"Kira? Akira wake up!" an urgent voice slowly brought me from the sleep I didn't know I fell into

I groan and slowly open my eyes; I look up and see bright green eyes staring down at me…

And strong arms were wrapped around me, I had shifted back to human in my sleep and now, also in his human form, Nalin was holding me close to his chest looking around the campsite

I blush and start to shift away from him, but he just tightens his grip "What? What is it?"

"Look. Kelsey is gone." He announces

My eyes widen and I look around, and he was right, no fire was burning, and Kelsey was no where to be seen. I close my eyes and took a deep breath, blocking out the smells of the cool forest and animals, trying to focus on her scent. "Her scent is still there but it is staring to fade, she must have left a couple of hours ago," I say as Nalin sets me by a tree

"Agreed." He looks up at the sky and lets out a low growl to himself, "A storm is coming in, even if I started tracking her, the scent will be washed away soon enough."

I nod, "It's possible your brothers will catch her scent before you do. We should wait here, I'm sure she will return."

Nalin looked me over and nodded, "Why don't you lay in the tent? Keep you leg dry." He suggested

I had almost forgotten that my lower leg was broken because now the pain wasn't as bad. I raise an eyebrow, "What? Don't think my little wolf can handle the rain?" I ask

His lips curl up to a small smile, "Well, wolves don't like water as much as a tiger does."

I stick my tongue out at him, "No way, I enjoy a good rain bath" I say before I morph to my wolf form and smack his leg with my tail. He chuckles softly lightly before laying beside me in his tiger form.

Within an hour, the storm hit us heavily, an earth-shattering roar shook the trees around us, and the quick lightning lit up the night sky as a steady flow of rain pours over us, soaking us to the bone.

Despite the pounding rain, we saw Kelsey emerge from the jungle and she went into her tent. I got up and trotted to her tent.

I stuck my head in and whined softly when I saw a dark look on her face, she had obviously saw something that haunted her, I stepped the rest of the way into the tent and shook the rain off my fur causing Kelsey to raise her arms to cover herself and growl in disgust

"UGH! Akira! Not cool! Get out, your dragging mud in!" she screams

I let out a low whine and step toward her but she again yells for me to leave, I hear a growl outside the tent telling me Nalin was close and didn't like her getting hash with me even though I just wanted to help her. With my head low I duck back out into the rain and go to lay beneath a tree, Nalin follows and lays close to me, his warm body soothing me to sleep.

When I wake up the next morning, Nalin was still asleep beside me but l lifts my head to see Kelsey approach me

She kneels and runs her hand over my cheek, I rumble lightly and lean into her hand, "I'm sorry about last night Kira. I saw Ren and Kishan hunt last night and by the way you saw last night, it was very difficult for me to see." She explains

I morph to human and take her hands in mine, "I understand, believe me. When I was cursed I didn't want to hunt, I was trained like the brothers to fight but I never really had the heart to kill but," I turn to look at the still sleeping orange "Nalin really helped me through it, he said that it was a balance of life to hunt and to respect my wolf form."

She nodded, "At least Ren was able to eat and get some strength back."

I smile and nod, "It will be alright." I stood with her and started to help clean up the campsite

Ren came from the tree line and announced that it was time to head back to my father and continue our journey

"What about Kishan?" Kelsey asked

Me and Ren looked over at Nalin, who shifted to a man and was leaning against a tree, "Is there anyway you can convince him to come with us?" I asked

He huffed and looked over at the muddy pool, "Kishan has made his opinion quite clear… He may be my twin, but I don't think I can change his mind."

"But- "

"No buts Akira," Ren said before going over to Kelsey and kissing her forehead

I look down, my heart tightening, I was happy that Nalin was coming but I was also sad for him, I knew how close him and Kishan are and feel guilty for having him leave him in the jungle alone.

Sensing my inner guilt, Nalin comes over and runs the back of his hand over my cheek, "Kira look at me…" when I hesitate he lifts my chin up with his hand, "I am sad to leave him but I know you need me more, Kishan has to deal with this himself, there is only so much I can help him with but this… between us, I can help with."

I can't help but smile at his words "Oh, so there's something going on between us?" I tease

He chuckles, "Well, if your so against it, there doesn't have to be" he teases back

"Nope, something sounds pretty good to me."

He looks deep into my eyes and that moment, everything faded away; the fact that we still had a lot of hardships to face to break the curse or the several years being apart… Right now, none of that mattered.

It was just me and him in our own little bubble… That is until Ren cleared his throat and broke the bubble.

Nalin broke our gaze and growled at his older brother

"Growl all you want Lin, but kiss and make up later, we have to get to Kadam by the end of the day."

I roll my eyes and tuck my head under Nalin's chin "We will finish this conversation later," I vow

He presses his warm lips to my forehead, "Sounds like a plan."

With a warm glowing feeling in my heart, I step away and continue helping Kelsey with packing.

An hour later we started our hike through the jungle again, walking in a single file line with Ren and the head, Kelsey and me in the middle and Nalin took up the rear.

I let out soft playful growls when Nalin kept batting at my back paws or tail, he finally stopped when I turned and jumped onto his back, causing Kelsey to laugh at us.

I enjoyed having like the happy tiger that he used to be, me and him started walking side by side while Ren talked to Kelsey about what it was like to be to be stuck in a cage and being forced to do circus tricks

I thought about all the times me and my father tried getting Ren back, he would send me or people he paid to try to purchase the white tiger but every single time there was always something preventing it, that is until Kelsey came along and somehow was able to break the cycle.

Ren stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air, my ears perked up as the black emerged from the thick bushes

"Kishan!" Kelsey exclaimed happily, "Have you changed your mind, are you coming with us?"

The black tiger stared at us then at her before changing into a man, "No Kelsey, I have not changed my mind on leaving. I am however glad to see you are safe." He said before shooting a nasty look at Ren, me and Nalin

We shifted to human form, Ren shoved his brother's shoulder, "Why didn't you tell me she was out there, watching us?! She was left unprotected! She could've been hurt!" he yelled

Kishan shoved him back, "You left before I could say anything, if it eases your conscious, I was up all night looking for her." He turns his bright gold eye on us "And where you two anyway?"

Before I could say anything, Nalin stood in front of me and squared off to his twin "I ran into Akira and it was a good thing I did because she was being attacked by a jaguar, it broke her leg so I carried her back to camp. By the time we got back, Kelsey was gone, and the rain was going to wash her scent away"

"Please, everyone calm down." Kelsey interjected "It was my choice to follow Kishan and he looked after me just fine. I was the one to watch the hunt and I was the one to go back to camp by myself so if you want to get mad at someone, get mad at me."

I can still feel the anger surging from the three brothers, but they backed off a little. Kelsey apologized to Kishan about making him worry, he just grinned and kissed her hand making Ren growl

"So, did you enjoy watching the hunt?" he asked

"She had nightmares." Ren spat

Kelsey nodded

"Well I am not going to feel bad about my brother getting well fed, it could have been weeks until he could make a kill on his own."

"I was doing fine just on my own!"

Kishan smirked "Yeah right, you wouldn't be able to catch a limping turtle."

I flinched at the sound of the punch that Ren gave Kishan, it happened so fast, he had moved Kelsey to the side and decked him good.

Kishan took a step back and rubbed his jaw, a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth "Try that again big brother, I dare you" he challenged

Ren scowled at him before taking Kelsey's hand and pulling her with him back into the jungle

Kishan sighed and turned to me before pulling a chain from under his shirt, it was his half of the amulet, like the piece that my father had "Make sure she gets this Akira," he says handing it to me

I nod and attach it around my neck "I will." I give him a hug before I morph and trot after Ren and Kelsey, Nalin following me a few minutes later.

After another hour of walking we reach the end of the jungle and see the highway, making sure there was no traffic we cross and come up to a military style tent.

I waste no time morphing to human and jumping into my father's arms.