Bella, too, never stopped listening. On walks she tugged toward the lion house, ears pricking at every roar. Ethan always pulled her back, whispering apologies. Her eyes lingered long after, fixed on the place where her children waited.
The storm broke without warning, a wall of wind and water hammering the zoo until alarms shrieked through the grounds. Branches snapped against fences, lights flickered, and the air smelled sharp with ozone. Ethan ran from one enclosure to the next, heart pounding.