Serengeti Heat (7 page)

“It keeps the gene pool strong,” Ava countered, having memorized all of the arguments that were supposed to comfort her in the knowledge that she would never be allowed cubs of her own. As a tiny, albino lioness, she was practically considered deformed.

“Survival of the fittest does not include breeding restrictions,” Landon snapped. “And a select coalition of males being allowed to breed with the females is just as ridiculous.”

“Even if, as the Alpha, you decide the coalition?”

“There are no conditions on decency, Ava.”

She twisted around in his arms until they faced one another. His expression was fierce, determined. Ava smiled a little at his idealistic resolve. “Zoe said you wouldn’t force the strong young males to become nomads as you were forced out of your pride. Don’t you fear that one of them will overpower you and toss you out of your home?”

“If we did not micromanage every aspect of their lives and forbid them from ever having sex with the females, then I imagine the young, strong males would be much less likely to want to rip my head off.”

Ava gently stroked a finger across his cheek. “It is a lovely idea, Landon. Justice and equality for all often is. But do you really think you can accomplish all that? Change our wild and savage ways?”

His green-gold eyes held hers steadily. “Not alone.”

Ava tucked her chin and snuggled close to him, burying her face against his chest to avoid his penetrating stare. He would need a true queen as his consort if he was going to accomplish his dreams for the pride. “Then you had better choose wisely,” she murmured, closing her eyes against the painful knowledge that she could never be that choice. Not for him. Not for the pride.

Landon’s first sensation upon waking was hunger, and not the hunger that had consumed him during the hours of the night before and well past dawn. His stomach felt like it was wrapped around his spine, consuming itself in a futile quest for sustenance.

He realized he hadn’t eaten since before seeing Ava in the bar last night. Lion shifters had naturally high metabolisms and between the sexual marathon and the extra energy expended from the one time they’d shifted, he felt like he’d been starved for a week, rather than fasting for a matter of hours.

His stomach growled ferociously, but Landon didn’t move. He held himself perfectly still as Ava sighed and rubbed against him in her sleep. She was half sprawled across his chest, her long white-blonde hair blanketing them both. He ran his fingers through the soft strands. Often a shifter’s human mane would resemble the pelt of their other form—in his travels, Landon had once met a tiger with gold hair and black stripes at his temples—but he had still been surprised by the pale luminescence of Ava’s coat when she shifted the night before.

White lions were rare in their feline counterparts, perhaps one in a thousand born with the anomaly, but they were practically unheard of among the shifter culture where any hint of the unusual was brutally bred out. Landon had never seen a white lioness before last night, which made him wonder where Ava had been hiding during all of the gatherings over the last three months. He was sure the unusually bright sheen of her fur would have caught his eye in any form.

She curled toward him instinctively in her sleep and Landon smiled. She was so skittish when she was awake, always holding part of herself away from him, hidden behind her enigmatic pale gray eyes. For all that she gave of herself generously, as purely uninhibited a lover as he’d ever had, she always kept that part of her safe. Separate.

Except when she slept. At least her subconscious was willing to acknowledge that she belonged with him.

Landon didn’t know when the decision had been made, but sometime between that first teasing taste of her scent in the bar and their lazy post-coital chats as dawn broke, he had made his choice. Ava was the only lioness he could imagine taking as his mate. She would not cling to outdated traditions, but would help him bring a sense of humanity into their less than human world. She would support him, argue with him when he needed it, and was brave enough to step between him and his prey when his ire was up, strong enough to face down his misdirected anger. She was ideal.

Now all he had to do was convince her of that fact.

She was so eager to run from him, his little mate. So ready to hand him off to someone she had decided was more
suitable
to rule beside him.

Landon tightened his arms around her sleeping form. His stomach grumbled again and again he ignored it. There was no food inside his bungalow. None of the sleeping quarters on the compound were set up with kitchens. In the communal living environment of the pride, all meals were taken at the mess hall. It had taken Landon some time to accustom himself to eating with his pride, after the years he and his sister had spent fending for themselves, but he had found, much to his surprise, that he enjoyed the familial feeling the large community meals inspired.

Attendance at mealtimes was not required, even the pride-first oriented lions had too much feline independence for that. Snacks were always on hand in the kitchen for those who chose not to dine with the group, for whatever reason. So his and Ava’s absence at breakfast, which they had long since slept through, at least wouldn’t be noted.

If they were still missing at dinner, it might raise some alarms—and Landon might die of hunger, if the ache in his stomach was any indication—but he was hopeful he would be able to convince Ava to become his consort before then. His plan consisted largely of keeping her trapped in bed until she said yes. Not terribly sophisticated, but hopefully all the coercion she would require.

He stroked her hair away from her face and she hummed and sighed against him as she slept. He had worn her out, poor thing, but it seemed her heat had finally subsided. The scent of her no longer demanded that he wake her just so he could make love to her again. Their libidos were finally allowing them some rest.

He wondered how the rest of the pride would react to their pairing. She wasn’t who they would have picked for him, if he’d put it to a vote, which he had actually considered doing at one point, when all of the candidates had seemed identical in ambition and appeal.

Landon was still trying to find his way in the pride, for all that he was their leader now. He’d been a nomad, responsible for only himself and Zoe, who was entirely capable of taking care of herself, for so long. Without the protection of the pride, they’d had to be constantly on alert, never knowing when it was safe to shift or hunt, always wary of exposure, being caught and turned into a science experiment.

He had been constantly tense, waiting for the ax to fall, always on edge, but life here in the pride was one hundred and eighty degrees different.

The pride owned all of the land for miles in every direction around the ranch. Security measures to keep out prying eyes—even some that distorted satellite photos that might compromise them from space—were in place all around the compound. Every member of the community contributed, some within the ranch, those who chose working in nearby towns, but the rhythm of life here was slow and easy. Hammocks were strung between the bungalows for long afternoon naps in the sun.

The shifters were deliberate in their actions, productive when they needed to be, enjoying a lazy reprieve when they didn’t. The pace of life here was a replica of their Serengeti cousins rather than the frenzied, worker-bee mentality of the average American human.

It had taken some getting used to for Landon, but he had come to love it, though he’d never felt that he truly belonged. Until last night. Until Ava.

Somehow she had made him feel like one of them. He had been searching for an in, trying to earn the acceptance that he’d already been granted, and then last night, between one heartbeat and the next, Ava had brought him home. He didn’t want to lose that feeling any more than he wanted to lose her. Though, now that he felt like a true member of the pride, he knew he would not lose that sense.

Losing Ava was a much more real danger.

How was it that the woman he’d been seeking, the one he knew instinctively was meant to be his mate, didn’t want the position? Could she have so little awareness of her own value?

She was extraordinary, and it fell to him to convince her of that. If he didn’t die of starvation first.

She was soundly asleep. Maybe if he slipped out quickly to grab them some food, he could be back before she—

His thoughts broke off as the door to the bungalow slammed open, ricocheting off the wall with a deafening
bang
.

Ava sat up, abruptly awake. Landon shoved her behind him, already crouched to protect her, as Caleb, the second oldest, and largest, of Ava’s four brothers burst into the room.

“Ava’s missing!” he shouted then stumbled to a halt when he recognized his sister’s pale eyes peering at him over Landon’s shoulder.

Michael, the youngest of the four, plowed into Caleb’s back as he stormed into the room behind him. Then he looked up and saw what had shocked his brother into immobility.

Michael reacted first. He shifted instantaneously, one moment a large, heavily muscled young man, the next a massive, dark golden lion with a jet black mane that had still not grown to full maturity. Caleb shifted a fraction of a second later. Larger than his brother, with streaks of reds and browns in his dark mane, he was fully grown and a much more formidable opponent.

Caleb snarled and instinct consumed Landon. Something threatened his mate.

He launched himself off the bed, shifting in mid leap to land in front of them on all fours, roaring his rage, his hackles high beneath his own golden mane.

Caleb matched his height at the shoulder, but his body was heavier. Landon knew his superior speed and maneuverability would be little advantage with Michael there, younger but still dangerous in his own right, to even out the fight. In the blind rage filling his mind, there was no question as to whether he would fight them. He would protect his mate.

Caleb shifted his weight on his haunches. Landon braced to receive the attack, when suddenly a small white lioness leapt between them, hissing at the dark pair and batting a paw at Caleb’s muzzle. Her claws were not extended, but the big lion jerked his head back and coughed in surprise and anger.

Landon snarled to hear the aggressive sound directed at his mate, but Ava’s small, lithe form crowded him back, pressing him away from her brothers. She rubbed her head beneath his chin and leaned her slight body against his, maintaining herself as a barrier between him and the other lions. Landon let her herd him away, reason slowly returning as he realized her brothers would never hurt her, no matter how his instincts might scream otherwise.

Ava purred loudly, the vibration soothing him. She shoved against his body until he lay down, separated by the length of the room from her brothers. She then turned and hissed angrily in their direction. Both of the lions took a step back, their taken-aback reactions oddly human.

Caleb shifted back first, hastily reaching for the clothing that had been all but destroyed by his rapid shift. Nudity was not scandalous among the pride where they all walked in two skins, but apparently finding his little sister naked in bed with his Alpha had given Caleb a newfound respect for modesty.

Michael remained in lion form, as Landon suspected he would until he himself shifted back.

Caleb wrapped the remains of his shirt around his waist like a loincloth and extended a hand to the white lioness. “Come with us, Ava.”

Landon couldn’t contain the low growl that rumbled in his throat. They would not take his mate.

Ava gazed back and forth between her brothers and her lover. This was not how she had imagined her night with Landon ending. Though, to be truthful, she hadn’t envisioned it ending at all. Knowing a fairy tale has to end and picturing herself actually walking out the door were two very different things.

And she had known. She did know. It was time for her to leave. But that didn’t make walking away any easier.

Ava took a step toward Caleb’s outstretched hand. Landon lunged to his feet, growling, but Ava knew better than to think his possessive posturing was anything more than instinctual reflex. It wasn’t like his emotions were involved, after all.

Ava hissed at him over her shoulder, urging him to back down, not to make a fuss. Across the room, Michael growled low. Landon couldn’t stop her, not with her brothers here. Perhaps their presence, mortifying as it was, was for the best.

Ava continued across the room. Landon didn’t make another sound, though she could feel his green-gold eyes tracking every twitch of her tail. She padded past her brothers without pausing and out into the late morning sunlight. She didn’t stop to await the scolding she knew was coming, instead breaking into an easy lope, heading toward the tiny bungalow she’d claimed for her own.

Michael followed, all but stepping on her tail, until she spun and swiped at him, snarling irritably. The youngest and most impulsive of her brothers backed off a few steps, but continued to dog her steps until she leapt up onto the small porch in front of her place and whipped around to hiss at him. Caleb was beside him, once again in his lion form, and they easily could have bullied their way into the bungalow after her and demanded answers she was in no mood to give, but instead they surprised her by darting off to the other end of the complex. Doubtless to round up her other brothers to present her with the full force of their anger. Ava shuddered, her fur rippling over her body. What a lovely thing to look forward to. Being taken to task for finally doing something for herself. Finally stepping out of the protective bubble her brothers had built for her at birth.

Ava turned and smacked the door open with her paw, pleased for once that the doors on her house never latched properly. She started to pad toward her closet, but whipped around with a snarl, sensing another presence in her small sanctuary.

Her place wasn’t large or luxurious, as all of the premiere accommodations belonged to the strongest members of the pride. Ava had intentionally chosen the smallest, most squalid shack in the complex, the one that no one would bother to steal from her, and turned it into something remarkably cozy. Cozy, but still barely large enough to turn around in, and certainly not large enough for anyone to hide from her.