"Help! Oh God, someone call the zookeepers! Hurry!"
Wren pulled away from Marguerite as the children started screaming and people began running all around them,
"What happened?" she asked.
A lady was shrieking a few feet away. "Oh my God, that kid is in the cage with the tigers!"
"They're going to eat him!"
Marguerite couldn't breathe as she turned to see a boy around the age of eight in the cage. His face bloody and clothes torn from his fall, he was crying and screaming as he tried to climb back up to the fence, but the concrete wall kept him from it. He splashed around in the water, drawing even more attention from the tigers.
Worse, the tigers were growling and hissing as they stalked down their landing toward the water that separated them from him.
She was sure the kid was dead, as was everyone else in the crowd.
Suddenly, Wren bolted past her, toward the wooden railing that kept the visitors from the fence. She watched in horror as he vaulted over the fence and barbed wire into the cage, to land in a crouch not far from the boy on one of the concrete pads that formed small islands in the water. With his head bent down in that familiar feral pose, Wren rose slowly to his feet and turned toward the child, who was screaming and crying.
She covered her mouth with her hand as she expected the tigers to kill them both.
Wren moved carefully toward the child, who obviously had been hurt from his fall.
"It's okay, kid," Wren said in a calm, even tone as he waded through the water to reach the boy. "What's your name?"
"Johnny."
Wren reached up to pull him from the concrete pad, but the boy wouldn't let go.
"Trust me, Johnny. They're not going to hurt you. I won't let them."
Johnny was crying as he reluctantly let go of the concrete. Wren cradled him to his chest as he looked around for a way to get the boy to safety. With Wren's animal strength, he could easily jump back up to the spectator area above their heads, but that would most likely clue in the people watching them that he wasn't quite human.
Not that they wouldn't have some suspicions anyway, since he was going to get out of this cage without either him or Johnny being bitten or mauled. Wren ground his teeth as he realized a number of people were taking pictures.
Damn.
Turning his face away, he glanced around. The best way to get them out of this would be through a gate in the back that the zookeepers probably used to feed the tigers. Wren moved toward it.
Rex and Zulu came closer, roaring and prancing in warning to him. Wren turned around and glared at them. They wanted to attack him, he could sense it, and yet they were confused by his human state and tigard smell.
He hissed at them.
They backed up.
Johnny screamed.
"Sh," Wren said calmly. "Don't be afraid. They can smell it, and it's that scent that makes them want to attack you. Pretend they're nothing more than pet kittens."
"But they're tigers."
"I know. Pretend you're a tiger, too. Pretend that they can't see us at all."
The boy's tears slowed. "Here, kitty, kitty."
Wren nodded. "That's it, Johnny. Be brave."
The tigers came closer but stayed back long enough for Wren to reach the gate. A group of zookeepers were already there to unlock it. As soon as Wren handed Johnny to the female keeper, one of the tigers ran for him.
"Run!" the keeper screamed.
Wren didn't move as the tiger leapt at him. He caught the tiger and rolled to the ground with him. Rex only wanted to play with Wren. He lay on the ground with the tiger on his chest as Rex nipped teasingly at Wren's skin. He patted Rex's head playfully.
"You better let me up, Rex," he said quietly. "Otherwise they might trank you."
The tiger licked his face before he bounded away. Wren got up and went back to the fence.
"What the hell was that?" the keeper asked.
"I grew up around tigers," Wren said. "They're just big cats."
"Yeah," the keeper said in a disbelieving tone. "Right. You're lucky you weren't lunch."
Wren stepped out of the cage.
As the keeper locked the gate behind him while another keeper tended to the boy, Maggie came running up to Wren. "Are you okay?"
He nodded.
She held him at arm's length to examine him as if she couldn't believe he was completely intact. "I thought you were dead when that one tiger ran at you."
"He just wanted a playmate."
"Yeah, and hell is just a sauna. You could have been eaten alive."
He smiled at her concerned tone. "Eaten alive's not so bad, depending on who it is doing the biting."
A rich blush covered her face. "How can you make light of this? What you did was incredible."
People were starting to come up to them, asking questions that Wren had no intention of answering.
"C'mon," he said to Maggie. "Let's get out of here."
She nodded before she took his hand and led him toward the exit. They had to dodge a lot of people wanting answers before they could safely make it to her car.
As soon as they were in it, Marguerite drove him back toward her house. "Were you really raised around big cats?" she asked.
"Yes."
"In New York?"
By her tone he could tell she didn't quite buy it "You don't believe me?"
"Well, New York isn't exactly known for its wilderness areas."