Saving Akira

by Candace Sams

Genres: Animals; Short Stories; Contemporary Romance; Workplace Romance; Friends to lovers; friends to lovers; sweet romance; Hallmark movie; Animal Hospital; Animal Lover; animal welfare

Synopsis

Mark O'Neil is a new cop at the local PD. The last thing he expected was to get a frantic call about a tiger running loose in a quiet neighborhood.

A tiger!

As far as he's concerned, it's a little too early in the morning for this kind of prank. The call is either a hoax, or somebody's alcohol-induced hallucination.

When a beautiful veterinarian responds to the same call, however, Mark quickly realizes that nobody is hoaxing anyone; there really is a tiger loose in somebody's backyard!

In a split second, everything can go horrifically wrong, or wonderfully right. Either the tiger is captured and no one gets hurt, or people are harmed and the animal must be destroyed.

A morning call for help is quickly becoming more than Mark ever expected. His future is about to change, all while saving Akira.

Release date: April 27, 2018

Publisher: Candace Sams

Content advisory: This is a sweet story, for all ages.

Sample

Saving Akira

Anywhere in the USA…

Mark O'Neil barely had the door to his cruiser open when an elderly gentleman, dressed in a blue robe and brown slippers, clumsily jogged down the sidewalk. The guy was yelling and pointing toward the south.

He stuffed down the impulse to ask if there was alcohol involved. It wasn't even eight in the morning, but what other possible explanation could there be for a man seeing a tiger in his backyard?

"Are you Mr. Cooper?" Mark asked as he shut his door and stood beside his patrol car.

"Yeah…Carl Cooper," the older man blurted as he stopped and took a few gasps before continuing. "You gotta do somethin’. It's in my backyard, drinkin’ out of my pool. I almost had a frickin’ heart attack!"

"Take it easy. AC is on its way."

“AC?”

“Animal Control,” Mark explained. 

 "Thank goodness! And thank God, I didn't open the doors to the backyard. We normally eat breakfast on the patio. My wife came downstairs, looked out the back window, screamed, and ran back up to the bedroom. I turned around to see what scared her, and there it was. Just walking around like it owned the whole damn place!"

"So, your wife is still upstairs? "Mark asked.

"Yeah. She locked the bedroom door. I can't get her to come out."

"Is there anyone else in the house?"

"No…nobody else," Cooper quickly responded.

Mark noted the man's red face and wild-eyed expression. "If you don't mind, I'd like to follow you inside. You show me where it is. All right, sir?"

"You gonna shoot it?" Cooper asked as he gestured toward his front door and led the way.

"Not if I don't have to."

Mark didn't want to mention the ammo he carried might just piss off an animal as large as a tiger. He'd never been trained to handle anything like this, and really didn't want to open fire in a residential neighborhood. If a bullet bounced, it could go through a window and hit somebody.

Thankfully, the dispatcher relayed that a vet was coming with Animal Control. Apparently, AC officers weren't equipped to handle a situation like this, either. They'd immediately called someone who had tranquilizers.

Before anyone else got there, he needed to determine if all this wasn't some hoax. He still had his doubts.

It took several minutes to walk up the street, follow Mr. Cooper into his house, and walk to the kitchen. Mark stopped in the breakfast dining nook and automatically gripped the handle of his sidearm.

A sparkling set of French doors revealed the scene that had caused Mrs. Cooper to flee to her bedroom. In that moment, Mark wanted to join her.

Just as Mr. Cooper reported, there was a tiger the size of a small sports car drinking out of a backyard swimming pool. Its muscular body stretched out to massive proportions. From the tip of its nose to its flicking tail, the big cat looked no shorter than ten feet. He guessed it weighed in at over three-hundred pounds.

"Christ almighty!" he muttered.