you if you’re still recovering.”
“I’m absolutely going to come help.”
“I want to come too.” Sera turned off the stove and pushed the pan away. She gave Caesar a hard look and said, “Don’t tell me I can’t come with you. Please.”
Jupiter said, “She can stay in the security office and help Amadeus and Lucius watch the video footage. We could use another pair of eyes.”
“That works for me,” Sera said.
“Me too,” Caesar said.
After a quick kitchen cleanup, they hurried topside where he took her to the security office and left her under the watchful eye of two of his boys, kissing the top of her head.
Then he and Jupiter walked toward the lion paddock, where the first rays of dawn were illuminating the park, and the time to start the grid search of the paddock could begin.
With a dozen males walking in a line with them, they found the first trap in minutes, covered with glistening poison, barbs sharp and dangerous. The trap was spring-loaded, a coil of barbed wire that could have killed him or Sera if it had struck the right place on either of their bodies.
Within the hour, they found six more traps scattered in the grass, all focused between the pond and the maintenance building as if Otto knew they walked that section frequently.
When they’d walked the paddock a second time and found no more traps, Caesar and Jupiter left the team to search the next paddock while they returned to the security office.
“I found something,” Sera said when she saw them.
Caesar hurried to her side.
She rewound the footage of the camera from the wolves’ paddock, which had a camera that faced the far wall and caught part of the wall of the lions’ paddock. “Watch for the flash.”
A small shadow zipped across the edge of the frame, barely visible in the darkness. The time stamp showed it happened right at dark, before their people had gone into the paddock for the ceremony.
“Fucking drone,” Jupiter said.
She switched to another camera. “Here it is again. It looks like it’s carrying something and then when it leaves the park, it’s not carrying it anymore. It has to be dropping the traps from above.”
Caesar watched the footage, his fury rising. He left Sera to continue to watch footage to see if traps were dropped in the other paddocks, or if she could see how the dead rabbits had been laid outside the walls, and walked outside.
He stood on the concrete, hands on his hips, and looked at the sky.
Otto was escalating.
The lion inside him snarled for blood. He wanted to hunt Otto down and end this.
But Sera was his priority. She was his soulmate. His heart.
He couldn’t just run off half-cocked and leave her unprotected.
He would wait and he would plan.
And when Otto made his next move, Caesar would end it.