Karen Kelley: The Jaguar Prince

“At night the cats are double caged over there.” She pointed toward the cages. “If we go around to the front, you can see something that closely resembles a jaguar’s natural habitat. We call it the pit.”

Without waiting for her, he started in that direction. She didn’t really have a choice, except to follow. The space was large, with trees that weren’t close enough to the double fence that a cat could escape, but it provided an environment that was more like the animals’ natural one. Sheba seemed satisfied. Callie hoped she was. Although Callie often wondered if she might be lonely. That was one reason why she made a point of visiting the jag. She knew all about loneliness.

As they rounded the corner, the blood drained from her face. There were four teenagers pushing each other and cutting up. That was pretty normal. What wasn’t normal was the kid, who couldn’t be more than fifteen, walking on the top ledge of the second wall. The one that protected the patrons. If he lost his balance, he could fall into the pit. If Sheba attacked, Mr. Campbell would have the jaguar put down.

“You aren’t supposed to be up there,” Callie said in a quiet, but firm voice. “Please come down.”

“Hey, Gary, you got a hot chick begging you. That’s a first.” He guffawed and pushed one of the other boys. “You going to do what she says? You pussy-whipped like your old man?”

Gary looked as though he might have gotten down if his friend hadn’t razzed him. Now he only looked undecided.

“I think you better do as the lady asked,” Rogar said.

For the first time today, she was glad he stood beside her.

“Whatever.” The kid shrugged and started to jump back to the fence closest to the visitors, but his foot slipped. His arms windmilled, then, as if in slow motion, he fell into the pit.

Callie sucked in a breath.

Sheba began to pace back and forth, getting closer and closer to the boy. The boy groaned and raised his head.

“Don’t move,” Callie called out, reaching for her cell phone. Oh, God, she really didn’t want to see the kid ripped to shreds. “Everyone stay calm, and please be as quiet as possible.” She glared at the other boys just to get her point across, then punched in the number of the main office. As soon as the secretary answered, she began to talk. “We have a situation at the jaguar pit. A boy fell in. Get someone here with a tranquilizer gun, and call an ambulance.”

“I’m on it,” Mr. Campbell’s secretary told her.

Callie snapped her phone closed and glanced at Rogar. He’d taken off his shoes. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure he doesn’t get eaten.”

Her eyes widened. “You can’t go in there!”

He grinned. “Watch me.”

In one graceful movement, he jumped to the first stone wall, then across to the next. If she wasn’t scared out of her wits, she would’ve admired his agility. He dropped into the pit as though it were only a few feet down, rather than fifteen. Oh, God, she was going to throw up.

She looked around. A crowd had gathered, but she had to say they were staying very quiet, other than a few collective gasps when Rogar had dropped to the ground.

“What are you doing?” She intentionally kept her voice low. Sheba was already pacing across her enclosure, eyeing the intruders.

Seemingly quite unconcerned, Rogar looked up and grinned. “I’m being a hero. Isn’t that what you said you wanted?” He quirked an eyebrow.

For a moment, he made her forget where they were, and that he was in danger, but then Sheba’s angry cry echoed through the compound, chilling Callie’s blood.

“No, I don’t want a hero.”

He shrugged. “Too late.”

She wanted to throw something at him, she wanted to…Her thoughts stilled as she watched Rogar turn and face Sheba. As he walked toward her, Rogar began to talk quietly in a tongue Callie had never heard. It not only had a hypnotic effect on Sheba, but also the small crowd of people.

He slowly moved toward the cat, then when he was a few feet away, he stopped, and dropped to his knees. Sheba opened her mouth, teeth bared, and cried out again, pacing back and forth in front of Rogar.

“What the hell is he doing in there?”

Callie jumped, whirling around, and came face to face with a man wearing the same color uniform as hers. She didn’t know the man’s name, but he worked at the zoo, and he carried a tranquilizer gun.

“One of the kids was playing trapeze and fell into the pit. He’s moved and groaned, but that’s about it. We need to lower a basket, and a couple of men, while Rogar has Sheba’s attention,” she said.

“If he’ll give me a shot, I can put her down, then we won’t be taking a chance anyone will get hurt.”

“And maybe we won’t need to. He apparently has worked with big cats before or she would have already attacked.”

He raised the gun. “I won’t do anything unless I have to.”

Four medics came hurrying around the corner with ropes and a basket. They worked quietly and efficiently lowering two men and a basket over the side. They didn’t waste any time as they spinal packed the kid, then eased him into the basket. There were enough men up top to pull the basket back up. Both medics were next. They looked relieved to be out of the pit.

But most of the time, Callie kept her gaze on Rogar. Sheba had stopped pacing. Callie wondered if the cat had decided he’d make a good meal.

“Everyone is clear except Tarzan,” the guy with the gun said. “If he’ll move to the right just a bit, I can get a shot, and we’ll get him out of there all safe and sound.”

But Sheba padded closer to Rogar. Callie caught her breath when the cat suddenly rose on her hind feet, and planted her big paws on Rogar’s shoulders.

The crowd gasped.

But then Sheba surprised everyone when she licked him on the face.

Shocked silence reigned over the crowd. Rogar began to pet the cat and laugh, as though Sheba was no more than an overgrown tabby.

The crowd began to chuckle, then clap. The guy with the gun lowered it. “What the hell?” He pushed his cap higher on his forehead. “In all my born days, I ain’t never seen nothing like this. Who the hell is this guy?”

“He’s a hero,” she spoke softly.

Rogar stood. The cat twined around his legs. He patted her neck then leaned down and said something to her. She gave his hand one lick, then in just a few moves, climbed the nearest tree. Sheba stretched out on one of the limbs, purring from deep in her throat, as though she was totally contented at the moment.

Rogar didn’t get in any hurry as he came back to the wall. Someone lowered a rope and he swiftly climbed it. As he joined everyone up on top, people began to shake his hand and slap him on the back.

“What did you think you were doing?” Callie asked when he was finally able to join her. “You could’ve been killed.”

“Sheba would never hurt one of her own,” he said softly.

Callie opened her mouth, then snapped it closed. She raised her chin a few notches. “I still don’t believe that…that you’re an alien who can change into a jaguar.”

“Not even a little?”

She clamped her lips together and turned on her heel. “I think the tour is over.”

“You didn’t answer me,” he said when he caught up to her, after putting his socks and shoes back on.

She didn’t answer him because there was a part of her that did believe him, and if she believed him, then what did that make her? She knew what it made her—crazy.

She stopped and faced him, poking him in the chest with her finger. “You’re a flesh and blood man, not an alien, and certainly not a jaguar.”

“You have a guide who lives in you, too, Callie. Have you not felt her talking to you? She guided you to the zoo, to work where you would be most comfortable.”