And then a child screamed.
The sound was so ear-splitting that everyone noticed. Alex’s head shot up. Heather fell out of her handstand, and the clowns dropped the pins they were juggling. Her father came to a sudden stop, just blocking her line of vision. She heard his gasp and pushed past him to see what was causing the commotion. Her heart skipped a beat.
Sinjun had escaped from his cage.
He stood in the short grass between the menagerie and the back door of the big top, while behind him the door of his cage hung open from a broken hinge. The white flags on his ears were up and his pale golden eyes were fixed on an object less than ten yards away.
The chubby little kindergarten cherub in her pink overalls.
The child had somehow become separated from the rest of her class, and it was her piercing scream that had caught Sinjun’s attention. The little girl howled in terror as she stood frozen to the spot, her arms jerking at her sides, a stain spreading on her overalls as she wet herself.
Sinjun roared, revealing lethally sharp teeth curved like scimitars, teeth designed to hold his prey in place while he ripped it open with his claws. The little girl screamed again, the sound more piercing. Sinjun’s powerful muscles rippled and all the blood left Daisy’s head. She sensed him ready to spring. To the tiger, the child with her thrashing arms and shrill shrieks must seem like the most threatening sort of prey.
Neeco appeared from out of nowhere, rushing directly toward Sinjun. Daisy saw the cattle prod in his hand and took an involuntary step forward. She wanted to warn him not to do it. Sinjun wasn’t used to the prod. He wouldn’t be cowed by it the way the elephants were; it would merely make him more enraged. But Neeco was reacting instinctively, handling the tiger in the only way he understood, as if Sinjun were an unruly bull elephant.
As Sinjun turned away from the child toward Neeco, Alex came running from the opposite side. He dashed toward the little girl and snatched her up into his arms to carry her to safety.
And then everything happened at once. Neeco plunged the end of the cattle prod at the tiger’s shoulder. The maddened animal gave a roar of fury and flung his massive body at Neeco, knocking the elephant trainer to the ground. Neeco lost his grip on the prod, and it rolled out of his reach.
Daisy had never felt such terror. Sinjun was going to savage Neeco, and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it.
“Sinjun!” Desperately, she called out his name.
To her astonishment, the tiger lifted his head. Whether he’d heard her or was responding to some unnamed instinct, she didn’t know. Her legs were so weak she could barely lift them, but even so, she moved forward. She had no idea what she was going to do. She merely knew she had to act.
The tiger remained crouched over Neeco’s motionless body. For a moment she thought the trainer was dead, but then she realized he was holding himself very still, hoping the tiger would forget about him.
“Daisy, don’t take another step.” She heard her husband’s voice, quiet but commanding. And then her father’s voice, more shrill.
“What are you doing? Get back here!”
She ignored them both. The tiger turned his body slightly, and they stared at each other. His sharp, curved teeth were bared, his ears flat against his head, his eyes wild. She felt his terror.
“Sinjun,” she said softly.
Long seconds ticked by. She saw a flash of auburn between Sinjun and the big top, Sheba Quest’s flaming hair as she moved quickly toward Alex, who had just passed the screaming little girl off to her teacher. Sheba handed Alex something, but Daisy’s mind seemed to be paralyzed.
The tiger stepped over Neeco’s prone body and riveted all his ferocious attention on her. Every one of his muscles was tensed and poised to spring.
“I have a gun.” Alex spoke to her in a voice barely more than a whisper. “Don’t move.”
Her husband was going to kill Sinjun. She understood the logic of what he was about to do—there were people all over the lot; the tiger was wild with terror and clearly a danger—but at the same time, she knew she couldn’t let it happen. This magnificent beast shouldn’t be put to death merely because he was behaving in accordance with the instincts of his species.
Sinjun had done nothing wrong except act like a tiger. Human beings were the ones who had transgressed. They had taken him from his natural environment, imprisoned him in a tiny cage, and forced him to live his life beneath the stares of his enemies. And now, because she hadn’t noticed that his cage was one of those needing repairs, he would be killed.
She moved as quickly as she dared and put herself between her husband and the tiger.
“Get out of the way, Daisy.” The quiet timbre of his voice did nothing to soften the force of his command.
“I won’t let you kill him,” she whispered back. And she began to walk slowly toward the tiger.
His golden eyes blazed at her. Through her. She felt his terror seep into every cell of her body and conjoin with hers. Their souls melded, and she heard him in her heart.
I hate them.
I know.
Stop.
I can’t.
She narrowed the distance between them until they were separated by barely six feet. “Alex will kill you,” she whispered, gazing into the golden eyes of the beast.
“Daisy, please . . .” She heard the strain in Alex’s desperate entreaty, and she was sorry for the distress she was causing him, but she couldn’t stop her course of action.
As she closed in on the tiger, she sensed Alex shifting his position so he could get a clear shot from another direction. She knew she had run out of time.
With fear filling her chest until she could barely breathe, she sank to her knees before the tiger. She smelled his feral scent and stared into his eyes.
“I can’t let you die,” she whispered. “Come with me.” Slowly, she reached out for him.
One part of her waited for his powerful jaws to clamp around her arm, while another part—her soul, maybe, since only the voice of the soul could so stubbornly resist logic—the soul part of her no longer cared if she had an arm, not if he was to die. She gingerly touched the top of his head between his ears.
His fur felt both soft and bristly. She let him grow accustomed to her touch, and his heat seeped through her palm. The soft skin of her inner arm brushed against his whiskers, and she felt his breath through the thin cotton of her T-shirt. He shifted his weight and gradually sank down onto the ground with his front paws extended.
Calm seeped through her body, taking the place of the fear. She experienced a blissful sense of homecoming, a peace she had never known, as the tiger became her and she became the tiger. In one fragment of time she understood all the mysteries of creation, that every living being was part of every other living being, that all were part of God, bound by love, put on earth to care for one another. She knew then that there was no fear, no disease, no death. Nothing of any importance existed but love.
And in that fragment of time, she understood that she also loved Alex in the earthly way a woman loves a man.
It seemed natural for her arms to encircle the tiger’s neck. Even more natural to press her cheek to him and close her eyes. Time ticked by. She heard the throb of his heart and, overlaying that, a deep, gravelly purring.
I love you.
I love you.
“I have to take you back,” she finally whispered, tears seeping through her closed eyelids. “But I won’t abandon you. Ever.”
The purring and the heartbeat became as one.
She stayed there on the ground for some time, her cheek pressed to his neck. She had never felt so peaceful, not even when she sat between Tater’s front legs. There was so much evil in the world, but not here. This place was holy.
Only gradually did the others come into focus. They were frozen like statues. Off to the sides. Before her. Behind her.
Alex still had his gun aimed at Sinjun. Silly man. As if she would let him hurt this ani
mal. Her husband’s healthy tan had faded to chalk, and she knew she was causing him terrible fear. With the echo of the tiger’s heartbeat beneath her cheek, she understood she had upset Alex’s world in a way he would find difficult to forgive. When this was over, there would be terrible consequences to face.
Her father, looking old and gaunt and gray, stood not far behind Alex, next to Sheba. Heather clutched Brady’s arm. The schoolchildren were absolutely silent.
The outside world had invaded, and she could no longer stay where she was. Slowly, she stood. Keeping her hand curved over the back of Sinjun’s neck, she let the tips of her fingers sink into his fur.
“Sinjun’s going back to his cage now,” she announced to everyone. “Please stay away from him.”
She began to move and wasn’t at all surprised when the tiger came with her since their souls were so intertwined that he had no other choice. The side of her leg brushed against him as she led him toward the cage. With every step, she was aware of Alex’s gun trained on him.
The closer they got to their destination, the more she felt the tiger’s sadness. She wished she could make him understand it was the only place she could keep him safe. When they reached the cage, he balked.
She knelt and gazed into his eyes. “I’ll stay with you for a while.”
He gave her his unblinking stare. And then, to her amazement, he rubbed his cheek against the side of her head. His whiskers brushed her neck, and once again she heard his deep, gruff purr.
And then he was gone. With one powerful thrust of his hindquarters, he leaped into the cage.
She heard a rustle of movement behind her and spun around to see Neeco and Alex running toward the cage, ready to grab the broken door and shove it back in place.
“Stop!” She held out her arms, warding them off. “Don’t come any closer.”
They froze in their tracks.
“Daisy, get out of the way.” Alex’s voice vibrated with tension, and lines of strain had made his handsome features stark.
“Leave us alone.” She moved directly in front of the open cage door and turned her back on them.
Sinjun watched her. Now that he was once again imprisoned, he stood as imperiously as ever: regal, aloof, with everything lost to him except his dignity. She somehow knew what he wanted, and she couldn’t bear it. He wanted her to be his jailer. She was the one he had elected to close the broken door of the cage and imprison him.
She hadn’t realized she was crying until she felt the tears sliding down her cheeks. Sinjun’s golden eyes shimmered, and he regarded her with his customary disdain, making her feel as if she were somehow his inferior.
Do it, weakling! those eyes commanded. Now.
Bracing herself, she lifted her arms to grasp the cage door. The broken hinge made it heavy and difficult to maneuver, but with a sob, she managed to close it.
Alex rushed forward and grabbed for the door to secure it, but the moment he touched it, Sinjun bared his teeth and gave a bone-chilling roar.
“Let me do it!” she exclaimed. “You’re upsetting him. Please. I’ll fasten it.”
“Damn it!” He quickly stepped back, sounding angry and frustrated.
Her position was awkward. The platform the cage rested on stood over three feet off the ground, and she had to raise her arms to hold the door shut. Neeco appeared with a wooden stool, which he set next to her. Then he gave her a piece of rope.
For a moment, she couldn’t imagine what it was for.
“Loop it through the bars by the hinge,” Alex said “Lean against the door while you work so you can use your weight to keep it in place. And for god’s sake get ready to jump back if he decides to attack.”
Coming up behind her, he slipped his hands around her hips to brace her. Their support comforted her as she tried to do as he’d said, holding the door closed with her shoulder while she attempted to secure the rope around the broken hinge. Her body began to tremble from the strain of her awkward position. She felt the bulge of the gun he’d tucked into the waistband of his jeans.
His hold on her tightened. “You’ve almost got it, sweetheart.”
The knot was big and clumsy, but it held. She dropped her arms. Alex pulled her off the stool and gathered her against his chest.
She stayed there for several long comforting moments before she looked up into eyes so very much like the tiger’s. The new knowledge that she loved this man filled her with a sense of awe. They were so different, yet she felt the call of his soul as clearly as if he’d spoken out loud. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
He would drag her back to the trailer for a private lambasting. Maybe this was the incident that would finally push him over the edge, and he’d send her away. She pushed aside the thought and stepped back from him. “I can’t leave yet. I promised Sinjun I’d stay with him for a while.”
The lines of strain deepened near his mouth, but he didn’t question her. “All right.”
Her father stormed forward. “You don’t have the brains of an idiot! It’s a wonder you’re still alive! Whatever possessed you? Don’t you ever do anything like that again. If you even—”
Alex cut in. “Shut up, Max. I’ll take care of this.”
“But—”
Alex lifted one eyebrow, and Max Petroff immediately fell silent. That was all Alex did—lift one eyebrow—but it was enough. She had never seen her domineering father concede to anyone in that way, and it reminded her of what he’d said. For centuries it had been the duty of the Petroffs to obey the wishes of the Romanovs.
At that moment some part of her accepted what her father had told her as true, but she returned her attention to Sinjun, who looked restless and edgy.
“Amelia will be wondering where I am,” her father said from behind her. “I’d better be getting back. Good-bye, Theodosia.” He seldom touched her, and she was surprised to feel the soft brush of his hand on her shoulder. Before she could respond, he turned to Alex and said his farewells, then walked away.
The activity of the circus had begun to return to normal. Jack was talking with the teacher as he helped her escort the children to the school. Neeco and the others had gone back to work. Sheba walked forward. “Good job, Daisy.”
The words were delivered begrudgingly. Although Daisy thought she saw a glimmer of respect in the circus owner’s eyes, she also had the eerie feeling Sheba’s dislike of her had intensified. Sheba avoided looking at Alex and walked away, leaving them alone with Sinjun.
The tiger stood, tense and watchful, but still regarding both of them with his customary hauteur. She wrapped her hands around the cage bars. Sinjun moved. She heard Alex’s quick, indrawn breath as the tiger began to rub his great head against her fingers.
“I wish you wouldn’t let him do that.”
She reached farther between the bars to scratch Sinjun behind his ears. “He won’t hurt me. He doesn’t respect me, but he loves me.”
Alex gave a thin chuckle and then, to her surprise, enfolded her in his arms from behind as she stroked the tiger. His jaw moved against the top of her head. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry. You warned me about the cages, and I should have checked all of them. This is my fault.”
“It’s mine. I’m responsible for the menagerie.”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself. I won’t allow it.”
Sinjun’s tongue stroked her wrist. She felt the muscles in Alex’s arms tense as the tiger licked her.
“Would you please take your hands out of that cage now?” he asked quietly. “You’re giving me heart failure.”
“In a minute.”
“I’ve already lost ten years off my life. I can’t afford to lose any more.”
“I like touching him. Besides, he’s a lot like you. He doesn’t give his affection easily, and I don’t want to offend him by backing away.”
“He’s an a
nimal, Daisy. He doesn’t have human emotions.”
She was feeling too peaceful to argue.
“Sweetheart, you have to stop befriending wild animals. First Tater, now Sinjun. I’ll tell you what. You obviously need a real pet. First thing tomorrow, we’ll get you a dog.”
She looked up at him in alarm. “Oh, no, we can’t do that.”
“Why not.”
“Because I’m afraid of dogs.”
He looked stunned, and then he began to laugh. At first it was the merest rumble deep in his chest, but it soon turned into a rich, hearty sound that bounced off the walls of the big top and echoed through the lot.
“It figures,” she grumbled through her own smile. “Alex Markov finally laughs, and it’s at my expense.”
He turned his head into the sun, drew her tighter against him, and laughed all the harder.
Sinjun regarded them both with faint annoyance, then stretched out against the bars of the cage to lick Daisy’s thumb.
Alex shouldered his way through the group of reporters and photographers that had surrounded Daisy following the final show that evening. “My wife’s had enough for today. She needs to get some rest.”
Ignoring him, a reporter shoved a small tape recorder toward Daisy. “What went through your mind when you realized the tiger was loose?”
Daisy opened her mouth to respond, but Alex broke in, knowing Daisy was so damned polite she’d answer their questions till she dropped. “Sorry, that’s it.” Wrapping his arm around her, he began leading her away.
It hadn’t taken the media long to get hold of the story of the escaped tiger, and reporters had been showing up ever since the matinee to interview her. At first Sheba had been happy with the publicity. Then she’d heard Daisy comment that the menagerie was cruel and inhumane, and she’d been furious. When Sheba had attempted to interrupt with the interview, Daisy had looked at her with those innocent eyes and said, without a speck of guile, “But, Sheba, the animals hate being in the menagerie. They’re all so unhappy there.”