A man. A tiger. A tornado. Jared Montaine owns a big cat rescue in Florida and faces financial pressures, getting over his ex-wife, and the challenge of suburbia creeping ever closer to his enclave for the animals. But when a tornado wrecks part of the refuge, Jared's worst fear comes to life: his Siberian tiger, Sultan, escapes. It's a big cat handler’s nightmare: a tiger on the loose, confused, lost -- and hungry. Jared races against the police, the media, and the hysterical public, all of whom are clamoring for the tiger's hide. He must re-capture Sultan before the cat is killed -- by traffic, by SWAT, or by a civilian who just wants to shoot a tiger. With fellow wildlife handlers at his side, Jared fights desperately to find and capture Sultan before the tiger injures or kills a human. Because that would lead to his worst nightmare -- having to kill the tiger he hand-raised from a cub. Jared’s commitment is tested -- to his animals, his refuge, and his belief that saving the life of even one tiger is worth losing everything.

The Tiger Whisperer

“Maybe things should change around here. Don’t you get tired of fighting it all the time?” The words were slow and measured, Jared’s shoulders hunched over and tight.


Alarm bells went off in Peter’s head; this didn’t sound like the Jared he had known for twelve years. They’d bitched good-naturedly off and on whenever things got tight, joked about going on food stamps so the cats could eat, teased about getting a night shift up at Burger King. But this was different, he sensed Jared was feeling pretty serious.


“Hey, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s going on…”


“Nothing’s going on.” Jared gave Sultan a last tug on his ears and rose. “I’m just bitching, no, what would Katherine call it? Some touchy-feely term like “processing.” Yeah, that’s it. I’m just processing.”Jared jostled Peter’s shoulders and gave him a smile. They walked back to the office.


Chapter 17