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The sound of h the last moments of my peaceful dreaeousmy every whim catered to by an army of servants

I always loved dreaht ofHarvey was insufferable enough when I was clocked in, but calling me on my day off? That crossed a line

I conteh to otten the call or slept through the obnoxious sounds I’d assigned to his nuut told ht be a bad idea

“Hello?” Ithe sleep out from my eyes

“Auts clench God, how I hated that man, especially when he used pet narown-ass woe favor from you, kiddo”

“It’s one in the , Harvey Couldn’t this have waited until I came into work?”

“No can do, slugger I’ot a last- critter, fro”

“We’re getting another ani and any trace of sleep evaporating instantly “Without any notice? Shit, Harvey Do we even knohat species it is?”

“Nope,” he said, and I could practically hear the s anierous, and we need a keeper there to ured you’d be perfect, since you’re on call this month”

“Since when?!” I hissed,ht as I took a few deep cals, then back out again

“Since I made that call And, as the most recent hire, your continued eary overtones hadI’d coet your ass out of bed and ot it?”

I didn’t even dignify hi my thumb over the “End Call” button on my touchscreen I flopped back into bed and screa in frustration I’d only worked at the zoo for a few months, and already I hated it with a fiery passion

The fact that ere getting a new anih, but to not even knohat kind of animal it was? There were so many questions we didn’t have any answers to What kind of habitat did it need? Was it an anierous, why not send it to a er zoo with the facilities to take care of it? Most of our anireatest of shape, thanks to our lack of funding and Harvey’s refusal to find space in the budget to hire a full-time veterinarian to work on-site Another reason to hate the scu

It took et dressed in reen polo shirt that was a size too big Apparently, fashion sense was too much trouble to hope for, either

I grabbed e and a newly-brewed cup of coffee frompaid to call a zoo

“What a waste of a degree,” I gru lot “I could have been an accountant and actuallysome damn money like my mother said”

I got out and sla trek up toward the delivery loading area where I could only assu about Knowingamok and have killed the delivery crew

At least that would getontoand the loading area for our deliveries

Sadly, when I got to the loading dock, everyone was still very much alive and the crate was intact I silently cursed as I approached the e container fro dock proper A frown creased e, military-style uniform with a distinct look of not at all what you’d expect from a bunch of truck drivers

“So, do I get to knohat’s inside?” I asked, but immediately wished I hadn’t No sooner had the words left e lurch accoly loud roar I cats I was dealing with, but the only question nohich one?

“Tiger,” came the curt reply from the man who I could only assuer”

“And why the hell are we getting it?” I asked, er This was a ne, even for this place Bringing an aggressive tiger into a woefully underprepared facility was just asking for trouble

“You have an opening, do you not? A—how do you say—e His accent was so thick, but what kind it was, I had no idea I didn’t like the look of this one bit