Chapter 5

They walked into the zoo and Victoria bounced with excitement. Drake enjoyed watching her and how elated she was to have a surprise for him. Victoria was more reserved typically and it was fun to see her let loose and show some excitement.

“We are here to meet with Edward,” Victoria said to the woman at the ticket counter.

“Oh yes, Miss Harting?”

“Yes, Victoria Harting.”

The woman turned around and made a phone call. It only took a few short minutes before Edward was at the front gate to greet them. Drake was impressed. He was familiar with people going out of their way for him, but to have them do it for Victoria was pretty impressive. Drake couldn’t help but wonder what she had done to get them to be so nice to her. A teacher’s salary probably wasn’t enough to bribe them and she lived on the other side of the country so he didn’t think she knew any of the people.

“Victoria, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” Edward said as he came straight toward Victoria.

It was another unique situation that Drake wasn’t familiar with. Normally people were excited to meet him, they would go out of their way to impress him. Sometimes they even wanted to take photos with him or have him sign autographs. It felt really comfortable to let someone else stand in the spotlight for a change.

“Hello, Edward, it is so nice to finally put a face to the name. This is my friend Drake Leblanc, he is the one I told you about.”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Leblanc. It is a pleasure to have you here.”

“Thank you.”

“I have everything ready, come this way,” Edward said as Drake and Victoria followed him into the zoo.

Victoria held onto Drake’s hand and squeezed it with excitement as they followed their guide.

“Where are we going?” Drake asked like a school kid on his first trip to the zoo.

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

Drake accepted that answer, for the moment, and they continued their trek into the zoo. It was a very large zoo and they walked past several exhibits that were much nicer than Drake had expected. Suddenly he wished he would have remembered what his donation had gone toward. He gave money to several charities and just couldn’t remember what the zoo had said the money was going to go toward.

“We’re here,” Edward said as he opened a small gray door on the side of a building.

As they entered the hallway, Drake looked on either side of him and saw that they were in the tiger building. He couldn’t contain his excitement. He could feel the giddiness of being a child and getting to see the tigers for the first time. This was a great gift that Victoria had arranged for them.

“The tigers. Oh, shit, yeah this is awesome. We get to walk back here and see them up close. Wow, Victoria, this is just perfect.”

Victoria didn’t answer him and smiled as they continued to walk down the hallway. She looked behind her and saw Drake with his face pressed against the glass in excitement as he looked at the biggest tiger of the group.

“What’s this one’s name?” Drake said from the end of the hallway.

“That’s Cinder, she’s our oldest tiger.”

“She’s beautiful,” Drake moved across the hall to the other tiger. “What’s this one’s name?”

“He is Rory, the leader of our tiger clan. Come down here and I’ll get you ready.”

Drake came down to the end of the hall where Edward and Victoria stood in the doorway to a room. As he looked into the room he saw a huge pile of red meat and a couple buckets on the ground.

“Once you are done cutting it into manageable sizes, I’ll take you into the cage,” Edward said.

Drake looked at Victoria and then back at Edward. The shock and fear on his face made both of them laugh.

“Surprise, you are going to feed the tigers,” Victoria said as she put on the thick apron next to the table.

Drake continued to stare at Victoria and then looked back at Edward. He looked shocked, or like he didn’t understand what was going on.

“Go in there and cut that meat up, Drake, the tigers are hungry. The longer they wait the feistier they will be with you when you get in there.”

“Victoria…” Drake started as he looked at her.

She seemed perfectly at ease as she started to butcher the large stack of red meat. She also seemed very amused at the fear she had put into Drake. He wasn’t the kind of guy who was afraid to do many things in life, but getting into a cage with a tiger was apparently one of the things that he was afraid of.

“Drake, come play with this meat,” Victoria teased.

Drake reluctantly put on the thick apron and gloves and watched as Edward left the room. He wasn’t prepared to go through with actually feeding the tigers, though. As much of a daredevil as he was, Drake wasn’t stupid. He only took calculated risks and being in a cage with a tiger seemed like too much of a risk even for him.

“Victoria, this is insane. We can’t feed the tigers.”

“We can’t, but you can,” she laughed.

“Oh, I see how it is. You are going to have me in that cage with the tiger while you’re out here perfectly safe.”

“Yep, that was my plan.”

“I think you should come with me. It’s only fair.”

They continued to butcher the meat into fist sized bites and throw it into the large plastic buckets next to them. Victoria couldn’t help but laugh when she noticed all the color had drained out of Drake’s face. She knew her surprise was going to shock him, but she didn’t think he would actually be afraid to go in there.

Victoria actually thought it would be very exciting to feed the tigers, but she needed to ask Edward first if it would be alright for both of them to be in there. Edward and Victoria had collaborated on a research project about the tigers of Kenya a few years before. Although they never got to work in the same room with each other, they did talk on the phone and share hundreds of emails while they had finished that project together.

They continued to cut up the meat and Victoria couldn’t help but think the moment was erotic. They each grabbed a big hunk of meat and then used their extremely sharp knives to cut it while looking up and into each other’s eyes. She was pretty sure there was some sort of fetish that would enjoy what she and Drake were doing at that moment.

“I’ll come with you if Edward says it’s alright.”

Victoria looked at Drake without even a drop of fear on her face. It surprised him. Especially because he was certainly afraid of getting into that cage with any of those tigers. It was a little scary that Victoria was so confident and unafraid.

“So, you’re perfectly fine with getting into a cage with man-eating tigers?” Drake said with a little chuckle.

“Yep, I’m comfortable with the idea.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I know. I feel like that sometimes too.”

“Alright, well let’s get Edward and do this. I’m excited to get eaten alive with you,” Drake joked.

They finished the last pile of meat and took off their protective gear and washed their hands. It was exciting to think that they were about to be literally right on the edge of death. Drake felt his chest beat with excitement and he watched Victoria in hopes of seeing some sort of fear in her eyes. He was disappointed that she didn’t seem to be afraid at all.

“Nothing about this scare you?” Drake asked her.

“I have researched tigers a lot. I feel confident in my ability to feed them without being eaten. I mean as long as you behave yourself.”

Victoria smiled at Drake and then wrapped her arms around him to kiss him. If it was their last few minutes on earth, she didn’t want them to be spent apart. Even though she was very confident in her skills, there was a tiny part of her that was worried about actually going into the tiger’s cage.

“You two love birds ready to do this?” Edward said when he entered the room.

“Edward, I’m all for a little excitement, but I really don’t want to die. This is safe, right?”

“No, it’s not safe. You’re going into a tiger’s cage with fifty pounds of raw meat. Come on, man, this is some dangerous shit.”

They all laughed and then Edward got serious.

“The two things I want you to remember are to maintain eye contact and don’t tease them.”

“Of course, I won’t tease them,” Drake said.

“As soon as you get the meat in your hand I want you to toss it to the other side of the cage. If you stand there holding it for too long, you’re likely to get your hand eaten and maybe the rest of you, too.”

“Edward, are you alright with me coming in with him?” Victoria asked.

Drake was impressed. He had been joking that Victoria should come in there with him, but he really liked that she wasn’t shying away from the idea. Her willingness to get into the tiger cage with him showed just how much strength she had. It was a metaphor for life too. In life, there would be difficult events and Drake wanted a woman that would be willing to stand by his side during those events.

“Sure, she can hold the meat container. But if you notice at all that Rory is getting too close to you guys, simply press this button and his outside cage will open. I’m going to put a large piece of meat out there so he’ll want to go for that over you guys if the situation gets out of control.”

“Or he’ll eat us first and then go out there for the rest of the meat,” Victoria said with a bit of sarcasm.

Neither Edward nor Drake seemed amused by her humor.

The three of them walked back down the hallway in silence as they approached the door to Rory’s cage. He was out near the front of his cage waiting to go outside, but must have smelled the meat when they got near. With his long stride, he made his way right up next to cage door and stood there waiting for them to enter.

Both Victoria and Drake froze and were unable to move. There was a small entrance area with a caged spot for them to enter the room, but then the tiger was right there. Really, even once they were inside the first door, Rory could swipe at them with his claws if he really wanted to. The caged area only served as a spot to slow the tiger down so he couldn’t escape easily out the door.

“Let me go around the front and put the large meat outside really quick,” Edward said.

Drake and Victoria just stood at the window in silence as they watched the tiger pace in front of them. He looked hungry, really hungry and Victoria couldn’t help but think the tiger was going to want to eat them more than the meat they had cut up.

“Do you think we look better than this meat? I mean to a tiger?” Victoria asked.

“You look delicious. I’d eat you over that meat in a second,” Drake joked as he pulled Victoria toward him.

Finally, she looked like she was at least a little afraid. He didn’t want her to be afraid, it wasn’t about that. But he didn’t like that she had been so stoic while he had been petrified. Her fear made it easier for Drake to show how manly he was. He suddenly felt much more confident about their interaction with the tiger.

“Ok, you two. Now remember. Slow, steady movements. I’ll come into the first caged area and let you into the main cage. This should only take a minute or so. Just start throwing the meat to the other side of the room, slowly and at the same pace so he isn’t startled.”

“What if he’s startled,” Drake asked.

“Let’s just try to avoid that.”

“Do you have a gun or something? Anything to protect us with?” Victoria asked as the fear of the moment finally set in.

“No, trust me. If he wants to kill you. It will be over with before I can shoot him.”

Victoria and Drake held onto each other as they entered the first small cage area behind Edward. The intensity of the situation was crazy.