Firefighter Tanner Hall is used to running into burning buildings and risking his life to save others. It's just another day of work for the father of two. But when he gets a call from the San Diego zoo about an animal attack, he has no idea what he...
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Miko is on edge.
He's stressed because I'm stressed, and I'm stressed because some foolish guy decided this would be a good afternoon to have all his Lion King dreams come true. Although, I'm sure he envisioned acting out a different scene than the one where Mufasa falls into the ravine. Too bad there is no herd of water buffalo here.
This entire day has been a disaster and has me seriously rethinking why I agreed to take this job in the first place. Only a year ago, I was in South Africa, tracking lions across nearly five million acres of Kruger National Park. Aside from my team, there wasn't another human in sight, and it was complete bliss.
Roots, Zoe. Stability. Consistency. A place to call home. That's what I was thinking about when this opportunity came up.
Certainly not the damn circus I had on my hands today.
With the news crews and firefighters and throngs of obnoxious visitors crowding in, I'm feeling overwhelmed, so I can't even imagine what Miko is thinking. For now, he's settled a bit, but is still pacing a few feet away from me. He's careful to watch both the man at the bottom of the ravine and the firefighter standing next to me.
It will be an absolute miracle if we can pull this off.
For the last hour, we'd tried everything we could think of to distract Miko. Other trainers filled the building with his favorite treats and bones in hopes of coaxing him inside, but he hadn't given any of it a second glance. All he's concerned with is protecting me, and the loud, obnoxious man is his biggest threat. If he'd just shut up, maybe we could make a little headway.
The clock is ticking, and the longer this takes, the more the tension grows for everyone. Michael wants to get the situation over as quick as possible, but the only thing on my mind is keeping Miko safe. He shouldn't have to suffer because this guy is a raging idiot. This is our last-ditch effort, and I can't even stomach what will happen to Miko if it doesn't work. He's only two, and he spent his first years evading a disgusting team of poachers, trying everything to capture him. He was poisoned, trapped, and stalked for months before we finally rescued him, and it took almost as long for him to settle in here. Despite his enormous injuries and the heart condition the poison left him with, he's been doing miraculously well. What a shame it would be for him to survive that, only to come to a zoo where he was supposed to be safe and be taken down by a different kind of human evil.
"Okay." Tanner lets out a heavy breath. "Everybody is in place."
He carries himself with a confident air, but Tanner, the tough-as- nails Fire Captain, is terrified. I can tell by the way his jaw clenches, the careful steps he's taking, and the way his emerald green eyes lock on Miko. Sweat beads down his forehead as he rakes his fingers through his thick, dark hair, biting gently on his lower lip. His heart pounds so hard I'm almost sure I can hear it, in sync with mine. As hard as he's trying to mask it, it's no use.
