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He then heard a familiar voice.
“Gabriel!”
He had found Lucas’s prison cell. His heart lit up, distracting him momentarily and allowing Ava to land a hefty slash on his paws, cutting into the tip of his nails.
Gabriel roared out in agony. He’d had enough and was seeing red. Ava managed to roll away from him, her hair coming loose from her tightly wound ponytail, and scrambled to reach for her bow and arrow.
It was tragic, really. She had no chance.
“Get away from me!” she hissed.
In a way, he felt sorry for her. But in even more ways, he knew she needed to be silenced.
Gabriel bound over a log as she gripped the arrow, placing it within the crest of her bow. If she’d been only a split-second faster, Gabriel would have met his maker.
But it wasn’t his time.
He dug his fangs into the plush of her neck, snapped onto it like a vise grip, and did not let go. She screamed a shrill, sorrowful scream right into Gabriel's ear. She struggled to stab him with the tip of the arrow, merely scraping him, and then her limbs weakened until they fell to her sides.
He let her go when the life had been drained. She dropped to the ground with a wet smack.
“Gabriel! My man!”
Lucas laughed with tears in his eyes. Gabriel stopped for a moment, listening. He heard the howls of victory, and finally, he was able to let himself feel relieved.
NINETEEN
LILY
Lily was barely able to sleep that night.
Sophia stayed with her so she wouldn’t freak out, but it didn’t really help.
Once Sophia had left, Lily forced herself to be optimistic. Right now, the only way for her to do that was to work in the nursery. It brought her peace and reassurance that the father of her child would be returning home to have a long life with them. At least, that was what the nursery allowed her to believe.
Lily had settled on creating a jungle scene around three walls. The entire theme would be not necessarily of the jungle itself but of the exotic colors that were brought to life against the billions of greens and blues of the foreground.
She wanted it to have the same feeling as the painting in Gabriel’s office. The one he had shown her and loved so much.
She could see why, and that was one of the things that inspired her to go with this theme for their child. It just seemed right to have their baby surrounded by the vibrant colors of the rare life found in the jungle. Right off the bat, Lily wanted to surround the little one with art. She knew Gabriel would feel the same way and appreciate her mural more than others.
“How do these look so far?” a young boy asked, running up to her and holding a paper cut out of a zebra he had drawn. Two other children had followed him in, carrying their own paper animals for Lily to examine.
She smiled, seeing the hard work the children were putting into their own little projects. “These are beautiful. You guys are doing an amazing job.”
The little girl with them beamed up at the compliments. “We hope that the baby likes them. How many can we fit on a mobile?”
“How about you make as many as you want? Whatever we can’t fit on the mobile, we can hang around the room.”
“Yeah!” they all chorused together in excitement.
“I’m just appreciative you all wanted to help with the nursery. So thank you.”
“Absolutely! You and Gabriel are going to have the cutest little cub.” The little girl beamed.
Lily laughed. “Why, thank you. You want to be babysitters?” she teased.
The little girl smiled, but the two boys looked like Lily figured. Horror stricken.
