The Agreement

Chapter 6

She used a card key to unlock a room and huffed in annoyance when she saw the men rush to hurry through. "Stay away, he is very temperamental and on edge. You are lucky to even be in here. I will have security escort you off property if you stress him out even more, do you understand?"

"Yes Ma'am," They nodded as she took a deep breath and twirled her hair up in a bun.

She removed her jewelry and handed it to the lady waiting. "How is he doing other than refusing to eat? Any progress on getting him to warm up to you?"

"No Ma'am," The lady shook her head. "He refuses to acknowledge anyone other than growling and swiping. We had to tranquilize him to do a health check. Blood work came back normal and his paws are slowly healing from the nails that were growing into his pads. He is healing physically."

"But we are still working on trust," Esme finished and the lady nodded. "Alright, thank you Grace. Are his meds in the meat?" She nodded and Esme smiled. "Alright, have Doc Jack on stand by just in case and I'll see if he will respond to me."

"Yes Ma'am," She nodded as she pocketed Esme's jewelry then went back into the building.

"Hey Roscoe," Esme called out in a sing song voice. "Where's my Roscoe?" A loud roar erupted and she smiled as she unlocked a door then immediately locked it back after she entered the enclosure. "Rossy, where are you?" She called out then sat on a large rock casually. "Rossy," She called out, "there's my sweet boy," She smiled as a very large white tiger emerged from a cave. "Hi Roscoe. Are you being a trouble maker and not eating?" He snorted as he carefully came over to her and sat down. "You can't be so stubborn silly boy," She chuckled as she opened the bucket. She pulled out a leg and held it out. The tiger grabbed it and she immediately let go. Once he was done she pulled out another large piece of meat and tossed it away from her. She did this until the bucket was empty. "Alright Roscoe, I have to go check on the others, I'll come see you after I'm done. Please be nice to everyone," She patted his back since he was shredding another leg. She left the enclosure and walked back into the building. She went through her routine of helping feed the rest of the sick animals, helping replace bandages on injured animals, and started to leave when someone called her name.

"Hey Erica, is something wrong?" Esme asked turning to face the woman. She continued putting all her jewelry back on and pulled her hair back into a ponytail instead of a bun.

"Ash is ready to be released," She said trying to catch her breath. "I thought you would like to since you were the one who stayed up carrying for him so much."

"Thank you, that would be wonderful," Esme beamed. "Have a few of the guys load him up, I know the perfect pack for him." She hopped into her Jeep and drove down a path trying her best to ignore the trucks that were following. After finding what she was looking for she parked and got out. She climbed into the back of her Jeep and opened the cage. "There you go Ash, go enjoy your safe haven. I promise no more poachers are after you. Go find your new family, they are waiting for you."

Just as she said that there was a high pitch howl amongst the trees and she smiled peacefully as she watched the black wolf slowly emerge from the cage cautiously then sudden dart into the trees. She waved seeing movement amongst the trees, closed the cage then climbed back into her Jeep.

She pulled up to her house and headed inside. She washed her hands then grabbed a water bottle and headed out the back door. She watched the elephants stroll past in the distance then sighed hearing footsteps behind her. "Why are you still here?" She asked without looking at the men that were behind her. "You've met me now please go away. We have nothing to discuss. We agreed to have a marriage of convenience and you being here is not being convenient, you are disturbing my privacy. You have a completely different lifestyle than me. You are going to draw unwanted attention here. The animals don't need that kind of stress. Please leave."