The Tiger Whisperer
Author:© WebNovel
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
None of his usual tricks worked: arching his back and hopping sideways; darting away to get the chase-trip-kill instinct going; even a hunk of chicken gizzard dangled on the fishing pole toy. Pinhead, the mountain lion, continued his playful trek through the big cat refuge until Jared Montaine sighed and said, “Dammit, go get the catch net.”
“I’m really sorry. He just slipped out.” Billy Bosworth, the volunteer who had been walking Pinhead, wiped the sweat off his freckled face. “I’ve been chasing him for fifteen minutes.”
“It happens. He knows he can back out of the harness and so he waits until you walk in front of him. Don’t worry about it. We’ll get him.” Jared tugged the leash from Billy’s shoulder. “Next time, though, call one of us right away. We don’t want him to have fun like this; it’s the wrong kind of positive reinforcement.”
Billy headed off to the refuge office, and Jared followed the under-sized mountain lion as the cougar slinked towards the small mobile home that housed the refrigerated meat. Pinhead, so named because his skull was noticeably smaller than his body, loped ahead of Jared, his tail in that arched upside-down U that indicated play behavior in felines.
You little turd; you’re having a good time.
Pinhead dashed up the pine tree next to the trailer, hugging the tree with his de-clawed paws, scrabbling for a hold, and then leaped onto its slanted roof. Jared was in luck; the refuge truck was parked next to the trailer. He sped up his pace, jumped up on the truck’s hood, then its paneled roof. It was only a four-foot leap over to the trailer’s roof. He landed on it with a thump and a smile. Pinhead turned to face him, back arched, lips drawn back.
“Ah hah! I have you now, my pretty, “ Jared cooed. “Come here, you turdhead, yes, you are a big turd, come here, Pinny, Pinny, Pinny!” He forced his voice to go high-pitched.
Pinhead plopped down on the warm metal roof and flipped over on his back.
Jared lay down on his own back in the shade of the pine tree. He ‘mmwwrrowed’ and twisted against the roof’s soft asphalt. It scratched at him a little, but he ignored it. Pinhead rolled over and looked at him, ears pricked up, yellow-green eyes alert.
“Pinny, Pinny, come here, you little shithead. Come here.” Again soft-voiced and lilting.
Pinhead ‘mmwwwrrowed’ and ambled over to Jared. He licked Jared’s hand, then lay down next to him, butt towards Jared’s face, his thick tail tickling Jared’s nose. Jared let the cat get quiet. He ran one hand up Pinhead’s flank, soothing, his hands gentle on the cougar’s thick pelt, feeling the sturdy muscles beneath the lush fur. He rubbed Pinhead’s belly, knelt over the cat, and clenched Pinhead’s front paws with his hands. Jared pressed his forehead against Pinhead’s and caught a whiff of the cat’s meat-fouled breath. Pinhead pressed back against him, the pads of his paws dirty and rough, a rumbling purr thick in his throat.
“Come on, big guy, let’s get this leash back on you. And would you please stop doing this?” Pinhead sat up and let Jared fit the harness over his head and chest. Pinhead’s rough, pink tongue licked at Jared’s sweaty neck. He grasped Pinhead’s skull, put a smacking kiss on the cat’s broad nose. “Yes, I love you, too. You ready to go back home?”
Pinhead chittered and they rose together. Billy huffed up to them, catch net in hand, just as they jumped off the truck.
* * * *
Just after noon, a human scream rang through the refuge. Jared was used to screams: a cougar’s piercing shriek, a leopard’s mournful call, the ratchet and spit of a bobcat. But a human scream only meant trouble and more trouble, he didn’t need.
His stomach clenched as he jogged past a cougar cage, arms swinging. Running always stirred up the cats. The cougars, Rasputin and Rhiannon, padded along with him as he went past, then they sat and pressed their faces to the wire. One of them trilled.
“Later, kids.” Jared’s fingers trailed against the cold chain link. His walkie-talkie buzzed again on his belt.
Peter Alston, his assistant, voice shaky. “Uh, Jared, you coming?”
“On my way, at the lions now.” The scream again, this time doubled through the little microphone. He lengthened his stride and the agitated lions jogged with him from inside their habitat.
Wild cats rushed to their cage fronts, excited, as he moved past them: tawny lions and cougars, the grey-tufted lynxes, spotted leopards, a jaguar.
The tour was at the rear of the compound, a half-dozen people huddled in front of Tasha’s cage. The black leopard snarled, her beaten jaw permanently askew. She paced behind the chain-link fence, tail twitching, growl ugly and deep. Seeing that annoyed Jared. Of all the cats, Tasha’s story was the worst; he hated seeing her upset.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone