Beast Tamer's Rebirth National Treasure Edition novel Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Sierra trailed behind Thomas, glancing over at Pip from a distance.

Seeing that Thomas and Pip were getting along just fine, Sierra didn’t linger and simply walked away.

Angel was still picking fights with the three raccoons, Quickie kept getting smacked around since it had no idea its dance was actually a mating ritual, and Milo, spoiled by its two dads, still couldn’t even bite through the skin of a single chicken.

Sierra did her usual livestream for a while, and when noon was just around the corner, she texted the wildlife rescue team, [Lunch break, anyone?] and headed out to grab a bite with them.

Sophie was the first to show up. She wore a sleek outdoor jacket, her long hair tied back in a ponytail, and her whole vibe basically said, “Don’t mess with me.”

But as soon as she saw Sierra, Sophie instinctively broke into a smile. “Hey, Sierra.”

“Hey, Sophie,” Sierra replied.

Sophie stood nearly six feet tall, while Sierra, at about five-seven, looked almost a head shorter next to her.

“Heard you met Elliot a while back?” Sophie glanced at Sierra, her tone unusually careful. “He didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”

“Mr. Paterson…” Sierra paused and then smiled. “Elliot’s actually really nice. We even grabbed some tacos together, and he helped me save Snowy.”

Sophie’s smile almost slipped.

She couldn’t help but think, ‘Seriously, what is Elliot even doing?’

‘He’s been into Sierra for ages, just bragging to the family but never actually doing anything about it. And now, after finally getting her out, his big move is eating tacos? Really?

‘No wonder he’s still single at twenty-six!’

Sophie’s usual icy expression started to crack. She took a few deep breaths, fighting the urge to just go over and smack Elliot upside the head.

With an awkward, forced smile plastered on her face, Sophie was feeling so done inside. “So, did you actually like the taco?”

Her family all knew about her job change, but nobody ever asked her why. Her husband, her mother-in-law, and everyone else just kept quiet about it.

But Elliot, knowing Sophie was close to Sierra, had asked her to see what Sierra thought of him.

Sophie just couldn’t find the right moment. Elliot was really into Sierra, but as for Sierra, she probably just saw Elliot as a normal friend, nothing special.

Sophie still couldn’t believe that he took Sierra out for tacos the first time they met.

Sophie thought he was not gonna make it.

Sierra caught the mix of emotions on Sophie’s face, but she was totally battled by it.

Back when she was still in showbiz, Sierra had only briefly interacted with Elliot. At the time, she just thought he was super aloof.

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Chapter 102

But now that she’d actually spent some time with him, Sierra realized there was a fun, interesting soul hiding beneath that icy exterior.

Sierra didn’t have many guy friends, and Elliot’s really one of a kind. Honestly, she actually liked that about him.

Sierra looked at Sophie, her tone sincere, “Honestly, Elliot and I get along really well.”

Sophie was totally blown away.

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‘Sierra really is a Northbel University genius. She’s talking Elliot up like he’s some kind of superstar. If Elliot were here right now, he’d be grinning so hard that he’d probably ascend straight to heaven, Sophie thought.

Sophie didn’t say anything else. She just stood there with Sierra, waiting for Ethan and the others to show up.

The zoo wasn’t exactly out in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn’t downtown either.

Ever since Sierra started thinking about opening the zoo to the public, Henry and Thomas had already applied to the higher-ups for funding, and now the roads and parking lots nearby were getting renovated.

Sierra was already planning to reach out to some artists soon to design some merch. It might as well make a bit of extra cash while she was at it.

Ever since the government realized Sierra could handle any challenge, they just kept sending her every wild animal with problems.

Sure, they did give her some subsidies, but with more and more animals coming in, her wallet was getting emptier by the day.

Just as Sierra was mulling things over, Ethan and the rest of the wildlife rescue team showed up.

They headed to their go-to spot nearby and ordered dishes.

For folks like Sierra who were always out in the wild, nobody really cared what was on the table.

Back when they were hunting for Kaelenridge Sheep on Mount Kaelenridge, cooking a proper meal was a luxury.

Most days, it was just stale breads and survival biscuits, and if they ever managed to score some veggies, the Kaelenridge Sheep would swipe them before they could even blink.

So, whenever they weren’t out on a mission, they’d either swing by Sierra’s place for a free meal or just meet up somewhere for food.

The wildlife rescue team didn’t have any fixed duties when it came to animal care. Every day, they had something different to do.

Because of that, their conversations about animals were always wide-ranging and covered all sorts of topics.

Timothy could talk for hours at the table, never running out of things to say.

“Hey Sierra, remember Slowy, that python from when we were on that show? It just parks itself in one spot all day, never budging. I’m honestly worried it’s gonna end up with bedsores!

“And then there’s Biggie, that bear whose enclosure is right next to the Lion’s Den.

“Every single day, it goes over just to taunt the lion king next door. I swear, I’ve never met anyone, well, any bear, so much of a jerk in my life.

“And Quickie. Every time it sees me, it calls me a dumbass. Seriously, why can’t it just behave for once?”

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Chapter 102

Timothy talked himself hoarse, finally getting all his animal gripes off his chest. He wrapped it up. “Honestly, we’ve got a long road ahead. I’m just a backup here. The real hero is Sierra. She’s the one keeping this whole show running

Timothy honestly thought running the zoo was even tougher than his old gig studying polar wolves. He shot Sierra a look full of sympathy and major respect.

He grabbed his juice like it was some fancy liquor, clinked glasses with Sierra, and said, all serious, “Sierra, no joke, without you this zoo would be toast. You’re the real MVP!”

Then Timothy knocked back his juice in one go.

But just as he was about to swallow, he felt a sudden shove from behind. Timothy jerked his head to the side, and the whole mouthful of juice ended up on Ethan’s pants.

Ethan’s forehead veins were practically popping. He snapped, “Timothy, you-”

Timothy’s scalp tingled. He blurted out, “I swear I didn’t mean to! Someone just shoved me!”

With that, he looked over his shoulder to see who it was.

There was a slightly overweight woman, probably in her early thirties, holding a leash. At the end of it was a pure white Samoyed, tongue lolling out as it stared right at him.

Timothy blinked and said, “Did the dog just shove me?”

The woman looked flustered and quickly apologized, “Sorry, sorry!”

Timothy’s face softened. “Alright, since you apologized, let’s just forget it. I won’t hold it against you.”

With that, he turned back to his meal.

But the woman didn’t leave. Instead, she turned her gaze to Sierra.

Sierra raised an eyebrow and said, “Have you been following us all the way from the zoo? Did you need something?”

The woman blinked, “You noticed?”

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The woman looked startled for a moment, and then her eyes went red. She blurted out, “I didn’t mean to follow you. I watch your livestreams all the time, and I know you take in lots of stray cats and dogs.

“I have a Samoyed. It’s only five, super well-behaved, not picky at all, and eats whatever I give it. I was really hoping you could take it in.”

Her voice was desperate, almost breaking into sobs. “Ms. Sterling, I honestly have nowhere else to turn. If you don’t take it, it… It’ll die!”

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2:04 Sat, Jan 10