The Lion King's Reluctant Mate novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Fortieth Night
The fortieth kill came at dusk, and it came with a polite scratch on the doorpost.
Jory was sitting in the Hollow door with Ash asleep on his shoulder and a wooden spoon in his free hand.
He had been stirring the same pot for ten minutes.
He heard the footsteps on the packed earth and kept stirring.
Three slow scrapes.
"Come in," Jory said.
"I have a deer," said the voice outside.
"I can smell that," Jory said.
"I have laid it on the flat rock, as agreed."
"Very good," Jory said.
"I have not put it on the bed."
"That's a first," Jory said.
Lucan ducked under the lintel with his hands empty and his mantle brushed, looking so ill at ease that Jory's chest ached.
The king stood on the threshold and looked around the den.
Four cubs lay in the corner in rabbit fur, three of them in a cradle and one beside it.
The fire burned low and steady.
The smokehouse, outside, sent up its thin thread of smoke.
Everything smelled of salt and herbs and home.
"You're staring," Jory said.
"I am."
"Are you going to come in or are you going to stand there?"
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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