Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Daniel
The television says that tigers hunt using a variety of strategies. The announcer trying to sound dramatic says, “These giants of the cat world stalk, ambush, chase, and swim to catch their prey.” It’s an interesting thing for me to watch one of these nature shows. We’ve almost reached the point where natural science has gotten accurate. “Tigers are known for their stealthy approach, where they carefully stalk their prey from behind until they are close enough to pounce.”
I take a sip of my bourbon and let it burn its way down my throat. I have a nice house. All tigers have nice houses, I think. It’s part of our culture, an admiration for beauty and, I suppose, regality. The biggest problem is that our homes tend to stand out against others in the neighborhoods. This is why I have our house set very close to the front property line. This makes it seem like we have a small yard from the front.
The house sits on the lot in a way that the elevation of the front makes someone on the street unaware of how big it is. The backyard is landscaped like a king’s garden with fountains, topiary, and luxury. Only those I know get to see that sort of thing. Although shifters are known to the world, most people still don’t believe in our existence. Most shifters, me included, don’t want our personal nature to be common knowledge.
“Tigers use their powerful legs and sharp claws to hide and launch a quick attack on their prey. However, tigers only chase and pursue prey over short distances when the prey is already weakened.”
“Well, that’s not true,” a lovely, lilting voice says. I turn my head to see Samantha, who has a towel in her hand and wears a tee shirt and pajama bottoms. She’s dabbing at her beautiful hair. It’s like a princess’s, her hair, almost ringlets of natural curls.
“Why, hello,” I say with a smile. She smiles in return and, as always, I remind myself she’s twenty years younger than me and I have no business feeling how I feel about her. “I didn’t think you were home until I heard you in the shower.”
“Yep. I’m boring and have no nightlife,” she says with a giggle.
“So, what’s not true?”
She sits on the other end of the couch and says, “Only.”
“Only?”
“That word. Tigers indeed chase for short distances and they chase weakened or injured prey. But that’s true of every one of the big cats as well as the large cats.”
“Big and large cats?”
“Why do you sound like a professor trying to test me?” She asks, laughing. “A big cat belongs to the genus Panthera. That means they can roar. A large cat is just big.”
“So, a big cat has to be like a Cheetah?”
She smiles again and says, “I can’t shake the feeling you already know. Are you teasing me? No, not a big cat. Cheetahs are large cats. Bobcats and other wildcats are large cats. Lynxes, large cats. Cougars, large cats. The big cats are lions, jaguars, leopards, snow leopards, and tigers.”
“How do you know all this?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No way, pal. I’m sure you already knew everything I’m saying and you didn’t get it from a television show. Did you do a safari or something?”
As if on cue, the television says, “Tigers have striped coats that help them blend into their surroundings. Tigers in savannahs have a lighter orange color to allow them to blend into the tall grasses.” On-screen, it shows a man in stereotypical safari khaki staring through binoculars.
“I haven’t made that big adventure, no. I don’t have much of a nightlife or any life, either, so no to the safari thing. I just find big cats fascinating, especially tigers.” I hope the goofy answer takes the heat off.
And it does. “Yeah, they’re pretty amazing animals. At the zoo, it’s part of my job to lead the guided tour to the tiger exhibit so, you know, I have all these facts pretty much ingrained in my brain.”
“Well, you do seem to know your stuff.”
She smiles at me and her eyes light up. I’m very aware of the distance between the two of us. The couch feels smaller.
She leans toward me a little and the distance shrinks again. “Hey, you should bring the boys to the zoo next time I’m working. I can get some behind-the-scenes stuff I think you’d really like.”
I cough and lean back a little. I hear the narrator shifting gears on the TV. The female tiger has entered the orbit of the male tiger. He may use many tactics to attract her, including vocalizing and chemical signaling, which might involve urine spray or gland secretions.
I’m suddenly thinking of Bridget. The narrator drones on. “The tigers will mate up to fifty times a week. They don’t mate for life and the male tiger will have many partners ...”
My wife was a rarity, a human, not another shifter, and she was my world. Tigers in the wild may go from female to female, but that isn’t how shifter culture usually operates. Bridget was meant to be my one and only.
And then the car accident happened and my world was upended.
So, I haven’t made it a habit to have a lot of girls around. Of course, that’s because of the boys, too. Jake and Remy deserve to have the best. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hire a nanny, but with my schedule, it was getting to be too much, relying on relatives and friends.
And with Samantha, well, I think I have found the best.
“Um, I think I’ve lost you. If you don’t think it’s a good idea for the boys to come down to the zoo, that’s okay.”
I look at her and see she seems a bit hurt. Without thinking, I reach over and pat her hand. “Thank you for the offer. I think the boys would absolutely love a special tour.”
Samantha smiles at me like she’s picking up signals I’m not intending to put out there. “Well, let me know when and I’ll get it all taken care of.”
I nod and jump up to grab a drink from the bar. Of course, I have a bar. I’m a tiger. I do all I can to make my house seem like a palace. It helps to put some distance between us. “So, how have things been going for you? Are you finding everything to your liking?”
She tilts her head in a way that makes her even more beautiful. “To my liking? Hmmm, well with that interesting phrase as a descriptive starting point, um, yeah, I’m finding everything to be very much to my liking.”
I turn and pour my drink and remind myself that this girl is only twenty and most likely doesn’t realize that her behavior appears flirty. Of course, it could be that I’ve been without a woman in the house long enough that I’m overreacting to some very innocent banter.
Bridget has been gone for a little over three years now. I feel that absence every second of every day. I know Samantha doesn’t know my whole background. She knows the boys’ mom passed away and that I’ve been raising them on my own for a bit, but I don’t know if she understands how very lonely of a job that’s been, and how much of an impact she’s already making on our lives in such a short time.
I don’t think she understands that she’s making quite an impact on me.
“Well, okay, I think I should get some sleep. As fascinating as the mating life of tigers may be, it won’t help me when I’m trying to hold it together with the boys tomorrow.”
She gets up and I walk toward her like a silly grade school kid being taught etiquette for the first time. “Yeah, I think I’ll be heading to bed, too.”
“Well, goodnight.” She walks away and heads down the hall to her room.
I watch her as she goes and I do my best to keep my eyes from traveling down to watch her ass.I try my best and fail. What do I think I’m doing behaving like this with this girl? I hired her for the boys’ sake, not so I could relieve some tension.
I berate myself some more and then I switch off the TV.
These nature shows can’t teach me a damned thing about tigers.