Background: Courtney is the founder of a special foundation called Dawn that deals with underprivileged teens and animals. Children come to her animal facilities and learn how to take care of animals. She has a sixteen-year-old adopted son named Diego.
She also provides foster care to several teens. Dillon, Georgie, Brook Lynn, Trent, Sage, and Lucas.
Dillon: His parents died while on a trip to a safari in Africa when he was twelve. He was raised around animals so he's familiar with taking care of animals. He has a crush on Courtney's new foster teen, Georgie.
Georgie: Her single mother died of cancer two months ago. She's the newest of Courtney's home. She's never been around animals so she's a little weary. Dillon is helping her get used to them. She has a crush on him.
Brook Lynn: Her single father was abusive and she was taken out of her parent's custody. When she meets Diego they start to talk and they've been dating ever since.
Trent: He was in the custody of his older brother when he was killed in a drive-by-shooting involving a local gang when his brother wouldn't join them. He and Sage is an item.
Sage: Her father was murdered and was placed into foster Courtney's home. When she and Trent met and exchanged stories she found out that there was someone who understood her. She's going out with him.
Lucas: He was the first foster child Courtney took in. He has turned eighteen and has decided to stay at Courtney's to help with the foundation children.
Summary: Someone is poaching on the sections of land she's set aside for wild animals.
Jason Morgan, a federal agent, is sent out to her land to investigate. Sparks quickly fly between the two and they begin to fall in love.
The poachers get violent and kill one of her workers and put one of her kids in the hospital. It's the last straw; Courtney will protect what's with her life while Jason will protect her with his.
Chapter OneCourtney Corbin stood in front of the wall size bay window, sipping her morning coffee and looking over her land. She loved waking early and watch the sunrise over the mountains that border her land to the west. The reds, oranges, and pinks mixing and blending together. The first light of day christening her land for another day. The sight was so beautiful, so breathtaking; it was almost painful to watch.
Dawn was her favorite time of day, her inspiration for naming her foundation. Dawn, the first light of a brand new day. A brand new day, a second chance. A second chance she gives children and animals a like.
She could see the buildings that housed her animals. The first held the horses along with ponies, camel, and donkeys. The second belongs to the Billy goats, sheep, lambs, etc. The next is for the smaller animals such as rabbits, beavers, muskrats, and bobcats. They even have skunks, all though she regrets it at times when a kid runs to her having been sprayed and she has to bathe dunderhead in tomato juice.
Another building held the reptiles. Snakes, iguanas, and lizards. There was a pond that held frogs and fish. There was a smaller building where mice, rats, and other rodents.
On the other side of the house is where they keep the more exotic animals. The Lion's Den, they liked to call it, held the lions that were raised in captivity and can't be reintroduced back into the wild. There were the cheetah's house, tigers, orangutans, primates, and chimpanzees, panda bears and larger bears.
In front of the house was the kennels that held her children's dogs. Each of her six foster children has their own dog.
And for the other children, at the beginning of the month, twenty-five children come to her place. Each kid gets an animal of their choosing to take care of, feed, and play with. By doing this they learn responsibility, self-esteem, and friendship, morals, and values. They learn life.
She looked down when her own dog nuzzled his nose under her hand. "Good morning, Rocky," she greeted the Australian Sheppard. She bent to wrestle with him. "You want to go for a run, don't ya, boy?"
Rocky responded by knocking her on her butt and covering her face with sloppy kisses. She wrestled with him some more causing him to playfully growl before pushing him off her. Laughing she stood and wiped the slobber off her face. She looked out over the land again.
This was her love, this land and these animals. The land, the animals, and her six foster children were her life. The other children, also. She makes a difference in their lives. She'll protect that with everything she has…