The Lion King's Reluctant Mate novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Smoke

Lucan had commanded the Goldgrass for six years, and he had never once lost his temper in front of it.

He lost it at the edge of the burned ground, in the dusk, with Bix's small footprints running away from him across the ash.

They led west, toward the ridge of unburned grass the strip had not reached.

Jory's footprints ran beside them.

Jory had not waited for anyone.

He had seen the tracks, said "Stay with Sabra," and gone.

It had taken Lucan the space of one breath to hear that and decide not to obey it.

The wind had turned.

It came off the black plain now, hot and sour, and it carried sparks.

Somewhere ahead, a line of orange lit the ridge from end to end.

Hadrick's last wolves had stayed behind to finish what the first six started.

"King!" Sabra shouted. "Lucan, wait for the pride!"

He did not wait.

He threw off the mantle and let the change take him, and the world dropped away into scent and speed.

The ground went by in long gold strides.

Smoke filled his nose and his eyes, and under it, faint and unmistakable, he found Jory.

Woodsmoke, salt, the warm skin of the man's neck.

He ran toward it as hard as his legs would carry him.

He had never been afraid like this.

He had been afraid for cubs, and for the pride, and for the grass in a drought year.

This was a different thing entirely, narrow and white and total, and it lived in the place under his ribs where Jory's hand had lain.

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