The Lion King's Reluctant Mate novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Under the Heart Moon
They did not talk on the walk home.
The moon followed them across the plain, so bright that every blade of grass threw its own shadow.
Bix and the seven new cubs were asleep in a heap at Sabra's den.
She had made that plain, with a hand on each of their shoulders and a look that dared them to say thank you.
At the Hollow, Lucan stopped at the doorpost.
He scratched it three times, slowly, and looked at Jory.
"You live here," Jory said, laughing. "You've lived here for weeks."
"It is the last time I will do it for permission," Lucan said. "I want you to know I understand what it is I am walking into."
"Come in, Lucan."
He ducked under the lintel and straightened.
The smoke hole in the roof was wide, and a single shaft of moonlight fell through it onto the hides.
It made the whole den silver.
For a moment neither of them moved.
Then Jory crossed the floor and put both hands flat on the king's chest, where the heart was going hard under his palms.
"You're nervous," he said.
"I am a king."
"You're nervous."
"I am terrified," Lucan said, and smiled. "I have waited a very long time."
"So have I," said Jory. "Longer than you."
He pulled the mantle off over the king's head.
It was not like the other times, and Jory knew it.
Nothing was hurt, and nobody was afraid, and no fire was coming.
There was only the moon and the quiet and a great deal of time.
Jory kissed him for a long while without doing anything else.
He kissed the scar through the eyebrow, and the corners of the amber eyes, and the line of the jaw.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Lion King's Reluctant Mate are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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