Caesar snarled and slammed his fist into the door.
“It’s not your fault,” Joss said, his hands tight on the wheel, glancing at Caesar in the rearview.
“I walked us into a trap,” Caesar said.
“I’m the one who did that,” Alfie said bitterly.“I thought it was safe.”
“You couldn’t have known he rigged a bomb like that,” Caesar said.“Amadeus will be fine after he shifts, and we didn’t lose anyone.Don’t blame yourself.”
“I could say the same for you,” Joss said.
“I tried to take the battle to him, but he was two steps ahead of me.”
“He wants you off balance and rattled so you make mistakes.You didn’t do anything that any of us wouldn’t have done.If someone was coming after my Jeanie, I would have marched right the hell into that quarry too.So don’t think you did something that we didn’t think was a good move.”
“I’ll track him again,” Alfie said.“And Iwillfind him.”Alfie turned in the front seat to look at Caesar and he nodded, seeing the determination in the young male’s eyes.
They reached the park and quickly carried Amadeus down into the lions’ private living area.It was too risky to shift in the daytime after the park was open.Amadeus stripped and groaned as he was finally able to shift and heal the big gash in his leg.He stretched out on the carpet and closed his eyes with a grumbling sigh.
Caesar patted his head.
“I’m sorry, kid.Thank you for being there with me, though.I’m glad you’re healed.”
“Oh my gosh!Are you okay?”Sera hurried from the house and nearly took Caesar out in a big hug.
He kissed her and nodded.“Just a little banged up.Literally.”
After telling her about the bomb, she put her hand on Amadeus’s paw and gave it a squeeze.“I’m so glad you’re okay.How about a nice, raw steak?”
Amadeus hummed and nodded.
Caesar walked with Sera into the house.In the kitchen, she took a steak from the refrigerator and put it on a tray.
Tray in hand, she stopped and looked at him.“What are we going to do?”
“Baby, I don’t know.I thought I could take the fight to him, catch him off guard, but he’s the one who caughtmeoff guard.”
“I want this to be over, and I want him to be out of our lives.”
“I want that too, trust me.I want you to be free to move around the park as you want and not worry for your safety or Fallon’s.”
He just didn’t know how to make that happen.
Sera set the tray in front of Amadeus and he grabbed the thick steak with gusto, his whiskers twitching as he tore into it.
They sat with him for a while, and Caesar told her what had happened.
“Everyone else is okay?”she asked, looking at Amadeus, who was licking his chops and purring loudly.
“Yeah.He happened to get hit with something metal, probably a piece of one of the vehicles.The rest of us are banged up, but nothing major.”
“You’ve got dried blood on the side of your neck.Let’s go clean it up.”She stood and looked down at him, raising her brow when it seemed like he might protest.
“Sure thing,” he said, rising to his feet.
They headed into the house, where she wet a few paper towels and located the source of the blood—a nearly-healed cut at the nape of his neck.She gently wiped the blood from the cut and his neck, then tossed the towels in the trash.
“I have a thought,” she said.
