Raising the Stakes. Karen Rock

and sixteen on the New York State Wildlife Rehabilitator certification practice test. This was hard. Much more challenging than she’d imagined when she’d vowed to pass it.

      For the first time, doubt set in. The test was tomorrow and she’d still missed too many questions. What if she failed? Her heart stumbled to a halt. Without a home, would Button be put down after all? The bear’s temporary spot at the rescue center expired at the end of the week. Vivie was all she had.

      Vivie gripped the mug handle. She couldn’t let Button down. The cub had kept going after the shooting, dislocated jaw and all. She hadn’t quit, and neither would Vivie.

      She answered several more questions, relieved when she missed only three. Progress. For a reward, she tossed back a handful of chocolate. This had to work. Button deserved a safe home.

      Didn’t everyone?

      The thought brought her up short. Once, she wouldn’t have asked that question at all. Would have assumed that personal safety was a guarantee. Her mind flashed back to her last year in culinary school, the sudden hand over her mouth as she walked home from her late-night cooking job. How her masked attackers had tortured and tormented her, then left her for dead.

      She shuddered and pushed away the thought. The journey to recovery had taken her too far to go back there.

      When a sharp knock sounded on her front door, Jinx leaped from her lap and slunk under the piano bench. Vivie wished she could curl under there with her, but made her feet take her to the door. After the attack, her support group, Reclaim the Dark, had helped her think like a survivor. Not a victim.

      She would not live her life afraid.

      She eased open the door as far as the chain allowed and body blocked Scooter.

      Liam’s leaf-green eyes shone under the porch light. “I was coming back from a rescue call and thought I’d stop by. See how you were doing with your studies.”

      “What’d you rescue?”

      His mouth pursed. “Another heron caught in a fishing line. It’ll be touch and go for the rehabilitator tonight.”

      “That’s awful.” She unlocked the chain and let him in. Scooter leaped, putting both paws on Liam’s stomach.

      The officer caught them in his hands and smiled down at the rambunctious dog. “Shall we dance?” he asked in such a formal tone that Vivie laughed, her mood lifting.

      “I think he might need some breath mints first.”

      “Thought that was you.”

      She swatted Liam’s arm. “My breath is minty fresh, thank you very much. Would you like some tea?”

      He shook his head and sat on her side chair, his size dwarfing it. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

      She sank onto the couch. “I have to be, right?”

      “Right.”

      “Or you’ll shoot Button.”

      He regarded her gravely. “Wish you wouldn’t call her that.”

      She hugged a pillow. “Why?”

      “Because it makes her sound like a pet.” Liam leaned forward and the outdoorsy, masculine smell of him filled her senses. Normally, being alone with any man this late at night would terrify her. Instead, she felt alive and jittery, her stomach fluttering.

      “If you pass tomorrow—” he continued.

      “When I pass tomorrow,” she interrupted, lifting her chin despite her nerves.

      He studied her, his strong face handsome. “When you pass tomorrow, you need to start thinking like a rehabilitator. If you treat the bear like a house pet, I’ll have to remove her.”

      The thought knocked the breath out of her like ice water. “Button is going to make it here.”

      She pictured the nearly finished enclosure, how the sides facing the house had been boarded up, the back open save for the fence. Would she only ever glimpse the bear through the feeding slot? How would she let Button know she wasn’t alone? It was important to have support after being attacked.

      Liam nodded at her laptop. “Are you studying now?”

      She nodded. “I’m not getting the material,” she admitted.

      “Want me to quiz you?” Jinx had jumped into his lap and was kneading his stomach, purring like a race-car engine. He didn’t seem to notice the holes she’d punctured in his shirt as he petted her. When she turned and began shredding his pants, he pushed her tail from his face.

      “That’s okay. I’m fine on my own.” He was acting kind, yet he was still a threat to Button if things didn’t work out. How to focus on the test with so many warring thoughts?

      “So do you know whether or not all incoming wildlife should be treated with antibiotics to ward off infection?” he pressed, the fur in front of his mouth fluttering with every word.

      Jinx’s purring filled the room as Vivie wrestled with the question. She’d seen it on the practice test but couldn’t recall the answer, so she went with her gut.

      “Of course. It’s better to be proactive.” She tucked her jiggling foot underneath her opposite leg.

      Liam pulled a protesting Jinx away and shook his head. “Wrong. Antibiotics are only effective against bacterial disease and some types of parasites, but not viruses. Plus, they have side effects. Misuse of antibiotics can cause development of resistant bacteria. Oral antibiotics can destroy delicate gut microbes, leading to diarrhea. Some types of antibiotics can cause fatal enteritis in some species. Antibiotic treatment should be given only after careful examination of an animal’s condition and consultation with a veterinarian.”

      When he sat back, a smug look on his face, she remembered to close her mouth. “Do you have this whole manual memorized?”

      Liam studied his hands, a wry flip to the corner of his mouth. “I have a photographic memory.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “So you probably only had to read this once to know it, right?”

      He nodded, abashed.

      “Some people have it so easy,” she mumbled to herself. He had looks and brains, yet somehow she couldn’t resent him for it. The opposite actually, she thought, a blush creeping up her neck as she took in his strong jaw, dimpled chin and the width of his shoulders in his close-fitting T-shirt. He must have taken off his uniform shirt in the SUV...

      “Why don’t you give your eyes a rest—I’ll read the questions and multiple-choice answers to you.”

      Her traitorous heart leaped. That sounded good...too good...

      “Why would you do that?”

      His soulful eyes met into hers. “Because despite what you think, I’m on your side.”

      She peered at him, sideways. “I want to believe that.”

      “Do you think I want to put down the bear?”

      “Button,” she contradicted stubbornly.

      “Do you believe I would willingly harm her?”

      She thought about his hard work this week, laboring during his vacation to make an enclosure that met code.

      “No,” she admitted. “But you will if you feel you have to, and that’s as bad.”

      “Yes,” he agreed, his voice low and level. “It is. So will you save me from doing something I don’t want to do and let me help you pass this test?”

      She blinked at him in surprise. She hadn’t thought of it from his point of view. That he’d want her to succeed as much as she did. They might have different opinions on how best to raise Button, but they both wanted the bear alive. She could get behind that. She eyed Liam. If she wasn’t careful,