Malachi and the Twilight Zoo: Eve and Malachi, #5

By Abigail Hilton

Eve, Malachi, and Athena are enjoying a quiet winter in Gwen's home, full of stories and sleepy afternoons. Then they receive a surprising message. A group of cats are asking for their help. Even more shocking: the cats are lions.

 

In order to provide assistance, Eve and Malachi must take their adopted family into the zoo, where the local rats are unfriendly, a groundskeeper may be insane, and an old enemy is waiting to pounce. If they don't go, a young lion is certain to meet an untimely end in the shadows of the twilight zoo.

 

This is book 5 in the Eve and Malachi Series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pavonine Books
• Release date: Oct 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393123514

Abigail Hilton

Abigail Hilton is a traveling nurse anesthetist, based in Florida. She has spent time in veterinary school and done graduate work in literature. You can connect with Abbie and find all her social media links at www.abigailhilton.com. Abbie also writes steamy fantasy romance under the pen name A. H. Lee. If that sounds interesting to you, check out Incubus Caged. Warning: those books are edgier than her epic fantasy series.

Book preview

Malachi and the Dragon

Eve and Malachi, Book 6

By: Abigail Hilton

Published by: Pavonine Books

Cover art and illustrations by: Aki Ruiz

Cover Design by: Jeff McDowall

© 2019 Abigail Hilton. All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This material may not be reproduced, modified, or distributed without the express prior permission of the copyright holder. Artwork is displayed by agreement with the artists.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. A Message from Cats

Chapter 2. In Which Malachi Agrees to Meet Mindy

Chapter 3. In Which Mindy Says Gosh a Lot

Chapter 4. The Zoo

Chapter 5. Lions

Chapter 6. In Which a Cub is a Cub, No Matter How Large

Chapter 7. In Which the Rats Are For the Rats

Chapter 8. Crumble and Sweets

Chapter 9. Too Many Lions

Chapter 10. Minor Criminal

Chapter 11. When the Lights Shine Like a Thousand Eyes

Chapter 12. Hasan

Chapter 13. Brave Fools

Chapter 14. In Which Gwen and Mindy Have Earned Their Hot Chocolate

Chapter 1. A Message from Cats

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There was once a boa constrictor named Malachi who escaped from his human owners with the help of a family of rats. They all looked after each other, since they were not quite wild and not quite tame. Malachi’s particular friend was a rat named Eve, and he was also fond of her sister, Athena. They were on civil terms with two farm cats, and they had a human ally—a half-selkie girl named Gwen, who could talk to animals.

The animals had moved into a patch of blackberries, and this served them well throughout the summer. By fall, however, most of the rats decided to leave the blackberry bushes and join a colony of wild rats across the road in a compost heap. This seemed like a better place to spend the winter. Eve also thought that her mother and aunts found the wild male rats attractive, although no one said so.

Malachi was not invited. The wild rats were afraid of him. So Eve and Athena and two cousins remained. Gwen generously found them a spot under her house for the winter, where a pipe kept the ground warm. She left an egg under the porch for Malachi once a week. She left kitchen scraps for the rats whenever she could, and the birdfeeder was always overflowing with tasty seeds.

Winter was a dreary time of rain and cold, and Eve did not like it much,