Sauda smirked as she looked over at Taveni. The large lion lay half-dozing in the sun, draped over a rock. He was quite the sight, with Pride Rock rising huge and imposing behind him, the sun spinning off his two-toned mane as the wind ruffled through it, and making his batwing markings shimmer against his darker tan coat. Long hard muscles normally held tight and ready were relaxed, leaving him loose-limbed and oddly soft-looking for someone who was typically a prickly, sarcastic son of a gun.
As the days and weeks had rolled by, Sauda had slowly pried the hard-shelled male open, through it was with great reluctance on his part, and she had peeked inside at the thoughtful, kind-hearted lion hidden inside. What had happened to him to make him shut himself off like that, she had no idea. It was not a subject they had breached yet and honestly, she wasn’t sure she would ever have enough leverage with him to pry the story out of him, at least while he was sober… Now there was a thought. But she shook her head, knowing he would be unbelievably pissed afterwards and more like as not would tell her to get lost, and all her hard work would have been wasted. No, if he ever wanted to tell her, she would listen, but that was one mystery she supposed she would have to learn to live with.
Unsheathing her claws she bent and started to groom carefully between them, not that she needed to as she was a meticulously clean lioness, but one could never be too well groomed, and besides, she had plans. After getting confirmation from another female who was resting near by that she was presentable, she stood and padded over to the dozing male. Flicking her tail over his muzzle she grinned, amused as he sneezed before lifting his head, giving her the stink-eye. Boldly meeting his pale blue gaze she chuckled warmly, knowing him too well now to be put off by his ‘cold shoulder’ act.
“Come on sleepy head, lets go hunt.” Turning she walked away from the gathering, knowing he was watching and putting an extra tantalising sway to her hips, tail tip curling playfully. Soon she heard the heavier tread of his pawsteps following and so she set off at a more purposeful pace.
She hadn’t been lying, they did set off across the savannah, tracking one of the gazelle herds as the sun slowly climbed through the sky. They stopped and quenched their thirst at a small stream, splashing the cool, sparkling water back and forth after she had attempted, and failed, to shove him into the stream’s flow. Once sated and after sun bathing to dry off, the pair resumed their trek, moving further from the heart of the prideland. Eventually the herd settled and they got down to the serious business of singling out their prey stalking it down.
The hunt went off without a hitch, which Sauda took as a good sign, the gazelle was an older male but it had fit and health, just wrong place wrong time, for the beast anyway. After they had both eaten their fill they settled down to relax, lazily grooming each other. As she licked the blood away from the soft fur of his cheek she tilted her head, glancing up at him. He looked.. peaceful, for the first time since she had met him. The lines about his eyes and muzzle were, if not gone entirely, smoothed out. His body was loose and quiet, not just resting but genuinely relaxed, with only his tail tip engaged in any kind of fast movement. Had she known when she had first spotted the glowering male that he was capable of such.. contentment, she would have pursued him far sooner. But in a way she enjoyed his prickly temper and smart alec comments. No one else knew the real him, expect maybe his family, no other female ever saw this gentle, calm side of him, or had the best meat from the kill saved for them. No, he was special and she was lucky he had allowed her to get this close to him.
Hiding a strangely shy and honest smile, the usually bold and sassy lioness shifted closer, curling her body into the solid, reassuring bulk of the bigger male. She felt him shift, probably surprised as body-contact was not something they typically indulged in. Neither of them were the touchy-feely type, a swipe of a tongue or flick of a tail typically the most they shared between them unless it involved meal time. But this… this was nice, and she let her eyes drift closed as she snuggled closer, resting her cheek over his foreleg, face half-buried in his thick, pale mane.
After a long moment where he seemed unsure of how to react to this new position, he finally lowered his head, jaw pressed to the top of her own, his breath a warm, regular puff across her muzzle. Yes, this was nice… this was .. more than nice, she decided. Something she wanted more off, this closeness, the feeling of not only comfort and security but of not being alone.
Smiling, knowing he couldn’t see it but most likely would certainly feel it, she shifted a little further, burrowing against his side and under his head, as if trying to use him like a blanket. In response he shifted, pulling one large forepaw out from under them to drape it over her slender shoulders, head lifting only to settle over instead of next to her own. She gave a pleased chuff, wiggling and stretching her lean frame, legs splaying out then tucking up under her.
All of a sudden he lifted his heavily maned head again, but this time a deep, rumbling laugh rolled from low in his chest, vibrating along her spine before dropping to fill the quiet around them. It was the first time she had ever truly heard him laugh and it surprised her, though she was delighted. Tilting her head, almost looking up at him upside-down, she smiled questioningly.
“Are you trying to den under there..?” He asked, pale blue eyes warm with humour and something she wanted to call tenderness, except for the fact she had never seen that much emotion in him before now, not of the softer kind anyway. His typical irritation was near constant and very obvious.. Blushing, an expression she had never possessed until right then, she grinned cheekily up at him.
“What if I am?” She asked, voice playful yet warm… softer than her normal tone.
“In that case… I think you are doing it wrong…” He rumbled in reply, those pale eyes of his darkening slowly, causing her heart rate to pick up. They were no longer just relaxing, but edging towards something… more.. something almost inevitable..
Yes.. this was what she wanted…..
