Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Coco was three, so there was no way she should be exhibiting signs of sickness unless she’d ingested something that was poisonous or rotten.
She did have a stomach that tended to lean more toward sensitive.
Except, when I got there, it wasn’t going to be an easy fix like usual—i.e., putting her on a bland diet.
No, what I saw when I walked in was much, much worse.
When I rushed into the tent where my sisters were gathered, it was to see Coco lying on her side, panting, foam gathering around her mouth.
My stomach sank.
I yelled for my sisters to call a vet and went on my knees beside her. I thrust my hands in the thick fur around her head and softly scratched her. I asked Slone to stay against the side of the tent for now.
“Why do you keep them?” he asked curiously as he backed up, not judging but definitely not understanding. “Is it not inhumane?”
Meaning, were we complete assholes that just wanted tigers for the show aspect of it?
No, we weren’t.
“Coco and Melon came from abusive situations,” I said. “When my dad got them, they came straight from a rescue. Apparently, their previous owners thought it would be great to train them like their pets. Shortly after the birth of their child, the tigers were too rough and hurt the kid. Which is to be expected to be honest. They’re large animals, not house cats.” I continued to gently stroke Coco’s fur as she lay panting beside me. So still. “They neglected them. Shoved them into tiny cages. Tried to pretty much treat them like a parrot and only have them for the ‘cool’ aspect of it. They tried to take them to a zoo exhibit first, then an outdoor safari, but they don’t do well with men at all. That’s why I asked you to stay over there. Melon doesn’t know what’s going on with Coco, and her usual MO when something is wrong is to blame the males in the vicinity.”
“Oh,” he said. “But they do shows.”
“They do,” I confirm. “But, if you’ll notice, when they’re out there performing, the lights are all really bright on them and they can’t see into the audience. Plus, both of them are just such pleasers. They are truly devoted to us sisters, me especially, and go out of their way to get praise when we’re around to pay attention to them.”
“But you said you let them roam free. Are you not worried that they’ll attack?” he asked.
I thought about that for a long moment before saying, “Not in the least. They’re very gentle creatures and are way more wary of you than you are of them.”
He nodded. “The white one rubbed up against my leg as I was leaving to go to you the other day. It was like she was trying to apologize for hurting you.”
My heart melted.
And my eyes filled with tears.
“I’m going to be depressed as hell if anything happens to her,” I murmured quietly. “If I could move off to a place with high walls, I’d take them with me and let them roam free forever. And feed them whenever they want to be fed.”
Hearing an engine noise, I looked up, wincing slightly at the pain in my neck to see a white and orange van that said ‘Hunter Exotic Veterinarian’ on the side parking at the front of the tent.
Crimson walked in with the vet, filling him in on all of the symptoms and details leading up to the present. As they came to our side, I heard the vet say, “We need to draw blood.”
Three Hours Later
“She was poisoned,” the vet said hours later when they called back with the blood tests. “Radiator fluid.”
Radiator fluid?
“What?” I asked.
“We can try to treat her, but I’m not holding out too much hope here,” the veterinarian continued. “She’s ingested it and had it in her system way too long. Tiger’s…”
I stopped listening, knowing what he was going to say.
“Treat her. Money is not an object,” Slone growled.
My heart, which had already been only his, became his for eternity. In this life and the next.
The vet left, taking Coco with him to his practice, and didn’t look back.
Heart in my throat, I watched them go until I couldn’t see anything but the dust his vehicle left in his wake.
“Where’s Hades?” I heard Slone rumble from behind me.
Surprised he’d be asking about her after all that had happened, I turned and surveyed the group at my back.
All of my sisters except for Hades, and Keene, were standing at my back with Slone.
But it was Slone’s angry face that had me tilting my head in confusion.
“Slone, what is it?” I asked quietly, not sure I wanted to hear the answer but asking him anyway.
Then he shocked the holy hell out of me by saying what he said next.