Ferocity

by T. L. Reeve

  Ferocity

  A Villainous Retelling

  TL Reeve

  Hearts and Paws Sanctuary has been in Scarlett Leon’s family for generations. When her grandfather wasn't running the day to day activities, her father had been. Then, ten years ago, in a tragic accident, her family perished leaving Maisie and Scarlett to run the day to day operations and care for their residents.

  Together they have saved countless injured and malnourished animals and domesticated big cats. However, two months ago, her sister set out to destroy their haven.

  Well, not on Scarlett’s watch.

  With the help of Edward (Ed for short), Dave, and Kenny, she’ll do whatever it takes to keep their animals safe. Scarlett might have been the ugly, anti-social daughter no one talked about, but she won’t let her legacy go waste. Her ancestors built Hearts and Paws Sanctuary for a reason, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure her sister doesn’t turn it into a wasteland.

  Maisie might be the King of the Leon family, but come hell or high water, Scarlett will be the Queen of their legacy.

  Ferocity

  A Villainous Retelling

  Copyright © 2019 by TL Reeve

  First E-book Publication: November 2019

  Cover design by Cover by Everly Yours

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of R2R Publishing.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is wholly coincidental. The names, characters, dialogue, and events in this book are from the author’s imagination and should not to be construed as real.

  Manufactured in the USA.

  Author Note

  Dear Readers...

  I kind of missed writing Reverse Harem.

  Honest, I did.

  Writing Ferocity gave me the chance to try out RH in a contemporary setting and afforded me the chance to see if I still wanted to write it. In the end, I enjoyed it. It made me think and worry and curse (a lot), but it also gave me the chance to write Scarlett’s story.

  Ferocity is for everyone who has ever felt left behind, set aside, and/or taken advantage of because of what they look like, not who they are. Ferocity is about realizing even at the darkest times, we’re not alone.

  I dedicate this book to you, dear reader because everyone deserves to be the hero of their story and their life. Sometimes, those with the smallest voice has the biggest bite, and I hope I have proven that with Ferocity.

  If you would like to stay in touch, you can do so here: www.facebook.com/groups/RandRravingreaders/ or you can sign up for my newsletter here: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/x5h9k3

  Thank you for picking up a copy of Ferocity. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

  Until next time,

  TL

  Chapter One

  Hearts and Paws Sanctuary...

  “Scarlett, come here. I think one of the lions is sick...”

  Those two stupid sentences changed Scarlett Leon’s life forever. Thinking back on it, she should have found her father and had him come with her to the enclosure. But, she’d been ten, wide-eyed and filled with wonder. Nothing would have stopped her from trying to help. It was in her blood.

  Her parents along with her grandparents owned the sanctuary for injured and abused big cats for almost thirty years. Her sister, Maisie, and she were in charge of visual checks outside of the enclosures before and after school. If they saw anything out of the usual, they were to report it to their father, and he would take care of it. At night, they were supposed to clean the pens and feed the cats. Unfortunately, the ‘menial jobs,’—cleaning and feeding the animals—as Maisie put it, were left for Scarlett to do. She didn’t mind though. It’d given her extra time to learn about the big cats who called Hearts and Paws home and it engrained the strict rules her grandfather set forth in her brain as well.

  The number one rule of staying alive around some of these beasties was to stay out of their space. Many of the lions, tigers, and cheetahs were being put through the paces of rehabilitation, yet they were just as liable to attack someone rather than acknowledge a human was trying to help them. People were their sworn enemy and who could blame them? Several of their tigers were hand raised, domesticated to a point, before being viciously beaten so they’d fly into a rage and attack when cornered or touched. Self-preservation had been brutally engrained into these animals and even though Scarlett and her family would never do anything to hurt them, they weren’t so keen to trust them—yet.

  She also knew to be on alert around them at all times, still, the idea of one of their cats getting hurt, caused her to throw caution to the wind that particular day and she headed straight for the lion's habitat.

  Their sanctuary was located in the mountainous area of Colorado and through hard work and dedication, mimicked the desert plains of Africa. Medium-sized Acadia trees were strategically placed around the five-acre exhibit along with small bushes and shrubs. Pride rocks and dens were built with clay, chicken wire and stones to give the males a place to lay in the sun and survey their lands. Off to the right of the enclosure was a man-made watering hole. So they could drink and swim as they would in the wild. Due to the amount of rain and snow they received year-round, they never had to worry about filling it and the lions enjoyed it. However, when Scarlett spotted Maisie and one of the lions her sister said was in trouble, Scarlett’s heart stopped.

  Maisie and the lion were drenched. The feline was limp, and Scarlett couldn’t see if it was breathing. Stupid, stupid me, she entered the restricted area without even a second thought. Those big cats were her life and her love. It didn’t even compute why Maisie was in there or how she’d been able to sit with the lion without being mauled. Scarlett, in her naivety, believed they’d finally earned the trust of the particular lion, Kobo, and he’d allowed her sister to enter and save him.

  She ran to her sister’s side like a fool.

  It was instinct for the cats to give chase when they saw prey. That day, Scarlett became a source of food for them, despite the fact she'd been the one to feed them and slowly reacclimate them to human contact—something her parents didn't know about until that fateful day. When the metal gate slammed behind her, she took off for her sister and the injured lion. Scarlett had been so focused on saving the cat, she didn't even see Jäger nor did she hear him. He'd been waiting. Watching. It was almost as if he anticipated Scarlett's arrival then he pounced. The weight of the four-hundred-pound lion landed on her and knocked the air out of her with such force, she didn't think it would ever come back.

  His massive paws swatted at her as she tried desperately to get out from under him. Scarlett screamed for Maisie's help, but by the time she could get a glimpse of where her sister had been, Maisie was gone and so was Kobo. She didn't understand what was happening to her as the heat from the lion's breath fanned across her cheek. The rancid smell of meat and things she didn't want to contemplate, wafted from the lion. She covered her face, in an attempt to protect it while Jäger began to scratch and nip at her skin. He was going to kill her. She knew it. The lion could and probably would eat her whole before anyone could reach her side. It'd been her fault too. She broke the rules. Without even a care for her safety, she ran headlong into a fucked-up situation.

  Scarlett uncovered her face for a split second and screamed again, hopeful someone—anyone—might hear her and come to her aid.

  It’d been the opening Jäger needed.

  His paw came down in an arc across her face and she felt it. Her skin was on fire. Pain, the likes of which she can’t explain, e
xploded over her eye and cheek. The warmth of blood flowing from the slice, ran down her face and into her mouth, causing her to gag on the thick, coppery liquid. It filled her ear as well, making it hard to hear and her vision, in her right eye, became a blanket of red.

  This was how she was going to die.

  The repeat of a rifle startled her, but not as much as Jäger’s body falling on her. She couldn’t see anything then. His big body covered her from head to toe along with his blood. She was suffocating, not just from him being on top of her, but also due to the amount of blood she’d lost and was still losing. The area erupted in shouts and noise. The ground vibrated beneath her as people ran toward where she lay near the watering hole.

  But she feared, they were too late.

  Scarlett was cold. So, so cold. Every breath she took was excruciating. Her hands tingled as did her legs. The sound of bees buzzing filled her ears and her head pounded. It took her father, uncle and her grandfather to get Scarlett out from under the lion. By the looks on their faces when they finally appeared in front of her, she’d realized she was a goner. They all peered down at her in fear and disgust. The sight of her made her uncle physically sick.

  That’s when she passed out.

  Even now, sitting at her desk, in her office, overlooking Hearts and Paws Sanctuary twenty years later, the memories were still so fresh. It’d been like it all happened yesterday, and she still couldn’t figure out how it transpired. She didn’t know how Maisie got into and out of the enclosure and out without anyone seeing Maisie. She didn’t understand how a lion, soaked to the bone, didn’t leave a trail of water behind him, or as her parents said later, dry as a bone. She also couldn’t explain how her sister was able to change clothes so quickly either.

  Of course, like always it seemed, when she could finally talk and had healed enough the doctors didn't think there'd be permanent damage, just a scar, her father made her explain why she'd gone into the area with all of the lions. She described in detail what she saw. How Maisie had called her for help and how her sister had been inside the pen with Kobo.

  He didn’t believe Scarlett.

  Maisie, after the accident, claimed she never went into the lion’s pen. She didn’t see Kobo and she claimed she didn’t scream for Scarlett’s help. She said she’d been inside the whole day. Scarlett knew her sister was lying, but Maisie was the star of the family. At thirteen she already ran one of the many educational shows at the sanctuary, and their family and friends compared her to a young Bindi Irwin. Scarlett, on the other hand, was a grunt. Until that fateful day, she fed, cleaned, and spent most of her time with the cats—more than most did on even a weekly basis. She saw their pain. She understood it on such a visceral level, she’d been determined to rehabilitate all of them herself. However, since the day they put Jäger down, she hadn’t been allowed to see her lions like she used to.

  “Hey gorgeous,” Kenny, one of their on-site caretakers, and her friend said, entering Scarlett’s office, pulling her from her wayward thoughts. “Why are you inside this gloomy place and not out enjoying the nice fall day? Pretty soon, you’ll be demanding your pumpkin spice latte.”

  He pulled the cup out from behind his back and placed it on her desk. She liked Kenny. He came on when they needed him most. Two months after her eighteenth birthday, her parents along with her uncle and grandfather passed away on a trip to Mozambique to rescue a few lions. Their flight had gone down over the Indian Ocean while they'd been on final approach after circling the airstrip several times. They—her and Maisie, were compensated by the airline, but, in the long run, no amount of money brought their family back to them.

  “Thank you, Kenny,” she said. “You’re too kind to me.”

  He waved her off. “Ain’t nothing but a thing. So, you want to see some of the cubs taking their first steps outside?”

  She did and she didn't. Maisie had gotten a wild hair up to her ass about the sanctuary. She thought it would be amazing to breed their big cats and sell them to make money. Scarlett disagreed. Those animals weren't capitulation toys. They were abused, and, in most cases, left to die. They shouldn't have to go through estrus and pregnancy just to add an attraction to Heart and Paws.

  “Kenny...”

  He held up his hands. “I agree with your stance on this, boss. I feel the same way you do. However, it’s done. We have seven new cubs and they’re growing like weeds.”

  “We also have seven more mouths to feed,” she muttered.

  “Again, I agree with you. But, come on Scar, don’t you want to see babies?” He wiggled his brows. His bright amber eyes sparkled with hope and happiness. How could she turn him down?

  “It has been years since I’ve been to the enclosures.”

  “Then today is the perfect day to reacclimate yourself with your feline friends.” He held out his hand to her. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

  Everyone at the sanctuary knew what happened to her. They had to know according to Maisie. It’d been one of the fanciful stories her sister liked to tell anyone who came to work for them. The day Scarlett was mauled and survived. Somehow, it also became a story about Maisie as well. Her sister didn’t care if the memories of it still haunted Scarlett. Maisie didn’t care if people stared at Scarlett’s disfigured face or pointed at her while whispering.

  None of Scarlett’s pain mattered to Maisie, only the money she could make for the sanctuary. Scarlett, like their big cats, were sideshow freaks compared to Maisie’s flawlessness. “It’s not that I don’t trust you...”

  “But, you don't want to be seen in public?" He quirked a brow. "Don't you think you've hidden away long enough, Quasimodo?"

  “Asshole!” Scarlett threw a binder clip at him and laughed. “I am not Quasimodo.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re a sexy as hell lioness, who should be with her pride.”

  As if.

  “Boy, you’re blowing smoke up the wrong woman’s ass,” she said, shaking my head. “Who knew you were a sweet talker.”

  "I call ‘em as I see ‘em." Kenny was easy on the eyes and, though he flirted like a tom cat in heat, he was all hot air and bluster. He was mixed like her. His mother white and his father black. His skin was a deep bronze color and his hair fell to his shoulders in loose, dark brown curls shot with golden highlights. He belonged on a damn magazine cover, not in her sanctuary picking up poo. Yet, he stayed on with them.

  He also treated her like she wasn’t disfigured. Like she didn’t have a scar from her scalp line down to her cheek, and she appreciated it.

  Scarlett learned pretty quick some men were either repulsed by her or they considered her an oddity. Her scar tended to make them stare or give her looks of pity before walking away. She should've been able to say she was used to it by now, however in the twenty years since the accident, she didn't think she'd ever been comfortable in her skin.

  If anything, it got worse as she grew up. Her teen years were atrocious. College was marginally better. But, again, most of the guys she dated, only wanted one thing—sex. For them, she was a conquest. For her, the only place she felt like she wasn’t coming out of her skin, had been home, at Hearts and Paws, because none of the big cats treated her like a freak of nature.

  Nonetheless, her scar and the tale behind it didn't dissuade Kenny. He tried and tried to get a rise out of her. He tempted her with treats and soft platitudes. He talked to her and handled her like a wounded animal. Sometimes she wondered if that's what she was.

  “What are we going to do with seven more mouths to feed?”

  Kenny shrugged. “Not my call, Scar. Only Maisie’s.”

  She frowned. Since their parents passed away, Maisie had been the one in control of the day to day business aspects of the sanctuary. In the beginning, Scarlett thought everything would be fine. Her sister loved the animals, maybe didn't do as much work as Scarlett did, but Maisie had been the face of their charity along with the sanctuary for many years. As such, it wasn’t like her si
ster could get elbow deep in the chow or shit.

  Scarlett’s ‘disfigurement,’ allowed her sister to take over the public perception of the refuge while Scarlett ran the maintenance half of the business—which should have included the veterinary and wellbeing of the big cats along with the financials, but Maisie insisted since she went to the charities and did all the leg work, she should be responsible for the balancing the yearly budget.

  “You’re right it is,” she replied, standing. “But, from the cut in the upkeep budget Maisie made a couple of weeks ago, I can tell we’re not bringing in the money we used to. Seven new mouths to feed means more food, more bedding, more everything.”

  She knew she sounded like a broken record, but if someone didn’t say it, they were lost. Maisie didn’t have control of the financial side like her sister wanted everyone to see she did. If they cut corners any more than what they’d already done, it could mean disaster for the animals and their preserve. Scarlett had to figure out what was happening to all of their money and stop it quick. She wouldn’t allow her family’s legacy to be destroyed—even though the people she still respected and loved had turned their back on her many years ago.

  “Are you coming to see the cubs?” Kenny got a hopeful look on his face. “I understand you’re worried about the future. I am too. But you should be here with us right now. Worry about tomorrow, well, tomorrow.”

  “I’m worried about the practical. I’m worried about the fact my sister isn’t following the protocol my grandfather insisted upon. ‘All animals brought to the sanctuary must be neutered.’”

  Kenny frowned. “I’m not paid to ask those questions. I do the heavy lifting when need be.”

  No, but she should have. Huffing out a breath, Scarlett pointed to the hallway leading to the enclosures. “Show me these cubs.”