Page 11 of The Heir
At the sanctuary we nurtured injured animals and helped them return to nature. Each day was busy. Today I had cleaned the habitats of four different reptiles and fed horses, goats, and jaguars. Now I was feeding a white-faced capuchin monkey that was about six weeks old. I sat with him in my arms feeding him a bottle of milk while keeping an eye on my dogs. Huginn and Muninn played with three other canines that lived here, but unfortunately, the five dogs loved to mess with the goats and horses.
It surprised me how relaxed Dee-dee was about it. She assured me that in time they would figure it out. So far, she was right. I’d seen one of the horses bite Muninn when he got too obnoxious and the goats butted their heads against the dogs when they’d had enough of the their teasing.
“You’re so cute,” I whispered to the baby monkey in my arms whose large eyes and skinny body made him look vulnerable. He was sucking on the bottle of milk while playing with his feet. “What happened to your parents, little fella? Did they abandon you or did they get hurt? Huh?” My voice was deep and baritone as I soothed him by caressing the top of his little head with my thumb. “I know what it’s like to miss your people. I’m a grown man and I still think about my friends and family every day.”
Sitting on a bench up against the red building, I had my focus on the little monkey in my arms when I heard footsteps followed by a familiar voice.
“What’s this, Thor? Don’t tell me that you grew a kind heart while I was gone?”
Turning my head, I saw Linea walking toward me. “They told me I could find you here.”
“Who did?”
“Your colleagues. I asked if they had seen a large, scowling, angry Nman.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “How the fuck do you do it?”
“What, track you down?”
“Yes. This place is a four-hour flight from the beach where you last saw me.”
“I told you. It’s an ancient technique of tapping into energy. Animals do it all the time. How do you think birds follow migration routes or salmon find their way back to the stream where they were born? They set out an intention and tap into the energy that leads them. Humans overthink and disregard their intuition, which is sad.”
She had reached the spot where I sat on a bench with the baby monkey in my arms. “What happened to her?”
“It’s a male, and if you’re so in tune with nature why don’t you ask him yourself?”
Linea’s appearance was different from when we last met. Her thick hair was braided back, making her ears visible. Unlike my ears, hers were small and cute with a shape that made her resemble a fairy.
Sitting down on the bench next to me, she watched the baby monkey in my arms. He stopped eating and reached out to investigate her. “Hey, buddy.” Letting him play with her hand, she didn’t flinch when he chewed on her finger. For a while she didn’t speak but just sat with a focus on him. She still had those bloody sexy freckles spread across her nose like sprinkles on a delicious birthday cake.
“This little guy lost his mother.”
“You think?” I gave her the stink-eye, because her observation was a given.
“He doesn’t know what happened to his family, but he likes you.”
“Yeah, yeah, if you can’t tell me something specific then how do I know you didn’t make it up?”
She shrugged. “You don’t.”
Pressing the bottle gently against his little mouth again, I reminded him to eat, and he began sucking again. “I told you not to come back.”
“I remember.”
“Then why did you?”
When Linea didn’t answer me right away, I looked up and saw her watching me with a tiny smile on her face.
“Maybe I wanted my first spanking.”
My brow rose. “A Motlander using irony, that’s a first.”
“Is it?” She leaned back on the bench and looked anything but scared of me. “Are you ready to go back home?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I am.”
