Page 54 of The Last Sanctuary
Finally, there was only one animal left.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The fog shrouded the buildings in a funeral veil. Like death, drifting closer and closer. Raven shook her head to clear her thoughts. The eerie fog was getting to her. Her imagination was starting to run wild. She braced herself, then took a deep breath.
She’d reached the tiger house.
She approached Vlad’s enclosure with trepidation. Doubt and indecision roared through her mind. Was she seriously going to let a tiger loose? Five hundred pounds of coiled muscle and brute strength. Two-inch fangs. Four-inch claws like blades, built for eviscerating prey.
Was she insane?
Vlad stretched out on his favorite rock, gazing at her with his sharp eyes. His tail twitched. The sleek dark shape of him rose as she approached. His eyes gleamed in the darkness.
She stood and stared at him through the fence. If she left him in his cage, he would die of thirst and starvation, if he wasn’t brutalized by the Headhunters first. If she released him, she’d be freeing a lethal apex predator into the world, a predator blessed with a fierce, formidable intelligence.
But perhaps a lethal predator was what she needed. A predator who would hunt the Headhunters.
At least, a tiger unleashed might distract them enough so the other animals—and Raven—could escape.
The battle in her mind warred back and forth. The risks were great. But also… if Vlad attacked a few of the Headhunters, was that worth it?
In countries where the people respected tigers and kept their distance, tiger attacks were extremely rare. It was humans who hunted the tigers, taunted them, wounded them, and then reacted with stunned outrage when a tiger pushed to the limit responded with violence.
She knew the studies and research her father had shown her. Tigers were naturally wary of humans and usually showed no preference for human meat. Although humans were relatively easy prey, they were not a desired source of food.
Most man-eating tigers were old, infirm, or had missing teeth. They chose human victims out of desperation.
Raven bit her lip, conflicted to her core. If she freed him, would Vlad attack her? Would he hunt down the wolves or the bonobos? Would he head toward the towns and hunt the few remaining humans struggling to survive?
Or would he live out his days in the miles of forest surrounding Haven, hunting deer and rabbits and raccoons, never harming anyone?
She didn’t know. She couldn’t know.
She thought of Vaughn. She thought of Dekker. There were humans more dangerous than any tiger.
“I need help,” she said aloud. “I can’t do this alone. Can you help me?”
Vlad’s gleaming eyes tracked her. She felt him watching her.Well?He seemed to say.Get on with it.
“This might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. The second I open this door, you might just slice my bowels open. Please don’t, okay?”
Once she’d decided, there was no going back.
First, she tossed him a few pieces of deer jerky so he’d remember how much he liked her—and who brought him the treats he loved. Then, she made sure the sliding gate Vlad used to enter his chamber from the enclosure was closed. She swung the service door wide and pocketed the remote control for the sliding gate before exiting.
Lowering her pack, she kept the tranquilizer gun strapped to her waist in case of trouble. She climbed the branches of the maple tree next to the tiger house. When she was parallel to the roof of the tiger house, she leaned out, grasped the top edge of the roof, and hauled herself over and up, as she’d done a hundred times before.
Everything was harder at night, with the fog, the darkness, with the barely contained panic churning her insides.
From the safety of the tiger house roof, she knelt and looked down at Vlad. “Please don’t make me regret this.”
He chuffed in response.
She removed the remote from her pocket and flicked the manual override. The gate creaked as it slid open.
Vlad stared up at her. In the darkness, she could make out his form, those intently glowing eyes. Could he understand what was happening? What was going through that predatory mind?
Hopefully, he remembered that she was the one who’d fed him every day. She was the one who’d hung out here for hours, keeping him company. As if tigers got lonely like teenage girls.
