Black Hills

him wrong. More than once. But I’d say that was the point where Coop stopped needing his father’s approval, on any level, in any way. He’s never said, and probably wouldn’t admit it, but I know him. And he’s never stopped needing yours.”
    “He’s never asked me what I thought, if I approved.”
    “Hasn’t he?” Brad said lightly.
    “I don’t—” She turned at the shout, watched the van ease up in front of the first cabin. “That’s our tiger.”
    “No shit, the strip-club tiger? Can I watch?”
    “Sure, but she won’t do a lap dance. We’ll start her out in the enclosure,” Lil began as they walked toward the van. “On the other side of the fencing we put up in Boris’s. He’s old, but he’s feisty. She’s young, but she’s been declawed. And she’s been chained or caged, drugged most of her life. She hasn’t been around her own kind. We’ll watch how they react to each other. I don’t want either one of them hurt.”
    She stopped to introduce herself and shake hands with the driver and the wrangler. “Our office manager, Mary Blunt. Mary will take the paperwork. I’d like to see her.”
    Lil climbed into the cargo area, crouched so the dull eyes of the tiger met hers. Defeated, Lil thought, resigned. All the pride and ferocity sheared away by years of mistreatment.
    “Hello, pretty girl,” she murmured. “Hello, Delilah. Welcome to a whole new world. Let’s take her home,” she called out. “I’ll ride back here with her.”
    She sat cross-legged on the floor of the van, cautiously pressed her palm to the bars. Delilah barely moved. “No one’s ever going to hurt you again, or humiliate you. You have family now.”
    As they had with the pampered Cleo, they set the cage, locked open the door to the opening of the enclosure. Unlike Cleo, the tiger made no attempt to leave the cage.
    Boris, on the other hand, prowled back to the fenceline, scenting the air. He marked his line, preening, Lil noted, as he hadn’t done in a very long time. And puffing out his chest, he roared.
    In her cage, Delilah’s muscles twitched.
    “Let’s back off. She’s nervous. There’s food and water in the enclosure. And Boris is talking to her. She’ll go in, in her own good time.”
    Lucius lowered his camera. “She looks kind of beaten down. You know, emotionally.”
    “We’ll get Tansy to work with her. And if we need to, we’ll bring in the shrink.”
    “You have a tiger shrink?” Brad asked, astonished.
    “A behavioral psychologist. We’ve worked with him before, in extreme cases. I guess you could call him an exotic animal whisperer.” She smiled. “Check him out on Animal Planet. But I think we’ll be able to take care of her. She’s tired and . . . her self-esteem’s an issue. We’ll just make sure she knows she’s loved, valued, and safe here.”
    “I think the big guy there is smitten,” Brad observed as Boris rubbed himself against the fence.
    “He’s been lonely. A male tiger mingles well with females. They’re more chivalrous than lions.” She moved back, sat on a bench. “I’ll just keep an eye on them for a while.”
    “I’ll go check on the progress on your gates. We should be able to test the system in another couple of hours.”
    After about a half hour, Tansy came to join her, and offer one of the two bottles of Diet Pepsi she’d brought out.
    “They used cattle prods and Tasers on her,” Tansy said.
    “I know.” Still watching the motionless cat, Lil sipped her soft drink. “She expects to be punished if she steps out of the cage. Sooner or later, she’ll go after the food. If she doesn’t, by tomorrow, we’ll have to get her out. I’m hoping we won’t. She needs to leave the cage on her own, and not be punished.”
    “Boris already has stars in his eyes.”
    “Yeah. It’s sweet. She may respond to him, to the alpha, before she gives in to hunger. And she’ll need to void. She’s probably had to void in her cage before, but she won’t want to, since there’s a choice.”
    “The vet working with animal abuse treated her for an infected bladder, and had to pull two of her teeth. Matt’s going over all the reports, and wants to examine her himself. But he feels, as you do, that she needs to be left alone for a while first. How are things between you and Coop?”
    “We’re in a kind of moratorium, I guess. We need to get this security up and running. Plus I think he’s working with the police. He has files he doesn’t want