“Well, they seem to be taking their sweet time, but I’m sure you’ll find someway to survive.”

“Oh for the love of all that’s holy. Look, I’m doing this for your…oh my.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Um…puppy.”

“Don’t call my baby that!”

Angie rolled her eyes. “I’m not, you garden gnome. I see an actual puppy.”

An adorable black lab puppy specifically, running through the grass of Nik’s backyard.

“Puppy? Why don’t you call him what he is…a mid-day snack.”

Her crazy friend was right. Tigers roamed this property. A cute little thing loping through the grass was really just a moving Snickers bar.

Angie secured her phone to her shorts and made sure her headphones were on, then she moved across the grass toward the puppy while yelling at her best friend.

“All I’m doing is trying to protect my family. You think she’d appreciate it.”

“Aw, you consider me family?”

“That is the dumbest fuckin’ thing you’ve ever said. Of course I do!”

“Well, ya don’t have to get nasty.”

“Yes, I do. When you ask me stupid fuckin’ questions. You, Sara, and Marrec are the only family I have since my grandmother died.”

“The breeders still live.”

“Yes, but they don’t count.” She caught up to the puppy as it came to the very edge of where the lawn ended and the acres of trees and tall grass began. “Come here, cutie.”

She crouched down and picked the little beast up. “What are you doing around here, little one?”

“Maybe he’s suicidal.”

“Shut up.”

“How come you’re nicer to the dog?”

“The dog doesn’t make it his goal in life to piss me off.”

“This is true.”

The puppy squirmed out of her hands. “Shit.” She grabbed for him, but froze when she watched the puppy climb on top of the tiger less than five feet away from her. So well hidden in the grass, she never saw him. Her real problem? His markings were different from Nik’s. His ears bent a little differently. His eyes a little more slanted. This wasn’t Nik. Which meant she didn’t know how safe or unsafe she may be.

“Shit,” she barked again and scrambled back.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh…,” the tiger moved forward, his big body raising up out of the grass. He shook himself, the puppy tumbling off. He caught the little beast between his teeth by the back of its neck. Angie flinched. She really had no desire to watch a dog become anyone’s lunch. Really. But the puppy hung from the tiger’s mouth without any fear.

The tiger walked forward slowly, eventually dropping the puppyat Angie’s feet. She scooped him up and backed away until her ass sat back on the lounger.

The tiger watched her for several very long seconds. Then he charged into the woods.

“Are you still there?”

“What? Oh. Yeah. I’m here.”

“What’s going on?”

“Tiger antics.”

“Don’t ever turn your back on one.”

“Excuse me?”

“Tigers. They attack from behind.”

Angie closed her eyes on a sigh, “Good God, you’ve been reading.”

“It’s what I do. Research.”

The tiger returned, a rabbit in his mouth. Unlike the puppy, the rabbit didn’t fair too well. He dropped the bloody carcass in the middle of Nik’s lawn, and looked at her expectantly.

Another tiger, this one’s marking different from Nik’s as well, wandered out of the woods. He caught sight of the other tiger. Looked at her. Then the dead rabbit. He turned and charged back into the woods. After a few moments, he trotted in with his own rabbit. A bigger one. He dropped it on top of the first one.

“Uh-oh.”

“What uh-oh?”

The two tigers glared at each other, and charged back into the woods.

“Something’s going on.”

“Something bad?”

“Not for me.”

They returned, each carrying a deer. One held a doe, the other a buck. They dropped their prey, roared at each other, turned and charged back into the woods yet again.

Angie giggled, “Dude, this is gettin’ weird.”

“How weird?”

“Well, I could be wrong… but I think I’m being wooed… tiger style.”

“What does that entail?”

“So far? Rabbit and deer.”

“What?”

The brothers returned, both carrying their own elk. They dragged and dropped them on the pile. Then one slapped the other in the head with his paw. The other hit him back. Before she knew it, they turned into a mass of snarling, biting, slashing stripes.

“What the hell is that noise?”

“Cat fight.”

“They’re fighting over you?”

“I don’t know.”

“They are so fighting over you,” Miki laughed. “Angelina and those mighty legs strike again.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“You’re wearing shorts, aren’t you?”

“Shut up!”

A third tiger charged out of the woods. Nik. She knew his markings now. Using his massive jaws, he grabbed one brother by the scruff of the neck, flinging him into the woods. The other went to follow, but Nik knocked him back with a well-placed paw. Then he chased that brother in the opposite direction.