“I see it,” the woman said, and leaned in to get a better look.

Thick strings of saliva dripped from the tiger's jaws as the woman poked in her head. He couldn't help it; he tasted her flesh. Impulsively he wrapped a paw around her. One push, a few tosses of his head and a gulp and she'd join the last of the tiger-hunters in his stomach.

He didn't push, or swallow. He had no intention of eating her at all, and if he had he could do so without any such cooperation on her part. He could simply pounce, overpower her effortlessly, and down she would go. He didn't eat the villagers unless they annoyed him, though, and tonight he was much more interested in getting part of himself into her belly than getting her into his. Plus, he was quite full. His last meal was still mostly solid and sloshing in his belly.

As she reached in to try to winkle the Englishman's monacle from between his back teeth, though, he couldn't help but think about it. The last time a human had their head in his mouth, and all the times before that, the rest of their body had followed it in. The tiger flicked his tail restively. Innocent though his intentions were, the woman had best get her head out of there soon lest his sheer force of habit take over.

Normally “There's something stuck in my teeth” is shorthand for “I want to eat you but I am being sneaky about it.” Sometimes, though, the predator is being honest and it's safe to look in there...as long as you don't linger too long or he doesn't succumb to impulse. 83

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