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Leaving her sons at the edge of the pride was the second hardest thing Lysende had ever done in her life. The hardest thing, of course, had been realizing that she had fallen in love with the lion who had sired the litter and then accepting that she would never see him again. Even now, she was heartbroken over him.

Sukurys.

It had been as if fate had brought them together. They were both fish-marked, and he had believed in oracular clouds, which was both strange and endearing. And he had made Lysende feel beautiful, which was a first for the lioness, who had always been quite sure that she was the ugly one in her litter, especially compared to her gorgeous, though sympathetic mother.

At the moment, though, Lysende was furious with her mother, whose sympathy had not extended to granting her daughter a reprieve from breeding for the pride. b***h.

If there had been a contest for poor mothering, Gintare might have gotten an honorable mention. She had never abused her cubs or been awful to them, but she really wasn't much of a mother. She seemed to be completely lacking in maternal instincts, which would have been significantly less problematic had she not been so very, very fond of sex.

Gintare was fairly indiscriminate when it came to choosing sexual partners, too. Male, breathing, and willing were about her only criteria, and she was actually pretty flexible about the first and third. Well, reasonably flexible at any rate. She definitely preferred males to females, and it wasn't like she would ever rape someone, but seduction was kind of a way of having sex with someone who wasn't initially willing, and Gintare enjoyed seducing people.

It was a shame sex presented the risk of cubs. Sometimes Gintare wished she had been born a hybrid, since she'd heard they were invariably infertile. Oh, how nice that would be!

After two weeks in the rogue lands during which she was supposed to be finding suitable males to have sex with in order to become pregnant and increase the pride's numbers, Lysende remained untouched. There had been males who had expressed interest, but she had not allowed them to do more than that. In her head she justified it by saying that they were not good enough to contribute to the pride, but in her heart she knew it was because she was still aching from giving up the boys Sukurys had sired.

When it began to rain she sighed and continued walking, miserably indifferent to whether she got wet or not. Growing up in an island pride where the only way to the mainland required swimming meant that she was unbothered by being wet. Besides, on a subconscious level she was aware that she looked less attractive when wet, and so no one was likely to pursue her for amorous activities. In her experience, rain tended to dampen the libido along with the ground and everything else.

Rain was annoying. Gintare didn't like to be rained on. Romping in mud or in water with a guy was one thing, but plodding along in the rain was something else. Something Gintare really didn't enjoy. As soon as the first drops struck her fur she began to seek shelter.

As if on cue, Gintare's eyes picked out a small grove of low-growing trees whose branches looked well-intertwined and as if they would have room beneath for a lioness to lie down and keep reasonably dry. She set off in that direction at a brisk trot, hoping to get out of the rain sooner, rather than later.

Maybe she'd find that the shelter she'd selected was already occupied by a handsome, horny lion with ideas about how the two of them could keep warm in their shared space, she thought, and then chuckled. It was ridiculous how often her life tended to throw those sorts of situations at her.

Despite being all right with rain and water and wetness in general, Lysende had been grateful to find a copse of short trees that formed a protective shelter from the weather. It was not exactly easy to sleep with raindrops continuously tlop-tlop-tloping on her, and Lysende knew she would have to sleep at some point. The rain merely offered her an excuse to stop.

Shielded from the rain, the tattoo it beat against leaves and branches became almost hypnotic and it wasn't long before Lysende found her eyelids growing heavy and her muscles relaxing. In another few minutes, the dark-pelted lioness was sleeping lightly. Within an hour she had begun to snore.

Unfortunately, Lysende was not able to rest as much as she had expected because her sleep was disturbed by the sound of another creature making its way into her temporary shelter. She narrowed her eyes and growled a warning that she hoped would allow her to continue sleeping in peace and solitude.

Gintare had been happily working her way through the roots and trunks which formed a perimeter, anticipating the delight of being relatively dry, when a growl emanated from farther in. Accustomed to the way her life usually went, Gintare assumed that she was being greeted by an aggressive male who would be significantly less aggressive once he saw how attractive and willing she was. That was the way Gintare's world worked.

So imagine her surprise when her patented sexy laugh was met with more growling instead of an invitation to come in, or some remark about how it was completely all right for her to intrude on this person's place because she sounded like a female when she laughed, and female intruders were always welcome. The amber-eyed lioness frowned and cleared her throat softly before greeting the other cat in her most sultry and ultra-feminine voice.

"I won't be here long. Just until the storm ends. Perhaps we can amuse each other in the mean time."

Not being a guy, or even the faintest bit interested in other lionesses, Lysende was not particularly interested in the offer implied by the second cat's words, but after being raised in an all-female pride she tended to feel a degree of sisterly solidarity with most females. Unless they turned out to be bitches, of course. Then they could go right to the depths, and she'd be happy to help them get there.

"I don't think that will be necessary," she answered. "You're perfectly welcome to wait out the storm with me, but unless you can tell interesting stories or know some good jokes, I really don't expect you to entertain me, and I certainly don't intend to go out of my way to entertain you."

There. She had been generous. At least somewhat. Her mother would be proud. Though why she cared about making her mother proud when she was such a b***h was a frustrating source of mystery to Lysende. Habit, she supposed.

The other person hiding out in here was female? Well! That definitely threw Gintare for a loop. In her experience, the people she found herself sharing small, enclosed spaces with were almost never female. This was certainly an unusual prank for the gods to play on her.

"If you're certain..." she said, mostly for form's sake. Maybe she'd get to sleep after all. What a novel concept.

"I do know a few jokes. Mostly bawdy ones. And I've lived long enough to have a fair share of stories to tell, taken from my own experiences and others,' but if you don't mind, what I would most like to do is sleep." She decided to be honest because it sounded like her unseen interlocuter was also being honest. "If it will make you feel any better, I will promise not to touch you."

Having spoken her piece, Gintare fell silent and awaited a response. Meanwhile, she also began to make herself more comfortable.

Lysende forced herself to relax a little, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep now that there was someone else taking shelter in the same space, female or not. It was impossible to trust a stranger in this instance. So she would have to remain awake to wait out the storm and make sure the other female didn't try anything. What, exactly, she might try, was something of a mystery, but that wasn't the point. The point was to protect herself from a potential threat.

"Sleep, don't sleep. I don't much care as long as you hold to your promise not to touch me."

If she didn't, Lysende would have few qualms about violently reminding the other female of her promise. And kicking her out into the rain once more. She really hoped it wouldn't come to that though. Like her unseen companion, Lysende found the sound of rain somewhat soporific, and even if she wouldn't be sleeping, she would at least like to rest.

"Great. That sounds fantastic," Gintare said as she finally found a position that wasn't uncomfortable. There were more roots here than she had expected, but it wasn't too horrible. She'd definitely slept in less comfortable places.

"My name's Gintare, by the way. In case one of these trees catches fire and you need to wake me in a hurry, or something."

She didn't wait for the other female to introduce herself before closing her eyes and beginning to breathe deeply, letting the pitter patter of raindrops lull her to sleep. It had been nearly a whole day since she'd last slept, and she was determined that nothing short of a flash flood or fire was going to wake her up before she was ready.