She spoke to him before every procedure. She remained nearby while nurses changed his bandages. When he finally began eating again, Margaret was sitting several feet away, quietly reading his medical notes aloud as if he could understand every word.
The bond was never supposed to last.
Atlas recovered, Margaret retired from active veterinary work, and the cub grew into the enormous lion the zoo visitors knew years later.
But there was one thing the official records did not explain.
Margaret had never intended to leave him without saying goodbye.
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