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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 calledHearts and Pawshome 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.Peoplewere 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, exploded 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, overlookingHearts and Paws Sanctuarytwenty 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 toHeart and Paws.

“Kenny...”