Page 84 of The Prince of New York

“You’re going to end up with a lot of dogs,” he warned. “I know of ten that have the potential to be good service dogs, at least twenty that could be trained for emotional support and a few additional tasks, and three entire litters of puppies that are bred specifically to be service dogs. The organization that trained the dogs closed because the owner and trainer passed away, and they had nobody to take over.”

I frowned. “A lot of animals end up in the shelter because their owners pass?”

Domingo nodded. “We get a higher percentage than normal because we only euthanize animals that cannot be saved or are deemed to be a high danger to people after we’ve tried rehabilitation. We have two or three dogs and cats that fall into that category a year, which is low for the number of aggressive animals we have come through here. We euthanize less than half a percent of all animals to enter our shelter. If we can save them, we do—and we don’t particularly care if it costs a lot in treatments. If we can reasonably save the animal, we do.”

I foresaw the palace helping to home the animals through some program or another I’d spearhead if my sister didn’t beat me to it. “If you ever get any horses coming through here, give me a call. I know numerous monarchs who will not be able to look the horse in the eyes and tell me no.”

Domingo laughed. “If we get a horse through here, we’re going to panic because we do not have the facilities for equines. I’ll definitely give you a call, though, because we’ll need all the help we can get in that instance. It’s bad enough we have a bunch of ferrets we aren’t supposed to have because they’re illegal in New York.”

I frowned. “Ferrets are illegal here?”

“They are when they’re black footed.”

What the hell was going on at the shelter? “Where did you getthose?”

“Smugglers,” he spat. “We’re trying to figure out how to legally deal with them.”

I sighed, as the palace had rights to house any endangered species and a vet capable of caring for just about anything. “Throw them in a box. I’ll surprise my sister with them. How many do you have?”

“We have thirteen.”

I stared at him with wide eyes, as did Monty. “You have thirteen critically endangered ferrets?”

“That’s what we said this morning when they arrived. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that they’re healthy and have been extensively handled by people. But they were dumped this morning with a note that they’d been stolen from smugglers.”

Great. Just great. “My sister is going to love knowing there is an endangered animal smuggling operation going on right under her nose. Just give it to me straight. Are there any other endangered animals hiding in this place we should know about?”

“We may have a pair of Amur leopards.”

I stared at him, wondering how the hell an animal shelter had gotten two large cats. “How? Just how?”

“They came from a large cat sanctuary about an hour from here; their holding facility broke, and they couldn’t care for the cats. We offered to take them. Before I volunteered here, I worked for a zoo, so I’m qualified to care for them. They’re an unrelated male and female, young. They were legally imported from Russia, and they’ve been heavily domesticated. They aren’t quite as trustworthy as the tigers, but you can walk them to the palace on leashes without problems. I can help you set up their habitat.”

As my sister’s cheetahs would be joining the palace menagerie sooner than later, integrating a pair of leopards wouldn’t be much of a problem. “All right. Introduce me to the leopards. Monty, wrangle the girls with Madelyn, please. I’m going to have my hands full with my new cats. The leopards aremine.”

If I was going to go off the deep end, I’d go in style and with no reservations.

TWENTY-FOUR

We’d learned early on that the tigers loved babies of all species.

Much like mysister’s tigers, once the leopards realized I was their new pet parent, they stuck to my legs like they had a glue coat rather than fur. Fortunately for my sanity, the male weighed ninety-two pounds while the female weighed in at sixty.

Magic, likely sourced from an animal empath, had resulted in the big cats behaving abnormally. In the wild, they were notoriously solitary unless mating or raising young.

Sika, the female, cried if Tumen, the male, left her sight for longer than ten minutes. In addition to crying, she paced and weaved, expressing distress and anxiety that might result in somebody getting mauled. As such, we would have to keep the pair together.

Keeping the pair together would result in us rolling in leopard cubs, especially if we gave them an appropriate habitat. Sika and Tumen had already produced a litter with two cubs, both of which had been shipped back to Russia to fulfill the contract for their sale.

Fortunately for my sanity, the contract had been for two cubs, leaving us free and clear regarding their ownership. I would end up on the phone with Russia to make certain they were aware Sika and Tumen belonged to me and were officially members of the royal family.

As planned, Monty and Madelyn handled the girls while I followed, Isla perched on my shoulder and flanked with the two leopards, which drew attention from the palace staff. Word spread like wildfire that we had more feline rescues than we knew what to do with, and I requested that nobody warn my sister that two of the felines were rather large and predatory in nature.

I hoped the Californians didn’t mind the extra bodies, because I doubted I’d be able to convince Sika and Tumen to stay in New York—and I had no idea how we’d handle introducing them to Amisha and Endah.

Carefully, I suspected.

For our first stop, we took the girls to their suites, and within twenty minutes, we had them tucked into bed with their new cats. Upon discovering she had an entire pillow to herself, the senior animal went to sleep beside her new owner. I praised May and introduced her to the gray cat, who was quick to cuddle close for attention.

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