Leila's body contorted violently on the ground as her agonized screams echoed through the forest. Shapour took a hesitant step back, his composure slipping as he tried to understand what was happening.
"My lord, are you alright?" one of his men called out, his voice edged with concern.
Shapour glanced at him briefly, then back at Leila, whose convulsions seemed to intensify. "I'm fine," he said sharply, though his uncertainty was evident. His mind raced—had he thrown her too hard? She was injured, sure, with blood streaking her face, but none of the wounds seemed grave enough to cause this.
"What's happening to her?" he demanded, his tone laced with frustration.
Two of his men quickly moved to his side, one of them kneeling beside Leila. The soldier's expression was unreadable as he leaned closer to check her vitals, his fingers pressing lightly against her neck and wrist.
After a moment, he stood, brushing the dirt from his knees. "My lord," he began, his voice calm and measured, "she's pretending."
"Pretending?" Shapour echoed, incredulous.
"Yes," the soldier confirmed. "The wounds aren't severe enough to cause convulsions. She's trying to deceive you."
Shapour's irritation flared into anger. He clenched his fists, glaring down at Leila as her spasms began to subside. Her breathing evened out, and before their eyes, the shallow cuts on her body appeared to mend themselves but the blood remained.
"You lying witch," he snarled, stepping forward and striking her across the cheek with the back of his hand. The sharp sound of the slap cut through the air, and Leila gasped in shock. Her head snapped to the side, her cheek stinging from the force of the blow.
Shapour knelt before her again, his fingers tangling in her hair as he shoved her face into the dirt. "You thought you could scare me with your tricks?" he hissed, his breath hot against her ear. "Let me show you what happens to those who defy me."
Because of the blood on her face and body, he didn't notice that she had healed from the wounds, Leila even feared that more than anything.
"Please, let me go!" Leila shrieked as she screamed as she tried to fight him, but he was way bigger and stronger than her. "Let me go! Someone please help me!"
"No one will hear you or help you, we are in the middle of nowhere," Shapour said as if to mock her small struggle, Leila hiccupped as she tried to get out of his grip.
"My lord, please don't take me like this." She cried still trying to get out of his iron-clad grip he wasn't giving her any rest, without any discomfort, he grabbed her hands and raised them above her head.
"I gave you an option." He said as he tried to loosen her waistband, but then he heard the terrified panic gasps from his men who stood guard.
"My lord…" one of them murmured, fear creeping into his voice.
"What is it?" Shapour snapped, irritation flickering across his face. He didn't look up, his focus still fixed on the stubborn knot beneath his fingers.
The guard hesitated, then stepped closer, his hand trembling as it rested on his sword hilt. "There's… something in the bushes," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Something?" Shapour repeated, his tone laced with disbelief. He rolled his eyes, clearly dismissive. "We're not even deep in the forest yet. It's probably just a rabbit."
The guard didn't share his master's confidence. "No, my lord," he insisted, his eyes darting toward the dense foliage. "I think it's… larger than that."
Leila's breath trembled as an overwhelming unease coursed through her. Her eyes widened, the pulse in her ears growing louder as her heightened senses kicked in. She caught a scent—a faint yet unmistakable trace in the cold night air that made her stomach churn. It was familiar, almost painfully so. Leila's head shook in immediate denial, desperate to dismiss it as a trick of her overactive mind. And yet, she knew better. Her instincts was rarely wrong and it screamed otherwise.
She could detect a familiar presence from miles away, no matter how faint the trace, no matter how well-concealed.
"No! This isn't just a rabbit!" Leila shouted, panic threading her voice as she took a shaky step back. Her wide eyes darted around the shadowed forest, the scent now so oppressive it clung to her like a dark fog.
"Shut your mouth, woman!" Shapour snapped, his hand striking her cheek with brutal force. The sharp sting made her gasp, but she held her ground, her trembling lips forming desperate words even as tears burned in her eyes.
"No, listen to me," she begged, clutching her throbbing cheek. Her voice cracked with urgency as she continued, "I swear on my life, this isn't an excuse, this isn't some trick to escape. Please, we have to leave—now!"
Her chest heaved as the scent grew heavier, suffocating, and laced with a darkness that sent her stomach lurching. The air itself seemed to thicken, pressing down on her lungs. Leila gagged and turned toward the source of the dreadful scent, her entire body trembling. He was close.
"Please, my lord," she implored, her voice breaking under the weight of her terror. Her shaking hands reached toward Shapour, grasping for some flicker of understanding in his cold, unyielding gaze. "If we don't leave this place right now, none of us will survive. I'm not trying to deceive you; I'm trying to save us all. Please, I'm begging you!"
Her final words were laced with a harrowing certainty that struck an unfamiliar chord in Shapour. For a fleeting moment, his hand froze mid-air, and his scowl faltered. He searched her face for traces of deceit but found only a raw fear that mirrored the quaking of her entire frame. Leila's eyes held no cunning, no sly intent—only an urgency that pierced the dark with a clarity that was impossible to ignore.
Before Shapour could act, a monstrous roar shattered the air, so deafening it sent shivers down their spines. The sound reverberated through the forest. It was primal, guttural, and filled with a power so intense that the ground beneath them seemed to quiver in response.
Leila's breath hitched, her heart slamming painfully against her ribcage. The roar had come from just beyond the trees. Whatever lurked in the darkness was no ordinary threat, and it was already too late.
He emerged from the shadows, the figure bathed in the pale glow of the moonlight. The black and orange stripes of his coat shimmered with an ethereal elegance. His eyes glowed with a molten, golden intensity that pierced through the darkness, holding an unnatural, almost regal fury.
Leila couldn't move. Fear gripped her so tightly it felt as though the air had been stolen from her lungs. Her body betrayed her, frozen in place as her wide, tear-filled eyes fixed on the towering tiger. He was an apex predator, but this was no ordinary beast.
With brutal efficiency, he tore into the men before him who scrambled in a desperate bid for survival. Shapour's so-called army, with all their bluster and bravado, crumbled like fragile twigs beneath the paws of Shahkhur's wrath.
The weapons they wielded, so fearsome against lesser creatures, proved pitifully inadequate against the primal fury of this beast. Blood sprayed through the air, the cries of the dying fading swiftly into the relentless night.
Leila's mind raced even as her body refused to act.
He's not supposed to be here. Her thoughts screamed against the chaos.
Shahkhur was cursed to remain in the forbidden evil forest…The question burned in her mind: Had he come looking for her?
Even though it was impossible for him to be here…
Tears streamed down her cheeks as the realization sent her heart plummeting into a pit of despair.
Within seconds, the guards who had surrounded Shapour lay lifeless, their broken bodies painting the earth in crimson streaks.
Shahkhur's golden gaze shifted, locking onto Shapour. The man who had loomed over Leila with such unchecked arrogance just moments ago was now trembling, like a lone tree in the middle of a storm.
Shapour stumbled backward, his legs giving out beneath him as fear consumed him. His hands clawed frantically at the dirt, searching for the sword he had dropped in his panic. But even with a weapon, it would make no difference.
"Stay back!" Shapour shouted, his voice cracking with terror as the tiger advanced with slow, deliberate steps. Shahkhur snarled, his lips peeling back to reveal glistening fangs that promised death.
Leila couldn't bear to watch. She turned her face away, squeezing her eyes shut as Shapour's frantic cries echoed in her ears.
"Get away from me!" he screamed, but his words were meaningless.
The final moments came with a crescendo of sound—the wet, sickening rip of flesh, the splintering of bone, and Shapour's blood-curdling screams that pierced the night like daggers. Leila pressed her hands to her ears, trying to block it out, but the horror of it all seeped into her very soul.
The screams stopped and the movement reduced, her eyes flew open, as she figured that it was now her turn.
Her breath seized in her throat as her eyes met with the golden irises that were staring at her, she swallowed hard.
He had promised to kill her the next time they met if she didn't keep her promise, she wiped the tears away from her eyes, so this was how she was going to meet her end.