Bella made the nursery her home. She kept vigil by the cubs, ears twitching at their cries, tail thumping faintly when Ethan entered the room. She was no lioness, yet she carried something just as powerful—patience, warmth, and an instinct Ethan couldn’t have forced even if he tried. Other keepers whispered about what he was doing. Some called it reckless.
Others came to the window late at night and stood in awe as the dog curled near the cubs, a quiet guardian. Ethan didn’t argue with any of them. He only kept showing up, Bella at his side, determined to give the cubs a chance. On the fourth night, when a storm cut the power for half an hour, alarms shrieked as the warming bed faltered.