Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 2

me."
    TJ tried not to notice the muscles that bunched and moved beneath his jeans as Cory led him down the aisle. "Bogo has been limping off and on for the past couple of weeks. Dr. Sullivan has already done a visual on him twice, by the way. He's now starting to act a bit lethargic, and he's not eating as much. Today, the limp is subtle but more pronounced than it has been," Cory explained. He turned toward one of the cages where a large, male lion was resting on a raised platform.
    At first glance, Bogo looked uninterested, but when he looked closer, the lion's posture clearly showed he was wary. When TJ continued to look at him, Bogo growled low in his throat. TJ slowly bent down and placed his medical tote on the floor, never breaking eye contact with the lion. Bringing the tote in right away probably wasn't his best idea.
    "Have you noticed any swelling?" TJ asked.
    Cory looked like he wanted to say, Duh! But all he said was, "None."
    "And, has he been exhibiting any behaviors like incessant grooming of the area?"
    "Nope." Cory looked unhappy with the question.
    "I assume you haven't found any signs of what he may have injured it on?"
    Cory frowned. "If I had, I would have mentioned them."
    TJ pushed his glasses up and fought the urge to wipe damp palms on his slacks. Maybe he had been a little too abrupt. Now, he was dealing with prickly hot guy. TJ told himself it was better than sporting wood while dealing with flirtatious hot guy. He considered apologizing and being honest. Then, he reminded himself he needed to take charge.
    "I don't suppose you could get him up and moving around for me?" TJ asked.
    "No problem. Give me a sec." Cory turned and bent over directly in front of him to grab the black hose. TJ almost groaned. He watched the lion instead and continued to assess his breathing and overall appearance while Cory wound up the hose.
    Cory retrieved a long pole with a buoy attached to one end from a hanger on the far wall, and a plastic container of red meat chunks that had been sitting on the hay shelf beside it. He set the container at his feet, and he pulled a small, metal whistle from his shirt pocket. He looped the chord over his neck. Putting one end of the whistle into his mouth, he held it with his teeth. Cory extended the long pole out toward the thick, metal cage mesh so that the buoy touched it.
    "Bogo, target." He sounded a little strange talking around the whistle in his mouth.
    Bogo stood and stepped down from his platform. He walked toward them with no sign of a limp, keeping a suspicious eye on TJ. Still, he came right over and pressed his nose to where the buoy touched the mesh. Cory tooted the whistle and bent down to toss Bogo chunks of meat as a reward.
    "Right front you say?" TJ wanted to be sure.
    "Yep." To Bogo, Cory said, "Right." He moved the target to his left.
    Bogo stepped around until he had his entire right side pressed along the cage wire and his right hip touched the target. He stood still, but growled low in his throat at TJ, again.
    TJ moved around and bent over slowly to get a better look at the right front leg. When he was very nearly standing on his head, he saw what looked like a lump on the underside of the leg about two inches above the pad.
    "Steady." Cory said when Bogo started to move away. When he stilled, Cory tooted the whistle and tossed him a couple more chunks of meat.
    TJ took his time scanning the rest of his leg and comparing it to what he could see of the left, front leg. Other than the small lump, the leg didn't look swollen.
    "Okay, I've seen what I need to see," TJ said.
    "Good boy." Cory praised Bogo and offered him two more chunks of meat. He set the target pole aside and with both hands made a signal that looked like the ump calling you safe. "All done."
    Bogo made a grunting sound as if disgusted with the notion of moving around just for that. He ambled back to his platform and lay down without of trace of a limp at all.
    "He's the king of the fakers when a vet's in the house," Cory said.
    "Smart man." TJ tried for comedy. Cory just shrugged. TJ reminded himself it was best to keep things strictly business, anyway. "I noticed he has what looks like a lump a few inches above his pad. Due to the length of time this has been going on, and taking into account his other symptoms, it's my assessment that we need to anesthetize him and get a biopsy as soon as possible. I can have a team here tomorrow by eight, if you will please fast him