Charlee peered through her binoculars, but didn’t see any signs of Bubo. It had been one whole hour since she had climbed into the tree in hopes of spotting him.

“I think we should call it a night,” Dr. Zhang called up to her from the base of the tree. He was right. If they needed to spend the night on the mountain, then they would. It was imperative that they tag as many tigers as they could during their month-long stay.

“I’m coming,” she called out as she began to shimmy down the tree. It was getting late, and soon darkness would be upon them. The team had separated within a mile radius of each other, in hopes of finding some sign of the tiger. They wanted to identify the area that the tiger would be, instead of just walking up on it. But so far, no signs.

She made it down to the bottom of the tree. Zhang helped her unhook her harness as she stepped out of her safety rope. They disassembled the set up from the tree in silence. Her mind raced a mile a minute. Zhang, ten years her senior, was someone whose opinion she held in high regard. He was someone that she respected and looked up to. They had worked together multiple times on papers, and she didn’t want to chance losing his respect. Dr. Skobo’s accusation rang in her ears, and she knew that she had to say something.

“Hey, Zhang,” she said, grabbing his arm as they began the walk back to the group.

“Yes, Charlee?” he asked, surprise lining his face as he stopped.

“Look, about earlier—”

“There’s no need to explain,” he said, holding up his hand. He barked out a laugh and patted her hand. “You and Mr. Rogavac are grown adults. As long as everything is consensual, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

“I still need to apologize. It’s unprofessional to mix business with pleasure. I just want you to know that this mission is very important to me,” she said, pushing an annoying strand of hair from her eyes.

“We’ve known each other for years. Just because Skobo is an ass, doesn’t mean you should feel bad for what goes on when you’re not working. You are a brilliant biologist. Don’t let one person’s stupidity bother you.”

Relief spread through Charlee. She was worried that the others would change their opinion of her.

“I just don’t want anyone to think of me as anything else but a scientist,” she admitted as they began walking back to where the group was to meet.

“Charlee, no one thinks differently of you. But you want to know what?” he asked, eyebrow raised.

“What’s that?” she asked, adjusting her backpack.

“You are a woman first, and a scientist second. Don’t ever forget that. And if it makes you feel any better, I met my wife on a trip similar to this one about fifteen years ago. We’ve been together ever since. It’s just the nature of our business.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.” She laughed, relaxing more as they arrived at their destination. Others were arriving, coming from different directions. “Thanks, Zhang. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.” He saluted her as he made his way over to his graduate student.

Charlee turned and caught West’s eyes as he emerged from the trees with Luka behind him. Her heart did a little pitter-patter as he winked at her. She smiled, gave a small wave, and walked over to Malena. If she would have stood there longer to stare at him, she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from launching herself at him. It was much safer for her to go over to Malena.

“Any luck?” Charlee asked Malena, who was speaking with Alf.

“We think we found a few tracks, but we’re losing light. We marked the tree where we found them. We’ll be able to check them out in the morning,” Malena said, looking up at the sky.

With their late start and long travel times, it didn’t leave much time for them to find the tiger. They would have to camp out tonight, then get an earlier start. They wouldn’t dare go looking for a tiger in the middle of the night in the rainforest. That would be too dangerous.

“Good thinking for marking the tree.” Charlee nodded her head. She dropped her bag down and plopped on the ground next to Malena. She was tired, hot, dirty, and famished. She grabbed her bag and searched for one of her protein bars. She snagged one and practically devoured it whole after fighting with the wrapper.

“You might want to chew a few times,” Malena laughed. Charlee tossed her wrapper at her friend with a chuckle. She couldn’t help it.

Today was a bust. Someone sabotaged their vehicles. It was announced that she slept with someone in the group, and then no tiger. Charlee was ready for this day to end. Her sleeping bag was calling her name, and she couldn’t wait to grab a few hours of sleep. She hoped tomorrow would prove to be better. They would find Bubo, tranq him, gather as much data as they could, then insert the microchip in him.

“Can I speak to everyone, please?” West announced, waving everyone over to the center of the clearing.

Charlee groaned with the thought of getting up from her seat. Her body was beginning to stiffen up from the exertion of walking up the side of a mountain. Malena laughed and dragged her to a standing position. Everyone gathered near West. Charlee avoided looking over at Dr. Skobo. She could feel his eyes on her, but she had nothing else to say to him. They were here to do a job, and that’s exactly what she would do. She was a damn good scientist, and whatever this was between her and West would not interfere with that.

“Tonight, we’ll be sleeping in the open. Because we’re on the side of mountain, we will need to rotate people throughout the night to keep watch. We need to make sure that no hungry animals come crashing into on our camp.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Luka volunteered, raising his hand.

“Thanks, and I’ll relieve you after a few hours.” West nodded his head. “Let’s grab something to eat and hit the sack. We’ll have an early morning tomorrow.”

Silence filled the air, except for a few snores. West was restless and unable to sleep as thoughts of Charlee filled his mind. His tiger was restless too. It knew they were in the jungle, and he wanted to be let free so that he could roam the humid forest. He stood silently and wandered over to the end of the camp. Luka leaned back against a tree and nodded when his eyes met West’s.

The fire in the pit in the middle of the clearing had finally dwindled to just smoldering embers. He glanced to where Charlee should have been sleeping, but found her bedding to be empty. His eyes shot to Luka and found his friend pointing to a place behind him. He turned and found Charlee emerging from the trees.

“I needed to use the facilities,” she murmured, a sheepish look coming over her face.

He chuckled as he walked toward her. His tiger paced back and forth with the knowledge that she was close. Her hair, piled on top of her head, had his fingers itching to remove the bun. He wanted to see her thick locks spill out onto her shoulders and back.

He grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.

“Walk with me,” he murmured. Her face softened as she nodded her head. He looked over his shoulder at Luka to see him give a small salute. He pulled her behind him as they entered the dense wooded area.

“How can you see?” she asked, bringing her other hand to rest on the small of his back as he led her farther away from the others. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the forest. The sounds of nature greeted them as they continued to walk.

“There’s a little moonlight,” he murmured, making an excuse. There was no way he could tell her the truth. He kept them moving, knowing exactly where he wanted to take her. He had discovered a beautiful little cove that would be perfect for them to have time alone, and he couldn’t wait to get her there.

He knew that Charlee was in love with everything about the rainforest, and his tiger was pleased by this. Every new discovery, her camera wasn’t far from her hands. Her appreciation of what nature had to offer was evident by her passion, in not only preserving the tigers, but in everything he had come to know that she stood for.

“Where are we going?” She released a nervous chuckle. His animal could pick up that she was a little antsy. His thumb drew small circles on her inner wrist in an attempt to calm her nerves.

“It’s a surprise,” he announced. “I found something earlier that I wanted to share with you.”

“Oh, shoot. Maybe I should have grabbed my camera,” she said.

“Don’t worry—” The sound of a twig snapping grabbed his attention. His tiger instantly went on alert. He hadn’t picked up on the trail any other animals in the area. Charlee instantly sensed that something was wrong. His body drew tense as he waited and listened, willing his heart to slow down.

“What was that?” she whispered. The smell of her fear permeated the air.

He held a finger up to his lips as he turned to her, not sure if she was able to see the motion. He listened again, and another snap echoed through the air. His head snapped in the direction of the noise, and he pushed Charlee behind him. He could feel both of her hands on the small of his back. His ears perked up as he waited.

His eyes met those of a tiger, peering out of the trees fifty feet from them. His amber eyes glowed in the dark as he assessed West and Charlee.

“Oh my God,” Charlee gasped, having peeked from behind him.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered, pushing her back. His tiger pushed forward with a roar as they stood there and stared down the tiger.

The tiger nodded his head, and West released the breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

Drago.

Drago’s tiger disappeared back into the trees without a sound. West knew that Drago had caught sight of Charlee and would give them privacy, and also ensure that no other dangerous animals were in the area.

“He’s gone,” West murmured, holding still to make sure Drago had left.

“Was that Bubo?” she asked, eyes wide. Her grip tightened on his hand.

“I’m not sure,” he lied, pulling her behind him. “It could have been. But I’m sure you know that tigers can be shy animals. He’s probably moving through the area.

“Maybe we should try to follow him. He could lead us to his den—”

“No.” He held up a hand to cut her off. “We are not following a tiger in the middle of the jungle at night. Smart people like ourselves will keep on moving and put as much distance between us and a tiger who could eat us whole.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right. I just got excited,” she laughed. Her excitement over tigers was infectious. He ached to be able to share his other half with her. His tiger would love to have the feel of her hands on his head and rubbing between his ears.

Not yet, he snapped to his tiger, pushing his animal down. It was too soon. His tiger scoffed at the notion of waiting. He was getting impatient, and it was taking a lot of energy to keep his tiger at bay.

“Here we are.”