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With a glance at Allen, she gave Jax a grim nod and let go. Through the fence, Jax tossed it up and over into the channel where he stood.
Thank you, Lord, for the endless number of climbing drills I’ve done with a pack on my back.
He leaned the long fork on the cage wall and climbed the latticed metal. Once he neared the roof, he grabbed hold of it again. Its bulkiness slowed his progress a bit but he made it to the top right as the cat entered the tunnel. Jax inched across the latticed roof toward Seyla, careful not to get a foot or the fork stuck in the fence grid. The cat kept moving, drawing closer to Seyla. Sweat poured off Jax, partly from the exertion under the glare of the burning sun, partly from the fear that he wouldn’t make it in time.
Seyla must have sensed the vibration from the cat getting closer, because she scrambled back. Jax’s heart wrenched with the memory of another time, long ago, when she’d done the same thing. “Seyla, is the door behind you locked?”
“Yes.”
“Can you open it?”
“Yeah, but it isn’t easy. It’ll take a couple of minutes.”
“Do it!” Jax barked while he approached the spot where she crouched. When he got there, he scrambled to align the prongs with the four by four holes in the fencing.
The distance between Seyla and the cat dwindled until only ten feet separated them over the tunnel incline.
“Stay back!” Jax roared. He slammed the fork down through the tunnel right as the cat reached him. Holding the fork in place with one hand, he jumped backward, bowing his body to keep himself out of its reach.
The creature was beautiful at close range, its eyes hypnotic. And deadly. It swiped its massive paw at him and growled. Jax pulled away, but the claw caught his pant leg, ripping it open.Readjusting based on the cat’s reach, Jax kept repositioning himself until it became apparent he couldn’t get far enough away unless he let go of the fork. He’d have to keep dodging its claws and hope he was fast enough. He searched for whoever was supposed to lock the other entrance to the tunnel.
A large, bulky woman, surprisingly quick, burst into the enclosure. In a few seconds, she’d locked the tunnel.
Jax turned to gauge Seyla’s progress. Her hands continued to fumble with the lock at that end. At the sound of bending metal, Jax whipped around. The cat’s huge head pressed against the prongs. They wouldn’t hold the powerful creature back much longer. “Hurry!” he shouted.
“I’m trying!” A cry of frustration rent the air, then, “Got it!”
Jax watched Seyla burst from the tunnel and run for the door. He turned back to the cat to distract it until she made it inside. The animal growled again and swiped at him, narrowly missing his leg. Jax retreated a few steps, lost his footing and fell. The wire grid dug into his spine without mercy. The cat lunged, forcing him to roll across the stiff wiring to evade it.
Once beyond its range, Jax scrambled to his feet. Jessa yelled to him, signaling that Seyla had made it into the building. The pronged fork abandoned, he picked his way across the fenced roof, scrambled down the side and climbed up and over the outer fence.
Jessa waited there for Jax by herself, and they hurried inside together. In the hallway, she turned to him, her hand landing on his forearm. “Sada’s new here. He has to have time to adjust. He experienced severe abuse prior to arriving at the sanctuary.”
Jax attempted to go around her, but she blocked him.
“I know this looks bad, but it’s not normally like this and the animals need this place. They have nowhere else to go. Please…please consider that.”
“What I see is a dangerous situation where people are bound to get hurt.” He skirted around her and kept walking through the hallway to the group surrounding Seyla.
He wrestled with the desire to get out of there, to flee from the disturbing mix of cleaners combined with the familiar stench of too many animals in one place. It smelled like a zoo, another place he couldn’t tolerate visiting. Fighting back nausea, he approached the group with Jessa right behind him.
Once he was close to Seyla, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. The urge to draw her to him and wrap his arms around her to keep her safe overwhelmed him.
Not my place.
He was suddenly glad a group surrounded them, preventing him from making a fool of himself and destroying his friendship with Matt. He owed the man too much to betray him like that.
Why was he still drawn to her after ten years apart? It made no sense. Even if he could attribute it to adrenaline, why hadn’t it happened any of the other times he’d rescued women? Why now?
An older man with a booming voice and peppered hair adjusted his glasses, eyes trained on Seyla. “I’m glad you’re okay, but this could have ended much worse than it did.”
The younger blond-haired man leaning on a cane piped in. “If you aren’t more careful, one of these animals could kill you, Seyla.”
“But I—”
The man with the cane cut her off. “But nothing. You have to be more careful. The sanctuary is in an extremely delicate state right now. One misstep and we lose everything. These animals,” he stressed, sweeping a hand around them, “lose everything. Consider what would happen to them if we have to close or if one of them hurt you.”
Seyla’s shoulders slumped. Her lips flattened into a firm line. “You’re right, Chase. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
