Page 57 of Tiger's Curse
“Kelsey, listen to me! Open your eyes,please!”
I tried to crack open my eyes, but it hurt. The sunlight was making the painful pounding in my head worse.What an awful headache!My mind finally started to clear, and I recognized our campground and Ren, who was kneeling next to me. His wet hair was slicked back, and he had an expression of concern on his beautiful face.
“Kells, how do you feel? Are you okay?”
I intended to answer him with a really good sarcastic retort, but, instead, I choked and began coughing up water. I inhaled a deep breath, heard a crackly wetness in my lungs, and began coughing some more.
“Turn on your side. It helps to get the water out. Here, let me help you.”
He pulled me toward him so that I was resting on my side. I coughed up some more water. He took off his wet shirt and folded it. Then he gently lifted me and placed it under my sore head, which hurt too much to appreciate his . . . bronzed . . . sculpted . . . muscular . . . bare chest.
Well, I guess I must be okay if I can appreciate the view, I thought.Sheesh, I’d have to be dead not to appreciate it.
I winced as Ren’s hand brushed against my head, shaking me from my reverie.
“You’ve got a major bump here.”
I reached up to feel the giant lump on the back of my skull. I gingerly touched it and recalled the source of my headache.I must have lost consciousness when the rock hit me. Ren saved my life. Again.
I looked up at him. He was kneeling next to me with a look of desperation on his face, and his body was shaking. I realized that he must have changed to a man, dragged me out of the pool, and then remained by my side until I woke up.Who knows how long I’ve been laying here unconscious.
“Ren, you’re in pain. You’ve been in this form too long today.”
He shook his head in denial, but I saw him grit his teeth.
I pressed my hand on his arm. “I’ll be okay. It’s just a bump on the head. Don’t worry about me. I’m sure Mr. Kadam has some aspirin tucked away in the backpack. I’ll just take that and lie down to rest for a while. It’ll be alright.”
He trailed his finger slowly from my temple to my cheek and smiled softly. When he pulled back, his whole arm shook and tremors rippled under the surface of his skin. “Kells, I—”
His face tightened. He threw his head to the side, snarled angrily, and morphed to a tiger again. He softly growled, then quieted, and drew close beside me. He lay down next to me and watched me carefully with his alert blue eyes. I stroked his back, partly to reassure him and partly because it soothed me too.
I stared up through the dappled trees and willed my headache to subside. I knew that I would have to move eventually, but I really didn’t want to. He purred softly, and the comforting sound actually helped my headache. Sighing deeply, I got up, knowing that I’d be more comfortable if I changed my clothes.
I sat up delicately, slowly, while breathing deeply, hoping that by moving cautiously the nausea would dissipate and the world would stop spinning. Ren lifted his head, alert to my efforts.
“Thank you for saving me,” I whispered as I stroked his back. I kissed the top of his furry head. “What would I do without you?”
Zipping open the backpack, I found a small box that contained a variety of medications, including aspirin. I popped a couple in my mouth and swallowed a mouthful of the bottled water. Pulling out my dry clothes, I turned to Ren. “Okay, here’s the deal. I’d like to change back into my regular clothes, so if you would head off into the jungle again for a few minutes, I would appreciate it.”
He growled at me, sounding a bit angry.
“I’m serious.”
He growled louder.
I rested my palm against my forehead and held on to a nearby tree to steady my wobbly legs. “I need to change, and you arenotstaying here to watch me.”
He huffed, stood, actually shook his body and head like he was saying no, and stared me down. I stared right back and pointed to the jungle. He finally turned around, but then he padded into the tent and lay down on my quilt. His head faced inward while his tail twitched back and forth outside the opening.
I sighed and winced after turning my head too quickly. “I guess that’s the best I’m going to get out of you, isn’t it? Stubborn tiger.” I decided that I could live with his compromise, but I kept an eye on his flicking tail as I changed my clothes.
I felt a little better for having on dry clothes. The aspirin had started working, and my head throbbed less, but it was still tender. I decided that I’d rather sleep than eat, so I skipped dinner but opted for hot cocoa.
Carefully making my way around our campsite, I added a couple of logs in the fire pit and put the water on to boil. Crouching down, I worked the fire for a while with a long branch to get it crackling again and got out a packet of hot chocolate mix. Ren watched every move I made.
I dismissed him. “I’m fine. Really. Go off on one of your scouting trips or whatever.”
Ren just sat there stubbornly, twitching his tiger tail.
