The Lion Must Die: A Sexy Paranormal Thriller
Page 19
He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“I already have what I need right here beside me, the rest can wait.”
Epilogue
Six months later
Sabrina sat at the piano, playing the same piece she had been working on for the last hour, waiting for her next student to come in. There was a gentle knock at the door, and Paul walked in.
“Julian is not feeling well today, so he’ll come next week,” Paul said, sliding into the teacher’s seat beside the piano bench. “I love this,” he said.
“Love what?”
“You, in this house, teaching the pride’s children how to play instruments. You’re amazing, you know that?”
She shook her head.
“Not amazing, just lucky. The more instruments I try, the more memories I recover, and that brings me so much joy. They let me try everything, and I can’t believe how many instruments I learned by twelve. The more I remember about them, the more I realize how lucky I really was. They were really good people.”
“I believe you,” he said, putting an arm around her and kissing the top of her head when she leaned into him. “How have the dreams been?”
“They’re gone,” she said. “I haven’t had a dream in over a week.”
He looked at her, delight in his eyes that she quickly quashed.
“It’s not that,” she said. “I know what caused it.”
“What?”
“I made a decision, and for the first time since I discovered that I wasn’t who I thought I was, I feel like this is my decision. From my heart.”
“Are you going to share this decision with me?” he asked, wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her closer.
“Not yet,” she said. “I think it’s one of those things that you have to figure out on your own.”
He looked at her, smiling mischievously.
“I think I know what you decided,” he said, kissing her neck and growling in her ear.
She shuddered, the heat building within her like it always did when he touched her like that, and he knew it. Even six months later, she couldn’t resist him when he kissed her neck like that. She looked around the room, but she quickly crushed the idea. They’d almost nearly been caught in the sound booth the week before; she wasn’t going to risk a student walking in on them.
“It’s almost dinner time,” he said suddenly. “Let’s have a nice dinner in the courtyard and we’ll talk then.”
“That sounds good,” she said, leaning into his kiss. “I have one more student. When I’m done with her, I’ll come down.”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“That yellow dress I bought you? The one with the thin straps. Can you wear that?”
“I guess,” she laughed. “If you want me to wear a yellow dress, then I demand you wear a suit and tie.”
She kissed him again.
“Deal,” he said, standing up and heading out of the room.
He’d only been gone a few seconds when Ashton came in, blonde hair tied up in pigtails like it always was. She climbed onto the piano bench, little feet nowhere near the ground.
“I finished kindergarten,” the girl said triumphantly.
“But, you just started kindergarten last month.”
“I know. It was easy. I can already read second grade books.”
“Did you turn six yet?”
“No,” the little girl laughed. “I’m still just five. I’m not even five and a half yet.”
“You’re amazing,” Sabrina gushed.
“I know,” Ashton said, her bluntness endearing. “I learned a new song today.”
“Just today?” Sabrina asked, knowing that Ashton was about to blow her away as she always did.
“Yep. You want to hear it? It’s called the Minute Waltz by Chopin, but it’s really about ninety seconds.”
“I don’t think he liked the sound of the Ninety Second Waltz,” Sabrina teased.
Ashton rolled her eyes.
“Are you ready or not?”
“I’m ready,” she said.
And just like that, five-year-old Ashton blew Sabrina away and made her feel like she was finally exactly where she needed to be.
***
Sabrina stepped out of the house and into the courtyard, the soft breeze gently toying with her yellow dress. She had opted for lacey white sandals with no heel. She didn’t want to sink in the grass, and it had stormed a few nights before.
She looked up, surprised to see Paul standing by one of the cement picnic benches in the garden courtyard. There was a beautiful cloth on the table, and a pair of candles in delicate glasses to keep the wind from blowing them out.
He had a picnic basket on the table, and like he had promised, he was wearing a nicely tailored suit and a honey brown tie that matched his eyes.
“You look beautiful,” he said when she finally reached him and stepped into his embrace.
“You look handsome yourself,” she offered. “What is all this?”
He smiled at her, but he said nothing. Reaching into the basket, he held something small in his hand, turning to her and lowering to one knee on the cement dais that held the table.
“Sabrina, I’ve known for half my life that you, one day, you would live here and stand by my side as I led our people through some of the roughest times in our history, but the reality was better than I could ever have hoped. You are the strongest, kindest, and most beautiful woman I know. And I would be honored if you would marry me.”
He opened the tiny black box, revealing a dazzling, princess cut diamond. Sabrina’s eyes widened at the size of the diamond on the simple, platinum band. Her hand was shaking when he took it, looking into her eyes and waiting for her answer.
She stood there, knowing exactly what she wanted to say, but struggling to find the breath to speak.
She trembled before him, alternately smiling and laughing, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
She nodded, still unable to speak, and put out her hand. His own hand shook as he slid the ring onto her finger, the three-carat stone heavy on her finger. She heard soft clapping and turned, surprised to see all the people standing behind her.
“How long have you planned this for?” she asked, pulling him to his feet and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Since the first time I dreamed of you, but more recently, for the past six months.”
“You were just waiting for me?”
“I was.”
She laughed, hugging him again and giggling as he spun her around and the crowd applauded.
He set her down on her feet, and just as quietly as they appeared, the crowd left them alone.
Paul took her wine glass and poured her wine, then poured a little for himself. Sabrina unwrapped the freshly made paninis and set them on the plates, arranging the fruit neatly beside them and took a bite.
She closed her eyes.
“This is delicious,” she said. “And this is perfect. Thank you.”
“Thank you for not leaving me on my knees in front of all our friends.” She laughed and he smiled, taking her hand and kissing the finger that held the ring. “Like everything else, this doesn’t come with a time limit. When you’re ready to get married, we’ll get married. But I’m not in a hurry.”
She shook her head, laughing softly into her napkin before putting it down and taking a sip of wine.
“I have to ask you,” he said, watching her with a smile on his face. “Why were you laughing? Were you surprised that I asked you to marry me as soon as you decided you were ready? Was I too quick?”
“Oh no,” she said, chuckling again. “It wasn’t that.”
“What was it, then?”
“I was thinking about what I decided and what you thought I decided and I found it funny.”
His face went blank.
“Did I jump the gun?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what? Tell me what
you had decided that finally convinced Fate that you didn’t need her whispering in your dreams any more to push you in the right direction.”
“I decided that if you didn’t make a move before tomorrow, that I was going to bring someone here to marry us in the house.”
“Are you serious?” he was chuckling now.
“Yes, Paul. I didn’t decide that I was going to accept if you proposed. I decided that I was going to ask you to elope. This weekend.”
He took her hand and kissed her again, holding her hand to his heart and smiling.
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” she said.
“Yes,” he said simply. “My answer to anything you want will always and forever be yes.”
THE END
Message From The Author:
Hiii
Hope you LOVED the book and if you want to check out my other releases including those from my popular “Shifters Surrogates” series then just check out my Amazon page here!
Angela x
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