Chapter 358: Why Do You Smell Like My Brother?
Ren stood in front of the oak tree for a long time, reading the carved words over and over again.
Sorry about the pigeon. I’ll make it up to you. Don’t trust anyone.
That was so typical of Vex. He had threatened her, tried to sell her eagle, and then left her a cryptic little note like some kind of movie villain. And he didn’t even have the decency to tell her where he was going.
"If I ever see that fox again," Ren muttered, "I’m going to skin him and turn him into a scarf."
Behind her, the tiger let out a short huff. Ren chose to believe it was agreement.
She searched the clearing one more time, just to be sure. She checked behind the bushes. She checked the ferns. She even checked the branches of the trees, in case the fox had decided to take a nap up there. But there was nothing. No orange fur, no footprints she could follow, nothing but that stupid message.
Finally, Ren gave up.
"Okay," she sighed, turning back to the tiger. "Village."
This time, the tiger didn’t argue. He crouched down low, and she climbed onto his back.
He moved much faster than he had that morning. The trees blurred past on either side of them, and Ren had to lean forward and hold on tightly to the fur around his neck just to keep from sliding off. He didn’t aim for a single low-hanging branch. Apparently, he was just as eager to get this trip over with as she was.
As they ran, Ren’s thoughts kept circling back to the carving.
Vex was human. Or at least, he had been. He had come from her world, just like she had.
So why hadn’t he told her sooner? Why had he spent all this time acting like a normal fox beastman? And if he was human, why did he want Oreo so badly?
Ren pressed her cheek against the tiger’s warm neck and closed her eyes. Her head hurt. There were too many questions, and the only person who could answer them had just run off without saying goodbye.
The sun was high in the sky when the forest finally started to look familiar.
Ren sat up straight. She recognized that twisted pine tree with the split trunk. She recognized the mossy boulder shaped like a sleeping bear. And a few minutes later, she spotted the huge tree with the hollow in its trunk. Vex’s old den.
The smell of smoke drifted through the leaves. Cooking fires. Ren could hear voices now, too. Laughter, the shrieks of playing cubs, and the steady thunk of someone chopping wood.
Home.
A huge smile spread across her face. "We made it!"
The tiger stopped.
He stopped so suddenly that Ren nearly flew right over his head. She grabbed onto his ears to catch herself.
"Hey! A little warning next time!"
The tiger didn’t move. He stood frozen at the very edge of the treeline, just out of sight of the village clearing. His ears were pinned back. His muscles were tense beneath her legs.
Then, slowly, he crouched down low to the ground.
Ren frowned. "What are you doing? The village is right there. We can walk the rest of the way."
The tiger stayed crouched, waiting.
With a confused sigh, Ren slid off his back. The moment her bare feet touched the grass, the tiger took three large steps backward, deeper into the shadows of the trees.
"Kael?" Ren stared at him. "What’s wrong? This is your home. Come on."
She held out her hand to him. The tiger looked at it. Then he looked past her, toward the sound of the village, and his golden eyes narrowed.
He didn’t come any closer.
"Is this about being stuck?" Ren asked gently. "Are you embarrassed? Because nobody is going to judge you. I promise. And if they do, I’ll hit them with my skillet."
The tiger still didn’t move.
"Ren!"
A high-pitched shriek came from behind her. Ren spun around.
A tiny white tiger cub was standing at the edge of the clearing, staring at her with huge, round eyes. Then he turned around and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"REN IS BACK! REN IS BACK!"
Within seconds, the whole village came pouring out to meet her.
Cubs came barreling across the grass and slammed into her legs, nearly knocking her over. The Caretakers came running after them, scolding and laughing at the same time. Barnaby the badger poked his head out of a hut, his mouth full of food. Beastmen dropped their tools and their baskets and crowded around her, all talking at once.
"Where have you been?!"
"Are you hurt?"
"Did you bring food?"
Ren laughed, trying to hug as many cubs as she could at once. "Yes, I brought food. No, I’m not hurt. And I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But first, I need to—"
The crowd suddenly split down the middle.
Someone was shoving his way through them. He was huge, taller than every other beastman in the clearing, with broad shoulders, messy white hair, and a pair of fluffy white tiger ears on top of his head.
Ren’s heart stopped.
Kael.
He was in his human form. He was standing right in front of her, breathing hard, like he had run all the way across the village. His golden eyes were wide and locked onto her face.
"Ren," he said hoarsely.
Before she could say a single word, he closed the distance between them and swept her up off the ground. He crushed her against his chest so tightly that she couldn’t breathe. She could feel his heart pounding wildly against her cheek.
"You were gone too long," Kael growled into her hair. "Far too long. I was going to go into that swamp and drag you out myself."
Ren’s mind had gone completely blank.
"Kael," she managed to squeak out. "You... you shifted back?"
Kael pulled away just enough to look down at her. His brows furrowed in confusion.
"Shifted back?" he repeated. "What are you talking about? I have not been able to shift at all."
Ren stared up at him.
That couldn’t be right. It didn’t make any sense. If Kael had been here in the village, in his human form, then...
Kael suddenly went still. His nostrils flared. He leaned down and pressed his nose to the side of her neck, breathing in deeply. Then he pulled back, and his golden eyes had turned hard and cold.
"Ren," Kael said slowly. "Why do you smell like my brother?"
Ren’s blood ran cold.
She twisted around in his arms, her eyes flying to the edge of the treeline where she had left the tiger.
The shadows beneath the trees were empty.
The white tiger was gone.