A Dark Secret

Chapter 13

"I will never swear any loyalty to you or your pride!" Kion yelled. The time had come for him to swear his loyalty to the Sun Pride. Kion, being a very stubborn lion, refused. Jua, the white furred lioness, growled at him.

"Oh but you must," she said menacingly. "You have no choice." Kion was surrounded by lions on all sides to prevent him from escaping.

"Never!" Kion yelled once more. "And you can't make me!"

Jua gave him a death glare. "If you don't..." She said. "Let's just assume you won't see the light of day again." Jua snarled at him.

"You'll kill me before you make me swear my loyalty to you," Kion said snarling.

Jua curled her lips up in a smile. "Sounds pleasant," she said lowly. Kion just snarled and growled at the lions surrounding him. "This is your last chance," Jua warned him.

"Never. Not on my life," Kion told her, growling furiously.

"Alright then. Lions! Kill!" She shouted as the Pride closed in on Kion. Kion tried to fight back but it didn't work on so many lions. He tried to use the Roar but it came out as another squeak. The lions pinned him down and raked their claws all over his body. Kion screamed in agony. They were interrupted by a dark furred lion running up to them.

"Cheetahs!" he exclaimed. "Two of them spotted in our territory!"

"What!?" Jua yelled. "Lions! Stop!" She ordered them and they stopped hurting Kion. He looked at the blood on his fur.

Ugh! Is it my destiny to just keep getting hurt on this journey?! Isn't the scar enough?!

Jua shouted again, "We must go after the cheetahs! Kujisifu! Maana! Mkorofi! Vurugu! You will go with me to capture the cheetahs! Dikteta! You're in charge of the pride while we're gone! Also, we'll take the new lion with us. He'll soon see there's no way out." Most of the lions Jua ordered to go capture the cheetahs raced out of the camp, but Kujisifu stayed behind and forced Kion out of the hills with them.

The lions ran, with Kujisifu forcing Kion along. When they finally got there, Kion couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Fuli!

"FULI!"

She stood even more beautiful than he remembered, her image portrait worthy, the yellow parts of her fur absolutely glowing in the sun and the brown spotted parts complimenting it all. Her emerald green eyes were captivating and yet held a worry he had not seen in her before. Standing next to her was a younger cheetah cub he didn't know, small and skinny with normal black spots and amber eyes.

She looked into his eyes, her own wide ebony with shock. KION!" She rushed towards him faster than he'd ever seen her, the younger cheetah cub following behind. But before they could reach each other, the lions moved in on Fuli and the cheetah cub. Alarm flashed through her emerald eyes. "Stay back!" Fuli warned them. The lion then raised his massive paw at Fuli. Fuli swiftly lashed out her claws at the lion before he could accomplish his attack. Blood ran down the lions body, but it wasn't like any blood Kion had seen before. The blood looked almost like... fire?

Kion shook his head to clear it. Fuli and one of the lions were on a one-on-one fight. Kion rushed towards her as fast as he could with his current wounds, pain stabbing into his body as he hobbled towards her. His heart skipped a beat as the lion landed a blow on Fuli's head, knocking her out. The lion went in for the death blow. Just before he could Kion summoned all his energy and jumped in the way. The blow landed on Kion instead of Fuli and every bone on his body felt the pain of the hit.

The lion narrowed his eyes. "What a pathetic lion you are! Sacrificing yourself for a cheetah! Those ugly little savages! They think they can actually live anywhere near our territory," Jua sneered menacingly.