Page 57 of Tiger's Dream
My mouth opened. “Why?” I’d asked.
“I came because, someday, when you are a man, strong and powerful, we’ll be together. You’ll fight at my side. You’ll be my champion. I thought coming here would help me understand you better.”
“I can do that now,” I swore. “Let me come with you!”
She patted my cheek. “You’re not ready yet. I promise you, though, we’ll see one another again someday. I am certain of it.”
My eyes cleared and I was filled with determination. In that moment, I felt like I’d grown to my full height and taken the first step over the threshold into manhood. I took her hand and pressed it to my forehead, bowing over it. “Then I will prepare myself,” I vowed, “to be ready when you need me.”
Anamika nodded, her glorious hair haloed by the setting sun. “Thank you,” she said. “You’ve given me much to think about.” Her voice had taken on a tinkling, bell-like sound that sent a shiver down my back. It was beautiful and airy, like the burbling of a brook.
She leaned closer and my breath caught in my lungs as she kissed my cheek. It was soft and my young heart pounded wildly. I felt drunk standing in the brightness of her presence, the sun behind her blinding me. Something happened then. A shuffling in my mind like the churning of clouds that slid across the sky, obscuring the light.
A breeze swept through my hair and I inhaled. The scent of roses and jasmine wafted around me, and yet I knew I wasn’t standing in my mother’s garden. Where had it come from? I spun slowly in a circle, wondering why I was standing where I was and why my face was wet. I struggled to remember, but it was like trying to block a charging elephant. It was an impossible task.
Something was wrong. Something was missing. I just couldn’t remember what it was. I asked my mother about it but she couldn’t help me. There was a sadness in my heart though I couldn’t understand why. The only thing that had stayed with me after she left was a yearning, a longing for something or someone. She’d erased her visit from all of our memories.
Slowly, I came back to myself after weaving the returned memories into my mind. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. I frowned. Anamika wasn’t exactly like I remembered. Cupping her face with my hand, I said, “Change back. I want to see the real you.”
She lifted her chin and closed her eyes. Her mouth moved slightly as she murmured soft words to command the Divine Scarf. I felt the whisper of threads move around both of us. As I watched the scarf do its work, I noticed every tiny change—the shape and color of her eyes, the length of her toned arms, the texture of her hair where it brushed against my arm—and marveled as the goddess, the woman I’d known as a boy, was revealed inch by inch.
When the fabric settled, she opened her green eyes. “Ana,” I said in a worshipful whisper. Gently, I stroked my thumb across her cheekbone and felt the tingle of our connection shoot through me as she sucked in a breath. Though I was still me and she was the same woman she’d always been, I felt as if I was seeing her anew, through the eyes of the boy I used to be so long ago.
As an adoring, dreamy-eyed youth, I’d imagined embracing her, touching her hair, and taking her hand as we set off on adventures, but the reality of holding her in my arms was entirely different. I was keenly aware that I was now a man on equal footing, at least as equal footing as one could be with a goddess. I reached up to trace her hairline and captured some silky strands between my fingertips.
Slowly, I slid my fingers down, and then my eyes moved unbidden to her mouth as she licked her lips. My heart pounded when her hands skimmed down to my chest. I wanted to kiss her. Everything in my mind and heart screamed at me to seize her in my arms and capture her lips. To pull her close and make her a part of me. Ana was mine. Ren would never, ever take her away from me, the defiant, proud boy within shouted. A shiver went down my spine as I imagined getting lost in her embrace.
For a long moment, our eyes were locked. Our breaths were shallow and pulses quick. Every instinct I had said to move in. That she wanted this closeness as desperately as I did. That she might be the answer to everything. The reason for it all. The person I’d been waiting for.
Instead, I took a step back, trying to shake the memories of the earnest boy I once was and remember the Ana I’d come to know. She didn’t take kindly to amorous advances, and I’d promised that I’d never try to kiss her again. A kind of acid leached into my belly as I reined in the emotional tide that had shaken me. I needed time to sort out all my conflicting feelings and memories.
“Thank you,” I said and captured her hands, still pressed against my chest. Slowly, I lifted one to my lips and kissed her palm in a chaste, deferential manner. “I am glad to have my memories back.”
When I let go of her hand and moved away, she came after me, an expression of confusion on her face. “You are not angry with me?” she asked, placing a hand on my arm.
“Why would I be angry?” I asked, shifting to the side and heading across the beach away from the party so we could leave.
“I thought you would resent the fact that I took your memories,” she said, trailing behind me.
Turning back, I shrugged lightly. “You did what you had to do. What I don’t understand is why you went. You said you wanted to get to know me better. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Yes,” she said and then shook her head. “No. Not exactly.”
“Well, what do you want to know?” Walking backward, I stretched out my arms. “I’m an open book, Ana. All you have to do is ask.”
I smiled at her then, widely, then turned and took off running, feeling gratified when I heard her soft footfalls in the sand behind me. It only took a moment for her to draw alongside and I said, “Wanna race?”
“Race?” she asked. “What is the purpose?”
“To enjoy the journey. Think of it as sparring. Testing your limitations. Unless you’re afraid your tiger will beat you.”
“No man can defeat me,” she announced pompously.
“We’ll see about that,” I said, and immediately doubled my speed.
For just a moment, I was winning. I raced down the beach, my feet barely touching the wet sand, then I heard a grunt, and in the corner of my eye, I saw long legs keeping stride with me and then overtaking my lead. Once she edged ahead, I slowed slightly and let her gain ground. Something in me came alive. Though I was wearing my human skin, the tiger wanted to play. I bounded after her, a growl in my throat.
I could have done the same thing to beat her that I’d done with Ren in another time and another place. Ana’s long hair streamed behind her, and it would have been easy to wrap my hand around it and tug her aside, but that idea quickly morphed into pulling her back against me and falling together to the sand in a tangle of limbs.
