Kael lunged out of the water, the spray from his silver fur catching the light as he shifted mid-leap.

He planted his massive paws in the dirt, a wall of wet, bristling muscle standing between Nuan and the encroaching shadows. But as she peeked around his flank, Nuan noticed the slight tremor in his hind legs.

’This is bad, Nuan. You have to escape. Run into the brush while I hold them.’ Kael’s voice thundered in her mind, tight with desperation.

’No! We escape together or not at all!’ Nuan thought back, her jaw setting.

Eight tiger beastmen emerged fully into the light—each one a mountain of orange-and-black fur, their shoulders broader than Kael’s and their claws already unsheathed.

The leader, a massive brute with a scar running across his chest, chuckled. "So, here is the little puppy who escaped us yesterday," he sneered, his voice a deep, gravelly rumble.

"WRRRAAAAGH!!"

Kael’s growl exploded from his chest, the sound raw enough to vibrate the ground. He didn’t back down an inch.

"Oh, look at that big dog!" the Tiger Leader grinned, his amber eyes shifting to the pale figure behind Kael. "Sneaking into our territory yesterday wasn’t enough? You brought back a fragile little piece of meat, too?"

Nuan’s heart hammered. ’So that’s why he was so drained when we met... he was running for his life from these bullies.’ She looked at the crackling fire, then at the tigers. ’Think, Nuan. Think! What do cats hate more than water?’

Nuan’s eyes darted to the flickering fire. "Okay," she whispered to herself, "I just need a torch!"

She slowly crouched, grabbing one of her elbow crutches. With shaking fingers, she ripped the wet plastic bags off her ankle—the herb paste could be sacrificed for her life—and stuffed them with dry leaves, tying them to the rubber tip with a strip of her bra.

"Rrnnnngh..."

Kael circled in a tight, protective arc, his ears pinned flat against his skull, ready to snap the neck of anything that moved a centimetre closer.

"Is that prey?" another tiger mocked. "No... you’re protecting it. Is that your scrawny little mate?"

Kael answered with a bone-chilling "GRRRAAAAUUGHH!!"

Nuan ignored the posturing. She leaned over the fire pit, thrusting her makeshift torch into the embers. "Please catch, please catch," she hissed. A few drops of river water from plastic bags sizzled on the fire. "Dammit, catch fire!"

The Tiger Leader stepped forward, his massive paws thudding on the earth. "Let’s see what a dog Alpha is really made of."

Fwoosh!

The elbow crutch ignited. The plastic and dry leaves flared into a bright, orange-and-blue flame.

’Blue Buddy, that pepper spray—is it ethanol or isopropyl based?’ 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

[ It is, Host! Take it—we’ll figure out the cost later, assuming you survive! ]

’I’ll survive,’ Nuan smirked. She snatched the canister out of thin air, standing tall beside Kael with the torch in one hand and the spray in the other.

"STAY FUCKING BACK!" she yelled, thrusting the flamed torch toward the Leader.

The tiger hissed, flinching back several steps as his eyes widened. "The Red Evil?!"

His companions gulped, but they didn’t flee. They began to fan out, slowly encircling the pair. Nuan knew this tiny flame wouldn’t keep eight 600-pound predators at bay for long. She swayed the torch left to right, her eyes darting between them.

"Okay, big kittens," Nuan growled, her survivalist adrenaline hitting its peak. "Time to shit in your pants!"

She held the torch out toward the Leader, and in a single, fluid motion, she depressed the nozzle of the pepper spray. The alcoholic mist burst through the flame into a roaring jet of fire.

The localized flamethrower blasted directly toward the Tiger Leader’s face, the roar of the fire drowning out even Kael’s growls.

The Tiger Leader skidded back, his fur singed and his pupils blown wide with terror. "Red Evil commander!!!" he roared, his voice cracking with panic.

To her right, another tiger beastman saw an opening. Underestimating the "fragile meat," he launched himself in a silent, predatory blur, claws unsheathed to snap her arm like a twig.

Nuan didn’t even turn her head. Using her peripheral vision, she swung the pepper spray canister and unleashed a concentrated stream of stinging chemicals directly into his face.

"GRUHHH!!!! MY EYES!!!" he shrieked, collapsing and clawing at his face as if his sockets were filled with molten lead.

Kael didn’t miss the opening. With a feral snap, he lunged, his jaws locking onto the blinded tiger’s throat.

"Kael, no!" Nuan shouted, but the Alpha was beyond logic. He tore back, ripping through fur and skin in a display of raw, unrestrained dominance.

As two more tigers leaped forward to intervene, the woods behind them seemed to explode. Ten, twelve massive silver-grey wolves burst from the underbrush, landing between Kael and the attackers with a coordinated wall of snarling teeth. The backup had arrived.

The Tiger Leader, now recovered from the initial shock, let out a deafening roar of fury. He shifted mid-air, transforming into a massive, 800-pound tiger—his true form. He ignored the wolves, his predatory tunnel vision locked entirely on the "witch" who had burned him.

Nuan thrust her torch forward and squeezed the spray, sending another roaring jet of dragon-fire into the air. But the Leader was a seasoned killer.

He didn’t flinch this time. With insane, feline reflexes, he twisted his body mid-leap, dodging the fire by an inch and pivoting to strike from her blind spot.

’Crap! Too late!’ Nuan thought, the heat of his breath already hitting her skin as the massive orange-and-black blur descended upon her.