Keeping his eyes mostly closed, Zai took stock of his own circumstances.
His entire body hurt like one big open, festering wound. His shoulder throbbed where the liger had sunk his teeth in when they grappled on top of the mountain. It would be black and blue with bruises come morning, no matter Zai’s immortal healing abilities.
His arms were locked behind his back, wrists tied tight, pulled at an uncomfortable angle by a rope that connected to a noose around his neck. If he so much as twitched his hands, the noose would tighten to the point of choking.
Already, the skin of his throat was scraped raw, his wrists chafed, and his arms sore from being twisted in the awkward position. His hands were numb; he could barely move his fingers.
Zai could only deduce that the liger used what was left of his own restraints to tie Zai up. To do so, he would have transformed into human. A giant cat would never have been able to tie the ingenious knots.
This knowledge changed things.
Before, when Zai had planned to free this particular Beast, he assumed that if he did the deed and preserved his own life in the process, it would be the most optimistic outcome.
Based on the intelligence he gathered, the liger had devolved into a mindless animal over the past two decades. Countless Dark Ones’ ashes littered his wake. He was a vengeful creature bent on destroying everything in his path. Though he used to be part of the Tiger King’s extended pride, he had long since become a loner.
A stray, feral rebel.
Stories of this impossibly strong, ferocious, rare Beast grew. How he took down Dark battalions one-to-one-hundred. He was unstoppable, indestructible. He felt no pain. And his mind was gone.
He was only a beast in the basest sense. A monster that no longer possessed the restraints and sensibilities of a man.
Now, Zai wondered.
The liger’s eyes, fierce with hatred as they were, had shone with keen intelligence. Of all the Dark Ones he should have torn apart, Zai was likely highest on his list.
But he hadn’t.
Instead, he’d trussed Zai up like a wild hog…
To do what? What did he hope to achieve keeping Zai alive?
Zai let out a long breath as his stomach chose that moment to growl sonorously with hunger. So loud, the liger lifted his head and turned his ears toward the rumbling sound.
Zai didn’t think he imagined the liger’s smirk, as he heard in his mind:
Hungry, Dark vermin? Wait ’til you get to starvation, when your own stomach tries to eat itself. Maybe I’ll decide to eatyoubefore then. I wonder where I’ll chomp down first.
The liger swiped his long, spiky tongue around his muzzle, eyeing Zai’s torso, arms and legs. Then, pointedly between his legs.
He chuffed darkly before tearing a hunk of meat from the carcass’s lower body, making a show of chewing the bloody flesh open mouthed while keeping his eyes on Zai.
Zai suppressed the involuntary grimace that wanted to spasm over his face.
Any male would be hard pressed not to react when someone torethatparticular bundle of flesh off of a body and began to masticate it in their maw.
Inwardly he sighed and mentally girded his loins.
So, it was going to be like that—
The liger planned to play with his food before he put it out of its misery.
Chapter Seven
“Although a Beast may transform into man, he is an animal at heart, down to the minutest fibers of his being. Instincts override deliberate thought. Intuition guides more than premeditation. When a Beast meets his match, it is an irresistible, undeniable magic that pulls together two halves of a whole. Like the sun pulls the moon, and the moon pulls the tides. The Beasts call it—animal attraction…”
—From the lost oral fables of Immortals
Ben managed to carry out his part of the plan without mishap.