Life of a Nomad

Chapter 22 - Royalty and deceit

—-Collin's POV—-

It was in the early hours that we arrived at Maverick's pride. The big cat was stalking to the woods with his ears flickering at the slightest sounds, golden eyes wide and alert. He was on edge ever since we left Leander's pride; he had even requested that he left earlier so Xavier wouldn't get suspicious.

The Bengal Tiger surely made it difficult, since he had been sugary sweet once more and had kindly requested another scheduled meeting in the hopes of persuading Christina to join his pride.

Foolish cat.

 

Xavier did try and track us through the woods but we knew it as soon as he took one step. That's why we walked in a few circles, letting the tiger follow our trail before we waited for him in the middle of the clearing.

Let's just say that a certain tiger jumped as soon as he spotted our two ticked off feline forms sitting side by side, not to mention that we both let our markings flash at the exact same time that we let out an annoyed, warning grumble.

As soon as we hissed in unison, the bigger cat turned tail and ran, making us snicker before we went to meet up with Maverick. But now that we were heading towards their village, the joyful yet sarcastic feline was growing more and more cautious as he eyed our surroundings before gesturing us forwards.

My whiskers twitched as I saw several tigers slinking through the woods, eyes cautious before they brightened when they spotted us.  Christina pressed closer to me as she warily looked around. No doubt she clearly remembered the fact that the Bengal tigers were out there and could stoop down to killing a child to get what they wanted.

It was weird, knowing that these felines that were easily twice my size and dwarfed Christina's form, were depending on us to bring peace to their village. Walking closer, I nuzzled against Christina's head and let out a low purr when she returned the affectionate gesture.

"Look at them...they're all stressed out, as if they're expecting an ambush any second now." Following her lead, I glanced at the big cats and twitched my whiskers when the village looked almost desolate. What I assume was once a happy community now felt like a ghost town.

"How would you feel if you lived here, realizing that at any given moment your cubs could be taken away just for something silly as land?" She hissed softly but knew I had a point. These people had witnessed the kidnapping of their beloved prince, a kitten still.

Christina 's paws moved silently, even if she hopped up onto a fallen tree and made her way to the larger hut that Maverick was leading us to. "True, but I have a feeling that this isn't the work of the Bengal King. More likely that one of his subordinates thought to be able to grease the king's palm if he was able to offer him rubies."

 

Hmmm, she did have a point. I could hardly imagine one of the feline kings condoning such an act. They had a reputation to uphold and although some of them were quite ruthless, they were all just and fair.

We weren't humans after all.

Maverick leaned back on his hind paws to push the door open, flicking his ears as the door swung open with the slightest squeak before he ventured inside. Christina nudged her head under my throat, tail flicking against my side before I let out a sigh and followed her inside.