Ethan shook his head slowly. “No. We didn’t throw anything in there.” He turned to the vet. “Kill the lights. Now.” The enclosure dimmed. The silence that followed was thick, filled only by the sound of Shira’s low, rhythmic growl echoing from the dark. An hour later, the control room glowed with screens and static.
Ethan stood over the CCTV console, replaying footage from multiple angles. Caleb and Lily sat off to the side, watching in uneasy silence. “Slow it down,” one of the techs said. The operator scrubbed back to the moment the dart hit the dirt. On screen, the tigress exploded into motion; frame by frame, her head lowering, her jaws closing around the object.