Blaine leaned back against the cold concrete wall. The crew was making the night feeding rounds and were near his room. The little glass door opened and they dumped the bucket's contents onto the cold floor and shut the little glass door. Blaine looked at the food in disgust. Just then he heard commotion and looked out of the big glass wall to see a new person, a man, in a cage being wheeled down near his pen. Must be another tiger. They held onto the whips tightly as they circled around the cage.

“Put him in with the other one...if they attack each other they attack each other,” the one man, jeff, said as he scrutinized the new boy. Jeff looked at Blaine with hatred. A long scar graced the man's face from temple to jaw. The new man crouched scared in his cage. He couldn't have been older than seventeen, like Blaine. They moved the cage over to the bigger door to Blaine's room and opened both of the doors. The men prodded the young boy in the back to get him to move. Like Blaine, he was clad in nothing but boxers and Blaine looked at the boy closely as he reluctantly moved into the room. The boy saw him and moved into the corner immediately and curled into a ball. His back was to Blaine as he curled into the ball.

“Well, looks like he won't be causing trouble like this one did when he came here,” Jeff said. Blaine shucked his boxers off and transformed into his tiger and ran at the door. He roared as he hit the door and a whip struck his face. He recoiled and the door was shut quickly to block him. The guys stood laughing at him as he glared at them. They walked away and he growled at them angrily. The boy was still curled up in the corner and he got a little closer to the boy. He stuck his head out and rubbed it on his legs.

Blue, gray, green, and every color in between eyes met his hazel ones. Blaine waited patiently as a tentative hand reached out to scratch under his jaw. Blaine purred at the touch and moved closer slowly. The boy stiffened but let Blaine lay by him as he turned from the corner of the wall. Blaine rested his head on the boys legs as he continued to stroke his fur. Blaine fell into a deep, easy slumber for the first time since he had gotten here.

The yelling got louder as he hid under his mother. She stood protectively over him as the guys got closer to their den. A loud pop sounded and his mother roared out in anger and soon fell to the ground. Blaine looked over to his older brother, Cooper, who was now ready to defend him. Blaine heard a loud roar and looked out of the den to see his father pounce on one of the men.

“Dad!” Blaine's little growl sounded. Cooper grabbed him by the nape of his neck and ran with him. Cooper was a big tiger for his age and Blaine was tiny for his own age of eight. Cooper ran with him for a while and finally stopped and set him down. Cooper was out of breath and sat down by him. Blaine moved under his legs and crouched down. A reassuring tongue licked at his fur, that was standing on end from fear, to calm his nerves.

“There they are!”

Blaine jumped up as did Cooper and Cooper roared at the men to get away from them. The men only laughed and the same popping noise from before sounded and Cooper went down. Blaine growled and jumped onto his brothers shoulder.

“Cooper!” his little growl sounded. The guys laughed and picked him up by the nape of his neck. Blaine looked into cold blue eyes that held nothing but hatred. He clawed out into the air and struck the guys face. A long angry red line traced from his temple to his jaw. The man threw Blaine onto the ground roughly and Blaine tried to run away but he was caught. He heard the pop and soon sleep took over his body.

When he woke up he was in a room with three other tigers. When he smelled the air he recognized the scents. He ran to his older brother and pounced on him. Cooper looked up at him with blue eyes that held sadness and concern.

“Blainers...are you okay?” Cooper asked as he sat up.

“I'm fine, Coop,” Blaine growled out. Cooper nodded and licked Blaine's cheek. Blaine's mom and dad were laying side by side looking at the far wall.

“What's wrong?”

“We've been captured...there's no hope for freedom or life now,” his father replied. Blaine tilted his head confused and sighed. The men came into their room then. Blaine ran away into the corner as the three older tigers stood protectively in front of him.

“Enough,” the man with the cut down his face whipped the three tigers. Blaine's father jumped at one of the men and Blaine watched worried. A loud pop sounded and the scent of blood invaded his nose. Blaine ran over and looked down at his father's body. A red hole showed in his side. The man with the cut face grabbed Blaine. He reached out to claw him again but he was too far away.

“Watch them!” the man yelled and walked out of the room with him. Blaine looked back scared and saw his mother and Cooper roaring for him. Blaine watched the door be slammed shut as he was led away from his family and put in a plastic crate.

When he woke up again he was in a new room. It smelled clean and he saw a woman sitting outside the room looking at him with a kind smile. Blaine moved away and into the corner away from her gaze. The woman came in and picked him up. Her name was Lindsay as she introduced herself to him. Blaine looked into her green eyes that showed nothing but kindness but Blaine didn't believe it. He struck out and clawed her shoulder. She dropped him and grabbed her shoulder. She left the room and Blaine sat down within some of the blankets that were thrown in the room.

Blaine remembered roaring for hours for Cooper, his mom, or even his dad, but he never got a reply. Blaine finally gave up and fell asleep. He was woken by a sharp pain in his back and he looked up to see the man with the cut holding a whip. Blaine sat up and moved away swiftly but the man hit him many times over. Finally, too weak to fight anymore he curled up and let darkness take over.

Blaine woke startled from the dream and saw the new boy looking at him worried. Blaine sighed and moved away from the boy slowly. He couldn't trust him or anybody. He couldn't let himself be dragged back into someone's life to only be hurt.

“It's okay...I won't hurt you,” the soft voice said. Blaine pricked his ears at the voice and felt something in him shift. The man seemed genuine but didn't they all? Blaine moved back more as the man grew closer. All Blaine could see was a whip coming out to strike him and he reached out a massive paw to defend himself. He heard a yelp and he saw the boy move away from him. Three, red, bleeding lines were now present on the boy's flawless skin. Blaine had ruined him and probably just lost the boys nice touch. The boy looked at him scared and then at his arm. Blaine ran away and to the other side of the room in the corner and curled up there. He made sure his back was to the boy but he could feel those mystical eyes boring into his orange and black fur.