Ferocity

by T. L. Reeve

  Kenny joined her then and ushered her out of the room. Her knees were weak. Her hands trembled. It'd been done before it began and though she'd been exhausted, she was also energized.

  “What should we do next?” Edward asked.

  “Celebrate,” Timothy said. “For righting this sanctuary.”

  She wanted to, really did in fact, but she also had to protect Samantha. “Raincheck, guys. I need to go to Samantha and explain everything to her.”

  Kenny frowned. “Poor girl.”

  “Don't worry about her. We'll all be here for her,” Dave said. “It is what family does for one another when they're down, right?”

  Scarlett grinned. “Right.”

  Chapter Ten

  Three years later...

  The warm water of the shower rained down on Scarlett as Edward ground his groin against her. They'd woken together and gone for a run then came back and ended up in the shower. The flex and ripple of her release was accompanied by the throb and warmth of his. After three years of hard work and dedication by them all, it seemed like the perfect time to add a new member to their family. Whose it would be, didn't matter. They'd all love him or her as if they belonged to each of the guys and her.

  “Wow, Mrs. Youngblood, you sure do know how to please a man,” Edward teased, pressing his lips to the back of her shoulder.

  She'd married Dave because he'd been the one to step forward first. She figured somewhere along the lines, the guys picked a leader and he was it, but it didn't mean she didn't love them all equally and see them all married whether or not it was constitutional. No, in her heart, the day she said those vows to Dave, she was making them with Kenny and Edward and Timothy. It's also why her wedding band was unique as well. Four princesses cut diamonds for each of her husbands.

  “Don’t tell my husband, he gets cranky and jealous,” she replied, stifling a laugh.

  “I hear you both,” Dave yelled. “And I’m coming in.

  Edward kissed her once more then slipped from her. “Guess this means my time with you is up for now.”

  “For now,” she agreed. “Meet me later and we’ll have a romp in the hay.”

  “I fucking love you.” Edward laugh. “You’re so crazy.”

  “It’s called spontaneous,” Dave said, joining them. “Good morning my love.”

  “Morning, husband.”

  “And don’t you forget it.” Dave gathered her up in his arms. “Did you save some energy for me?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Jealous?”

  A possessive glint filled Dave’s eyes. “Never.”

  “Good, because I have the energy if you’ve got the time,” she answered.

  “I’ve got all the time in the world right now. I’m on vacation for a week.” He kissed her. His mouth melding her to hers as he settled in for a sensual glide of their lips.

  She moaned and he swallowed it, pressing her back to the cold tile of the wall. “Can’t be too long we have the event this morning.”

  “We won’t.” He lowered her onto his cock, and she sucked in a breath. “Damn, I’ll never get used to how snug you are.”

  She’d never get used to how many men loved her and cared for her. “Yeah, well, I’ll never get over having you as my husband. I don’t deserve any of this.”

  His thrusts were languid, meant to prolong their coupling. "One of these days you will. Until then, we'll remind you daily how lucky we are."

  When they emerged from the bathroom sometime later, everyone was up. Since Maisie's arrest and the subsequent public release of her parents' will and the power of attorney, Scarlett and the guys had moved into the house her parents kept away from the sanctuary. The house was only an hour and a halfway, plus it gave her a sense of peace not living in her self-imposed sanctuary of paranoia and ridicule. As an added bonus, it gave Samantha room to make new friends, go to school and explore a little, since all she'd known was the sanctuary as well.

  However, moving away came with new responsibilities, like hiring extra crew members to watch over the big cats through the night, just in case. It also meant an early wake-up calls for all of them, so they could return to the sanctuary. It made the days long and the nights too short for her, but they managed and for all their hard work and dedication, it was paying off.

  Her niece sat at the table with Timothy and Kenny eating breakfast while Edward was at the coffee pot pouring himself a cup. Somehow, they were making this work. She joined Samantha at the table and snatched a piece of toast from the stack. “Is everyone ready for the big reveal?”

  “Yes!” Samantha threw her fist in the air. “I handed out all the tickets just like you said to, Auntie Scarlett. All of my friends think it’s so cool.”

  In the beginning, her niece cried all the time. It was hard explaining to a little girl why her mommy had to go away and it’d been difficult to process even for Scarlett, how some of it was her fault. At first, she thought Samantha would hate her, but once she worked through the pain and anger at her mother, the little girl began to open up again, becoming the beautiful young teen sitting with them at the table.

  “Well, this summer I’m putting you to work,” Scarlett said. “It’s time you learn the trade.”

  “Really?” Samantha’s eyes grew wide with excitement.

  "Yes. I thought about starting a summer with big cats volunteer program with teens." As it stood, she was waiting on the extra funding and the increase in their insurance then they'd be good to go. Scarlett figured there were others out there like her who'd want to make a difference in the world when it came to conservation and rehabilitation of animals, why not give them a chance as kids to learn at Hearts and Paws.

  “That’s awesome, Auntie.” Samantha pushed away from the table. “I need to grab my bag and then I’m ready to go.”

  “Perfect.” Scarlett finished her toast and grabbed a travel mug of coffee. “We’ll meet you outside in five.”

  “Okay!” The little girl practically ran to her room, leaving Scarlett with her men.

  “So, this summer program...” Kenny came up behind her. “Got any room for one more?” He placed his palm on her lower belly.

  She laughed. “If you play your cards right. Although, Dave and Edward got a head start on you and Tim.”

  “We’ll be rectifying that later,” Timothy said, placing his and Samantha’s dish in the sink. “Or maybe on lunch break.”

  She laughed. “All of you are insatiable.”

  "Only where you are concerned," Kenny said, stepping around. "Let's get a move on, don't want to be late to our event."

  Once they were outside, they loaded up into Dave's new truck and headed for the interstate. Anticipation crawled through Scarlett's stomach. She was equal parts nervous and excited to open the two new exhibits she'd been planning for, for years. Thankfully, the weather was finally cooperating with them. For the last three weeks, it'd done nothing, but rain and she worried it would drown them out of the opening.

  Now, all of her worryings had been for not. The sun was out, and the ground was drying. Of course, she'd helped it along by adding more dirt to some of the wettest areas. When they hopped on the freeway and headed south, she turned to the backseat and grinned. Samantha sat between Edward and Kenny watching some show on her tablet. Each of them had headphones on and they all appeared content.

  “You worry too much about her,” Dave said. “She’s fine.”

  “Maybe.” The trial for Maisie had been long and difficult. Samantha was shown a side of her mother the girl most likely had never seen before then. She had to hear about all the sordid details of her mother’s fraudulent marriage to a guy who’d been married four times and divorced only one of them.

  In the end, Maisie received twenty years for the forgery, fraud, and embezzlement and Eduardo had been deported back to Spain to face whatever awaited him there, charge wise. Since her sister’s incarceration, she’d asked Samantha if she wanted to see her mother, but she refused. Maybe one day, Samantha woul
d visit Maisie and her mother would explain why everything had to happen as it did. Until then, Scarlett would be there for her niece every step of the way.

  “She gets it,” Timothy added. “I bet, given time, she’ll tell you more about your sister than you even know.”

  The thought sent a chill down Scarlett’s spine. “Bite your tongue. I hope she never had to endure what I did.”

  She might have never found out the truth of how Maisie pulled off her stunt with Kobo and Jäger, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter. Scarlett got her life back. Sure, it was a bit banged up and had a few nicks missing from it, but it was hers and she was proud of herself.

  An hour later, they pulled up to the sanctuary and stopped. Cars were filling the parking lot and there were lines already snaking toward the portable turnstiles. A giant banner hung from the facade showing their newest member, Daye, a two-year-old Ocelot. Dave continued down the employee road and entered through a side gate. Inside the facility, the level of excitement pushed away Scarlett's nerves. She'd never seen the sanctuary this busy before. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.

  They got out and she took a minute to steady herself. “Wow.”

  “Wow is right,” Dave said coming up next to her.

  “Did you see all the people,” Samantha said. “They’re all here to see Daye.”

  Yes, yes, they were. “Why don’t you go get ready and meet us by the entrance when it’s time.”

  Samantha nodded. “I have all of my lines memorized.” She pulled out a small stack of cards. “But, just in case, I brought these with me.” She giggled as she skipped off to where they kept the employee vests.

  Today, was the first day a Leon would be giving a tour of the facility since Scarlett’s accident. She thought it only appropriate, her niece got the honors. Scarlett started for the individual enclosures and stepped inside. A few days after Maisie was arrested, Kenny convinced her it was time to start talking through all of her pain and guilt.

  Again, in typical Kenny fashion, he'd been right. Since she started seeing her therapist, the anxious knots and feeling as though she couldn't breathe when she stepped inside the pens had disappeared. Sure, it didn't happen overnight, but gradually, she could resume being able to sit and feed her felines. The first time she ate with Shiva, she cried. The big 'ol lioness put her head on Scarlett's lap and she swore the animal felt the same as Scarlett did.

  "Well, it's almost showtime. Are you ready?" Timothy came up beside her as they headed for the entrance to the park.

  “As I’ll ever be,” she said. “And it’s all because of all of you.”

  Dave took her hand, stopping her midstride. “No, Scarlett, that’s where you’re wrong. All of this,” he motioned to the sanctuary, “is because you never gave up. It’s because you love all of these felines as much as you love us. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can for myself. I am so fucking proud of you and I know if your parents were here, they would be too.”

  She blinked back the tears burning the corners of her eyes and grinned. “I love you guys so much. Thank you for believing me.”

  “I’m ready!” Samantha came running toward them. “I’m so excited! I just can’t hide it.”

  Scarlett laughed. “Then let’s go knock them dead.”

  The walked to the front gates of Hearts and Paws and Dave flicked on Samantha’s mic. The girl stepped forward and waved to the crowd. “Good morning everybody, we’re so glad you could join us.”

  Had Scarlett been told three years ago, this would be her life now, she would have laughed. No way in the world she deserved any of this. Yet, here she stood with her family and now with her big cats, ready to take on the world.

  The crowd laughed and applauded Samantha and Scarlett grinned. “Yes. Today’s going to be a great day.”

  THE END

  Coming Soon...

  CHAPTER ONE

  “No! Stop that! Bad dog! Omigod, please stop humping my leg!” I whisper shouted at the English bulldog currently using my leg for a quickie as I fed a hot dog to the next dog over.

  This was just one of the many things that tended to happen when you broke into one of the hundreds of local shelters. I figured it was just a tiny bit of karma for my deed. I mean, what I was doing was for the good of the animals, but it was still theft no matter how you looked at it. And although I was pretty sure there were no cameras, I still wore all black clothing, a black beanie with my hair tucked inside, and a black bandana to cover my face.

  This shelter had been on my radar for a while after a concerned friend told me of the living conditions. While outside kennels weren’t necessarily bad, these ones were barely skating above code violations. Most of the dogs were definitely underfed, and were shaking viciously in their cages from the crisp Fall air. No blankets, cheap wood and a tarp with holes covering the top of the enclosement, and only thin mats to rest on. I was livid.

  My partner in crime Theo quickly grabbed the hunk of beef around the middle and lugged him up into his arms with a grunt. “You’re not a bad dog, big fella,” Theo cooed to the dog. “It’s not your fault you gravitated toward the prettiest thing in here.”

  “Theo, stop messing around and get him on a lead,” I snapped at him through the black bandana covering my face.

  We didn’t have much time and Theo tended to not take everything as seriously as he should. It kind of came with the territory of being extremely good looking. He was convinced his pleasing aesthetics would get him further in life than dognapping and dog grooming.

  “Pft. You’re no fun,” Theo grumbled, dropping the dog carefully to his feet and strapping one of the many black leads around his neck.

  I turned back to the shaking dog in front of me, giving his little snout an assuring scratch through the cage before bringing up the bolt cutters to cut through the padlocks.

  The squealing of brakes alerted me to my other partner in crime’s arrival. My best friend Zoe backed the large white truck through the open wooden gate, coming to a stop. The truck we used to move the animals was a food truck before we got our hands on it. We completely renovated it to fit tons of kennels, some big, some small. The dog kennels were lined with soft, wool blankets and the cat ones had newspaper and smaller blankets we had cut specifically for them. We knew we’d need the space when we started these ventures, and a simple van wouldn’t do. Thankfully, even with the kennels, the truck was roomy enough we could move through the middle of it unhindered. It was the best investment we ever made.

  Zoe peeked her head out the open window. “Need some help, Ella?”

  “Please. We need to hurry.”

  Without hesitation, Zoe quickly hopped out, dressed much like me, and ran to help Theo and me. We continued going from cage to cage, feeding the poor animals to gain their trust before breaking them out.

  As we moved, I noticed that there were significantly less dogs than when I’d come here two days prior scoping out their facility to better prepare ourselves for tonight.

  “There’s only twenty of them here.” I double checked and, sure enough, some were missing. “There were twenty eight two days ago. There’s no way they were adopted. I mean, look at them.”

  Zoe shook her head. “You’re right. Even the nicest facilities don’t adopt out that many in such a short period of time.”

  My mind raced, trying to figure out what could’ve been done with them. I didn’t have time to investigate though. “Theo, I need you to pick the lock for the back door. We need to get the cats too.”

  “On it,” he replied, handing Zoe the leads to the three dogs he’d liberated and pulling out his set of lock picks.

  He never did tell me where or why he knew how to pick a lock so fast. Seemed like an odd skill for a dog groomer to have.

  He had only messed with it for a few seconds before, “Ah ha! Got it. Who’s the best?” He sent me a proud grin.

  “Nope. Not feeding your ego.” I pushed past him and shone my flashlight around the t
iny room. The cats eyes flashed around me as I counted once again.

  Less cats tonight as well. Five were missing.

  “What are you people up to?” I asked quietly to the room.

  One by one, I grabbed the cats. Cats weren’t big fans of leads, and with the ground still being wet from the rain before, there was no way they wouldn’t freak out without being carried. It was tough, considering most of the cats didn’t like being held and tried to claw their way free, but I had to do it. Their conditions weren’t much better than the dogs’, even being inside. Some I could easily feel their bones. Others were missing patches of fur or had infections in their eyes.

  My heart was slowly dying inside with every trip I made back and forth. How could anyone be so fucking cruel? And the world had called me Cruel Ella? They didn’t know what that word truly meant until they witnessed things like this.