Tiger's Blood

Watching Chase put Claire down the river a few weeks ago makes me think so much about Lily. I should have just given her the medicine she needed before I put her to bed. If it wasn’t for me, she would still be alive. Then she probably would have died anyway because of the Lions. They would have kidnapped the both of us and place us with my father down in those caves underneath the Kingdom.

If I had the chance to make a proper burial for her and for my now deceased father, I would. If the Kingdom wasn’t in turmoil because of me, I would try to change their minds about their society. I know that not all Lions are bad. Even though I wouldn’t have gotten into all this chaos if it weren’t for Ethan and King Andrew, I’m glad I did. I met Noah, Chase, and Ethan throughout this experience. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet others along the way and we might just have a chance to change Bitotem for the better where Bloods of all kinds can live peacefully together.

It still boggles my mind thinking about my parents. An Owl Blood and a Bear Blood living together, having two kids together, and loving each other until they both died. They are completely different from one another. Bears are very assertive, confident, and independent. Dad always set clear boundaries towards me, but was very protective over Lily like she was his territory. Owls, on the other hand, are very wise, decisive, imaginative, patient, and are visualizers. The characteristic both my parents showed and passed to me was courage, and that just shows that any Bloods can get along like my parents.

I walk along slowly for Noah and Ethan since they don’t like it when I run fast. They sit upon my back and Ethan scratches behind my ear. Snow flurries lightly in the air as the ground begins to look like a white blanket. Chase walks in front of me sloppily. He stumbles off the path and bumps into a tree. Snow fell on his head and he shook it off. I can tell he is feeling downhearted over Claire. I look through two long rows of trees leading towards a small looking building. I roar softly to Chase and move my head in the direction of the building. He spots it and walks underneath the tunnel of trees. I follow and we stop in front of the small, grey house. Ethan and Noah hop off me and I mutate back.

“Noah, Ethan, come with me and look inside to make sure there isn’t anybody here. Kira you sit down and rest since you’ve been walking the most,” Chase says. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” I giggle. I plop down in the snow and feel the frozen flakes melt on my cheeks. My fingers turn numb and my ears turn red. My nose twitches from the cold and I sniffle. I exhale deeply and watch my breath form a cloud in the sky in front of me. It’s something about the cold weather that makes me feel happy and alive. I don’t know if it’s the snowflakes, the way the trees look like they are shaking from the cold, or the grey skies, but I love being in the cold. I wave my arms and legs against the snow and leave a deep imprint. I am interrupted by a hovering shadow.

“Hey snowflake, ready to come inside?” Noah asks. “I’m enjoying the snow, are you sure there isn’t anyone living in there? Any Lion Blood Guards ready to arrest me hiding behind a wall or a couch?” I joke. “Not unless Ethan will arrest you and take you back to the Kingdom.” Noah says skeptically. I look up at Noah. “Ethan hasn’t done anything to make me question his trust yet.”

“Yet? What about when he left us in the middle of the night and we had to search for him for three weeks? What about when we found him sleeping in a tree with a brand new sword for you that he claimed he killed someone to get it? What about all the Lions in the Kingdom who needed him there, but he left and ran off with you? Doesn’t any of those seem suspicious to you?” he questions. “Wait back up a moment, what do you mean that all the Lions in the Kingdom need him?” I ask. “I just mean that they could use his type of wisdom for their Kingdom to make it better, but he decided to leave it all behind to run off with you. He ran off with a Tiger Blood against his Kingdom who will do anything to stop the dynasty of the idiotic Lion Bloods from ruling Bitotem.”

I stop and think about his words. Noah does have a point. Ethan has been acting strangely ever since we met. I look up at the grey sky, then into Noah’s eyes and sigh deeply. “I do agree that it’s strange that a Lion wants to stop his own Blood from ruling the world. I thought they were all the same dimwitted, snobby creatures. I guess that some Lions are brave and courageous and others are lazy and ignorant. There must be some reason he doesn’t want them to do what they do. Maybe he has good intentions like I do. I’ll talk to him about it if you want. Don’t think so negatively Noah, at least we are all alive and safe right now,” I assure him. “For now,” he mutters. “Alright let’s go inside.” I say.

Noah leads me indoors and I find Ethan on the ripped up couch. “Hey guys we have a problem. There’s only two rooms upstairs with beds in them and there are four of us,” Chase says walking down the stairs. “That’s alright, Kira and I can sleep with each other, Noah can take the couch and make sure no one comes in and Chase you can take the spare room,” Ethan blurts out, Noah and I glance at each other and he rolls his eyes at me. I look to Ethan. What if I wanted Noah to sleep with me and you take the night shift Ethan? I still feel shaken up about the hanging. “Sure whatever that’s fine,” I mumble.

“It’s still early to sleep, Kira want to go hunting with me?” Chase asks. “I would love to kill something right now, what do you normally hunt?” I ask him. We start walking out the door together. “Mice, moles, rats, fish. Any small animal really. I know you kill larger things like deer or moose,” he says. “Yeah, but snow just started falling. We’ll see what we find in the woods and hunt that,” I say. “You’re a White Tiger Blood, you’ll blend in with the snow. The prey won’t even know you’re coming,” Chase says. He was right. Not even twenty minutes into hunting and I caught three squirrels, two mice, and a rat. I carry my prey between my large Tiger jaws when my mouth begins to water. I haven’t eaten a full meal since we left the Kingdom. I have to save this food for Noah and Ethan though. Chase soars above me with two mice in his black talons.

Chase lands in front of me and mutates. “Hey, I called you out here to hunt because I needed to tell you something, well that, and I was getting hungry,” he says. I drop my prey on the ground in front of him, mutate and lay down to take a break. “I hope you know that we just started a war in the Kingdom, and now that they have Jett as a ruler it’s just going to get worse. We need to figure out a plan to stop Jett. There’s only four of us and thousands of them. We need more Bloods on our side. More Bloods like you,” he says.

“I’m the only Tiger Blood left Chase, how are we going to find more Bloods like me?” I ask. “You convinced Ethan and Noah and inspired me to rebel against the Kingdom that I worked under for over five years. Why not convince others? We might not be Tigers like you, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight along with you,” he says. “You’re right. We should find more Bloods. Now before we either freeze or die of starvation. Let’s go home and cook up this food,” I say.

After the four of us eat, I go upstairs and examine the room that I’m sleeping in. I walk inside the closet and find clean clothes. I pick up a sleeveless shirt and a pair of clean torn up blue slacks. I take off my dirty shirt and my undershirt. My breasts instantly become cold in the room. The door swings open and I quickly cover myself. “Kira-oh my gosh I’m so sorry I should’ve knocked,” Ethan quickly shuts the door and I hide in the closet. “It’s fine Ethan just give me a minute,” I say and fumble around with my shirt.

After I get dressed, I walk out and Ethan stood at the door. “Can I help you?” I ask. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I just came up here to sleep,” he says. “It’s ok. I didn’t mind if you saw me. I just found some clean clothes and I thought I would change. Did you want to look to see if there’s any clothes that fit you?” I ask. “No thanks I’m good,” he says. “Alright,” I say climbing in the bed. Ethan crawls under the covers next to me and takes his shirt off.

“I sleep shirtless; I hope you don’t mind,” he says. “No, that’s fine,” I say nervously looking at his body. I flip around and face the closet and he holds me from behind. “You look beautiful if it makes you feel better,” he whispers. I blush and he starts kissing my neck. His hands slide below my waist. Noah wouldn’t like this. I flip back to face Ethan and he kisses my lips lightly. I kiss him back slightly and he climbs on top of me. Stop Kira, Noah loves you. You don’t know if you can trust Ethan yet. I stop kissing him and look at him. “I’m sorry, I’m not ready for this,” I say.

“Why didn’t you just say so. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to rush you,” he says. He kisses my forehead then climbs off of me. “Get some rest Kira, I won’t rush you into anything. You are your own Blood, I’ll let you choose whatever you want. Even if you want Noah, I understand,” he says. That doesn’t make me feel better. Noah is fine if I want you and you are fine if I want him. I don’t like making those decisions. Might as well throw Chase in the mix if you really want me to. Shut up Kira you are insane, go to sleep.