Savage King: New Worlds - Milly Taiden Page 0,9

her fingers through it. Instead, she carefully plucked out the long thorn then stuck it into the ground, point first.

The tiger’s breathing slowed, but it didn’t move or make any noise. Was it dying? A shot of fear and sadness turned her stomach. She didn’t want it to die. She scooted down to the front end, leaning forward to view its muzzle. Its eyes were closed.

Her cousins went into another tizzy, this time actually yelling for her to get her ass back there right now. But not yet, she had to help.

The animal’s tongue draped over the side of its mouth onto the pebbles of the creek, like when needing water. Maybe it was trying to get to the creek to drink, but didn’t quite make it. She glanced up and down the stream, seeing an elephant-ear-sized leaf floating from the jungle.

She hurried a few steps, getting her shoes wet as she reached for the leaf. Again, moving slowly, she sidestepped past the back legs, no claws extended. She let out a relieved breath. Then she noticed its eyes were still closed. Was it sleeping? Should she get her ass out of there like her cousins were demanding?

One of its eyelids slid up, staring right at her, but it didn’t move. Her body froze, a strange feeling shooting from her chest. She wouldn’t doubt she was having a heart attack at this point.

“I’m going to get some water for you to drink. Stay calm.” Yes, that last part was for herself. She squatted, cupping the leaf, filling it with liquid. One more step, and she was within eating distance, but she no longer felt any fear. Her heart was peaceful, and she felt like she knew what she was doing.

Ha, was that a joke? This was paranoia for sure.

She knelt to hold the leaf where its tongue hung. The head lifted and it lapped the water. The white starburst eyes held steady on her. They were so astounding, pulling her in. After a moment, its head rested on the ground. It chuffed again as if saying thanks. Or was that just her putting human traits to a nonhuman being?

She’d written a dozen stories where her tigers were half human, half animal. Shifters—that’s what they were called. Maybe she was dreaming that she was the main character in one of her stories where the shifters were tigers. Sometimes she wondered if she’d lost herself too much in her fictional worlds.

The last several months, she’d been deeper than usual into her worlds. Perhaps that was why she was having more problems facing real-world problems. There were so many issues in real life, she quickly became overwhelmed and crumbled into a worthless bump on a log. It all came at her so fast, so strong, she couldn’t handle it. Her own worldbuilding was the only way she could cope.

So, the human traits she thought she saw in the animal were in her own imagination.

The tiger took a deep breath and let it out, closing its eyes. She studied the injury with the blue streak. If it were red, then she would’ve said it was blood. After glancing at the feline face to verify it was out, she scooted closer to the wound.

Matted fur covered the area, making the puncture impossible to see. She went to the creek, refilled the leaf, then poured it over the area. After a few more washings, most of the blue was gone. She went to a knee again, leaning till her nose almost touched the strands.

This time, water was blocking her view. The fur was waterproof so the liquid clung to the animal. Dammit.

“I’m going to brush off your fur, so, again, no eating the doctor here.”

When her hand touched the dark pelt, a shock stung her so hard, it knocked her back onto the pebbles.

As she sat shocked, the tiger focused on her and let out a deafening roar.

Shit. After all this she was still getting eaten. And not the good kind of way.

Chapter Four

Xenos stumbled out of the jungle into the forest. He needed water badly to flush the toxin of the flower’s spikes from his system. He had only a short amount of time before his body started shutting down.

It had been years since he tangled with one of those damnation plants. After watching a ptheragon snatched from a tree by the plant’s tendril and swallowed whole, he did his best to avoid them. Not that he was overly worried about being eaten, his claws