Hunting Death

Chapter 1

Madison slipped the nipple of the bottle into the scruffy little black cub's mouth, and he suckled hungrily. She laughed as he pawed at her hands and growled, easily her favorite part of the job.

"Hungry little devil aren't you?" She asked the young hyena cub, who squirmed and wiggled in her grasp.

The pup gulped down the rest of the supplement and began biting the rubber nipple, pulling on it and growling more fiercely, before abandoning it altogether to nip and snap at Madison's fingers. Chuckling, she stood and stepped over the siding of the holding pen.

As much as she enjoyed playing with the cub, the runt of the litter that needed a bit more than mamma provided, she needed to finish her morning rounds.

She had a pregnant New Guinea Singing Dog due for an ultrasound, and she needed to check on the rest of the hyena clan as well. She also had a public appearance scheduled with Koda, the resident gray wolf, and his companion Kona.

Today would be a busy day indeed.

"Hey Madison?" One of her coworkers called out when she'd finished washing the bottle and placing it on the drying rack.

"Yeah?"

"There's someone here to see you."

Madison cocked a brow, it wasn't often she got visitors at work, in fact, it never happened. "Can you have them wait in my office? I need to finish up here."

"He already is," the woman replied.

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Barb."

Madison finished filling out her charts for the hyena pup and took another look around the room to make sure she had everything back in order before heading to her office.

Though not much of an office, more of a supply closet really, it was an office all the same, and even better, it belonged to her. She had enough space in there for a small desk, an extra chair for visitors, and a bookshelf. She'd been with the San Diego Zoo for three years now, and barring any major medical procedures, worked as a zookeeper specializing in Canine care.

Still saving up for a place of her own, she rented a small apartment close to work for now, but once she had a house with a yard, going down to the local shelter and adopting a dog or two would be first on her list. She wanted to be surrounded by canines all day long.

Her apartment much like her office could be described as small and cramped. But it allowed her to save quite a bit of money, and one day soon she'd be able to afford a house to call home.

Heading down the hall towards her office, Madison let herself daydream about the future, about the prospect of buying a house, finally settling down, and filling it with love, which made her smile. She didn't give much thought to who might be waiting for her in her office.

She did a lot of community outreach, a big part of that being the animal ambassador program, so it might have had something to do with that. A school wanting a zoologist to come and speak to the kids, or a field trip that included an animal encounter. Those sorts of things were requested all the time.

The tall Italian looking fellow in the posh suit that waited for her in her office, however, surprised her.

With a perplexed look on her face, Madison extended a hand to the gentleman when he turned towards her from the bookcase where he'd obviously been examining her collection of books. A collection that ranged from books on veterinary medicine and zoology to romance and science fiction. Madison spent a lot of time at work, most of that tending to animals due to give birth, so having a variety of things to read often helped in passing the time.