Rare Find (14 page)

And what could she do about it now?

Soothing the animal was paramount. Maybe then she could get the cat to relinquish its hold on her.

Tabitha also needed to check out her host's body. See if there was anything she could do for her. To heal her as much as she could and to find a way to escape. But having a tiger run loose in whatever part of the world they were in was a whole different story than being free in the wild. She knew that's where the tiger desperately wanted to return, but Tabitha had no idea if they were in India or the U.S.A. For all she knew the tiger had been captured in China.

She could physically be anywhere in the world. Energy traveled across the world in a heartbeat. That she'd connected as strongly as she had
should
mean the location was close by her home. But nothing about this scenario was normal so she couldn't bank on that.

Just as important, she needed to check in with her own body and keep it alive – if possible.

The same questing energy that she'd sensed earlier pulsed again.

Tabitha opened up her mind to the soft wave of it and sent out a probe to the energy. There was a hesitation, fear, but also a request for reassurance.

There was another feline. A young feline.

Very young.

Her heart ached as she understood this animal's panic. She sent out waves of calming energy, healing energy. Energy to ease the animal's fear. She'd dealt a lot with similar issues over the years as animals were brought into the reserve. Some had to be tranq'd for the trip; others were completely accepting.

She gentled her own energy more, aligning hers to the young male's, adding soothing thoughts and above all else, caring, compassion and empathy. She loved all animals and when one was in pain, she lived it with them.

She sensed this link of energy was another reason she'd locked on Tabitha. And if it was a feline, as she suspected... maybe it understood Tabitha had a soft spot for those, too.

She searched out the cat's energy pathways and stroked along the meridians, trying to figure out if it was physically hurt. The shoulder pain she'd noticed first appeared to be where she'd been shot by a tranq dart – probably on initial capture. The site was sore, puffy, but not serious.

Pain drew her to the back right leg – the older tiger's back leg. There was something wrong there. An old injury perhaps? If she could open her eyes she could take a closer look, but that meant the cooperation of the feline.

She sent warm healing energy to the spot. Tabitha
could
heal at this level. Instantly there was a lessening of the tension in the space they shared. As if the cat knew, understood and responded to her energy. Maybe it didn't know Tabitha was there, but the energies were blending naturally now. That would also help the animal to calm down. Having a foreign energy inside the cat's body would not be comfortable or easy on either of them. Especially if the energies couldn't find a way to exist together peacefully.

Animals normally responded quickly to treatments. At least the cat appeared to be willing to accept her initial attempts.

Still emanating even, calming waves, Tabitha tried to get a better idea of what was wrong in the cat's world.

And getting her vision back would be major.

She sent out her energy in the direction of the cat's head. And into the skull and eyes. There was some resistance, but she thinned her energy to the density of the cat's energy and became one with it, helping it become comfortable with her energy as she became comfortable with its energy. She settled in. With a sigh of acceptance, of knowing, she sank deeper into the experience.

Then the cat opened her eyes.

To bars.

Rusted bars of a small cage. Only big enough for the cat to stand, take a few steps and turn around. A plywood floor. An attached water dish was perched halfway down the inside of the cage. It was full. The cat was thirsty. But she was too scared to drink.

Tabitha didn't blame her.

There was darkness all around. A cover of some kind surrounded the bulk of the cage, but one end was open.

She stared at the large paws crossed in front of her. A dirty gray paw with slight stripes. She was sharing space with a tiger with some variant coloring. There were many white Bengal tigers...but her coloring wasn't quite right.

There was gray and a lot of it, but that could be dirt. Or it could be something else. A thread of excitement wove through her consciousness. There was an extinct species of blue tiger, the Maltese tiger. Some scientists believed it never existed in the first place. Rumor said their slate gray fur shone blue in some light. There were also black tigers, but then this tiger's fur was too light for that. If she could see more of its body, she might know for sure. She'd never expected to see a blue tiger in her lifetime.

The tiger was slowly adjusting to its latest drug dose. Whoever these captors were, they were more concerned about the animal staying quiet and not hurting itself than having it actually eat and drink to stay strong and healthy.

It was obvious this tiger had been hunted and taken from the wild. There was no sense of comfort or familiarity with cages or humans. There was no understanding of the confinement or the lighting. The water dish was new. Images of creeks and ponds flashed through her mind. The cat was desperate for water.

But it was more desperate for its freedom.

She moved back and forth as the big cat struggled to its feet and staggered throughout the small space. It roared in anger, a weak defiant sound echoing through the large space.

And that brought up another issue. If the tiger couldn't be controlled, it would most likely be killed. Or kept so confined, it wouldn't survive anyway.

Unless it was destined for a zoo. No. That wouldn't be. Not this way. If the animal was being imported through the proper channels there'd be vets, trainers, people to look after the tiger, to see to its comfort. All efforts would be made to reduce the animal's distress – and not through the overuse of tranquilizers

Of course, it may be for a zoo in a third world country where the restrictions were lax and the paperwork wouldn't be looked at very closely if at all – for a price.

This was likely a black market deal.

As the thoughts took her to other animals in her world, Tabitha lost her focus. And couldn't see anymore.

She closed her own eyes and breathed into the big cat that surrounded her and reconnected with it.

Then opened her eyes once again.

The room appeared in shades of beige and shadows. Cat eyes. Cat vision. It was likely to be dark in this room. Shadowy. Her human vision would have seen one thing and interpreted it with her human eyes, but her cat's vision was different altogether.

And maybe that explained the color of her fur. Maybe dirty white fur looked like slate gray when viewed from a cat's eyes.

Then she was distracted again as the big head swung from side to side as if looking for an opening, a way out. She studied the change in view as the head swung. The large warehouse was full of empty cages. There were double doors up ahead, but she didn't think the cat understood them to be an exit…as in maybe it didn't understand the concept of doors. But then her mind, or rather its mind, was groggy and dominated by confusion.

Tabitha struggled to stay connected and yet separate. To keep in tune with the tiger but also to allow Tabitha to think on her own. Not an easy thing to do. But she had to keep clarity of her own thoughts and actions. Somehow she had to stay separated from her host so she could do something for both of them.

What she really needed was to find out their location. In what city was the animal being kept? The man had spoken English. Guttural and slang, but English nonetheless. That might help narrow the country down. The man had said something about more traveling to come.

Meaning they could be anywhere in the world – including the U.S. And as helpful as it would be, she didn't want to believe the tiger was in – or destined – for the U.S. Money drove the markets and poachers were in the supply-and-demand market. That meant global markets in today's world. So the tiger could be destined to be shipped anywhere.

She figured if she could free the tiger, the big cat would release her. She could be dreaming, but that was her goal. A hope – and she needed something to hang onto right now.

On top of that, she wasn't sure how her own physical existence was doing. How could she check? Would her attempt to return to her body trigger the tiger's strong emotions so she would be yanked back?

How could she let the tiger know what she needed to do? And that she wouldn't desert her. She wanted to help the tiger.

A roar ripped through her head. Of rejection. Of loneliness. And fear.

She tried to calm the tiger down again, but this time the tiger wouldn't let her. She was too agitated.

Pulling back, Tabitha eased her own feelings down inside the tiger's ballooning emotions – so the big cat would feel Tabitha's emotions.

She wanted out. The tiger wanted out too. They both wanted their freedom.

How did she argue or try to show logic to a panicked animal? How could she prove she was trustworthy? That her word could be counted on when she was pretty sure tigers understood instinct and action, response in the present. Not promises of future acts.

Especially when she couldn't guarantee that she could come back. Thinking through energy laws, she realized she could always find a trail back here. She'd use anchors to make the travel easier and faster.

But she had to go deeper to place them. Deeper into the tiger's psyche to make sure they stayed in place.

Only deeper was more dangerous. For both of them.

But that recourse was likely the only answer.

As she tried to descend to where she needed to go, emotions pummeled at her and images filled her. Images of the tiger's old life, the trees, tall grass. The wind. Racing across a field. Basking under the sun. Freezing in the snow.

Still caught in the tiger's memories, there was a sudden pain in her shoulder and hip. Loud noises followed. Confused and hurting, the large cat had stumbled in a daze of pain. She struggled to escape. To hide. Only she could hardly move. The tiger’s body burned. She wanted it to stop. She could hardly breathe. Or run.

The tiger hadn't gone down easy. And they'd shot her again. Only the cat had reacted badly to the drugs and she was sick. Tabitha saw the sweating as a separate issue now. Not caused by a sense of panic, but more by drugs. The cat’s body had reacted. Swelling. She found it hard to breathe. And she was so thirsty. She was already old. And now with the drugs...she was in a bad way.

The poachers didn't seem to know about her distress – or maybe they didn't care. But a dead tiger wasn't worth much. In the Chinese medicine industry it was, but if capturing her was for that, they could have shot her dead up in the mountains. That would have been much easier. And much faster.

The drug reaction explained the debilitating weakness, the fever and confusion. In fact, Tabitha would swear the big female was dying. And that made her own heart ache.

But there was still something else in there. Tabitha went deeper.

And found the other feline energy she had sensed earlier.

What she understood at a primitive level made her want to rage against these men. And made her want them to pay.

And made her want to help the tiger in a big way.

Because, and against all odds – the old female tiger was pregnant and carried one cub.

Had the poachers known? No. That would have changed the deal entirely.

Tabitha had to help.

But how?

As she considered the almost full-term cub, she realized the energy of the cub was distinct, separate – and yet at the same time it was one with the mother.

That made sense, as all energy was connected.

Parts of other people's energy gravitated naturally to a person they connected with in some way. In her case, it was the energy of people she'd been closest to through her life and those that stayed close to her...some of their energy stuck to her. So therefore Tabitha should be able to find some of those energy fragments and follow them home. She'd already found Stefan's signature, but it was so faint that it wasn't usable, as if it couldn't quite reach her.

Instead of an energy line, it was more a sensation of him being there, searching for her. Or maybe that was wishful thinking.

But there was no denying Tango's energy. Whether it was the feline connection or something else, Tango's signature was strong and loving in Tabitha's heart.

She sent warm loving energy to Tango. He'd be lost if she died. In fact, his energy vibrated at a tense level that said he was already nervous and heading into seriously scared territory. And the color had deepened to a dark blue instead of the lake-blue it normally vibrated with.

She smiled. Maybe she did know what to do.