Promised To The Pride

by Bonnie Burrows

  Kyle was looking Jason in the eyes when he called him out. “Jason, I challenge you! If I defeat you tonight, then I will be the new pride leader for our people.”

  Jason didn’t move a muscle. Instead, he just burst out laughing. “You are insane; do you know that? Do you really believe you have a chance in hell against me?”

  Kyle gestured to all of the lions standing firm around him. Thanks to their support, he knew that he had a good fighting chance at winning. Unlike Jason, Kyle actually worked out regularly. He went on regular hunts with his brother and their friends and family, and he was incredibly strong and agile in his lion form. Jason was probably the laziest lion their pride had ever had, and it showed. He was overweight, and he moved a lot slower than any lion should. Despite the fact that he was only in his thirties now, he looked like he was much older, and it definitely wasn’t caused by him living a hard life. The guy rarely lifted a finger to do anything.

  Kyle wasn’t going to back down. “Either accept the challenge and face me or you automatically give up your status as our pride leader by ignoring our most paramount law.”

  Kyle stared Jason down, waiting for him to make his move. When Jason just stood there smiling, Kyle shifted back into his lion form and advanced on him in an effort to show him how serious he was and that he wasn’t going away. The closer he moved, the more Jason’s smile fell. It would seem that Jason had really thought the people would back down, but they were not going anywhere. The pride was sick and tired of Jason’s tyrannical leader style, and they were here to help put an end to it.

  The closer Kyle moved toward where Jason stood behind his goons, the closer those goons closed in around Jason to keep Kyle from reaching him.

  “They are never going to let you get to me,” Jason said over the lions who stood to protect him.

  Kyle answered him with a roar so loud the fruit trees lining Jason’s large yard shook. Then he leaped into the air over the heads of the lions protecting Jason and landed right in his enemy’s face. Jason stepped back, and Kyle was aware of the fact that he was shaking, and he could smell Jason’s fear. There was no doubt in Kyle’s mind that Jason knew he would never win in a challenge against him. Jason’s sole hope was the werelion goons who protected him for special treatment. They would never give up without a fight because they all knew a change in leadership would mean them facing all of the bad that they had done while serving under Jason. Kyle was getting tired of playing this game with Jason. It was time for Jason to fight or bow out like the coward everyone knew he was. Either way, Kyle was about to get this show on the road.

  *

  Natalie

  Natalie watched from the sidelines where Kyle wouldn’t see her. He had begged her to stay away when he faced Jason because he worried about what would happen to her if he should lose. However, there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to stay away. She loved Kyle fiercely, and if he was going to risk his life to free her from Jason, then she was going to be with him when he did it, even if he didn’t know it. Kyle leaped over the lions who were protecting Jason. She knew he was strong, but she was certain she had never seen him leap that high or far before. The roar he had let out just before leaping at Jason was even more impressive. She had made sure to stay far enough from Kyle that he wouldn’t see her, and even with her being nowhere near him, she felt the dirt move beneath her paws. From what she’d seen so far, Kyle was more powerful than any lion she knew. She didn’t even think Kyle knew his own strength, but she had a feeling he was about to.

  When Kyle landed right in front of Jason’s face, several of his lion goons turned around and moved in closer to Kyle. Natalie wasn’t sure if Kyle noticed their movements because he seemed so focused on Jason who was slowly backing away from Kyle; his fear was so palpable that Natalie could smell it, and she was at least thirty feet away from him. Natalie focused back on the lions who posed a threat to Kyle, as well as on everyone who was gathered there to support him. Those on Kyle’s side greatly outnumbered Jason’s lions, but that didn’t mean they would go down easy if a fight broke out. Jason’s lions were built huge because they spent a lot of time working out, sparring with each other, and hunting large animals. It had been a long time sense her people had fought, and Jason limited their hunting activity as well, claiming the large game was to be left alone because it was too good for anyone below him. Anyone who was caught hunting in places they weren’t permitted, or catching large game, was punished severely. The punishments varied based on what Jason thought would entertain him most on any given day, but they were all horrible.

  When Natalie saw Jason’s goons make a move for Kyle, she took off to help him. The ones who were still turned toward their side also leaped into action. A lash of lions slammed into one another. Everyone was growling, and there were flashes of sharp claws and teeth as they fought; blood covered their fur within minutes. Natalie was fast, but not fast enough to catch the four lions who were after Kyle before they attacked him; they were just too close to him. Kyle was fighting them off, but she knew that without help, they would wear him down until he wasn’t strong enough to stand against them anymore. They were too busy with Kyle to see her coming, and when she was close enough, Natalie leaped into the air with her claws out and landed so that she was straddling the backs of two of them. When she landed, Natalie brought her claws down on the two lions beneath her with such force that she tore through their flesh and ripped their heads off.

  Natalie stared down at their headless bodies and was in shock. Never in a million years would she have imagined that she had the kind of strength needed to rip off another lion’s head, especially using nothing but her claws. When she looked up, Kyle was staring at her. She worried that what she had just done might change the way he looked at her, but when she focused on his eyes, she saw pride reflected back at her.

  “That was amazing,” she heard Kyle’s voice in her head, and that honestly shocked her more than what she had just done.

  Of course she had heard his mother earlier when she had told them all to get to Jason’s mansion right away, but she had never heard Kyle project his thoughts. Maybe it was something that he just magically did, kind of like her sudden burst of strength when she’d ripped off those lions’ heads.

  Before Natalie was able to think about it anymore, one of the other lions who had been attacking Kyle charged her. While she fought him off, the other one continued his fight with Kyle. When Natalie chanced a look to see what Jason was doing in that moment, she watched a sly grin appear on his face before he shifted into his lion form. Like everything about Jason, he even shifted slower than any werelion she had ever known. The jerk was truly a sorry excuse for a werelion and definitely not fit to be their leader. Jason was trying to sneak up on Kyle while he was preoccupied in a fight with Jason’s goon. Natalie wished she knew how to communicate her thoughts so she could warn Jason, but she had never been taught. She was screaming inside of her head, hoping he would somehow hear her the way she had him, but it didn’t seem like it was working.

  Natalie felt a fire burn through her as anger flooded her veins. There was no way she would stand by and watch while that jackass cheated to avoid facing Kyle’s challenge. With her anger, Natalie felt strength and power flow through her like it had when she had beheaded the other lions. She needed to end her fight with goon number three and stop Jason before he made it to Kyle and jumped him from behind. This lion was too close for her to hit him and take off his head as she’d done before, so she dug her claws into his sides and sunk her teeth into his throat. Blood filled her mouth, but she ignored it and clamped her jaw shut as fast and hard as she was able to. The lion cried out for a moment, and then he just went silent. Natalie felt her teeth clamp together just before his head hit the ground beside her.

  She didn’t have time to waste thinking about what she had just done. Natalie dropped the body of the dead lion on the ground and turned for Jason. She reached him just when he leaped to jump on Kyle’s back, and Natalie int
ercepted him. She rammed him in the side with her own body, and he went flying. When he got back up, he bared his teeth at her and began moving in a circle like he was sizing her up and getting ready to attack. She had to admit it was kind of funny. Jason hadn’t been willing to face Kyle head-on when he’d challenged him, but he was willing to face off against a woman. Given his misogynistic beliefs, he was most likely confident that he could defeat her, despite the fact that she had just beheaded three of his lion goons by decapitation—lions who had been far stronger and better fighters than Jason had any hope of being.

  Natalie was confident that she would be able to hold Jason at bay until Kyle took out the lion he was fighting. He needed to be the one to defeat Jason because that was what would make him the new pride leader since he had challenged Jason. Jason kept circling Natalie, and she wondered if he thought that he was wearing her down. She heard someone near her cry out in pain, and she instinctively glanced over to make sure it wasn’t Kyle. Luckily, it was the sound of Kyle putting the other lion down as the male cried out in pain. However, the momentary distraction had been what Jason was waiting for, and when she turned back to him, he was right on her. Jason drew back his claw and hit her in the face, hard. She was knocked backward and momentarily stunned. Jason went for her again with his claw raised, and he was ready to hit her once again. When Natalie saw her own blood dripping from Jason’s extended claws and felt the stinging pain on her face, she felt her rage come back tenfold. Without realizing it when it happened, Natalie was suddenly standing over Jason, and she had somehow grown to twice her normal size. She could smell the fear coming off of Jason in droves when he took in her new size. Natalie wanted to kill the bastard, but she knew that it couldn’t be her. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long before Kyle jumped in front of her and faced off with Jason. She watched from behind Kyle, but Jason never took his eyes off of her. Kyle moved forward to attack Jason, but he was too distracted by her to fight back, and Kyle easily pinned him to the ground. Natalie was shocked when Jason shifted in front of them while still pinned to the ground by Kyle. His hands were covered in blood, and she knew it was hers from where he had hit her in the face. Seeing her blood on his hands renewed her own anger, but she stood steady behind Kyle and only let out a low rumbling growl in warning to Jason. She wanted Kyle to end this and become their new leader, but if Jason tried anything, she would not hesitate to rip him apart to save her and their people from his tyranny.

  Jason held his arms up above his head with his palms open in a sign of surrender. “It’s yours! It’s yours!” he cried out. He had tears running down his face, and the smell of his fear only seemed to grow stronger. “I relinquish my role as pride leader to Kyle Becker! Please, just don’t kill me. Don’t let her rip off my head like she did the others.”

  Natalie stepped forward so she was standing beside Kyle instead of behind him. She still had not gone down to her normal size, so she towered over Kyle and Jason, who was still on the ground beneath him. Natalie bared her teeth at Jason and growled, but Kyle looked up at her and shook his head, so she didn’t do anything else. She just couldn’t believe that this fool had the nerve to ask for leniency after everything he had done. Per their laws, if the pride leader was challenged, in order for the challenger to be accepted as the new leader, he had to either kill the current leader, or the current leader could surrender his status to the challenger. In the event of a surrender, the current leader had to bare his throat to the challenger and make himself vulnerable to him. Jason stretched his head up and to the side, allowing Kyle access to his throat. Kyle placed his teeth around Jason’s throat, allowing his teeth to lightly puncture the flesh before removing them from Jason’s throat. When Kyle turned back toward everyone present, he roared to signify his win, and everyone bent down on their front leg in recognition of their new pride leader. Natalie was thrilled. Not only was she no longer going to be forced into a mating with Jason, but now she would get to be with the person she loved. Their people were also gaining someone who would be a much better leader than Jason had ever been.

  When Kyle was facing their pride, claiming his new place as the pride leader, Jason managed to get up without being noticed. He snuck up behind Kyle and raised his claw, about to rip through the back of Kyle’s neck, but Natalie caught sight of him just before he was able to land the blow. Without a single moment’s hesitation, she stopped him with a blow to his head. At her new current size, Natalie was not fully aware of her strength, and her claw ripped right through his skull. Jason hit the ground like a rock. He was dead. Natalie had killed him.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kyle

  Everyone had their eyes glued on Natalie, including Kyle. Something big had gone down during their fight with Jason and his goons, but Kyle wasn’t sure what it was. Natalie had somehow decapitated three lions, two with a single blow to the back of their necks, and then she had grown twice her normal size. Now, she had killed Jason, their former pride leader, with one extremely devastating blow to the back of his head. Kyle wasn’t sure what any of it meant. What did it mean that Natalie showed strength and capabilities he had never known any other werelion to possess, and did it matter that she had killed the former pride leader less than a minute after he had relinquished his position to Kyle?

  One thing Kyle was sure of was that he had figured out how to project his thoughts to Natalie right after she had killed the first two lions she’d attacked. He could feel the tension in the air as everyone looked over the scene in front of them. Kyle had a feeling that a lot of them were having the same questions run through their minds as he did. He focused on projecting his thoughts to everyone, just like he had done earlier with Natalie, and he sent out a message, hoping to calm everyone and offer comfort during this confusing time.

  “Everyone, thank you for all of your help. I know that it is late, and we all have families we want to get home to. I am sure I will be seeing all of you soon.”

  Kyle didn’t miss the look of shock on everyone’s faces when they heard his thoughts inside their own minds, but they still sent out a combined roar and began making their way back toward their homes. Once everyone was gone, it was just Craig, Natalie, her parents, and Kyle and Craig’s mom, Cynthia, who were left. Craig and Natalie’s dad, Albert, were getting started dragging the dead away. They had been lucky, and the only ones dead were Jason and his goons. They would burn the bodies, as was tradition for all werelions, although Kyle suspected there would not be very many upset attendees showing up to pay their respects to the deceased. Still, he wasn’t going to make his first task as pride leader something as heartless as leaving their bodies for the crows.

  Kyle wasn’t ready to leave Natalie’s side. A lot of things had happened to her during the fight, and she had ended up killing four other werelions. That would be hard on anyone, but they also didn’t know what had caused her to suddenly double in size. At least, Kyle didn’t know. They all headed home together, and once they had the chance to shift back and get on some clothes, Kyle, Craig, and his mother went to Natalie’s home to check on her and to see if her parents had any idea what could have caused her dramatic changes during the fight.

  When they walked up on the Owens’ porch, they could hear a lot of heated talking going on inside. Kyle picked up his pace and was about to just about to walk in the house when his mother put her arm in front of him, blocking his way. “Kyle Becker,” she scolded him. “I know you were not about to just walk into someone else’s home without knocking first.”

  Kyle looked at the door and then back to his mother and laughed. “Mom, I haven’t knocked on the door here since I was seven years old. Mrs. Owens threatened to never allow me to come over again if I didn’t stop knocking when I came over. She said I was basically family, and family isn’t supposed to knock.”

  “Oh, well, I didn’t know that. Still, I know you can hear them having what is probably a private conversation. Don’t you think knocking would be the proper thing to do, given that knowledg
e?”

  Craig was standing behind Kyle snickering, and Kyle turned to glare at his brother. When he turned back to his mother, he opened his mouth to speak, but the front door swung open before he had the chance. Natalie stood just inside of the doorway, and her face was streaked with tears.

  “Would you please get in here? My parents have lost their minds, and I need you to have my back.”

  She sounded so upset, it made Kyle worry. He hated seeing her upset, and usually, he would do whatever he could to make things better for her, but when it came to disagreements with her parents, he wasn’t usually very helpful.

  Kyle motioned for his mom to go in before him, and Craig followed close behind her, leaving him as the last one to enter. When he got inside, Natalie’s dad was pacing in the living room, and her mom was in the kitchen refilling her wine glass. Kyle walked up to Natalie and took her hand, lacing their fingers together. She leaned into him and buried her face into his neck.

  “What’s going on, Natalie?” Kyle put his hand under her chin and made her pull her face out of hiding. He held her face up until she lifted her eyes and looked at him. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Talk to me.”

  Natalie’s dad stopped pacing and looked at Kyle. He spoke before Natalie. “We are pretty sure that Natalie is actually the new pride leader instead of you.”

  Kyle looked back at Natalie, and she was shaking her head. “Tell them they are wrong. You are the new pride leader, not me. Jason relinquished that role to you before I killed him.”

  “I know that, honey,” Albert said. His tone was softer, and he was clearly trying to ease his daughter’s worry. “But it has been so long since anyone has actually challenged a pride leader, and even longer since one gave up the role without being killed as the result of the challenge. I wanted to make sure everything was good to go, and since I was also reading to figure out what happened to Natalie tonight, I read up on that as well.”