The natural sounds of the wild surrounded them. Charlee’s heart still pounded in her chest from the kiss. And oh boy, what a kiss it was. She had been two seconds away from ripping Weston’s clothes from his body when he pulled back. Deep down, she was pleased that he had been effected by the kiss as much as she was. That was the type of kiss that poets wrote about. She had certainly seen stars the minute his lips brushed hers.

West had yet to leave her side as they moved into position. Excitement bubbled in her chest at seeing the first tiger in its natural habitat. She knelt down with her high-powered binoculars as Weston moved the brush aside. She glanced around with the binoculars and froze in place.

Tiger.

And she wasn’t alone. There were three tiger cubs too!

“You’re going to catch something flying by if you don’t close your mouth,” West murmured, prompting her to snap her mouth closed.

“Do you see this! This is amazing. This is—” Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. This was historical. The purpose of the sanctuary was to save endangered species, and because of this place, a tigress was able to produce and raise not one cub, but three.

She glanced around and saw everyone had the same look of excitement and awe on their faces as they watched the tigress lay on the lush green grass as the cubs played on and around her. She promptly ignored the cubs as they jumped and pounced on each other. Everyone began documenting, photographing, and videoing the feline family. Each member of the team had been designated with a job back at the main camp before the trip.

She found Alf posted with one of his video cameras, documenting the family. She couldn’t wait to see what he would capture. Malena and Dr. Zhang’s assistant worked to prepare the tranquilizer guns.

She lost track of time as she frantically snapped shots of the cats. A sensation came over her, as if she were being watched. She glanced over at West and found his eyes on her. She smiled softly, feeling her cheeks warm at his attention. Her core pulsated with the thoughts of the two of them naked, sweaty, in a tangled mess on a large bed. His eyes dropped to her lips, and she couldn’t help but to nibble on her lower lip with her teeth. His eyes darkened with her action.

She quickly turned away and snapped the last few shots she could while trying to catch her breath. She couldn’t believe how much he affected her with just a look.

But now, it was time to break up this lazy afternoon nap for the momma tiger.

“Dr. Zhang and Dr. Skobo, we should go ahead and tranq the momma,” Charlee said, standing from her spot to walk over to the other biologists.

“I don’t think we need to tranq the cubs,” Dr. Zhang offered, his words heavily accented.

“I agree. ” Dr. Skobo nodded, standing with his hands on his hips. “The cubs look like they’re young enough to where we can just grab them and insert the chip.”

“Yes, and we need to make sure that momma is totally out first.” Charlee motioned for Malena to bring her one of the tranq rifles.

“I hear this is your first trip in almost a year. Sure your aim isn’t rusty?” Zhang joked.

“Never that.” Charlee laughed, checking the rifle out. “My aim is still true.”

Growing up, her father had taken her and her siblings hunting quite often. Arthur Black believed that women should know how to shoot a gun just as well as a man. As children, her, her sister Ruby, and brother Dane, never missed a hunting trip with their father. It was a great bonding experience between a father and his children. Even to this day, they all gathered once a year for a hunt.

“You sure you know how to work that?” Luka joked.

“Somebody distract the momma and I’ll show you all how to tranq a tiger.”

West and Luka volunteered to distract the momma tiger. Charlee had found a perfect position that would allow her to easily hit her target. She’d had to move a little closer to guarantee a hit. She was good, but at over three hundred feet, she wanted to make sure she hit what she was aiming for. They didn’t have too many tranqs, and she couldn’t afford to waste even one.

“Come on, Momma,” she murmured as she peered through the scope. The barrel of the lightweight rifle fit comfortably in her arms. She locked on her target and waited for the tigress to awaken from her nap.

Alf and Malena were silent as they stood behind her, while West and Luka had disappeared to create their distraction. Charlee was patient as she waited. “A patient hunter is a successful hunter,” her father had always said. Charlee waited for the right opportunity to appear.

The tigress’ ears flickered and her tail curled slightly. Charlee strained to hear what the tiger may have heard.

There it was again. A chuffing sound.

Charlee knew that chuffing was the way that tigers communicated. It was a friendly noise that caught the tigress’ attention. Her large head came up from the grass as she looked around.

Charlee waited still.

Not yet.

The tiger looked around, apparently not seeing anything.

The chuffing sound could be heard again. Was another tiger in the area? Charlee flexed her finger on the trigger. If there was another tiger in the area, she had another tranquilizer loaded and could easily tranq another one.

Finally, the momma tiger moved to stand and stretched as she did, dislocating one of the cubs who were trying to hold onto her. The tigress was a beauty. She had to be about twelve feet long. She was magnificent as she stood above her cubs, looking in the direction of the chuffing.

Now.

Charlee pulled the trigger.

Bullseye.

The tigress let loose a growl as she swung around in Charlee’s direction, not understanding what was going on. The red dart lay deep in the tiger’s side as she growled. The cubs yipped as they tumbled on each other, oblivious to what had just happened.

Now they had to wait for it to work. The tiger took a few steps as she let loose a string of growls, before her front legs gave way, then her back ones. She tumbled to the ground, her abdomen moving fast as she tried to catch her breath.

From experience, Charlee knew that she would have to wait a few minutes before approaching the tiger.

“Can we go now?” Alf asked. Excitement lined his voice.

“Hold on,” Charlee murmured, holding up a hand as she watched the tiger through her rifle’s lens.

They had to ensure that the medication would work. Nothing like walking up on a tiger who wasn’t unconscious. That would be disastrous. They would have to wait for the signs of her breathing slowing by the movement of her abdomen.

Finally, the abdomen movement slowed to a steady pace. The tigress was officially unconscious.

“Now,” Charlee announced to the group as she lowered her rifle.

Within minutes, the team broke from the brush and entered the clearing. West and Luka came from their area, still carrying their guns in their hand, but lowered as they approached.

Charlee had to beat down the excitement as she came upon the tigress. Her trained eyes examined her, and found her to be perfect. Her coloring of orange with black stripes, massive head and paws, left Charlee breathless. She sat her medical bag down so she could quickly examine the feline. The team had to be quick.

Zhang guided the graduate students to the cubs as they examined them. She could hear him teaching as they measured and played with the cubs. Zhang was a great professor and excellent educator. Charlee had been lucky to work with him a few times over the years. She made a note to herself to invite him to the university for a guest lecture. She knew that he would do it.

After they had all the documentations, measurements, and photographs that they would need, Luka quickly went back over the microchips. He helped the team insert them in the scruff of the necks of the tigers. It was as easy as he’d initially described, like giving a flu shot. The tigress would wake up, not even knowing that she had been tagged. After they had ensured that all the chips were in, he showed them on the tablets how the tiger would be registered on the computer program.

“Once we leave and are at a safe distance, I can go back over the program,” he said as they began gathering their supplies.

“This will be revolutionary,” Dr. Zhang noted. “With the cubs, we can track their growth and where they migrate.”

“Exactly. And they won’t even know that they have something in them that broadcasts their location,” Luka advised the group.

Charlee gave one more pet to the tigress as she stood. She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face as they all began making their way back to the forest. She glanced back one last time and caught a glimpse of the cubs wrestling again near their momma.

Once the team was at a safe distance, they would watch over the sleeping momma and cubs until she woke up. They didn’t want to leave the cubs unprotected. Charlee couldn’t wait to get back to the base to go through everything from today. She couldn’t believe how quickly they had found their first tiger. This trip was turning out better than she had expected. She glanced around and her eyes caught West’s.

Much better.