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By the next morning the rain had stopped, the ground outside of the acacia tree was soggy from the rains, but underneath was mostly dry. A lion and a leopardess laid underneath the acacia tree both tired from the night before. Neither had realized the leopardess was in heat but their instincts did and they kicked into gear. The two had spent the night mating, making sure there was no chance she didn’t become pregnant.
Bwana woke up first, groggy. Lifting his head he glanced down feeling himself curled around someone. At first he smiled thinking of Gouta but then he realized that this body was smaller and had less fur around the neck than his mate. As he stared down at the red and black leopardess the memory of last night came back to him and he groaned, he had done it again. Gouta had forgiven him the last time, and even raised the cubs that had resulted but he doubted he’d be let off the hook again. As he laid there he wondered what to do, he knew he couldn’t stick around and raise the cubs that were undoubtedly starting to grow inside Noi’s stomach, but he also didn’t want to just leave her with no explanation.
He wasn’t sure what else he could do though. He didn’t want to lead some sort of double life sneaking off to visit this leopardess and her cubs. He didn’t even mean for it all to happen, he had just wanted to get out of the rain, not get dragged into this mess. Life had a funny way of throwing curve balls like that. He sighed and rested his head back on the ground, he wasn’t going anywhere for the moment, not until he could figure out what he was going to do.
Noi was in between sleep and awake, her body felt sore in places and muscles she had never used before. While the experience had been pleasant it was also very tiring. The leopardess wasn’t sure she’d want to do it again anytime soon, but hopefully…hopefully the night had left her with cubs. She could feel the male’s heat curled up against her back, she never did catch his name. She snuggled closer still not completely awake. She wondered what it’d be like to wake up next to him every day. The leopardess felt a smile curl on her muzzle at that, it would be a different experience for sure.
She let her mind drift thinking how odd the timing of last night events had been. Just as she had started thinking about wanting cubs a male showed up that could help her with that wish. It was almost like fate, not that she knew much about fate. Honestly she didn’t know much about anything but she was content with her ignorance. She forgot a lot of what she learned anyways so not knowing much didn’t bother her.
After a couple moments she lifted her head and turned burying it in the male’s mane while nudging him. ”Time to wake up,” Her voice was light and easy, though muffled by his mane. She could feel him twitch and then groan as he stretched. Smiling she pulled back looking at his face. He was still lying on his side one eye looking at her. He lifted his head slowly and she could tell he looked conflicted. She tilted her head to the side a bit looking into his eyes. ”What’s wrong?”
Bwana sighed looking down at Noi, he had been hoping he’d figure out what to do before she woke up. It didn’t seem like that was going to happen now. When she asked her what was wrong he sighed again, how was he going to handle this? He wasn’t exactly the smartest lion, relying more on his brawn than his brain and he wasn’t equipped to handle these types of situations. He looked away and shrugged slightly. ”Noi…” He trailed off wondering if it was better to tell her the truth or just make something up. On the one paw the truth would hurt, but on the other if she found out about the lie it would probably hurt more.
He looked back to her and managed a small smile. ”Noi, I already have a mate. I can’t stay here with you. I can’t help raise the cubs we made.” He shrugged again watching the confusion and then hurt cross her face. He sighed, he hated dealing with female’s emotions, which was one reason he was so happy with Gouta, he didn’t have complicated emotions like a female would. With him, whatever it was it was and whatever it wasn’t it wasn’t.
Noi was confused, already…had a mate? He couldn’t, if he did then why did they spend the night together. She didn’t understand what had happened or what was happening now. She just knew it didn’t feel good. Pushing herself up to her paws she stepped back. ”I…I think I’m going to go now.” She started backing up hearing him call her name as she turned and ran. She couldn’t stay, she didn’t know what she was feeling and didn’t know how to deal with it.
Bwana sighed watching the leopardess run off, he didn’t go after her, he wouldn’t know what to say if he did and he wasn’t sure anything he said would make her feel any better than she felt now. With a grunt he pushed himself to his paws and gave himself a good shake, he supposed he should head home now. He wanted to be back by Gouta’s side and try to forget about what happened. He knew he would never bring it up and hopefully he’d be able to completely put it from his mind. He didn’t want to lose Gouta because he couldn’t keep his baser instincts in check. He started to walk home coming up with a story to explain why he was gone so long, a story that didn’t involve Noi. [FIN]
