The Twin Test by Rula Sinara

Author:Rula Sinara [Sinara, Rula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-31T20:18:02+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

PIPPA RAN HER hand along the trunk of Busara’s newest orphan as he stood on shaky legs in one of the wooden stalls reserved for those in critical care. The baby barely had the energy to curl its length around her arm, but he tried.

It broke her up inside every time her Uncle Kamau had to rescue another baby. Knowing that the little ones were terrified and traumatized by witnessing the slaughter of their mothers ate away at her insides.

She’d lived here, at Busara, since her birth, and yet the pain and utter disbelief that anyone could rip a family apart for the sake of selling ivory on the black market never got easier. Cruelty was never okay. Children and parents...families...getting ripped apart like that was wrong on so many levels.

“He’s still weak, huh?” Pippa asked her mother.

“Yes, but at least he doesn’t have any external wounds to contend with,” Anna said. Dr. Bekker had done surgery on one too many orphaned elephants over the years. Many had their legs gouged by snares and some even got caught in the crossfire of arrows or bullets. Still others, like this one, slowly starved next to their mother’s dead body.

“Do you want to name him yet?” Anna asked her.

Pippa didn’t miss the yet. Pippa had been naming the babies ever since she learned to speak. Her parents as well as Haki’s used to warn her that giving an animal a name too soon or growing too attached would only make it harder if he or she didn’t make it. It was too soon to know if this young elephant would survive. She didn’t care.

“How about Duma?”

“Cheetah? I don’t think he’ll ever run as fast as that, even if he fully recovers.” Her mom laughed.

“No, but maybe the name will inspire him to grow strong and healthy enough to dream that he can,” Pippa said.

“Fair enough. Let me know if he drinks any formula,” she said to the keeper, who stayed close by Duma’s side. All of their rescues had their own keepers who cared for them night and day, often sleeping on a cot in the same pen if the baby needed extra attention or was suffering from PTSD.

The whole thing made her think of Ivy and Fern. How had they handled losing their mother? How many nights had Dax held them close to keep bad dreams from plaguing them? Who had comforted him?

She followed her mom out into the afternoon sun and waved as her brother, Noah, and Haki’s brother, Huru, jogged out to where Kamau and his team were restocking their field medical unit. They’d both gotten so tall in the past year. At eighteen, Noah was probably done growing. She couldn’t believe he’d be leaving for college in the fall. And Huru, at seventeen, was already taller than Haki, though his shoulders weren’t as broad.

“Are the boys going on a round?” Pippa asked.

“So I’m told. I’m not sure either of them will have the stomach for injuries the field unit comes across, but we’ll see.

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