Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

55: so afraid of my own betrayal

— Léon —

"Raw Life Force?" Rob asked. "What does RLF has to do with any of this?"

"Please, Beto. You were there when Fofo—when Anhangá—explained it to us. That's what oozes out of people and trees when their organs melt because of the sickness," Rafa said.

"So Jackal wants to feed the trees Raw Life Force to stop them from dying," Satina mumbled. "That's... actually not a bad idea."

"I don't think this is only about the trees," Rafa said. "You saw the flowers Jackal gave us in Toni's undimension, didn't you? Opalean Thronbushes are extinct. Jackal wants to use the Life Force stored in the pocket dimensions to revitalize our world, every single aspect of it."

Rob frowned. "And how exactly is that bad? I'd think that bringing our world back to its feet is a good thing." He reached out and took Léon's hand. "And it's even better if they don't have to torture Léon for that."

"It's crazy, Bhalu!" Léon barked. "She can't force nature to heal, she... she just can't! It's unnatural." Léon's heartbeat sped up, and his breathing shallowed. His palm was way too hot and way too sweaty against Rob's, so Léon pulled his hand free.

"He's right. We're talking about entire ecosystems with their own pools of chemical elements, Beto." Rafa leaned over the table. "An entire world's worth of Life Force poured into a single planet with limited space. Think of... a water balloon. What happens when you keep pumping water into it?"

Satina took in a sharp breath and rubbed her face. "Oh, shit."

"Yeah. And, there's one more thing," Rafa continued. "We met Caidara. She lived in one of those pocket dimensions, along with that tree-friend of hers. There must be others; what will happen to those people?"

"Well." Satina sipped the last of her coffee, placed her mug back on its saucer, and licked her lips. Never before did Léon see someone who reminded him so much of Iara. "We're not gonna discover the answer to that. Cause we're fucking stopping her."

Something cold swirled in Léon's stomach and spread a wave of shivers across his whole body. Oh, not again. The last time Léon, Satina, and Rob faced a megalomaniacal bastard, Mary was there with them, and Léon lost half of his powers and one of his tigers to save the city.

Léon's breathing quickened. His vision darkened, his head emptied, and his fingers trembled. What could Léon do alone? Rob placed a hand on his back and rubbed it in a slow, gentle caress.

"Tiger? Are you okay?" Rob whispered.

It wasn't enough to calm him down.

"I'm fine, Bhalu." Léon faced Satina. "What do we do?"

"We take the fight to Jackal, of course." Satina crossed her arms. "Cae must know where she is; he's been following us the whole day, so we just need to make him talk."

Satina pointed at someone in the corner of the room. Among many scared, unknown faces, Cae was leaning over an almost-empty plate of pasta. The small plastic fork looked even smaller between Cae's thick fingers. He raised his head and cleaned his lips with a cheap napkin. Their eyes met.

Léon averted his gaze and scoffed. According to Rio, they would now have less than eight hours to make a plan and stop Jackal.

Unless, of course, Rio had lied.

We're caged. We don't have help. We're all weakened, broken, or powerless. I mean, I knew we'd have to fight, but I wasn't expecting this kind of responsibility again. I wanted to stop Jackal from hurting people and not from... destroying the world!