The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.

The quote from one of my favorite authors, Virginia Woolf, came to my mind as I stood there, staring at where Nalin stood just minutes ago. His words rung in my ears and pierced my heart like a dull blade.

A low bellow rose into the night sky and shook the trees

It was Ren, calling me back

Taking a deep breath, I wiped the tears from my eyes and morphed, making my way back to the camp

Kelsey was in her tent when I stepped into the light of the fire, Ren changed into a man and approached me, "Any sign of them?"
I dig my nails into my palms to keep a straight face, "No… I didn't catch anything." The lie slides off my tongue

He nods "Look after Kelsey, she has a head injury."

My eyes widen "What?! What happened?"

Ren starts to answer but soon grits his teeth as the changes forces itself over him, he huffs in anger

I smile a little and pet his head, "Don't worry, go on your patrol, I'll keep an eye on her."

He licks my arm before heading into the jungle.

I walk to the entrance "Can I come in?"

There is a soft rustling sound before she answers, "Sure, come on in."

I enter and then sit, "Are you okay? Ren said you were in an accident"

"Yeah, a rock fell on my head when I was under the waterfall." She explained

I wince and then feel a wave of guilt, "I never should have left you guys."

She waves her hand, "Hey, it's alright. I'm okay, everything is okay. Did Ren leave already?"

I nod and look down

"You okay?" she asks gently

Keeping it from Ren was with relatively easy but with Kelsey I felt the gates of my emotions break open and I tell her what happened, how Nalin approached me and that he and Kishan were happy in the jungle and didn't want to be found

"You love him, don't you?" she blurts "He's the one you don't want to leave without."

I nod, tears rolling down my cheeks,

She hands me a tissue, "Maybe he didn't mean what he said. Maybe he only said it because he feels guilty about not coming to find you,"

Like his brothers, he was confident in who he was and in the people he loved. Kelsey might be right

"Why don't you sleep in here? It seems lonely out by the fire and I would enjoy the company." She offers

I smile at her, "Thank you." I morph and wait until she is comfortable under her quilt and then curl into her back, falling asleep quickly even though my heart still ached.

Ren didn't return until about noon the next day to bring us more fruit and check in on Kelsey but soon left saying he finally caught a scent and had to get back to it before it faded.

Me and Kelsey spent the day talking about our childhoods, the authors we both liked and the fact that neither of us enjoyed curry.

It was late in the afternoon when Kelsey was reading some poetry that I felt the ominous feeling of being watched again. I jumped up when there rustling in the bushes and let out a warning bark, but stopped when the scent hit me

I heard Kelsey gasp when I large black tiger emerged from the cover of the trees. My eyes stayed locked on him as he circled the tent, smelling of her things before stopping and sitting by the fire. A minute later an orange tiger followed and laid by the black one.

The gold and green eyes scanned around us but always stopped at us until the black tiger changed into a man, "Well, well, well. We are full of surprises, aren't we?"

"Before you say anything," Kelsey says as she steps up beside me "I think you two should know that I know who you are. And what you are"

Kishan starts to close the gap between him and her but I step in front of her and snap my teeth at him, causing the orange tiger to roar back at me

Kishan doesn't skip a beat as he keeps his eyes on Kelsey, "And who or what do you think we are, my lovely?" He flirts

"You are Ren's brothers." she answers "I'm guessing you are the one who stole his fiancée and betrayed him"

I see a hint of anger in his eyes, but it quickly vanishes, "Now, now. That's not very nice to accuse me of something when we haven't even been properly introduced you. My name is Kishan, this is my twin brother Nalin." He says as he lifts a lock of her hair and rubs in between his fingers

I morph to a human and grab his hand "It's time for—" before I finish my sentence, there is a trembling roar, I grab Kelsey and pull her out of the way as a furious white tiger comes charging out of the jungle and collides into Kishan

Kishan morphs back to his tiger form and they roll in the grass, smacking each other with their claws trying to do damage.

I see Nalin crouch, waiting for his chance to jump into the fight but before he does, I morph and lunge, landing on his back, I sink my teeth into scruff his neck. He roars and starts running around trying to shake me off, I jump off and we begin circling each other like Ren and Kishan.

Out of the corner of my eye I see the tigers, white and black, collide with a loud clap but my lack of paying attention lands me a claw to the muzzle. I'm sent crashing into the ground with a high pitch whine, but I quickly recover, getting back to my feet and lunging forward at his face, my claws landing a couple hits to his face

"Stop! Please all of you!" Kelsey screams out "It doesn't matter what happened in the past, you all need to talk to each other instead of trying to kill each other."

She turns to me and Ren "You two were the ones who wanted to seek them out!" she then turns to Nalin and Kishan "And you two, Ren has been a prisoner for years, and we are working on a way to help the four of you out. Just hear them out."

Ren changes back to a man "Your right Kelsey, we did come out here to talk to them but its obvious that they can't be trusted." He then begins to yell at his brothers in our native language "How dare you two come here when it's just her and Akira."

The brothers change back to men and smirked at their older brother

"Not our fault you're so slow," Nalin said

"And we wanted to see what you were protecting so fiercely." Kishan finished "Now as for me staying here to listen to you, there is nothing you could say that would hold any interest for me."

Nalin looks over at me from where I still stand in my wolf form, snarling "Same here."

His words make falter for a second, but my temper rises, and I snap my teeth at him. Kishan's voice brings me from my thoughts

"Unless, of course, you want to talk about her." He looks at Kelsey, "You know I'm always interest in your women."

Ren lets out an angry roar and attacks Kishan again. I trot over to Kelsey and gently move her back, this time Nalin joins in the fight.

The three tigers charge in and out of the jungle, loud roars shake the ground as they fight. They barrel back to the campsite then into the water until finally they are spent and drag their drenched, exhausted bodies from the water.

The orange and black tiger lay on the grass, licking their wounds will Ren places himself between us and them. I wince to myself as I watch his blood soak his white firm

Kelsey grabs her backpack and pulls out her first aid kit, I know her intentions and try to stop her saying that they will heal but ignores me and approaches Ren first, cleaning out his wounds and then pressing gauze to them to stop the bleeding, despite Ren's roar of protest she continued on.

When she moved to care of the twins, I grumble to myself and go to help. I take some rubbing alcohol and gauze from her, sitting in front of the orange tiger, I pour some alcohol on a rag and then press it to a gash on his cheek, more than likely it's the one I caused.

He lets out a low warning glow, I look up and meet his bright eyes, "Hush Lin, it's not that bad." He lets out a low rumble then looks away as I continue with his other wounds

"I hope you two appreciate the fact that cleaning your wounds freaks me out." Kelsey says to Ren and Kishan "I hate blood. Also, I will decide who will or won't be touching me. I'm not just a cat two for you two to fight over, understand? What happened between the two of you is in the past, I hope you can learn to forgive each other."

I go and stand by Kelsey, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder "Look the reason we came is because we are trying to break the curse. I know that sounds vague, but my father is helping, and we have a good lead on where to start." I explain, "We are going to look for four gifts to offer to Durga, and in exchange we will all be human again."

"Also, I think you all should go to the hospital." Kelsey adds

Ren moves in front of her when Kishan changed to a man, "What is your name?" he asks, reaching for her hand, when she puts her hand in his, he kisses it

"Kelsey Hayes."

"Well, Kelsey, I for one, appreciate the efforts you have made on our behalf. Don't worry about our injuries, the curse heals us rather quickly and I apologize for frightening you." He looks over at me "Nice to see you again Akira. Care to tell me more about these four gifts you are going to be offering?"

He tucks Kelsey's arm under his and walks over to the campfire, I look over at Nalin to find him watching me, he stares for another second before going to lay in the shade near the water, but he ears flicker attentively.

With the time that I have I explain the gifts that my father believes we are going to have to offer, Kelsey finishes for me when I shift back, not even stopping when the black tiger reappears, staring thoughtfully at her. I lay a few feet from Nalin and the sounds of his deep breathing slowly lulls me to sleep.