Caesar held tight, his body bowed over the male’s as the battle sounds began to die down around him.There was no heartbeat, no breath sounds.
Otto was dead.
He disengaged his jaws from his neck and moved back, staring at the lifeless body on the pavement.
He looked around for the first time since the battle had started.Many of the park shifters had turned into their animals but there were some who were still human, including Jupiter, who was bleeding and bruised, holding a still-human jaguar by his torn shirt and threatening him.
Jupiter met Caesar’s gaze and nodded.
The male held up his hands in defeat, and so did another jaguar who was human.
Caesar padded around the area, checking the jaguars who had shifted and were all dead, and the park shifters, who were bloody but triumphant.There were wounded among the park shifters, but no one had died.
“I surrender,” the jaguar Jupiter held said.“Please don’t kill me.”
“Shut up,” Jupiter said.
Adrenaline still pumping through his body and his leg only half-working, Caesar let go of his shift to help heal his body.He hadn’t been in his lion form long, but pushing himself to return to human was a surefire way to heal fast and he needed it.
His vision went wonky and he nearly fell over when he returned to human, and it hurt a hell of a lot when his wounds healed with the shift, but he rose to his feet and called out a sound of triumph from his lion, the primal sound spilling from his human throat.
Around him, the park shifters added their voices and the sound echoed in the night.
“Are you okay?”he asked Jupiter.
“I’ll heal,” he said.
Caesar called for Lucius and Amadeus, and they responded they’d be fine once they shifted.He rubbed his chest, the aching worry subsiding now that he knew his family was safe.
His clothes were torn from his shift, but he knew there was a stash of clothing in the cafeteria for emergencies, so he hurried inside and brought them out for whoever needed them.After donning sweatpants, he joined Jupiter and Amadeus with the two human jaguars, the other park alphas coming to them.
“We didn’t lose anyone, right?”Alistair asked.“I don’t know who came out to help, but I assume it was pretty much all the males in the park.”
“We didn’t lose a soul,” Marcus said with a growl.“But those damn jaguars sure as hell tried.Two fuckers came at me and Seneca with knives as we were shifting to fight.Seneca took a blade to the side, and I got a cut on my shoulder.They fought dirty.”
“They definitely came prepared to attack,” Atticus said, using a torn shirt to wipe blood from his side from a wound that had healed when he turned from gorilla back to human.“We’ve battled some dangerous males before, but these jaguars were a whole different level.”
“Agreed,” Joss said.He looked at the two jaguars and snarled.“What should we do with them?”
“Let’s put them in the media center for now,” Caesar said.“Then we’ll figure it out.I’m not interested in killing people who aren’t a danger to us right now, but…” He let the sentence hang in the air unfinished.
The other alphas nodded.
A group of males escorted the jaguars to the media center, where they were restrained and kept under guard.“Let’s tell the females and those who stayed underground that the threat is over and our people are safe,” Alistair said.“Then we can meet topside and decide the next steps.”
Caesar nodded, anxious to get to Sera and tell her that Otto was dead.
“We know what we’re doing with the bodies,” Caesar said.
The park shifters had a protocol for dealing with the enemies of their people, which involved a pit and a special accelerant designed to turn shifter bodies to ash far faster than normal and ensure the remains couldn’t be examined by humans.
Someone touched Caesar’s arm, and it was Hyde, one of the bears.“We’ll handle it.Anyone with a soulmate should go see them right away so they know they’re safe.Those of us who are unmated can handle digging the pit and hauling the bodies.”
“Thanks, Hyde,” Caesar said.Before anyone moved, he added, “Thank you all for coming to my aid.Thank you for helping me set Sera free.”
“That’s what we do for our people,” Joss said.“A threat against one of us is a threat against us all.”
A murmur of agreement rose up from the crowd, and Caesar’s heart swelled.He was so damn thankful for the shifters who called the safari park home.
