Chapter 3

When I fell silent, Sasha flashed a satisfied smile. "Lucian, you don't have parents or anyone else. You're an animal trainer. If the animal you trained kills you, people will call it a workplace accident, right?

"So just die peacefully. I'll use what you bring in now to raise our kid."

Our kid?

My ears rang. I barely had time to process before Hugh eased up and settled a hand on Sasha's belly, casual as anything.

His voice was syrupy and gross. "Lucian, relax. I'll take good care of Sasha and the baby for you. After all, they're both mine now. Oh, and when you're dead, the zoo should pay out a nice death benefit, right?

"That's a tidy sum. I'll do you a favor and spend it for you."

They played off each other, shameless as hell, and my stomach lurched. I swore if I made it out alive, I'd tear them limb from limb!

Their shameless trash talk lit up the live stream, kicking off another wave of tips.

To flatter the gawkers watching, Hugh grabbed a long pole and jabbed at me through the fence. "Get down! Lucian! Get down!"

The pole caught me right in the wound. Intense pain ripped through me, and my grip nearly slipped.

I clung to the trunk, skin scraped raw and bleeding, twisting away from the pole while keeping an eye on Caesar, who was getting wilder below.

The moment Caesar coiled to spring, I launched for a shorter ornamental tree nearby. Caesar missed, hit the ground hard, and let out a roar that shook the air.

The blast of sound threatened to split my eardrums, and the blood loss left my head swimming.

Caesar was already too far gone. No matter how I tried to calm him, he wouldn't listen, his bloodshot eyes pinning me in place. Despair washed over me.

Just then, the walkie-talkie clipped to my collar crackled to life. "Lucian? Lucian, how is it going over there? Is the assessment done?"

It was Wayne Griffin, my coworker.

Like grabbing a last lifeline, I jabbed the transmit button with shaking fingers. "Wayne! Hel—"

Sasha's bright voice cut into the channel, drowning out my weak call. "Wayne, don't distract Lucian. He's settling Caesar. No chatter. This is a critical moment."

She was on a walkie-talkie, too, and cut my line.

All I could do was listen to Wayne's apologies. "Oh, sorry about that. I thought Lucian was done. He's really dedicated. I'll let him get back to it."

There was a crackle, then silence.

My hope guttered out.

In the split second I went blank, Caesar seized his chance. His huge body launched up, his paw raking across my back. My shirt tore, flesh peeled, and a pain I couldn't name tore through me from behind.

His weight ripped me off the trunk and slammed me to the ground. Everything inside me felt shoved out of place. The pain nearly blacked me out.

The metallic tang climbed my throat, and Caesar's breath blasted my face. When he opened that bloody maw and lunged, I snatched a broken branch and drove it between his jaws with everything I had.