He and Ellie had never talked about the group that had set up camp deep in the bayou that he, Spencer, and the other guys kept tabs on, but he somehow knew that Ellie knew about it. He suspected that she helped keep the family distracted from anything that might tip them off to any unrest or that Zander was working on anything beyond a cooler of beer or a fishing expedition when those guys were in town.
More than half of his “fishing trips” were actually meetups with his little posse of protectors.
God, he missed actually fishing.
“’Mornin’,” Ellie greeted as the others shifted around and pushed chairs out for Caroline and Zander. “Do you need anything other than grits, bacon, eggs, and biscuits?”
“Caro?” Zander asked. Then winced. The nickname came out too easily.
He avoided looking at Donovan.
“Nope, that’s all really good with me,” she said cheerfully, taking the seat next to Naomi and giving the other woman a big smile.
“Glad you’re here,” Naomi said. “We’ve got news. Tell her,” Naomi said, nudging Donovan with her elbow.
“Tell me what?” Caroline asked.
“We have an idea for Mwanzo.” Donovan looked excited.
So did Griffin. Which was very unusual. Griffin was a wildlife vet and much preferred animals to people. Except maybe Charlie. But he was a very stoic guy. Excited was definitely not a norm.
“What kind of idea? Is he okay?” she asked.
“He’s a little underweight, but he’s eating well,” Griffin said. “But we’re concerned about his socialization.”
Caroline frowned. “Concerned?”
Zander slid his arm along the back of her chair. He didn’t touch her, but he leaned toward her slightly. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “Griffin and Donovan are experts.”
She looked at him and he saw her shoulders relax. She nodded.
“It’s just that lions are the only wild cats that live in groups,” Donovan explained. “Most wild cats are solitary. But lions live in prides and they depend on that group dynamic,” Donovan said.
Caroline nodded, a tiny line wrinkling the space between her eyebrows. “And he doesn’t even have his mom.”
“Right,” Griffin said. “He’s going to need some kind of group.”
“Can he be with the tiger you have?” Caroline asked.
Donovan shook his head. “Tigers don’t function in groups and he’s an old guy who we think has been alone most of his life.”
Caroline’s frown deepened.
Zander felt his own tension in his neck. The last thing any of them needed was another headstrong woman getting worked up about animal welfare. They had plenty with Fiona and Charlie and Jill and Naomi.
“He’s pretty set in his ways,” Donovan continued. “But…” He looked excited as he glanced at Naomi, then Griffin.
“What?” Caroline asked, leaning in.
“We’re thinking that Brinkley might be good for him.”
“Who’s Brinkley?”
“Our dog,” Naomi said. “She’s a German shepherd and we think she’s had puppies in the past. She’s so sweet. She’s a rescue and really seems to need socialization herself.”
“You want a dog to become a surrogate mom to a lion cub?” This came from Charlie, who had leaned in to join the conversation.
“Oh my God, I love that,” Fiona added from the end of the table.
“That can happen?” Caroline asked.
Griffin shrugged, but Naomi nodded. “Definitely.”
Donovan laughed and explained. “Dogs are pack animals naturally. Like wolves. And like lions. They do best in groups. They love to be a part of a family. If Brinkley had puppies but wasn’t allowed to mother them—”
“Why wouldn’t she have been allowed to mother them?” Caroline broke in.
Realizing Caroline was not going to focus on food as long as they were talking about the lion cub, Zander reached for a couple of plates and started filling them from the serving bowls in the middle of the table.
Ellie, Leo, and Ellie’s best friend and business partner, Cora, waited on the rest of the tables like a normal restaurant with menus and individual dishes. But for family it was more like they were all sitting down at a table in her home and she served up whatever she wanted to. It wasn’t as if any of them would turn down any of her food anyway.
“We rescued Brinkley from her asshole owner,” Naomi said with a frown. “It’s possible he didn’t want to deal with a bunch of puppies so when she had them, he probably took them away from her. Hopefully he gave them away but…who knows.”
It was clear that other possibilities occurred to Caroline right away. She looked shocked, then angry, then sad, and Zander had to keep from snapping at them all to watch what they said.
Holy shit.
“Eat,” he told her, sliding a plate in front of her.
She didn’t give a specific indication she’d heard him, but she picked up a piece of bacon.
“So that could work?” Caroline asked. “Brinkley might mother a lion cub? I mean…seriously?”
Donovan nodded. “He needs someone to cuddle and comfort him, to keep him company, to teach him to do things like play appropriately. He won’t need to learn to hunt if he stays with us, but—”
“If?” Caroline interrupted again. “You’re not going to keep him for sure?”
“We’re working on the paperwork,” Fiona explained. “It shouldn’t be a problem, but nothing is for sure until it’s all signed.”
Caroline frowned and looked at Zander. “But—”
“It will be okay,” he said again. He made his tone firm. She seemed to respond to that best. Firm reassurance.
She took a deep breath as she looked at him.
He nudged her arm and she lifted the bacon to her mouth.
He smiled even as a shaft of heat hit his gut. He did like being in charge and having people do what he told them to, especially when he was trying to take care of them. He loved to give orders that were immediately obeyed simply because the other person knew he had their best interest at heart. It made protecting people so much easier when he could simply bark out, “Stop!” or “Get out now!” or “Everyone inside!”
That Caroline so easily trusted him and listened gave him a sense of primal satisfaction that he couldn’t deny.
It was the weirdest damn thing but when she took a bite of that bacon, it made him want to make her come hard, screaming his name. What bacon and orgasms had in common he couldn’t have explained, except that it all fell under the category of taking care of her and making sure she had whatever she needed.
“So Brinkley can give the cub what he needs to be happy and healthy,” Zander summarized as Caroline ate. “And physically, he’s in decent shape and you have reason to think he can improve.”
Griffin and Donovan both nodded.
“We might even get Brinkley and the cub another couple dogs to add to the pack,” Donovan said. “Maybe a couple of other puppies too so he has some brothers and sisters his age to play and grow with.”
“He’ll outgrow them pretty fast, but if we get the right breed—something bigger but with a good temperament—it could work,” Griffin said.