Page 18 of Claimed

We watch closely, and I see a little head pop out of the water before swimming back below the surface.

“Someone spotted these two a little North of here. They could tell that one of them was injured. Cher somehow injured one of her legs, and unfortunately, we couldn’t save it. It’s clear they are a bonded pair, so we took both of them in while she recovers. We’re not sure if she’ll be strong enough for the wild yet.”

He stares fondly into the exhibit as he speaks. It’s clear Dante cares about these animals, and it makes me let my guard down a little.

It takes a couple of minutes to get to the next exhibit. This one is much lower down, so we are looking into it from above. The edge closest to us is a large pool of water, spanning the entire front of the enclosure; the rest is filled with trees, bushes, and a similar rock cave to the bear’s.

It takes me a minute to spot the tiger walking through the bushy part of the exhibit.

“These are our Bengal tigers.”

“Tigers?” I ask. “I only see that one.” I point to it, and he nods, then points to the other side of the exhibit.

“Oh!” I say in surprise, realizing the other one is a white tiger, and I almost missed them since they blended into the side wall they are sitting in front of.

“Jasmine, that’s what we call the orange one. She’s been here a year. She can be a little aggressive. She was being held as a pet in a small cage.”

“And the white tiger?” Hunter asks.

I watch as Dante’s brow pinches in concern as he rests his forearms on the railing and looks down into the exhibit to where the tiger is sitting quietly, staring back at him. “She just showed up yesterday. I haven’t even named her yet.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Chase asks.

“I don’t know,” he admits.

“Why was she brought in?” Gage asks.

He sighs before standing up and turning to face us. “I honestly don’t know. I came into work yesterday and she was just here.” He gestures into the exhibit. “I assumed one of the bosses arranged to have her brought in when I was off, but so far nobody has mentioned it. It’s strange…” he says, glancing over his shoulder at her again.

“She’s not a shifter,” Hunter states, as if it needs clarifying, and Dante shakes his head. “No, she’s not. But there is something about her I can’t quite place my finger on.” He shakes his head and smiles at us. “Anyway, let’s move on to the next exhibit, shall we?”

He shows us three more exhibits, including a rhino with a broken horn, a bald eagle with a broken wing, and a pair of moose who were apparently wreaking havoc on a town by smashing their front windows for fun.

When the building we entered through comes into sight, I decide it’s time to ask our questions.

Turning to Dante, I stop walking as I ask, “What happens if humans bring in an animal shifter?”

He nods, like he expected the question. “It does happen, unfortunately. But we have a protocol for that. We have a special room inside the building. We place them in there with some human clothing and allow them time to shift. Then we have a conversation about what happened. Honestly, ten out of ten times, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and never meant any harm. At least from what we can tell.”

“So you just let them leave?” Gage asks.

“Of course,” Dante says with a slight pinch of his brow. “We’re not going to lock up people. We’re not a prison.”

“Do you ever offer anywhere… safe for them to go?” I probe.

“Safe?”

“Yeah, you know, maybe you suggest somewhere they can live that’s safe from human eyes.”

“Ohhh…” he says with a small nod. “That’s why you’re here. You want to go to Starfall Haven. Why didn’t you just say so?”

“It’s real?” Chase asks in surprise.

Dante grins as he glances at each of us, including Cherry, before finally replying. “It’s very real. Want to see it?”

Chapter 6

Cherry