Page 46 of Tiger Born

Stupid, slow, human body!

Time slowed as the powerful Cats bunched their muscles and leapt through the air, right for her.

She dropped. It’s all she could do.

Misty dropped to the ground and slid across the gravel as the tigers collided with Stellan above her.

Shocked, Misty skidded to a painful stop and looked up to see a brutal war. She’d seen a fight like this before, half a decade ago between Dame and Stellan’s tigers, but this one felt different.

This one dragged on and had a violence to it that she’d never witnessed in her life. Even after Mars had pulled off Stellan, Dame didn’t. It was two orange tigers locked in a battle to the death, and a sadness washed over her for her part in all of this.

They were brothers.

Whatever happened here would echo through their lives forever.

The darker one was on the ground, and he wasn’t moving anymore. He wasn’t fighting back.

Mars’s white tiger paced in the background, his frost blue eyes on the war, his tail twitching in agitation, his ears flattened as he snarled at the others. His fur was matted with red, and his ear was cut badly. His mouth was bloody, and it contrasted with that white fur.

Dame latched his teeth onto Stellan’s neck and dragged him a few yards, but he wasn’t moving. His limp tail made a trail through the dirt.

Mars let off a short roar, and another, and another.

Dame dropped Stellan and joined in, pacing, tail twitching, furious gold eyes on Stellan’s body. Mars made a short charge at him and they both tensed and swatted at each other with their enormous paws. It was a short skirmish and then they were circling Stellan.

He was ripped up. It was bad. His underside was mangled, and his face was covered in red. His gold eyes blinked slowly, and he angled his head down to look at her. His pupils were so small, nothing more but pinpoints. She would never forget the way he looked in the halo of light from the barn.

A tear slid to her cheek and she looked away. It was all too much.

Dame’s tiger approached her and nearly knocked her over by rubbing its enormous head against her.

He sniffed at her forearm. It was bleeding from sliding into the gravel, and the pads of her feet were all cut up. She would be picking pebbles from her skin for an hour.

He ran his tongue across her forearm and she winced.

A low rumbling sound emanated from him before he sauntered to the tree line and began his change back. Mars was already back in his human skin. He sat next to his brother, shoulders rising and falling with his heavy breath, and his blue eyes rimmed with tears. She’d never witnessed a more heartbroken look on any man. Not until she saw Dame’s face.

The boys didn’t have clothes but that didn’t matter out here.

Dame fell to his knees and his eyes held a thousand ghosts. Such sadness filled the clearing as Dame and Mars sat with their dying brother.

“I love you, brother,” Dame whispered.

Mars dropped his head, and Misty could see two tears drop to his thighs.

Oh, her heart was breaking for them.

She dashed her knuckles across her damp cheeks, and stood, then limped over toward him.

“Too close,” Dame warned. “He’s still alive.”

Oh, she knew. The labored rise and fall of his ribs said as much.

“I can save him,” she told them in a small voice.

Dame shook his head. “What?”

“I can save him, like I saved you.”