Read on for a free chapter of

Book three in the Animal Allies Series

Coming February 2020

Chapter 1

I adjust my laptop and stare at the screen, open to Facebook. The cursor of my mouse hovers over the button Join Group.

No, she’ll never accept me. I return to my new obsession: scrolling through the comments on Stella’s latest post, reading and liking as I go.

Activists Unite is a private group on Facebook run by Stella Morris, a journalist and animal activist with multiple social media platforms. Stella is admired worldwide and followed by millions. She’s constantly travelling, speaking, writing and publishing books. She gets interviewed on CNN, BBC and even Al Jazeera when world news breaks on an animal issue. But unlike some, she’s not all about self-promotion; she regularly shares other people’s accomplishments, supporting and encouraging their advocacy. She’s currently on a world tour, delivering eighty speeches in twenty days in ten different countries. Today she’s speaking in Beijing and has posted a petition against bear bile farming, an industry that cages bears and removes their digestive fluid so it can be used in traditional medicine.

I add a comment: Thanks for that, then delete the last two words. I’m trying to sound more articulate. Thanks for informing me about this, Stella, I write instead, tagging her name as always. Occasionally she pops into the comments and replies to people, but never to me. I’m just one person among a squillion fans.

I read comment after comment, some posted in real time. Many already have tens, even hundreds, of likes from others in the thread.

This is disgusting, ugly, vile, and heartless.

Stella, u r my inspiration.

Stop animal exploitation.

The animals thank you.

The doorbell rings.

‘Coming!’ I call through my bedroom window. I leap off my bed and run to open the front door.

My dog, Bella, rushes to greet Oliver her tail circulating like a ceiling fan. She snorts with happiness and rolls onto her back as he kneels down to find her secret tickle spot.

He gets to his feet and we hug. ‘Missed you,’ I say into the crook of his neck.

He pulls back. ‘We saw each other in the park last night.’

‘But that was yesterday.’ A knot of doubt lies undigested in my stomach as I lead him inside the house. It’s been over a month since Oliver and I got back together, but things still aren’t the same as they were.