"Akira will you please go wake Miss Kelsey and give her this bag?" My father asks as I finish my breakfast, "Tell her to pack a few days of clothes, including a bathing suit. We need to leave soon."

I nod and take the bag before heading upstairs to her room. I raise my hand to knock on her door, but the smell of Ren's scent makes me pause

'Spending time in her room huh Ren? Quite bold.'

I shake my head then knock twice. I listen as she sits up and announce myself, "Kelsey, its Akira. I have a bag for you."

A couple seconds later, she opens the door, her brown hair messy from a long night of sleep

"I know my hair is a mess, don't judge." She chuckles

I smile, "Don't worry, mine gets the exact same. Anyway, here." I hand her the backpack "My father said to pack your swimsuit and about four days of clothes. Then meet us downstairs."

"Right. Thank you, I will be down in a few"

With a nod and smile I leave her to get ready. I head back downstairs and out to the jeep where the boys wait in the Jeep. "She will be down soon" I say before I jump in the back with Ren who is already in his tiger form

I look up at my father in the driver's seat, "Think we will find him?" I ask knowing he knows the place I am questioning

He sighs "It's possible," he looks over at Ren in the rearview mirror, "Very possible we will find both of them."

Ren huff and lays his head in my lap

A few minutes later, Kelsey rushes out and gets into the jeep. My father instantly starts driving, he hands her a breakfast bar and a juice

"What's the rush?" she asks

"Ren has added a little detour to our trip." He answered "The plan is to drop the three of you off for a few days and then I will return to pick you up in a few days. We will proceed to Hampi from there."

"What kind of detour?"

"Ren will explain himself when we get there."

I morph to my wolf form and slip to the floor as Kelsey asks my father about how he grew up, our culture… Even about my mother, even though after all these years, it was still a sensitive subject to my father to talk about.

I close my eyes and try to block out the memory of that night.

A couple hours later I feel the jeep come to a stop and hear Kelsey question where we were.

I stood up and shook the sleep out of my muscles and look out at the jungle that surrounded us

"Don't be afraid," my father assured her "Like before, Akira and Ren will protect you. You'll be safe."

"Why do those words always mean I have to wander in the jungle with a tiger and wolf?"

He laughs, grabs her bag then gets out to open her door for her. I easily leap out the open window while Kelsey opens a door for Ren to get out

"You sure I can't go with you?" Kelsey asks my father

"I'm sorry, Miss Kelsey, but they will need you."

She sighs "Alright."

"I will go into town and grab a few supplies then will meet you right here in three or four days." While Kelsey turns to scold Ren for making her must sleep in the jungle again, I rub my head against his hand. My father kisses my head "I hope you find him Kira."

'I will'

I nod and lick his cheek before I turn to follow Ren and Kelsey.

"Hey Ren. How come I am always having to follow you and Akira into a jungle? How about next time you guys follow me into a spa or a beach?"

Ren snuffs and I huff

'A spa sounds nice. If only I spent more than less a half hour a day as a human.'

We walked for most of the afternoon, my ears perked up when I heard the loud rumbling of the waterfall that we were hiking to.

The basin of water was surrounded by silver stones, the water foaming as they well over them

"This is my favorite place in the whole." Ren announced, coming up beside Kelsey as she looked at a pretty butterfly that landed on her "We'll came here for the night."

When Kelsey sat down, I laid beside her, my head on my paws. I watched Ren as he started to explain the reason we came here.

"Your brothers? I thought they were dead. You never mentioned them, except the fact that they were cursed like you. You think they are alive and live here?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure they are alive or not. I hope they are here. Kadam believes they are here." He replied before turning to face the waterfall, "My plan is to search the area in ever widening circle, either I catch their scents first or they will catch mine. If after a couple days, they don't show up or I don't catch their scents… We will go back to Kadam and continue our journey."

"Wait. You said we wouldn't leave without them!" I snarl changing to him

He sighs and faces me, "I'm sorry Akira but we have to be realistic, they have been out here for a long time and are more than likely content to stay- "

"I'm not leaving him." I say through clenched teeth

Ren stands tall and locks eyes with me, "You will do as I say, Kira. Or you will stay with Kadam." He threatens

I hold his gaze before turning away

"I'm going to help Kelsey set up camp and then I will begin my search. You will stay here and look over her, do I make myself clear little sister?"

I clench my fists and nod "Yes brother." I huff then morph and lay by a tree, watching as they make a campfire and set up the tent

Ren kissed Kelsey's forehead "Akira will keep you safe but keep the fire going, it will scare the wild animals away. I won't be back until dark." With a look at Kelsey then me, he took off into the jungle as a tiger

'Stuck on look out duty. He treats me like I'm a guard dog.' I snarl to myself.

Kelsey places a bowl of water and some of her food in front of me, "I'm here if you want to talk okay?" she gives me a soft smile before going to sit by a fire.

After sulking for an hour, I give in, drinking the water and eating the food. I morph to my human form and sit beside her, staring into the flames "Kishan and Nalin are the names of his brothers. They are a year younger than Ren and are twins."

She nodded "Still hungry?" she asks, "I'm guessing like Ren, you have a big appetite."

I smile a little "Yeah, thanks. I can eat."

She smiles and hands me one of the dinner packets that my father put in the bag for her

After our meals were finished, she headed into her tent. I morphed to my wolf and laid at the opening; my ears constantly twitched to all the sounds of the jungle that came alive at night as much as it did during the day.

Ren returned not long after that and I could tell by his walk and exhausted face, that he didn't have any luck in finding them. I rub my head against his leg then go to lay by the still burning fire while he goes into the tent to talk to Kelsey. Not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation, I close my eyes and fall asleep

Ren was gone by the time me and Kelsey woke but returned around noon with some fruit that was thrown at him.

I chuckle and eat them without complaint, but Kelsey goes to wash them worrying about germs from the monkeys

"Ever eat a monkey Kira?" Ren asks as he sits by me

"Tried to but I can't climb a tree like you" I tease

He chuckles, "Believe me you don't want to, they are disgusting. However, we should go for a hunt while we are here."

"Yes, we should, I've only been successful a handful of times when I tried on my own but with your muscles, I'm sure we can take one down easily."

"Would you two please stop talking about your hunting stories." Kelsey begs, her face paling a little bit

Ren grins and stands, locking his eyes on Kelsey, he then lowers his body into a crouch, balancing on the balls of his feet.

I shake my head as he play stalks Kelsey then look away the closer he got until he is practically breaking down her neck and she was sporting a bright shade of red, "Alright Ren, that's enough. Your gonna make her faint." I tease

He steps away with a bright smile and we go back to eating the rest of the fruit

"How about a swim?" Kelsey asks after we finish our snack

Ren agrees to a swim, but I deny

"No thanks, the talk about hunting made me want to go stalk something. Maybe I will try to see if I can pick up the boy's scent"

Ren gives me a serious look, "You sent a signal if you catch anything, understand?"

I stare into his deep cobalt eyes and nod, "Yes brother."

"Alright, be safe."

I nod then take off into the jungle, not stopping when my two legs were replaced with four. Running at half pace, I easily weaved between the trees and over broken logs.

Keeping my breathing level, I started pushing my paws faster. The trees blurred around me. I continued running for what seemed like longer than it should have, but I figured it was because running, whether in my human or wolf form, was my outlet, my little taste of freedom.

I didn't stop until my lungs and legs ached, I slowed to a trot, stopping a stream. I lapped up the cool water until I had my fill, turning I decided to lay beneath the cool shade that the overhead trees provided. Before I realize it, I lay my head down and fall asleep

I don't know how long I was asleep but when I came to, I had this unnerving feeling of being watched. I stand up and scan the area, the sun was starting to go down, but it didn't affect my vison any. My eyes stop when they lock with the eyes that were watching me. Bright emerald eyes, peaked from the thick jungle bushes

"Nalin?" I whisper, switching back to human

The eyes blink and then emerge from their covers, a tiger, not as big as Ren's, approaches me

Tears well in my eyes and soon spill over onto my cheeks, "It's you, isn't it?"

The tiger stared at me and then changed into a man, he was a couple inches shorter than Ren, but he had more muscle on him. His jet black hair was short from his time in the military, like his brother he had full lips and a strong jaw but his nose was slightly bump from being broken a handful of times and onto of his left eyebrow was a scar he got from his childhood.

"What are you doing here Akira?" he asked, his voice gruff, probably from time of not using it

"I-I…" my words were lost, stuck in my throat. There were so many things I wanted to say, to him, my best friend, my first love… My first kiss

He raises his eyebrows, "Let me guess, you and Ren are here to convince me and Kishan to come home?" he offers "That it?"

I shake myself out of my nervousness "Y-yes! That among another things."

He looks me over and a tremor rolls over me, and it wasn't because it was my time to change

"I've missed you Nalin..." I take a step toward him

"Yeah, can't say the same about you." Without another word he morphs and runs back into the jungle.