Taming the lion

Chapter 14

It's been a whole week, and no sight of my lion. I have searched the entire property, well Brax and I searched once my mother and I had a lengthy discussion with him about were's and true love. He still doesn't believe the whole thing, though, and demanded we give him proof; although I haven't seen king in human form either, I know it's all real, he's eyes are a perfect match to my dream man, not that I've been dreaming lately, in fact, I've barely slept a wink. 

Mum and I had spent a lot of time together. She had finally told me the true story of how my father died. It had been an animal attack but not quite the way I was told as a child.

My mother had just found out she was pregnant with me. My father, overjoyed at the news, had gone to a meeting of the elders to inform them of the upcoming birth since my mother was human. My father, a werelion the union between the two had been carefully scrutinized from the time they had first begun to court.

 It was not common for a lion to mate with a human, and the elders, although not questioning the powers of fate that bought them together, were unsure about the whole thing and demanded to be informed and kept abreast of any unusual or new happenings in the relationship. So my father went to inform them of the pregnancy; it wasn't unheard of for the offspring of humans and werelions to not survive full term; there was also the question of exactly how long full term would be and if a human or pride doctor should be consulted.'

My father, a man of action, not words, during the discussions, got bored. He knew, either way, I was his child, and he would love me unconditionally. So being in the middle of the largest and most remote nature preserve in Africa, he went on a hunt/run in lion form,

Apparently, where mum and dad were living was semi populated high tourist park with its own healthy pride of natural lions, so my father rarely got to embrace his predator nature fully,

During the hunt, he was gored by a large spiral-horned antelope; being in lion form, if my father had been able to shift back to human and then lion form again, he would've survived, but as he was hunting alone. Unfortunately, the horn broke off in the wound; he bled out and died before the others could find him and remove it.

Mum had spent the whole day after she told me this story in bed, unable to move or speak; the pain was so fresh, it was tragic to watch her suffer like that, but I now understood the days of silence that plagued my childhood and why my stepfather was so against her ever telling me.

She had left Africa soon after his funeral though the elders tried to convince her to stay the pain of being in my fathers natural country was too much, she had me in the united states, and to all appearances, I was a normal human child, when I was three, she married my stepfather she had known him in Africa. He had heard of my father's demise and vowed to help her raise me and put her life back together though he knew he would never have her heart.

Seeing Brax exit his cabin, I stood up to go and meet him; we had another full day. Construction of the lake had been completed, and today, we were adding the animals to it. Brax had wanted to purchase a crocodile but hadn't located on yet. For now, we were populating it with flamingoes and cranes, and hopefully, pending the inspection that was happening tomorrow, it would also house several female hippos and their calves,

We had hoped to introduce them yesterday, but I hadn't felt up to it. I had been listless and restless for days now, not sleeping but not wanting to leave my bed; it was like the absence of my lion had left me broken-hearted; Mum said he would be back soon he probably had a good reason for leaving the way he did I still wasn't sure he was a werelion at all apart from the feelings I was experiencing the whole thing still felt so surreal.

Pushing aside the feelings of longing, I forced a new outlook. I still had a sanctuary to get off the ground, and if these animals weren't released today, the hope of getting the hippos from the conservation center tomorrow was crushed.

It was better than I imagined; the lake had been sculpted and placed perfectly into the ground it looked like it had always been there, the viewing track ran around the lake about 10 meters from the water's edge this way the guests could view and photograph without getting too close to the deadly animals.

The flamingoes and Cranes seemed happy enough in their new home they were already Picking and scraping the bottom of the shallows looking for fish and other insects to eat. We had planted a bit of natural green grass around the lake a few more patches were scattered here and there around the perimeter of the lake to encourage the hippos that would reside here to forage and explore during the night; closing my eyes; I could picture the beautiful scene's that would be sure to unfold here.

"Jacey" "Jacey, look open your eyes."

Startled by Brax's voice, I immediately opened my eyes and looked at him bewildered. thinking that maybe one of the rhinos that were proving to be quite elusive had come for a drink, I sat up and looked across the lake to where he was pointing

I gasped, and my feet were moving me out of the jeep and around the lake before I properly realized what I was doing it was my lion he was here, "JACEY" I stopped at Brax's frightened shout and turned to find him a few steps behind me "Be careful" I scowled at his warning and turned to make my way to my lion, "Jacey please he's not alone look" he pointed to the longer savannah grass just past where my lion was standing  In my haste to reach my lion I hadn't noticed the 7 other lions crouched in the grass behind him strangely I still wasn't afraid though. 

I approached the waiting pride of lions a little more carefully than before. Kneeling in front of my lion, I placed both my hands on his face; he leaned into my neck and let out a small sigh, "where have you been? I whispered to him "his response was to shuffle closer to me, glancing around, I noticed the other lions had moved closer and were now pushed in behind him. 

"Are these your friends?" I asked him," your family," as if noticing them for the first time. He turned and barred his teeth at the other lion causing them to twitch. Their tails could see amusement in their eyes, although they backed off.

We sat together for several minutes. He kept pushing his nose into me as if trying to consume my scent, and I ran my hands through his mane so happy to see him again; the other lions seemingly uninterested in me now had backed off and were playing and wrestling with each other, unable to hold it in any longer I had to ask the question I had been dying to know,

"you're the man in my dreams, aren't you, My mate, the one I'm meant to be with it" I know you feel it too; is that why you ran away, I want to see your human form I've been lost; without you why di...."

I stopped speaking. He had backed off from me and was looking at me with an expression I couldn't define on his cat-like face, "what's wrong" I had no idea what I had said that made him react this way mum had told me he could understand what I said although he couldn't respond whilst in his lion form 

He took a couple of hesitant steps forwards and then seemed to concentrate on the ground intensely concentrating,

< I cant my love I'm sorry >

 What the hell was that     " Did you just....?" I pointed to my head. My lion nodded < yes> I looked at him puzzled. This was something my mother had failed to tell me about; closing my eyes, I tried to get a grip on what had just happened       

I felt a light lick on my cheek and smiled despite my confusion he was trying to comfort me

< I have to go I'm sorry>

'"wai.....t"      I opened my eyes to find him already halfway across the paddock. ...

 < > WITH ITALICS MEANS THE CONVERSATION IS VIA MIND LINK.