2. EION
Chapter two
EION
"Barnaby, scoot over, please. It’s time to get up.
” The boxer raised his head and looked at me like I had offended him.
It was five in the morning, and time to get started.
As always, I had a full day ahead. The residents here wouldn’t feed themselves, so I sat up with my legs hanging off the side of the bed.
Before I stood up, I put a pod in the coffee maker, one of the benefits of living in such a small space.
It would be nice to have a second pair of hands around here, though, but the grants and donations wouldn’t cover it, so it was Barnaby and me.
Once I was halfway through my first cup of coffee, the world looked brighter, and I had to thank the universe for my life and these animals that I had been gifted to care for.
“Let’s go, Barnaby. Our friends need their breakfast.” He followed me out the door.
I knew he also wanted his breakfast. “We’ll have some eggs after everybody else eats.
” When I started the sanctuary, he was a big reason I got up every day.
As a trained PTSD dog, he was my best buddy and a necessary part of my life.
Currently, the wild animals we housed were a bears, some deer, raccoons, a giraffe, and foxes.
We’d had a few other overnight or short-term guests, but we were only a tier two sanctuary; even though we had the land to be bigger, the infrastructure was still lacking.
Some day we would grow, but for now, I had my hands full.
There were also some more domesticated animals that would get adopted out quickly or live their lives peacefully here at the Sanctuary.
Currently, a few alpacas lived here, but we’d had goats, pigs, and ostriches stay and then find new homes.
Orlando the giraffe was the standout here.
He had his own enclosure that was next to the acreage where the deer were. He was the king of the Sanctuary.
Two days ago, two motherless bear cubs arrived and were being hand-fed.
I wouldn’t get everything I wanted done today, but there was always tomorrow.
Other than feeding and cleaning, there were always things to fix or build.
I wish there were more money and hours in a day.
I had a lot of people who would volunteer their time, but the idea of people being in my space was…
uncomfortable, and I didn’t trust anybody with the animals.
Bethany, an adult black bear, wouldn’t share an enclosure with the cubs, but they were close enough to smell each other, which would hopefully comfort them.
When cubs were orphaned by fire, they were traumatized, and having another bear nearby helped.
Both babies had burns all over. They had run for their lives, without their mother.
Now they were orphans, and had a long way to go before they would be okay.
“Okay, little one, let’s get some food in you.
” I picked up the male cub. I lifted the bottle, and he made a bunch of adorable noises before he started eating.
He sucked down the milk, obviously hungry.
His sister pawed and grabbed at the bottle, ready for her breakfast. This was one of the absolute pleasures of this job—everything was great, but this was special.
One of the doorbell cams at the front of the property chimed, notifying me that someone had come through the gate.
Great, it was probably someone thinking this was some sort of zoo.
On a few occasions, I’ve walked possible donors through the facility.
Otherwise, it was a private animal sanctuary and rehabilitation center.
It wasn’t someone I recognized, which meant it was probably someone wanting a tour or to meet the animals.
He sat in a parking spot for a long time.
I continued to watch the video feed as the male cub slurped the last of his milk.
Finally, the stranger got out of the car and pulled a box from the back seat.
Unable to make out the words, I could hear him talking to whatever creature he had, which was a good sign that whatever was in the box was alive at least. Not knowing any better, people too often brought animals that were beyond help.
The visitor stopped, opened the smaller gate, took a deep breath, and then walked toward the enclosures.
“Hello?” He sounded almost timid, especially given his build.
Without knowing him, it was clear that the T-shirt covered a very defined body, and his painted-on jeans didn’t hide his tight ass and thick thighs.
I swallowed hard; my thoughts were not appropriate.
I was always down to hook up with a gym bro.
Bethany walked over and sniffed toward the visitor. There was plenty of protection between them, but he still froze.
“You’re a bear.” Did he just tell her she was a bear?
I couldn’t have heard that right. He set the box down, squatted, and slid the box behind him.
It was as if he wanted to be between the bear and whatever he brought with him.
“You really are a bear, and you are beautiful.” Very rarely did you see a person get eye level with a full-grown black bear; they weren’t as large as many of their counterparts, but they were still bears.
Bethany got as close to him as she could, but he was at least two feet from the outer fencing, leaving about six feet between them.
“You stay right there. I’m going to see if I can find someone to talk to. ” He said, looking right at Bethany.
He turned around, then walked back and forth. I got the female cub arranged and started her bottle. I needed to get this over with. I wasn’t going to go out there and interact with the man, even though he was pretty to look at. “Did you want something?”
He spun around and looked at Bethany. “Was that you?”
Oh, sweet baby Jesus, he didn’t just ask the bear if she talked, did he? “Are you here to talk to someone or what?” My patience was already frayed. I didn’t like people on my property or near my animals. Barnaby scratched at the barn door, wanting to eat—or cuddle—whoever dared enter his domain.
This tank of a man looked around some more as he tried to figure out who had talked to him. “Well, yeah. I have some raccoon kits here that need care.”
“Okay. Leave them on top of that hay bale, and I’ll take care of them. Thanks for dropping them off.”
“Um. I can’t do that.”
“What?” I was sure I misheard him because I was pretty sure he told me he couldn’t do that, and that didn’t make sense. He had brought animals to a rehabilitation center for treatment, then said he wouldn’t leave them. Wasn’t that the whole point of his being here in my space?
“I can’t leave them like that. I’d like to introduce you. Maybe discuss what happens next.”
“You’re shittin’ me, right?”
“No. Could we maybe have this conversation face-to-face? The disembodied voice is weird.”
Fucking hell. I was a veterinarian, and he was going to discuss with me what would happen with raccoon kits.
Who did this guy think he was? “I’m going to be busy for a while.
” I could have gone out there now, but he annoyed me.
So now I wanted to motivate him to leave the animals and go back to wherever he came from.
“That’s fine. I’ll wait here and talk to the bear.”
“Thank— What did you say?”
“I’ll wait. I don’t mind. I’ll talk to the bear.”
And that was exactly what he did. He sat on the ground, legs crossed, and put his box in his lap.
While I continued to feed and clean things up, I’d check the feed, and he was still there.
Every once in a while, I would be out in the open, and he would wave, but he never got up.
This guy continued to wait. Several times, I saw him talking to or fussing with the babies in the box, but otherwise, he did as he had said he would.
I overheard some of the questions he asked Bethany while I worked.
“What’s it like being a bear?”
“Are all bears so pretty close up?”
“How come you live in a sanctuary?”
“Do you have children?”
“Are you a boy or a girl bear?”
When most of my daily chores were completed, I no longer had an excuse to avoid him.
Finally, I headed toward the buildings where I took deliveries and handled medical needs.
My guest sat there still waiting. “Let me see what you have.” I didn’t introduce myself.
My name wasn’t necessary to take possession of some wild critters.
“Oh. Hi. I’m Angus. This here is North and South.
” I looked up at him. Was this guy messing with me?
Barnaby caught up to me and sat between my feet.
“I didn’t want to leave without properly introducing you to them.
Their mom has been missing for at least forty-eight hours, and I don’t think she is coming back. Her name is, was, Storm.”
“That’s odd. Do you know if there were more kits?”
“I looked, but couldn’t find a den anywhere, or any sign of the mom. I’ve had numerous families through my shed, and nothing like this has ever happened. I knew it was time for human intervention.”
“You’re not wrong. They need to be fed and cared for from now on. Shame their mother disappeared.”
“It is. You’ll take good care of them?”
“Yes. I will make sure they get the right nutrition and care until they can move in with some of our other raccoon rescues. That habitat is about four acres, so they should be fine.”
“Good, good.” I reached for the box, but he pulled it back a little. “Can I visit them?”
“You what?”
This guy was… weird? No. Gentle? Kind? Sweet? Nope. I went back to weird. I recognized it because, in a lot of ways, he was acting as I would, which made me feel off-balance. “You want to visit them?”
“Yeah. A couple of times a week, if possible.”
“I guess. Sure.”
My skin itched at the idea of him being around that often, but he didn’t give me much of a choice.
Whatever. I didn’t have to interact with him if he actually came back.
When I reached for the box again, he let it start to leave his hands, but he stopped it a second time.
“Let me say goodbye to them.” He looked in the box; his tone and eyes softened.
“Okay, North, South, you be good for—“ he looked at me. “I didn’t get your name.”
“Eion.”
“You be good for Mr. Eion, and he will help you grow up to be big and strong. And behave yourselves. Don’t cause him any trouble.
I’ll be back in a few days to visit. I promise.
” He looked at me and gave me a solid nod.
I took the box and headed toward the medical room, where I did all my quarantine and intake procedures.
Angus followed. Usually, once the animals were handed over, people would leave.
This was a new situation, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
Barnaby followed along behind both of us like it was completely normal to have a stranger in our space.
“Was there something else you wanted?” I turned and looked at Angus.
“Do you call a vet for them now or something?”
“I am a vet.”
“Cool, cool. Is it only you here?”
“Yes. Did you need—“
“Oh. I’d like to pay for their care.”
“Thanks for the offer, uh, Angus. That’s not necessary. You can make a donation on our website.”
“Oh, I will do that. But I would like to care specifically for North and South. They are family after all.”
Even though this guy was now frustrating the piss out of me, something about him was adorable.
I refused to let my brain think about it too much because adorable men were my kryptonite, and he liked animals, which was more than I could take.
“How can you tell which is which?” Why would I engage with this man.
Why was he still here? Now I was about to engage with him. He was already breaking down my defenses. I needed to get him out of here and have a long talk with my traitorous dog, who was rolling around on his back while Angus rubbed his belly.
“Oh, that’s easy.” He walked over next to me.
I could smell him, and it was nice—way more than nice.
He reached over my arms into the box, and I was unable to do anything but soak in the warmth of him against my body.
It had been too long since a man I was attracted to was this close, and my dog wasn’t the only thing being a traitor.
My cock stirred, wondering what was happening, and was ready to participate in anything that involved the person waking him up from his long slumber.
Adorable and loves animals, this was bad.
Clearing my throat, I ignored my body as he answered my question. “North here has this solid line on his forehead.”
I looked at the two faces and could easily identify which raccoon North was.
Great, now I was calling them by their ridiculous names.
“Okay.” It was all I could say since my brain wasn’t firing properly.
It had been years since I felt any kind of way about a man, and this man shows up with a couple of raccoons, talks to my bear, and suddenly parts of my body that have been sound asleep wake up.
It was obviously a lack of sleep, too much work, and worry over the baby bears. Sounded legit to me.
“Okay. Well, I should let you do your thing.” He headed out of the room and turned toward his car.
Impulsively, I pulled up the video feed and watched him walk toward the gate.
The man had a very fine ass. Those thoughts should be shut down.
I didn’t even know if he would appreciate the attention from a man.
At his car, he pulled out what looked like a business checkbook.
Then pulled out what looked to be a check and jogged back toward the building.
I put my head down and talked to South like that was what I had been doing the whole time.
He didn’t need to know I was creeping on him by watching the camera.
“Oh, hey. You never gave me an amount to care for them, so I guessed. He set the check down on the exam table. If you need more, let me know. See ya in a couple of days.” He wiggled his fingers at me and then left again. This time, I watched him drive away. I wasn’t being creepy at all.
Once I had the new residents settled in a cage for quarantine, and their bellies were filled, I picked up the check Angus had left. To my surprise, it was for five thousand dollars, and in the corner next to his name was a rainbow flag.
Well, isn’t that interesting?