Damaged Billionaire Daddy Bear - Leela Ash Page 0,51
could about getting supplies, but her thoughts were in a whirl and she was still absent-minded. She slammed into someone in one aisle and she started to apologize when she met the familiar eyes of Roy.
He looked her over with something remarkably like contempt then pity crept into his eyes and he took her hand in his, “Come with me. I’ll show you something you do not know about that lover boy of yours.”
She glared at him, “Leave Theodore alone.”
“I see you don’t deny that he is your lover boy, which is just as well. His mark is all over you.”
Jessica stared down at herself, “Mark?”
Roy chuckled, “Just as I suspected. Do you think I hate him just to be hateful? Theodore Cooper and his kind are a blight on this town. He is not even human; he is an abomination. Have you ever asked yourself why he avoids the doctors and the cops? Or why he makes love to you as though he were ten men? Or why he has so many animals leave the rescue but you never see anyone coming to take them? Or why he got in a funk when you wanted to send some article to your publisher?”
Jessica stepped back in alarm, “How did you know about that?”
Roy scoffed, “This is a small town. Everyone knows everyone’s business. Why the hell do you think we dislike your Theodore?”
He turned and walked away, leaving Jessica feeling as if she were standing in front of a yawning abyss of emptiness.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Jessica’s happiness had been dimmed by Roy’s words, and try as she might, she couldn’t shake them. They had been the truth, every last one of them. She had noticed those things and more. She had noticed that, sometimes, animals came in but she never saw them leave and yet their receiving caves were empty. There were no reports of animal mortalities on Exotic Rescue since she came. What could be going on? Where were the animals being taken? And what about that part of the facility she had stumbled upon with wild animals in it? Did he have the necessary permits to house wild animals?
She flopped onto her bed tiredly as soon as she reached home. She needed to get some much needed sleep, but more than anything, she needed to sneak out tonight and try to move around to find out what she could about Theodore and Exotic Rescue. Roy and a good number of the townspeople distrusted him.
She dozed off and woke up two hours later. Her kids were at Theodore’s. They had insisted on sleeping over with Carla, and while she missed them, she decided there was no time like the present.
She dragged herself out of bed and yanked off her work clothes. She pulled on a pair of shorts and sneakers and a small crop top. Then she walked out of the house and slipped night goggles into her shirt pocket.
Unerringly, she crept toward the part of Exotic Rescue where she had seen the lion. Everywhere was silent, not even a single bird made a sound. The air was cool and crisp, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of dread and danger as though she were about to encounter something she wouldn’t like.
Her eyes darted between the trees lining the pathway as though looking for hidden dangers. As she neared that part of the facility, she heard a high-pitched scream that could only have come from an animal. She froze in fear, her heart in her throat.
Her hands clutched at her heart. If that was the noise the townspeople reported hearing at night in that facility, it was no wonder they regarded Theodore with more than a little suspicion.
As she crept toward the facility, she noticed some reverberations in the earth exactly like she had felt that first night when she met Connor. She dashed toward the building and entered the house.
Her scream started and died in her throat in horror. She saw a huge dragon flapping its wings as it shrieked and the men standing around it were all relaxed and laughing. She was still staring in disbelief when one of the men dashed forward and clapped the dragon on his shoulder. The man was Theodore, she realized in shock. As she stared, a puma was stretched out on a stretcher and as she watched, Theodore carried some syringes and began to inject them in the poor animal as it groaned in pain.
Jessica