The First Legendary Beast Healer

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Elias entered the room behind Rachael and found Tiffine arranging equipment beside the bed. Her companion was pushing another trolley into place, although both stopped long enough to look at him.

“I suppose we should ask which of these he knows how to use,” the other nurse muttered.

Tiffine placed a tray on the trolley.

“Leave everything there. We wouldn’t want him saying we failed to provide what he needed.”

Elias glanced over the equipment before moving towards the bed.

“You can move most of this aside. I won’t need it.”

Tiffine’s hand paused against the tray.

“It’s something minor,” he added.

Rachael raised her brows. She hadn’t even brought her beast out yet, and he was already calling its condition minor.

For days, she had kept it within her shadow, knowing that bringing it into the human world would put more strain on it. Some of the best specialists in the city had examined it, and none had spoken as casually as he had just done.

She looked at the equipment, then back at Elias.

Perhaps she had made a mistake bringing him here. Knowing a nurse’s beast had been vomiting was hardly the same as treating hers.

Yet the specialists had left her with nothing she could use. She could call another one and hear the same apologies while her beast continued getting worse.

Elias looked towards her shadow.

“You can bring it out now.”

Rachael hesitated before lifting her hand.

The shadow beneath her feet spread towards the bed. A massive white tiger emerged from it, and the nurse beside the trolley drew in a sharp breath.

Its shoulders rose almost to the edge of the mattress, while pale gold stripes ran across its white fur. Even with its head hanging low, there was something about it that made Tiffine step away from the bed.

The tiger moved towards Rachael, but its forelegs trembled beneath its weight. She reached towards its head, letting it lean against her hand.

Rachael stroked the place between its ears, and it closed its eyes beneath her fingers. She had seen it walk through deadly hunts without a single scratch. Now even standing beside her seemed to exhaust it.

Elias’s eyes followed the shallow movement of its chest.

“It’s such a pity,” the other nurse said. “A beast like this, and he’s the one who’s going to ruin it.”

“At least when he’s executed, he’ll know he touched something this magnificent,” Tiffine replied.

Neither had bothered lowering her voice.

Rachael looked towards them, and Tiffine turned back to the trolley. Her companion began straightening a cloth that was already lying flat.

Elias approached the tiger, stopping just beyond its reach.

“Are you sure about this?” Rachael asked.

“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”

He lowered himself beside the beast and held his hand near its nose. The tiger watched him, its nostrils moving before it leaned towards his fingers.

Rachael’s hand lifted as he reached beneath its chin, but the beast eased its head against his arm.

Elias shifted closer, supporting the weight while his other hand moved over its neck. He had spent enough years in pens to know when to let a beast come to him.

“Easy now, let me have a look at you.”

The tiger settled against him, and he ran his fingers through the fur beneath its jaw.

The nurse beside the trolley had stopped touching the cloth. Tiffine was watching his hands, her lips pressed together.

Rachael looked from Elias to the beast. It had barely allowed the specialists near it without growling, yet now it was resting its head in his arms.

Elias moved his hand towards its chest. Beneath his palm, he could feel where the sickness had settled, and warmth began gathering in his fingers.

He let the tiger rest for another moment before reaching towards the tray.

Rachael followed the movement of his hand.

He took the largest needle from it, parted the fur along the beast’s foreleg and drove the point into the vein.

The tiger growled, jerking its head away from his arm.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tiffine rushed forward, nearly striking the trolley with her hip.

Rachael went pale, her hand still raised where the tiger’s head had been.

“Is this why you were so desperate to get in here?” Tiffine demanded. “Were you paid to murder her beast?”

“I knew there was something wrong with him,” her companion said. “Look at what he’s done!”

Elias kept his hand against the tiger’s foreleg as it shifted beneath him. The warmth in his palm spread through the beast, and he eased the needle free.

Tiffine reached towards his shoulder, but the tiger’s paw moved against the floor. She stopped before touching him.

“Miss Rachael, you have to do something. We warned you about him.”

Rachael’s lips parted. She looked at the needle in Elias’s hand, then at the beast, unable to get the words out.

Elias lifted his gaze towards her, a small smile settling on his face.

“Relax, I told you I know what I’m doing.”

A sharp yelp came from the tiger before anyone could answer.

Rachael’s hand moved towards it, but the beast was already pushing itself upright. Its forelegs held steady beneath it, and its chest rose with a deep breath that lifted the fur around its neck.

Elias moved his arm aside as the tiger stretched.

The dullness had left its coat. White fur gleamed beneath the lights, and the gold running across its body had deepened until every stripe stood clear against it.

It lifted its head, its eyes bright and fixed on Rachael.

She had seen it healthy before. She knew how it stood and how its coat looked after she had brushed it herself, but even then, it had never looked like this.

The tiger stood before her with its shoulders drawn back and its tail lifting behind it, more magnificent than it had been before it fell ill.