Chapter 21
Sera stood beside Caesar a few feet from the pit where bodies of the dead jaguar shifters were burning, layered with wood.
It was after midnight but she wasn’t tired. At least not physically.
Mentally and emotionally, she was exhausted to the very depths of her being, finally set free by the ash and smoke in the air. Filled with peace after so much chaos.
Around the bonfire, several pride members watched and waited, a reverent silence above the crackling of the fire. The male who had haunted her dreams was turning to ash.
The fire smelled like freedom, like chains being broken and nightmares coming to an end.
Like the start of a new day, filled with hope.
Caesar’s arm was around her as he watched silently at her side. They didn’t need to talk, because the fact that they were alive and the ones who’d come against them weren’t was all the conversation that was needed right now.
She’d cried when she saw him after the battle. Even though his wounds had healed when he shifted, the blood had lingered on his skin and she’d known without him telling her that it hadn’t been an easy fight.
She didn’t want to know how close she might have come to losing the love of her life or any of his sons, or the park shifters who had welcomed her with open arms.
They’d come through the battle without losing anyone.
She was thankful from the depths of her heart for that.
Caesar cleared his throat and said quietly, “Let’s go to the employee parking lot.”
She nodded, taking one last look at the fire, then turned with him. Amadeus joined them, the others remaining to tend to the fire that would burn for a few more hours at least.
Two jaguars had survived. She’d seen them from afar and didn’t recognize them, which meant they were from Otto’s prowl.
They’d been restrained and kept in the media center until the alphas had decided to drive them to the state border and send them on their way.
No one wanted to kill shifters who weren’t a threat anymore, and from what she’d gathered, the alphas didn’t believe they were a threat.
Otto had apparently forced many of the males with him to fight, attacking them when they’d refused or questioned him.
In the parking lot, there were three vehicles lined up: one was an old sedan that had been used by the jaguars and the other two were unmarked park SUVs.
“I want to go with you,” she said to Caesar.
He raised a brow. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” she said, honestly. “I just…want to watch them leave.”
He stared at her for a long moment and she thought he might say no, but then he said, “Okay, you can ride with me.”
Amadeus and Alfie were in the sedan with the two restrained males in the back seat. Caesar opened the door of the lead SUV and let Sera sit in the passenger seat before closing the door and getting behind the wheel. In the other SUV, Joss drove with Marcus.
The small caravan left the parking lot at two a.m., heading toward Pennsylvania.
The ride was quiet, just her and Caesar and the hum of the road beneath the tires.
From the park, it took a little over an hour and a half to reach the outskirts of a small Pennsylvania town.
There, on a deserted industrial side road tucked between warehouses, the vehicles came to a stop.
“Did you want to say anything to them?” Caesar asked as he put the SUV into park.
“No.”
“Okay, I just wanted to check. It’s okay either way.”
“I don’t need to say anything to them.”
He leaned over and gave her a kiss, then got out of the SUV. She put her window down so she could listen and watch as Amadeus and Alfie pulled the males from the back of the vehicle and the alphas met with them in the headlights of the sedan.
“This is the only warning that you will get,” Caesar said, his voice a low growl. “If either of you return, you won’t walk away.”
Joss let out a wolfy snarl. “We know your scents and your faces. We don’t forgive those who come against us, and we don’t forget.”
The jaguars didn’t speak, they just nodded, their faces pale and worried, their lips pressed into thin lines.
Their restraints were removed and they jumped into the sedan and took off, gravel spraying as they hurried to put as much distance between them and the park as possible.
The group of park shifters stared silently into the darkness until the taillights vanished.
She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
The final thread tying her to Otto and the Tennessee prowls was cut for good.
Joss and Marcus got into their SUV, with Alfie and Amadeus joining her and Caesar in the other one.
Caesar stared at her. “They’re gone.”
“I know. I’m free. We’re all free.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she closed her eyes for a moment, tears stinging them. It was freaking bliss.
“I love you, alpha mine,” she whispered, holding him tight for a moment.
“I love you too, baby.”
He eased back and smiled at her. “We thought we’d stop for breakfast once we cross back into New Jersey if you’re up for it.”
“I’d love that.”
“Hell yes, I’m starving,” Amadeus said.
“Kicking bad guy ass definitely worked up an appetite,” Alfie said.
Sera smiled and shook her head with a chuckle. “Let’s get going. I could go for a tall stack of pancakes myself.”
It was strange to consider that so many lost their lives that night because a male didn’t know how to take no for an answer. If he hadn’t let his ego control his behavior, he would still be alive, and his people too.
But she didn’t have the bandwidth to care about that. She wasn’t going to shed tears for someone who tried to kill her soulmate and his family and friends. She was going to live the best life she could with Caesar by her side, because that seemed like the best revenge.
* * *
Sera sat underneath a tree at a stone picnic table with her entire family in the safari park.
The stallions had all come to visit that afternoon.
Sunny and Seneca had joined them, along with Jupiter, Celeste, Lucius, Rhomi, and Amadeus.
They were celebrating the freedom that came from not having to look over their shoulders anymore, and going from a small family to a really big one.
As she poked through the basket of fries for the really crispy ones, she smiled. Sunny had just announced her pregnancy. Their family was growing even more.
“Man, I need to find my soulmate like yesterday,” Amadeus said. “All this love and happiness is a bummer.”
Caesar let out a laugh. “You’ll find her when the time is right, and it’ll be perfect. Sera was worth the wait.”
“Man, I don’t want to wait until I’m old to find her!”
“Who are you calling old, kid? I could still kick your ass.”
Amadeus put up his hands with a shit-eating grin. “Right, right. I’m just joking! You’re not at all ancient.”
Caesar growled playfully and tossed his empty soda can at his son, who grabbed it out of the air and tossed it into the nearby recycling container.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Seneca said, rising to his feet. He held up a bottle of apple juice. “To safety. To family and friends, old ones and new ones, and to all the blessings coming our way.”
“Hear, hear!” rose from the group, and Sera tapped her drink against Caesar’s with a smile.
After eating, the group headed to the safari for a group tour, something that many of them hadn’t done in years.
Sera was excited to see the shifters in the paddocks and experience what the tour was like.
“Hey, there’s Tank, my hero!” Sera said when the big Jeep, driven by two of the wolves, stopped at the last paddock.
“I thought I was your hero?” Caesar said with a disgruntled harrumph.
“You are! But he’s my hero too. Oh, I should work his name into the coffee and pastry shop! That would be so fun. Moose Coffee and Pastry.”
“Tank’s Bean and Bakery,” Fallon offered.
“Tank’s Safari Café,” Caesar said.
“Oh, I like that,” Sunny said. “You could do lots of theme stuff with him, like mugs with a moose on it. How fun!”
“I love it,” Sera said.
When they’d finished the tour, they headed to the aviary for a show featuring Zephyr the scarlet macaw, hosted by Jess, an owl shifter, and Maggie, Alistair’s mate.
They’d visited the petting zoo and taken a turn on the merry-go-round, finishing off the day at the market cafeteria, where Sera made flavored waters and introduced Fallon and the stallions to Heidi, who was working the café for the dinner rush.
For dinner, they ate the special—fried chicken and mashed potatoes—and split several pieces of chocolate pie, courtesy of Lexy.
Sera had never been so stuffed.
Or so happy.
Or so much in love with her soulmate.
“So,” Fallon said as Sera and Sunny walked with her and the stallions to the employee lot so they could head back to Little River, “when are you and Caesar going to get hitched? And can I be here for it? I know that I’m not part of the group, but I don’t want to miss it.”
They stopped near the two vehicles the stallions had brought.
Sera smiled at her daughter. “A few weeks. I want the trees to turn color so it’s a beautiful fall backdrop. And you can definitely be there. You and Sunny.”
“Heck yeah,” Sunny said.
“Actually,” Sera said, smiling at Zara and Tatum, who were mated to stallions, “your whole group can come too.”
“We’ll be there with bells on,” Zara said.
“How about you?” Sera asked Fallon. “When are you and Avi going to tie the knot?”
“I’ve always wanted a winter wedding. So we’ll wait for the first snow and have it in the barn.”
“I think that sounds perfect,” Sera said.
“Can I get in on that?” Sunny asked. “I’d love to have a winter wedding.”
As the two excitedly started on plans for a dual winter wedding, Sera leaned against Caesar.
“Are you happy, baby?”
“So happy. Are you?” She turned in his arms and looped hers around his neck.
“I’ve been happy since the moment I met you, but every day is better than the one before.”
“You always know just what to say.”
Sera looked around at the group. They were a mishmash of shifters: jaguars, a tigress, a bear, lions, humans, stallions…and in the park were even more types of shifters, who lived and worked together and had each other’s backs even when things got downright dangerous.
“I never really believed in happily ever afters until I met you,” she said. “But I believe in them now. For you and me. For Fallon and for Sunny. And someday, for Amadeus.”
“Yes, please,” Amadeus said. “I’d like to get my happily ever after any day now.”
The group laughed, and Sera left Caesar’s arms and hugged Fallon, then said goodbye to the stallions. They watched them leave, and then they turned and walked back into the park.
“Can I interest you in some time alone?” Caesar asked with a low voice.
“You certainly can. In fact,” she said, “I’ll race you.”
With a quick goodbye shouted to Sunny and the others, she and Caesar raced to the employee cafeteria, down the stairs and into the lions’ private living area, before tumbling to the bed and driving each other wild.
They declared it a draw, both of them winners.
Which was just the way it was supposed to be.