“Can you believe it?” Malena asked, exasperated. “How do binders of notes just up and disappear?”

“I’m not sure,” Charlee replied, feeling helpless for her graduate student. Losing notes for a dissertation was horrible. She didn’t want to ask why he hadn’t used a laptop for his notes. In his mental state right now, he would probably lose it.

“Someone had to have taken them,” Dr. Skobo accused, looking around the group. His eyes stopped on the Chinese graduate student.

“Hey, it wasn’t me,” Tang said, holding his hands up. “You can search my things if you’d like,” he offered to Alf.

“No, I’m not going to search your things. I believe you.” Alf sighed, resting his entwined hands on his head. Pure defeat was written on his face. Charlee felt sorrow for her student. She would have to sit down with him and go over the research they had already gathered to see if she could help salvage something for him. One day he would be a brilliant biologist, and she didn’t want this to deter him from his dream.

Charlee and Malena turned to leave, but West requesting for everyone to gather around him kept them in place.

“I think we need to have a chat.” He began. Everyone glanced at each other, unsure of what he was about to say. Charlee felt deep in her heart that whatever it was would be best for the group.

“In light of recent things that are going on, books don’t just disappear. Tires don’t just get slashed by random animals and no one hears it. I think it would be in everyone’s best interest to pair up with someone when leaving the grounds. Even if it’s to go in the woods to use the restroom. Let’s err on the side of caution.”

Murmurs of agreement filled the air.

“He’s right,” Dr. Zhang said, stepping in the middle of the circle. “We are in the middle of a rainforest in a mountainous region, where there is always danger lurking. We’ve been lucky not to have any injuries.”

Charlee nodded in complete agreement. They had been lucky so far. They shouldn’t test their luck. The small group began to disperse after their quick huddle.

“I need to pee,” Charlee announced to Malena softly. “Will you be my buddy?”

“You sure West isn’t your buddy?” Malena asked with a raised eyebrow. Ever since Charlee had made the move, Malena had found all kinds of ways to make fun of her. She turned, feeling West’s eyes on her. She mouthed the word ‘pee’ and pointed to the woods. He nodded his head and went back to his conversation with Luka.

“Oh, cut it out.” Charlee swatted her on the arm. They quickly ran over to the tent she shared with West to grab her biodegradable toilet tissue and headed into the woods. They decided not to go too far.

“This should be fine,” Charlee announced, finding a spot that would block the view of her squatting. She finally got over everyone knowing that her and West were officially an item. Having one of the guys catch her urinating would be another ball of wax. That would be hard to get over.

“What do you think really happened to Alf’s work?” Malena asked as she turned her back to give Charlee privacy.

“I don’t know. It’s weird though. Who would steal his work? We all have access to the information that we’ve been collecting.” Charlee quickly unbuttoned her pants and bent down to do her business. She closed her eyes with relief at the chance to finally be able to empty her bladder.

“Do you think someone is trying to sabotage our trip?”

“Something’s going on,” Charlee said, finishing her business. She stood, zipping her pants back up. She looked down to check that her stream didn’t hit her pants.

Nothing.

That was one of things that she missed about civilization. Toilets. Satisfied, she stood up straight to leave and saw a human figure standing a few yards away.

She let loose a scream, backing up quickly toward Malena. The figure was tall and bulky. In the shadows, the only thing she could tell was that it must be a man.

“What—” Malena’s eyes widened as she gasped. Charlee ran toward her friend, not looking back, her supplies forgotten as they both took off running toward the campground.

Charlee’s heart pounded in her chest as she ran. Luckily, still wearing her boots, she was able to get a good grip in the dirt and mud as she ran. Two figures ran toward them as they broke through the trees.

West and Luka.

“What is it?” he demanded, grabbing her by her shoulders.

“A man,” she gasped, pointing in the direction from which they had just come from.

“Stay with the others,” he shouted before taking off into the trees, Luka right behind him.

“Everything okay?” Dr. Zhang rushed toward them, concern on his face.

“Someone’s in the woods,” Malena began to explain as they walked to the center of their camp.

Charlee darted off toward her tent. West and Luka had run off into the woods without any weapons. If it was a poacher, they would almost surely have a gun on them.

She dove in and rustled for her backpack. Her hand met the cool hard steel handle of her small handgun. She dug farther, looking for her flashlight. She exited the tent, brandishing her handgun and flashlight. She took the safety off and jogged back toward the trees.

“Charlee!” Malena shouted. “He said for us to stay with the others.”

She ignored her friend as she entered back into the woods, this time armed. She wanted to kick herself for not taking her gun with her the first time. They had just had a powwow about safety, and her and Malena went straight into the woods unarmed. This time she was ready, and whoever was in the woods had better watch out.

Charlee tried to slow her breathing down as she slowly crept through the dense forest. She kept the gun aimed in front of her with her flashlight providing a small line of light. She could hear voices off in the distance. Not sure if it was West and Luka, she kept her weapon trained in front of her. She pushed down her nerves and blew out a deep breath. She tried to imagine that this was a hunting trip, like the ones she would take with her family. It was almost the same. She was in search of her target.

Hunting.

Charlee had done it plenty of times and knew to keep her wits about her and her aim steady. Her father’s voice echoed in her head, as if he were walking with her.

Hold steady.

She came to an area where the trees thinned out. She stepped out of the brush, the moonlight providing extra light. She looked around and lowered her gun.

“West,” she breathed, relaxing as he spun around.

“I thought I told you to stay with the others,” he snapped. There was a wild look in his eyes that she had never seen before.

Something wasn’t right. She looked around and saw no signs of Luka.

“Where’s Luka?” she asked, her heart rate increasing as she waited for his answer. Her grip tightened on the handle of the weapon. It provided a slight comfort, but she needed West to answer her question.

“Go back to the camp,” he urged as he slowly stepped to her.

“I came to help.” Her nerves began to build as he didn’t answer her questions. “You guys took off so fast, and without any weapons. Poachers carry guns.”

“Charlee, please, just—”

Her eyes darted behind him as the brush to his right parted and out stepped a massive tiger.

“West, watch out!” she screamed, taking aim. His head snapped around toward the tiger and back to her.

“Charlee, no!” West yelled, dashing in front of the tiger.

Her finger paused on the trigger as confusion set in. Why would West be dashing in front of a wild tiger? And why wasn’t the tiger attacking him?

What in the hell was going on?

She froze in place, unsure of what to do. Her mouth dropped open as the tiger came and stood beside West. She slowly lowered her gun, but refused to take her finger off the trigger.

“What is going on?” she whispered, stepping back, unable to look away from the tiger.

“Charlee!” West called her name sharply, gaining her attention. She glanced back at him as he slowly approached her with his hands in the air. “Baby, look at me. There are some things we need to talk about. This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why is that tiger not attacking us? It’s just standing there like it knows you.”

“Because he does,” West admitted. She gasped, and her eyes wandered back to the tiger who just stood there and stared at them.

“Stop moving,” she warned, her voice growing stronger. She raised her gun and pointed it at West. “I mean it. Stay back.”

“You’re not going to shoot me,” West pointed out, taking another step toward her. “Do you trust me?”

“Tell me what’s going on,” she pleaded. “Stop moving!”

He came forward and pressed his chest to the barrel of her gun, gently covering her hand with his.

“Put the gun down, Charlee,” he demanded. She stared into his eyes and was torn. Her heart softened. His eyes told it all. He wouldn’t hurt her.

She lowered the gun.

He released a deep breath and crushed her to him, his large hands gripping the back of her neck.

“I wish we had more time,” he murmured in her ear.

“What’s going on? You’re scaring me.” She pulled away from him and looked at the tiger.

“I was going to tell you, but I guess there’s no time like the present.” He sighed as he backed up from her. He began to strip his clothes off.

“What the hell are you doing?” she cried out, confusion mounting as she watched him remove his underwear before falling to all fours on the ground. Her eyes grew wide as she watched fur burst forth on his skin. His body drew longer and transitioned into that of a tiger.

If she hadn’t see it with her own eyes, she would have sworn that she was crazy.

Maybe she was.

Maybe this was a dream and she was in a coma somewhere. She must have fell back there when she ran from the dark figure.

She shook her head in disbelief and began backing up, away from West, or what she thought was West. She paused as the scientist in her pushed forth.

How was this possible?

She slowly walked forward, toward West. Her heart slammed against her chest as she stood in front of the beautiful animal. Its intelligent eyes stared back at her. Her free hand reached up slowly, itching to touch the massive head. As if sensing her hesitation, the animal turned its head and pushed it into her hand.

Charlee gasped at the feel of the tiger’s dense fur beneath her fingers. Its chest rumbled as she ran her fingers across it’s head and gave a little scratch behind its ears. She chuckled as it pushed against her hand again. It was like a house cat who loved having its ears scratched and head rubbed.

“West?” she whispered his name. The cat looked at her, then it really hit her. Her lover had just transformed into a massive tiger. “Is it really you?”

The tiger released a chuff as it nodded its head.

“How is this possible?” she asked in disbelief, using both of her hands to rub his head.

“We were born this way.” Luka’s voice appeared from behind her.

Her head snapped in the direction of his voice, finding him emerging from the trees. She took note that he said we.

“This is…how do you…I mean…” she couldn’t formulate a single question. Her mind was racing with every question she could possibly think of as West walked away.

“He got away,” Luka announced to the tigers.

“Go ahead and go back. Charlee and I need to talk.” West’s voice appeared from behind her. She turned and found his naked human form standing close to her. She watched the tiger hop back into the brush, and Luka disappeared into the trees.

Her eyes turned back to West and she swallowed hard. His eyes searched for something in hers. She didn’t even know where to start, so she just waited.