“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.
