Her brow arched. “Sounds gross.”
“I meant as a tiger, because of what you said about the spit.”
Her expression turned thoughtful. “You know, that might actually help. But how will you change?”
Good question. He didn’t have a gun to shoot himself or a container door to slam on a limb. What could he do to cause a severe enough injury that he shifted?
His gaze went to the river. “Hold on a second, I have an idea.” A foolish and painful one that hopefully wouldn’t cost him a limb.
“What are you planning?” she asked as he headed for the edge of the water.
“Something possibly dumb, so you might want to look away,” he stated as he began yanking down his shorts.
“And miss the striptease?” she said with a laugh.
The comment startled, and he glanced over his shoulder at her to see her round mouth and her cheeks red—but not from a fever.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”
His lips curved. “While I would usually encourage you to keep ogling, what I’m going to do isn’t going to be pretty.”
Her brow furrowed. “Phoenix, the tops of the weeds are moving. You should probably get away from the edge. Could be a crocodile.”
“Good. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go chasing it.”
He faced forward and saw it slithering close, the wave of the fronds giving away its position. Deep breath in. Another breath out. He crouched and waited, a tempting morsel the croc couldn’t resist. It lunged, and he had only a second to bring his arm up and get it caught between those razor-sharp teeth.
Holy pain! A nasty crunching sound had him wincing as bone cracked.
The agony didn’t last long as the shift took him, quickly transforming him and startling the croc into releasing his arm and retreating out of reach. He’d turned to return to Nadirah when she yelled.
“Behind you!”
Apparently, the hungry reptile saw a new yummy snack and decided to heave itself onto the shore, its short legs tunneling it toward Phoenix faster than expected.
Before the croc could grab hold and ruin his transformation, Phoenix attacked first, his powerful jaws clamping around its head. His tight grip allowed him to heave it from the ground, and he shook his head side to side, feeling his teeth crunching but not quite penetrating the tough scales. Good, because now would not be the time to lose his tiger because he’d managed to draw blood. The croc thrashed, trying to get loose, but Phoenix didn’t let go, not until the reptile went limp. Not dead but defeated.
He dropped the croc, and they locked gazes, the baleful yellow glare meeting his don’t-fuck-with-me one. The beastthought better of tangling with him and slithered back into the water.
Victory! He turned and trotted to Nadirah, who remained wide-eyed.
“I can’t believe you almost got eaten by a croc,” she exclaimed.
He snuffled. As if.
“It will probably come back.”
That would be a mistake.
He sniffed at Nadirah’s ankle. The sweetish scent of wrong had his tongue automatically flicking, bathing the wounded area with large wet swipes. He’d expected the taste to bother him, but his feline side didn’t seem to care and laved the wounded area copiously until Nadirah laughed.
“I think that’s enough.”
He glanced at her.
She smiled. “Thank you.”
The only reply he could offer? A shrug before he settled alongside, head on his paws, watching the river in case the croc chose revenge.
