“You were amazing before!” Zoe said. She clasped his wrist with both hands, head-butting him affectionately just below his shoulder. “Did you see Reuben’s face?”

  Jin giggled off to the side. “I’ve never seen him that speechless before.”

  “You were amazing too,” Ever replied. “Blueblood seemed to have taken quite a liking to you by the end of visit. He didn’t even want to go back in his box.”

  “Well…” Zoe watched Jin take the old files out. “I literally couldn’t have done it without you, Mr. Animal Whisperer. I think we’ve found you a new job.”

  “Job?” Ever asked. “How much are you going to pay me?”

  “Pay?” Zoe said innocently. “Who said anything about pay?” She looked back over her shoulder coquettishly as she went to call the next patient – or in this case, patients.

  “Pal and Prince, come on in!”

  Zoe walked in first, followed by a woman carrying a young German Shepherd pup, who couldn’t have been older than three months. The way that it was shivering in the woman’s arms reminded Ever of when he brought in Mimi to the clinic for the first time.

  Behind her walked a man who had a box, which was shorter than the one that Reuben had brought in, but about the same height.

  ^Oh hello, who do we have here?^ Nika leaped down from his vantage point, falling a lot slower than a normal cat but still landing on all fours. The black cat soul sat on the corner of the examination table as the man put the cage down, not reacting when Zoe’s hand passed through him as she tried to shoo him off.

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  “Megan and Eric, I’m Dr. Zoe, and here we’ve got Jin and Ever, my assistant and my… Animal Whisperer.”

  Megan and Eric looked at Ever at the same time, smiling politely. He could see behind their curiosity that they had also been crying recently.

  “Now,” Zoe said, taking her customary position, leaning with her hands against the edge of the desk behind her. “What seems to be the problem?”

  Megan and Eric looked at each other, with Megan gesturing for her partner to talk. “Well, it all started when our older German Shepherd, King, passed away a couple months ago.” There was a moment of silence. “We noticed that Paladin was really sad.”

  “Paladin?” Zoe said. “Oh, Pal.”

  “Yeah,” Megan said, managing a small smile, rocking Prince gently. “We love our epic fantasy.”

  Eric took off his backpack, pulled out a tablet, set it up on the table and started playing a video. Up until this point, no one had seen Pal. As the video started playing, a Maine Coon cat came right up against the door of the cage. She reached a paw out, claws extending as she pressed it into the wire.

  ^King…^ she mraowed, deep and melancholy.

  ^Why would you pine for a dog?^ Nika drawled.

  ^Quiet, fool!^ Pal hissed at nothing in particular. Eric put the tablet away, face grim.

  “We picked up Prince from a breeder, hoping that this new friend could help Pal move on, but…”

  “Pal has been biting and scratching him,” Megan finished. She approached Zoe, letting the vet inspect the young dog’s body.

  “Hmmm…” Zoe said. “Like humans, animals also need to mourn if someone dies.”

  “We made sure that Pal saw King after he passed away,” Megan replied softly. "We scattered his ashes at home and Pal watched it happen too. He just doesn’t seem to accept this little one.” She kissed the top of Prince’s head.

  Zoe’s eyes flitted up to her Animal Whisperer. “Are you both open for a house visit?”