Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
“You had to have studied the region before you were dropped in,” he said, deferring to her greater knowledge. He had come to get in and get out, not for an extended stay, and the only other information had been provided by Malichai. “What hazards besides the tiger are we facing?” He was calm, matter-of-fact. When Shylah continued to stare silently down at the raging, fighting animal, he poured command into his voice. “Shylah, I need data now.”
She looked up at him, blinking rapidly, and his heart stuttered when he saw her lashes were wet. She nodded twice, clearly forcing herself under control. “Poachers set multiple traps in the same area. They knew this tiger frequented this area. There are probably eight or nine more traps on the ground. They leave signs to warn others that they’ve already laid the traps. I should have been looking. I was concentrating on the enemy.”
“Stay in the trees then and make your way back to the station fast. I’ll keep watch over him and examine the ground. I should be able to find the other traps and remove them while I’m waiting for you. Maybe I can find a way to calm him down.” He said it more to soothe her than because he believed that he could.
She nodded. “You might be able to. In the park where you see tigers more often, when one is trapped, often the others protect it, or at least that’s what quite a few of the natives think. So, who knows? When the rangers try to remove snares, they can be risking their lives going into tiger territory. He might view you as a protector.”
Draden doubted it. He was more of a hunter, a predator, and the tiger most likely would scent that in him. Still, darting a big cat was dangerous. Exotics were difficult to take down without killing them because there was no set dosage even if they were the same weight and age. He only knew that because he had worked at a zoo for a short while in his younger years, before he’d found the comfort of the nursery and the rows of peonies that soothed him when he couldn’t contain his anger. The zoo veterinarian had often talked to him about the dangers of taking down a large cat.
Adrenaline poured through the big cats and they fought the drug until the very last moment before they dropped, and then they could easily go into cardiac arrest. Even if the rangers had ketamine to knock the tiger out, he wasn’t certain of the dosage. Worse, he knew the vet always had yohimbe on hand to reverse the ketamine, and he didn’t have a clue what to do with that drug.
“Forget trying to get back to the ranger station. I’m going to clear the traps from the area and you can help me do that. You should be able to scent them. Or feel for them before you reach them. Talk to the tiger while we do the clearing. Get him used to the sound of your voice.”
“What do you plan to do?” There was suspicion.
He wasn’t about to tell her his insane plan. Instead, he dropped down from the tree and began to move in an ever-widening circle with the raging tiger as the center. The tiger stopped raking the tree and turned to face him, snarling.
“Yeah, you don’t like me much, do you?” He sent Shylah a smirk. “He likes you though, and I’m way too close to you. You’re giving off the vibe.”
“What vibe?” Shylah demanded, daring him to say it aloud.
His smirk turned into a grin. “The very sexy and oh-so-alluring, I’m-so-ready-to-get-laid vibe.”
She tossed her head so her hair, which had been in a tidy braid, went flying. Tendrils of hair had pulled loose on her wild run through the branches of the trees and she looked every bit as exotic and beautiful as the tiger. “This is not true.” She narrowed her eyes. “And dangerous of you to say so.”
He sent her a quick grin. She was so damned adorable and just as sexy. “I must have been mistaken.”
“You were.”
He laughed, and she did too. For one moment their eyes met and his heart clenched hard. He needed to keep his head in the game or one or both were going to be mauled by the tiger.
“Keep talking to him. He likes your voice.” Draden liked it too, but he refrained from mentioning that. “You’re female and he senses that. I’m a male, a rival, and he’d like to shred me. Talk to him, get him used to the sound of your voice.”
All the while she talked, he searched for the snares. There was a pattern to them and within a short period of time he had discovered six more. He removed them while she continued to talk to the tiger. He moved into position while she occupied the animal’s attention.