The two young males looked at each other and hesitated.

  ‘Can we come back?’ Lionel asked.

  ‘What?’ Dominic asked, taken aback.

  ‘Can we come back if we leave?’ Lionel asked again.

  ‘Why would we want to do that?’ asked Fang, seemingly as mystified as Dominic was.

  ‘Because the Pride is safer than being on our own and there are more opportunities to grow stronger here,’ Lionel answered practically. ‘Consider how much we have grown recently.’

  ‘It’s a good point,’ Fang answered slowly, ‘but I do want to mate and if I can’t do it here without risking my life…’

  ‘Which is why I ask if we can return. If you find your own females, perhaps Leo would not have a problem with us mating with them,’ Lionel explained logically.

  It was…an interesting point. And one that Dominic felt was a very good compromise. However, it did raise questions which only Leo could answer.

  ‘Let me ask Leo,’ Dominic said to the two young males, prodding his companion mentally. The lion projected slight annoyance at being disturbed, but returned to full awareness of the discussion taking place. ‘If Fang brings back a pride of lionesses, are you willing to leave them to him?’ Dominic asked his companion pointedly. ‘No stealing lionesses, or getting territorial over them.’

  The lion grumbled.

  ‘If they prefer me-’

  ‘Then if you want to mate with them, you’ll have to agree to Fang, Lionel, or any other young male being able to mate with lionesses who prefer them over us,’ Dominic interrupted. ‘Fair’s fair.’

  ‘Why would they choose another over me?’ Leo asked scornfully.

  ‘Look, I don’t know what goes on in human girls’ brains – you’re asking me to understand how lion females work?’ Dominic demanded with exasperation. ‘But seriously, either the females that Fang or any other male who joins the Pride brings with him are off limits entirely, or you agree to let the females choose – and only the females.’

  The lion was silent for a long time. Finally, he answered.

  ‘Fine. If they bring back their own females, I will tolerate them mating with those females as long as they don’t try to mate with mine.’

  ‘And if your females want to mate with them?’ Dominic pressed. ‘Or any other males who come along?’

  Leo growled.

  ‘This is why I don’t want any other males around!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘An approach which is unfeasible, especially the larger our Pride gets,’ Dominic pointed out. ‘And chasing out all the male cubs might end up causing us problems either from the lionesses who don’t want to lose their children, or the males who get stronger and then come back with numbers to try to take over completely.’

  ‘Then what do you say, since you’re so smart?!’ demanded Leo in frustration.

  ‘Let the male lions stay as long as they’re contributing to the Pride and cooperating, for one thing. For the other, I would suggest letting the lionesses choose,’ Dominic explained patiently. ‘You’re always up for mating, so it’s not like it will ever be non-consensual from your side of things. And you heard Sekhmet – lionesses like powerful males, so as long as we keep growing, it’s unlikely to be an issue. But if a lioness does choose to go with another male in the Pride…I think that we need to honour that choice.’

  Leo grumbled wordlessly, but Dominic sensed that he was at least thinking about it.

  ‘As long as it’s only males who have brought in other females who are allowed to mate, I will…accept it,’ he announced finally. ‘If they have brought in more mates then they have proven themselves strong enough to be subordinate males under my leadership. Then the females can choose which males they want to have for their heats.’

  Dominic thought it over, but found that he didn’t have any argument against that. After all, he didn’t want to completely destroy the way evolution had been working for thousands of years – only the strongest males and those best at survival had been able to mate, reducing the chances that weak genetics would be passed on. Plus, it reduced the chances of inbreeding if the males had to go and get their own prides first before being allowed to mate.

  He knew that Leo was hoping all the lionesses would choose Leo over any other male, but if so then that was up to the lionesses. Dominic doubted it would work that way, but if it allowed for peace between Leo and the other males? Great.

  ‘Alright, that sounds fair enough,’ Dominic agreed, then outlined the discussion he’d just had to Fang and Lionel.

  ‘So,’ he concluded, ‘you’re allowed to return to the Pride with or without lionesses, but you can only mate with those lionesses who choose you if you return with your own little pride.’

  The two young male lions exchanged looks, then turned to face Dominic.

  ‘We’ll go,’ Fang answered.

  ‘Both of you?’ Dominic asked, though probably didn’t need to: there had been enough indications to show that Lionel intended on going wherever Fang did. Which caused its own problems.

  ‘Yes,’ Lionel replied. ‘I’m going with my brother to protect him.’

  ‘Alright,’ Dominic answered with a sigh. ‘Then I would like to ask both of you to accompany us back to the forest – I don’t want them thinking that I killed you and your growth might inspire the others.’ And, he continued privately to himself, perhaps that will give me the opportunity to copy Lionel’s healing Abilities before he goes.

  The two lions exchanged another look.

  ‘Fine,’ Fang agreed. ‘As long as Leo doesn’t try to kill me again.’

  ‘As long as you stick to the rules we’ve just established, he won’t,’ Dominic assured him, prodding Leo mentally until the lion snarled in put-upon agreement.

  With that, the discussion was done. Slowly, everyone relaxed, turning to go. Dominic, however, stayed still at Leo’s urging. Sekhmet also stayed next to him, fidgeting like she had ants crawling on her paws. Procyon sent Dominic an inquiring look, accompanied by a pointed feeling in the Pride chat.

  ‘Go on ahead,’ Dominic told him. ‘We’ll catch up.’

  ‘Very well. Do not take too long,’ the ameshek warned knowingly. ‘This might not be the dungeon, but there are still threats around.’ With that, he turned and followed at the back of the pride. They were moving slowly by Dominic’s standards – they’d be able to catch up quickly.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  ‘Alright Leo,’ Dominic said, pressing backwards. ‘Enjoy.’

  Leo’s presence came forward with eagerness, anticipation running through him. The lion really enjoyed mating. Dominic hurried to make it back to their mental space before anything could happen – this might feel different than it did before, but it was still lion sex and he didn’t want to be a voyeur.

  He’d only just settled on the couch in his human form, having once more needed to switch from his lion form when he entered the mental space, when Leo contacted him.

  ‘Dominic,’ the lion snarled at him, sounding most put-out.

  ‘Done already?’ Dominic asked, surprised. ‘That was quick, even for you.’

  ‘No,’ Leo grumbled. ‘I’m not done.’

  ‘Then…why are you contacting me?’ Dominic asked, confused. ‘You know I don’t like to be present when you’re mating. And don’t tease me on that either,’ he warned. ‘I’m not in the mood.’

  ‘Well, tough,’ Leo snarled. ‘Because the flea-bitten female is asking for you!’

  Dominic froze from where he was starting to get off the couch. What?

  A moment later, he returned to full awareness, not even bothering to stand up in their mental space. He was once more met with the sound of snarling.

  Sekhmet was crouched, facing Leo with her teeth bared.

  ‘Alright, what’s the problem now?’ Dominic asked her, choosing to use Telepathy rather than broadcast the whole situation in the Pride chat which the others would still be able to hear. Immediately, she stopped snarling and relaxed, her body language once more taking on a more flirtatious, rather than threatening, air.

  ‘Dominic!’ she responded, her mental tone happy. ‘You’re back. Good. We mate now,’ she chirped, her speech back to being broken again. Evidently she didn’t feel this situation warranted her using full sentences, which was slightly worrying. And Dominic was procrastinating.

  ‘Sekhmet…’ Dominic answered, not sure what to say. ‘Leo wants to mate. What’s the problem?’

  ‘Don’t want to mate with Leo. Want to mate with you.’

  Leo’s anger which had been growing ever since Sekhmet obviously rejected him was abruptly replaced with gleeful amusement.

  ‘Hah!’ he huffed. ‘Not able to run away now. The female has made her choice. She wants you.’

  ‘But I don’t want her,’ Dominic responded privately to Leo, mixed feelings running riot within him. ‘I don’t get why she doesn’t want you!’ That was the easy route – the way to avoid having to think about these feelings Sekhmet had been invoking in him for a while now, particularly since leaving the dungeon, clearly in heat.

  Sekhmet, obviously getting impatient, once more stood up and started rubbing herself all over Dominic, spreading her heat-heavy scent all over the larger male.

  ‘Females are females,’ Leo dismissed. ‘Seems like female humans are no more easily comprehended by male humans than female lions are comprehended by male lions. But this one wants you.’

  ‘And you’re OK with that?’ Dominic asked disbelievingly. ‘You’re the one who almost killed a lion a few minutes ago because he tried to mate with her.’

  Leo sends across the feeling of a shrug, pressing back against Dominic’s presence as if to encourage him to take full control again.

  ‘If all females decide they would prefer you, yes, I will be very annoyed – I enjoy mating, and being active within it. I doubt I would enjoy being relegated once more to be merely a presence in your mind at all times. But if only this one or even a couple more want you alone….what’s the harm? The cubs will still be mine, regardless. I will not have to spend effort on another male’s cubs.’

  It sounded all so logical – except for the fact that this required him to be fully in control of the…mating. He didn’t even want to be present when Leo did it.

  Still feeling numb from shock, it took Dominic a few moments to realise that Leo had managed to manoeuvre their mental presences so that Dominic was now back in control of their body.

  ‘But I don’t want to have lion sex!’ Dominic almost wailed at Leo.

  The feeling he got back from his companion was not reassuring – sadistic glee mixed with anticipation – like Leo had gone and got popcorn and was now watching fail videos online. Clearly, he didn’t have high expectations.

  If the lion wasn’t usually so straight-forward, Dominic might have wondered whether this was a plan to make Sekhmet prefer Leo again – by making Dominic look so incompetent in comparison. But that would be a level of manipulation Leo hadn’t shown yet.

  Swallowing, since his fangs had started to leak venom in response to his stress, Dominic eyed Sekhmet as if she was a dangerous creature. Which she was, though usually not towards him.

  ‘So…’ he started, not sure how to continue. ‘So...’

  Sekhmet paused and then came to sit in front of him, her head tilted to one side.

  ‘Dominic not happy? Dominic not want to mate?’

  Dominic swallowed again.

  ‘It’s just…. You know I’m not originally a lion. Doesn’t that change anything for you?’

  Sekhmet tilted her head to one side in confusion.

  ‘You’re a lion now,’ she said, her sentence once more improving as her tone sobered a little. Perhaps her speech deteriorated the more…horny she got. Dominic gulped at that thought, part of him purring in delight while another part screamed in panic about it. ‘Does it matter to you?’ the lioness asked.

  Dominic hesitated.

  ‘I…yes. Yes, it does change things. Not my feelings towards you,’ he rushed to reassure her, but from her unhappy body language, he failed at that. ‘I really…like you. I appreciate what you do for our Pride and the way you help me.’ It didn’t appear to be helping. Dominic desperately searched for some other way of reassuring her. Women liked to be told they were pretty, right? Would lionesses like that too? ‘You’re really…strong. And powerful. And your body is…lithe and muscular,’ he told her.

  He relaxed a little in relief as Sekhmet’s body language softened a little bit. ‘You’re beautiful when you fight,’ he continued, heartened, ‘Sometimes I’m almost distracted when I see you make a particularly great pounce or kill. And I like it when you press up against me or cuddle with me,’ he admitted, the words practically pouring out from him now. ‘You were the first to risk coming out hunting with me, the first I was able to convince. And from that we’ve built what we have now – a Pride who managed to defeat and absorb several other groups. Defeat a difficult dungeon. I….’ He abruptly cut off his mental communication as something far stronger than just ‘like’ threatened to emerge. I can’t love her, he told himself. She’s a lion!

  Sekhmet, her body language now more confused than disappointed, asked the question he knew was inevitable.

  ‘Then if you like all these things about me, why don’t you wish to mate?’

  Dominic hesitated again. In the face of all that, his denial did seem rather stupid. Maybe he was overthinking it? After all, he was a lion now, at least in body. ‘This is…difficult for me,’ he equivocated. Sekhmet gave him a disappointed look.

  ‘You like me, but you don’t want to mate,’ she concluded, her tone sounding disappointed and just a bit hurt.

  ‘No, it’s not that,’ Dominic hurried to disagree, his heart clenching at the thought that he had hurt her.

  The lioness just turned her head to him and lifted her lips slightly to bare her teeth a little.

  ‘If you don’t want to mate, I will accept the other male to scratch this awful itch,’ she told him.

  Oddly enough, being offered the option he had been hoping for didn’t make things any better. Dominic had been longing for that just a moment ago, but now it became possible, he found he…didn’t want it. Why not?

  Eyeing Sekhmet, he did his best to be honest with himself. If he pushed aside the part of him that was screaming about bestiality, the part that still saw itself as human…. He had already admitted that he found this lioness attractive, both in physical form and as an individual being.

  She had been there for him since almost the beginning of all this and had supported him in everything since then. And now she was asking him to be there for her in her heat. How selfish would it be for him to refuse? Especially when his body was more than ready, and his mind was at least halfway there.

  Padding forwards, Dominic hesitated for one more moment, but then committed to his actions.

  Refusing to think too hard on it, Dominic leaned down to brush his head against Sekhmet’s. The lioness looked up at him, her gaze hopeful.

  ‘Dominic mate with me?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes,’ he answered tensely, both nerves and a feeling of rightness going through him. ‘I will mate with you,’ he continued, more sure of himself.

  here!