Chapter 21 21: Budding romance

[3rd POV] Evening painted the sky in long amber strokes as the sun slipped low across the plains. The tall grasses wavered in the wind like breathing earth, whispering across Zuri's flanks as she crept forward. Her paws pressed into the soil with the grace of habit. There was a reedbuck nearby, the wind occasionally told her that much. She'd caught its scent minutes ago, but they would disappear quickly with the slightest change in the wind. Which is why lions did not just rely on their sense of smell but also knew how to track their prey. Zuri did just that as she observed the ground below. She saw the footprints and bent grass. Judging by the pace and number of tracks, it was alone and male. The bigger males usually had longer strides than females so that was the clue. She glanced to the side, where another beast accompanied her. Leo. She thought he was behind her. She didn't hear him approach, didn't see him move through the grass. He was a perfect stalker. "Found it, it's a reedbuck," she said but didn't say anything further when she saw the knowing look on his face. Whatever she discovered, he already knew. It was likely that he had led her here, already knowing that a reedbuck was around this place. Since Scar stole the reedbuck he brought home for her, they decided to hunt another one together when they had the chance. Well, she was always ready and willing to hunt with him, but he was the one to decide when. Today was that day. It was not often that they would be alone together like this, so she was finding it hard to focus if she was being honest. Her eyes were always on him as they tracked their prey. She felt the quiet shift in the air whenever he moved, the way birds stayed still when he passed. He was heavy against the earth - he had to be, with a frame like his. Every muscle in his shoulders was visible even under fur, and those shoulders rose higher than most lions in the pride. And yet, somehow, the weight didn't slow him. It just made him grounded, like it was impossible to move him when he did not want to. Each of his steps was deliberate. His forelimbs flexed like drawn bows as he crouched into the undergrowth, and the sheer mass of him seemed to fold into the land without a sound. The muscles along his back rippled, and Zuri saw again how different he was from the others. He didn't stalk like a lion. He stalked like something else - something shaped by necessity, by pain and discipline, not just instinct. His hind legs were always more coiled, his centre of gravity lower, his paws splayed just slightly to spread the pressure. It wasn't graceful, it wasn't instinctive. It was measured, it was intended. There was a difference. A difference that became wider the more you observed and compared. After a few minutes of tracking, the Reedbuck finally came into view near the dry riverbed. Its figure was lanky, twitchy, with ears perked. It grazed nervously, hooves shifting in the dirt. "There," she whispered and hid between the grass. "The wind's in our favour," Leo whispered back. Then he moved away from her, flanking the prey from the right. "Careful," she said while she stayed lower and waited for an opportunity. Leo almost scoffed at her words. Zuri watched him go, and she was struck by how quietly violent his silhouette looked at a distance. His body cut a shape into the world instead of the other way around. His mane was not fully grown, but already thick around the neck. Her eyes fell on the tail behind him, or at least what remained of a tail. It was short, like the size of a hyena's. It had looked awkward at first, but now it perfectly suited his unique build. That made her recall that fateful day when they had wandered too far and broken a rule they shouldn't have. Leo had borne the consequences of their collective mistake that day. While everyone ran away from the leopard, he had turned and fought. She never quite forgot the sight. She saw his back, standing between her and what her young mind could only describe as death given form. It was ridiculous to think about even now. A cub no older than half a year, but he had roared and fought like any adult. She remembered the blood that covered his whole body when she saw him again. She remembered the silence of his arrival. How he didn't cry. Instead, he was almost glowing with pride. For he had won and protected her cowardly self. ,,, A flick of grass snapped her back to reality. The Reedbuck raised its head. Zuri shifted forward. She was thirty paces from the prey, and the wind was downwind, so she slowly approached. But before she could pounce, Leo beat her to it. He moved in a blur. He didn't leap like how you would expect. He didn't push himself off with only his hind legs. Instead, four of his limbs grabbed the earth, and he propelled himself forward with maximum force. It would be better to say he launched himself, and the ground beneath him buckled when he moved. It wasn't a silent pounce like any other lion would do. It didn't need to be. The Reedbuck barely had time to turn. Leo crashed into it mid-sprint with a force that sounded like trees breaking. They tumbled in a blur, and he twisted mid-fall. He slammed a massive forepaw into the buck's shoulder. There was a snap of bone. Dust flew and hid the scene from her eyes and then nothing. Silence. Zuri broke into a jog, emerging from the grass just as Leo rose from the kill. He wasn't breathing heavily. His chest rose deeply and steadily like a furnace. One paw still rested atop the Reedbuck's neck, pinning down in case it tried to escape. The way he hunted was excessively brutal in her eyes. He didn't even give hope to the prey. Simply overpowered it to the point of bottomless despair and drowned it under raw strength. In the end, Zuri didn't have to do anything. She didn't even get to show off in front of him. "Are you good?" she asked. Leo nodded, shaking out his thick shoulders. You could see the way his muscles relaxed and stopped pushing against his tight skin. Shoulders broader than any lion she knew, and paws that were massive and careful in how they stepped back. He looked like something time had carved, not something nature gave birth to. Like he had been built to dominate, protect and provide. It was a thought that brewed at the corner of her mind, but she would love to have his cubs. It was an instinctive urge to multiply what she believed to be the most suited lion. Wouldn't everything be so much better if there were more than one Leo? Tiny Leos, whom she would nurture to become just like their father. That would be an incredible way to spend the rest of her life. "What are you waiting for? Let's eat," she said with a bit of excitement oozing off her. Reedbucks were her favourites after all. But she didn't start eating. She was waiting for the dominant one and the killer of the prey to take the first bite. That was tradition, an unspoken law. He lowered his head and began opening the carcass. She watched impatiently as he tore open the inside of the prey. But instead of taking the first bite, he pulled back with a bloody mouth and gestured to her. "Go on, you eat first." "Huh?" she blinked. "I'm already quite full, so you can eat first," he repeated. And there he goes again, she thought to herself. How someone could be so different from their own species, she didn't know. No lion would ever give up the first bite, even if it was to their own offspring. It fascinated her to no end. Maybe if she grew a baby Leo inside her and raised it, she would get close to understanding him. Regardless, she would not refuse such goodwill. She moved around the carcass and began eating the juicy organs of the prey. Leo joined her after a while and they both shared a meal under the sunset. .. .. .. [IMAGE] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author : This is the last chapter before Scar vs Leo. I will update two chapter next time to not give such huge cliffhangee. Check out my patreon and join to read the advanced chapters. Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn