Kion was running out of places to hide. With a growl of frustration, he turned to face his demon.

“You should have been named ‘shetani’”, he growled into the jungle. He couldn’t see her, he couldn’t smell her, but he knew she was there. The wind blew, soft and insistent. He was downwind, with a rock outcropping behind… Why couldn’t he smell her if he was downwind? Especially in her condition, it made no sense. The wind continued blowing, his nose testing it. No answer came.

“It’s not my job! You can all wait for Simba, you crazy lioness. I’m leaving. Today! I have a… a… Places to be!” 

He had a… What? A mate? A friend? Rani and he hadn’t fully understood their arrangement when he left. But he would be damned if he was going to jeopardize that because his damn dad had messed up his travel schedule again. The inclusion of the Outsiders into the pride had clearly caused a massive logistical problem for everyone. Even his mom seemed stressed. She hid it well, but he had never seen her quite so tense. Kiara was in a tizzy half the time… A part of him was relieved to be heading back to the–somehow–more peaceful Tree of Life. How was a place teaming with so many mismatched animals more peaceful than the Pridelands!?

“I’m. Not. Doing it!” Kion roared into the foliage, his skin prickling. An anxious part of him wished he still had the roar. A ridiculous, shameful, thing to be thinking so close to Pride Rock, in his own territory. 

He saw a flash of fur from the corner of his eye, and turned, tensing with surprise. Vitani moved fast. She soared towards him, faster than he could track, leaping at him from his left. No, over him! He turned to follow, but too slow. The small lioness rebounded off the rocks to his right like a baobab ball, and hit him with the force of a lion three times her size, knocking him sprawling onto the ground. 

“I can see why you weren’t keenest of sight,” Vitani sneered down at him in her low, gravely voice. She lay over him with her arm across his throat mane, her legs expertly placed between his in a position that he knew would knock his feet out from under him in a second if he tried to rise. In a real fight she’d have an excellent position to do real damage. He sighed and relaxed on the ground. She had him.

“If you don’t get off me, you’re going to see why I was the fiercest instead,” he huffed. 

“I like my chances,” Vitani smirked, moving one paw down his leg so her odd, permanently extended claws brushed his inner thigh, a reminder of what she could do down there if she wanted.

“You’re supposed to be protecting Pridelanders, not assaulting them!” Kion scowled. 

“Eh, last I heard you were leaving the pride,” Vitani shot back. “Sounds like you’re an intruder to me.”

“Oh for the love of… That’s ridiculous. You are ridiculous!” Kion growled back.

“You have no idea,” Vitani grinned. Not for the first time Kion noted her features and felt a shiver under his fur. No one was sure if she was really Scar’s daughter or not. At least, not that he had been told. His mother had been seeking help when she was born, and just said it was ‘complicated’. But sometimes, from the right angle or with the right expression, the lioness looked so much like the figure he still saw in the flames of his nightmares.

Kion had to turn his head away, and decided to try a new tact. “I don’t know what it was like in the Outlands,” he said more gently. “It must have been really hard. But we do things differently here. There are rules. I can’t break them, and neither can you.”

Vitani’s gaze grew hard. “You don’t know a single thing about the Outlands, cub, because you never had to go there for more than a few minutes to chase my family off your precious land. I lived there my entire life, and it teaches you one thing over all else: rules are a privilege of the fat, lazy, and weak.” The lioness suddenly stepped back, releasing him but sitting nearby. She was looking away, and scratching at the ground in agitation. 

“Termites, you Pridelanders make me so. Fucking. Angry,” she growled as if to herself. 

“Whoa, hey… I’m just saying–”

“I didn’t ask for your sympathy, Kion,” she growled back at him, and he saw granite in her purple gaze. “I asked for your help.”

“You didn’t ask, you demanded,” Kion countered.

“Same thing,” Vitani huffed. “You think I don’t know there are rules? That things are different here? Everything is different here, Kion. Everything. You know what I know that you seem to have forgotten? The Pridelands need protecting. That’s my job. I’m not here because I want you, you dolt. You’re less than half my age! You think I want a fucking cub involved with my guard? Don’t be stupid. I’m here because I need you.”

Kion bristled at the mention of his age. He was almost a full-grown lion! But he remained silent for the moment, watching and listening. Vitani wasn’t just ranting. He heard determination, disgust, and a clarity of purpose he knew well from his own time leading the guard. The surety that no matter what, the Guard and the Pridelands came first. This wasn’t about her or him for her. He could see that now. 

“This shouldn’t have happened,” he growled.

“I know. I know.” Vitani looked upwards, eyes closed. “I screwed up. I always screw up. RrrrAHH!” with a raging half-roar, Vitani suddenly disappeared into the undergrowth, vanishing like a ghost. This time though, her scent lingered, the odor of heat and misery flooding Kion’s sensitive nose. And far from silent, he could hear her not far in the underbrush, a mixture of mumbled snarls, breaking branches, and what sounded like cries. 

He lay for a moment with eyes wide. Who was this lioness? He listened closely, but couldn’t make out any details of what Vitani was saying to herself. She seemed to alternate between sobs and angry snarls, her voice changing from usual to a high cub-like pitch, then sometimes deeper into a gruff, bass, growl. Kiara had said some of the Outsiders had trauma from Zira’s leadership, but he hadn’t realized…

As he rose to his feet, Vitani returned. Her eyes were red and wet, but her gaze was clear again. Defiant, daring him to say something. He found himself reaching for sympathy, but thought better of it. He sighed.

“It’s not your job to track your heat,” he said at last. “That’s for the king and queen to plan. You didn’t screw up, my mom and dad did,” he said candidly, meeting her gaze as a leader, giving it to her straight. 

“This is my operation,” Vitani growled, her voice strained, but steady. She was speaking differently, as if she were reporting to his dad instead of him. Flat, emotionless. “I failed to mitigate this risk, and my failure has left Prideland creatures defenseless. There is no excuse.”

“Kings, Vitani, this isn’t…”

“Please, Kion,” she said, emotion seeping back into her tone. “I swear I will tell no one. I know you don’t know my lionesses well, but I swear to you they are loyal. We won’t breathe a single word.”

“It’s not your word I’m worried about,” Kion growled. 

Vitani nodded, a flicker of something over her face. “I can’t have cubs. Or at least … Well… Don’t worry about that. But if one of us does, well… You look a lot like your father. He will return in a few days when our heats are ebbing, and we’ll go to him then. He won’t know. Hell, we won’t know.”

Kion sighed, trying to think. The heat in the air was making his brain fuzzy. How did this always happen to him? It was like it was planned, somehow. First Kiara, then this… Not that he had regretted their tryst in any way, but still! 

“I need to be gone by the time dad returns,” Kion said, meeting her eyes. “They already think I’ve left, mostly. I’ll cover for him until sunup on the day he returns. Then you will clean your scents and pretend none of this ever happened. Understood?”

A brief look of relief and surprise flashed over Vitani’s face. She nodded. “Understood.”

“You’re allowed to smile too, you know,” Kion shook his head with a wry grin.

Vitani hesitated, then her face burst into a joyful expression, happiness mixed with self-conscious embarrassment. “Thank you Kion. We owe you. The Pridelands owe you.” She paused, ducking her head a little in a gesture of humility he suspected she didn’t make often. “I owe you.”

“Well. You’re gonna have to walk a long way to pay me back,” Kion chuckled. “‘Cause in three days I’m heading back to the Tree of Life, you understand?”

“I bet we can pay you back in full before then,” Vitani grinned, a sparkle of humor in her eyes. Kion rolled his eyes back at her, but had to acknowledge a shiver of sexual anticipation through his body. Kings, was he really going to do this? Five lionesses at once? Even an experienced king would hesitate at that… But still, Vitani was right. It wouldn’t do for the Guard to be heat-sick for an extended period of time. And though he knew all of Vitani’s Guard were tough as rocks, it wouldn’t do for them to perform their duties in their state, either. Every rogue in sniffing distance would come to test them, and potentially bring a challenge to his father in doing so. It wasn’t worth the risk.

“This can’t happen again,” Kion growled at Vitani sternly, watching her ears tilt back in response to the admonishment. “You wanted a lioness Guard and you got it, but in the future you need to be prepared to keep your Guard functional.”

He could see Vitani struggling between her feelings over being lectured by a “cub”, being lectured at all, and whatever horrifying things Zira had drilled into her regarding failure. But she also knew he was right, so he held her gaze until she dipped her head. 

“You’re right,” she admitted in a sigh. “I considered our synchronized heats, of course, but I didn’t realize the effect of Simba being gone. And…, well…,” She trailed off, embarrassment on her face again. “I considered it, of course, but my plan didn’t work,” she admitted.

Kion cocked his head. He had just assumed she hadn’t considered this possibility at all. He had the sudden realization that he had learned to lead the guard entirely as a cub, learning as he went. He was so used to missing things and responding to them that he hadn’t considered that Vitani might have planned for these contingencies in advance. It was something he would have to think on, when he got back to the Night Pride. 

“You had a plan? What?” he asked.

Vitani gave him a slightly amused look. “What we did in the Outlands,” she said with a small huff of breath that might have been a laugh.

“Oh. What was that?” After he said it, he wondered if he really wanted to know the answer.

It was Vitani’s turn to roll her eyes. She gave a big sigh and held his gaze. “Really?”

Kion let his confusion show. “What? It couldn’t be something as simple as licking yourselves to relief. If it were, you’d just do that now.” 

“Yeah, good thinking, bright guy,” Vitani sighed again. She looked around, suddenly careful, and stepped closer, keeping her voice low. “Kovu, you idiot. Or Nuka, if they were really desperate.”

“Oh. OH….” Kion’s eyes got wider. Vitani just smiled, seeming to enjoy his expression. She raised a brow. “See? You’re not the only one fucking their sibling on occasion,” she grinned. Kion’s ears shot straight up, heat rushing to his face.

“What… how….?” 

“Don’t worry about how,” Vitani winked. “I’m the only one who knows. Don’t worry about it. My point is, I thought Kovu would step up. Literally. But he’s been… Well the merging of the prides has been hard for all of us. He refuses to do anything that puts him in danger with Simba. Or Kiara.” Vitani’s expression made it clear what she thought of that. “I was counting on him, if this happened.”

“Oh, so you put me in danger with Simba instead!” Kion exclaimed.

“Looks that way,” Vitani grinned. “But at least you’ll be long gone, like you said. And anyway, my lionesses are much better at cleaning up after ourselves than you Pridelanders. You didn’t smell me stalking you after all, did you?”

“No,” Kion had to admit it was impressive. 

“I know your secret. You know my secret. We’ll keep them secret,” Vitani held out her paw. Kion eyed it. It was an unfamiliar pact gesture the Outsiders had brought to the Pridelands with them. The way he understood it, the offering of a paw gave a hostile party an advantage in a conflict or some such. Apparently, it was a gesture of respect and good faith. 

“Besides, if I have to, I can always keep you pinned myself for the three days,” Vitani winked. Kion blanched. She was so much smaller than him, even being much older… But he didn’t question she might just be able to do it. 

“Fine,” he growled, lifting his paw and placing the pads against Vitani’s. “No more pinning.”

“Can’t promise that,” Vitani’s grin widened, and she touched her paw to his mouth gently. Kion wrinkled his nose. So weird. Vitani didn’t seem surprised or upset that he didn’t return the gesture, though. She just gave him that knowing look and said “But I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“Might as well, if I’m trading my honor for it, eh?” Kion shook his head.

“That’s the spirit!” Vitani laughed, punching him in the shoulder. “You’ve got some Outsider in you, kid!” Kion rubbed his arm ruefully. Vitani turned in the direction of the guard den. Her purple eyes gleamed, and he felt another shiver run through his fur. “Now, what do you say we go get you in some Outsider instead?” she winked.

Kion gulped. What had he gotten himself into?

The two started out of the jungle, making their way back through the forest Kion had attempted to escape through. Kion tried to keep his eyes and nose off of Vitani’s tail, but it was difficult. Now that the scent of her heat had settled in his nose, it seemed like it could never leave, and he found himself sneaking glimpses of her swollen mound every time she lifted her tail.

“You know, I get it if you don’t want to mate a bunch of Outsiders.” Vitani didn’t break her stride, but Kion stopped.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I already told you I don’t want to.”

Vitani turned, ears flicking. “Because we’re Outsiders?”

“Well, no. Not at all. Because you’re… My father’s lionesses.”

“Right. Well I’m saying I get it if it’s really because we’re Outsiders.” Vitani said it as if he were the one being stupid, which set his teeth grinding.

“What does that have to do with anything?” he grumbled sullenly.

“I can literally hear you trying not to look at my ass, Kion,” Vitani said with an expression he’d never seen before. A smile that somehow looked sad.

“H–how could you possibly…”

“You change your gait every time I lift my tail, leaning to the side you’re looking away on. Honestly, cub, Roar or not you wouldn’t last a week in the Outlands.” Kion found himself growling, biting back a slew of retorts that all suddenly sound cubbish in his ears. 

“Well, you’re a Pridelander now,” Kion managed, falling back to his diplomacy training. “And it has nothing to do with where you came from. Why would it?”

Vitani shrugged. “None of us are exactly Pridelanders, are we? Your golden sister, your famous mother…”

Kion gaped. She was talking about looks! It was the last thing he had expected, and the thought had never entered his mind. Certainly she was right. All the Outlanders stood out from the native Pridelanders, with their unique fur colors and features that were uncommon among the lioness sisterhood. He had simply never imagined they cared. He found himself sputtering for a response.

“Not really your type, I imagine,” Vitani noted. The smile on her muzzle finally reached her eyes. “We both know you prefer the… golden ones.” 

Did she know about Fuli too?? How?? 

“My mate is dark-furred,” he finally said, unsure where the words had even come from. It was the first time he had referred to Rani as his mate out loud. Vitani’s eyes opened in surprise. “Looks have nothing to do with it.” Kion saw Vitani about to say something and cut her off, “--neither does our history. One of my best friends is a hyena from the Outlands. Honestly, since you seem so well informed I would think you’d have already known that. If you think I choose who I mate with based on how they look, you don’t know a thing about me. And frankly, it makes the idea of it being with you just a little worse. So let’s get a move on, and if you need me to tell you you're pretty I’ll do it from your back.”

Vitani seemed stunned. Only for a split second, but Kion saw it. Then she smiled hugely like he’d just given her a gift. “So there is a real lion in there after all,” was all she said, and giggled a little. Before Kion could ask what that meant, she started off again and he followed her, grumpily self-conscious about where and how he was looking. “I can hear it”, my ass.

Vitani paused near the edge of the woods, taking in the surroundings. They were near the Guard den, and they would need to cross a small distance in the open to get there. Kion wasn’t sure if she was being so careful for his sake, or for the sake of the Guard, but either way she made absolutely certain no one was near before giving the “forward” signal. They moved quickly, dashing to the cave that had been his second home for most of his life. 

The scent hit him immediately on entering; a warm, wet wall of pheromones. He gasped and sneezed, alerting the room to their presence.

“She’s back!” a voice called from deeper into the cave. “And she brought… Wow, she did it.”

Kion blinked into the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust. He suddenly realized he couldn’t even identify each of the new Guard lionesses by voice, but he thought it was probably Tazama, Vitani’s Keenest of Sight.

“Termites, it’s about time!” came another voice. This one higher-pitched. Younger sounding. Kasi, Kion’s memory provided.

“Follow me. Be cool.” Vitani hissed to Kion, taking the lead.

“Yeah, no problem,” Kion gulped, the reality of where he was and what was about to happen crushing in around him. 

“Simba is still gone,” Vitani said out loud, stepping into the main portion of the cave where they’d be visible. Kion waited a step, taking in the scene. All four lionesses lay around the cave interior, close to the interior pool. Two actually had their lower halves submerged. Tazama sat on the small promenade above the pool, and another lioness lay to the side. He thought it might be Shabaha, though he sometimes confused her with Imara, still.

“That hyena fucker!” the leftmost lioness in the pool swore, slashing at the water. Okay, that was definitely Shabaha. “We finally have another male around and where’s he when we actually need him?”

“Sounds like any male to me,” the lioness on the rocks to his right noted glibly. Imara. She stood, shaking herself. “Change your mind, did you, Kovu?” she called, looking unnervingly right at him. Kion took one last gulp of breath and stepped into the light.

All the lionesses except Tazama let out a gasp of surprise.

“Are you being serious right now?” Kasi rose from the water, shaking herself. 

“Where’s Kovu?” Shabaha said, looking around as if she thought Kovu must be hiding behind Kion somehow. 

Vitani opened her mouth, but Imara cut her off, “Oh, you know right where Kovu is,” she snorted.

“On top of Kiara!” Tazama giggled. “I can see it from here!” The lionesses all laughed, and Kion got the sense it must be an old joke for them. Vitani’s ears flicked in annoyance.

“Kovu isn’t coming,” she said, to a mixture of groans and “I told you so”s. “However, our friend Kion”--she emphasized the word in a way that somehow made Kion more nervous than he was before–”is here. And he has agreed to do his father’s duty in his absence.” 

There was a moment of silence in the cave. 

“Uh. Hi.” Kion waved.

Now the other lionesses rose, one after the other. “That?” Imara said, looking at Vitani but gesturing at Kion. “Termites, Vitani, I’ll break his back if I swing my tail the wrong way.”

“Does he like to bite?” Shabaha asked, slowly pulling herself from the pool, her eyes locked on him and gleaming. “I like to bite,” she added.

“Guys, he’s a prince. Show some respect,” Kasi chimed in. There was a chorus of snorts, even from Vitani.

“Just cause he’s the only one here almost your age…” Tazama growled, leaping down from the promenade and stalking around the pool towards them. “He’s a cub, Vitani! We said things would be different when we left the Outlands! You said!” She walked up to Vitani, eye to eye, jabbing a paw in his direction. “No more cubs.” To Kion’s surprise, Vitani lowered her ears. She looked almost… ashamed. And for some reason he couldn’t name, that made him furious.

“I’m old enough to make my own decisions,” Kion growled, striding forward and forcing Tazama to back up. She wasn’t a big lioness. Most of the Outsiders weren’t, and he used his newfound physical stature to pull himself up, towering over her. “And I’m certainly old enough to fuck. Isn’t that what you need, Tazama? A good fucking? Did you think Vitani brought me here to play peek-a-boo? That’s what you think of your leader? She can’t even identify a proper mate for you?”

Tazama’s eyes opened wide, surprised at the sudden change in Kion’s demeanor. None of them had seen him this way. They’d never needed to. They had taken over his Guard duties as soon as he had returned. She tried to look past him to Vitani, and Kion snarled, breaking her line of sight with a lifted paw.

“Don’t look at her when I’m speaking to you. Look at me! Answer the question!”

“N-no,” Tazama answered, finding herself backed to the water’s edge, separated from Vitani by Kion’s bulk. 

“No, what? No you don’t need a fucking?”

“I— What? …No, I don’t think Vitani brought you to play cub games!”

“So you do need a good fucking,” Kion pressed.

“Yes!” Tazama shouted back at him, then covered her muzzle in surprise. 

“Oooooh”s sounded from behind them, but Kion ignored them, his eyes boring into Tazama’s bright green gaze.

“Are you going to turn down your leader’s choice, Tazama?” he growled at her. She looked up at him, quivering, the confusion in her gaze slowly draining away into something else. Something hungry.

“No, Prince Kion,” she said in a rush.

“Then show me. Turn around. Tail up,” Kion demanded. Tazama gulped. “Now!” Kion barked.

She did it. In a whirl she spun, dropping her head low and lifting her rump in front of him. Raising her tail high, causing eddying currents in the heated air around them. Kion growled, despite himself. He was rock hard, he realized. He could easily mount right here. 

But instead, he stepped forward alongside Tazama, smacking his thick paw under her tail. Rubbing at her sensitive wet opening while slowly moving his gaze from lioness to lioness. The others all looked back at him, each calculating what they saw in their own way. He pushed a pawtoe into Tazama roughly and she gasped a pleasured sound that made the lioness’ ears blush.

“Anyone else think I’m ‘too young’ to serve your needs?” he growled.

“Well, I’ll be a zebra in a tree,” Imara said, shaking her head slightly.

Kasi was looking at him with a gaze that would have made him profoundly uncomfortable, if he were not so deep in his role.

“So the cub does bite,” Shabaha said.

Vitani walked alongside him and sat down. He looked at her sternly, daring her to say anything, but she just gave him a smile and a small nod of affirmation. He licked his lips, turning slightly. Vitani’s gaze drifted downward, ears flicking in surprised appreciation.

“Willing to help me out, Fiercest?” he growled softly to her. 

“Don’t mind at all,” Vitani rumbled back. Kion pushed his pawtoe again, and Tazama let out a whimper at the same moment Vitani lowered her head, nuzzling it between Kion’s legs. Suckling his length into her muzzle. Kion almost gasped and fell over as he felt her expertly apply pressure over her tongue. He’d never felt anything like it, and his stern demeanor nearly fell apart as he went cross-eyed for a moment.

“Any– Any other things we need to get settled, girls?” he managed to growl.

“Oh, this might be some fun after all,” Imara grinned, striding towards him.

Kion found his breath coming in spurts as Vitani sped up a little, suckling him up and down and letting him guide her with his paw. His finger flexed in Tazama, and he found himself pushing forward against her as she shoved herself back, fucking herself on his pawtoe in desperate need. Feeling the strength of his body as he held her in place with one arm.

He managed a shaky grin. “Who’s first?”

“Me!” came a call from the left, moments before a brown blur crashed into Kion’s side. Tazama rowled and turned as his paw was roughly yanked from under her tail, and Vitani lifted her head shouting “hey!”.

“He asked, I answered,” Shabaha grinned triumphantly, standing over Kion and facing the other Outsiders like a lion protecting its prey. “You all can wait your turn!” She looked down at Kion with a toothy grin. “I’m sure it’ll be tomorrow, or whatever,” she added. “Eh. Maybe the day after. Hard to say.”

“Are you–” Kion started and then cut himself off. Asking this particular lioness if she was crazy was particularly stupid. With a grunt, he twisted himself, kicking his legs under hers. The lioness gasped and dropped off balance. She instinctively spread her forelegs, trying to steady herself. Usually, that would be enough to catch a quarry rolling away. Kion didn’t roll away, he pushed himself upward, shoulder first into Shabaha’s descending ribs, bodily lifting her into the air with the strength of his forearms. The lioness’ training kicked in, but too late. Kion used her momentum to twist her off his back, press his paw into her chest as she fell, and push her to the ground, lifting himself to his feet by pressing down on her body.

He looked down sternly, but Shabaha grinned up like a cub. “Oops, you win. I guess you can do aaaaaanything you want with me,” she winked.

Kion looked over at Vitani and the others, registering a mix of expressions. Were they impressed? He realized they weren’t used to fighting males. And if they were, Kovu was rather small, not that much larger than Imara. They weren’t used to losing, but it wasn’t that. They weren’t used to being surprised. His strength and the way he used his body had changed their perception in ways he didn’t understand yet. But he didn’t have time to understand. Not with five horny Outsiders surrounding him. He looked to Vitani, subtly deferring to her judgment. 

“Well. She took the initiative,” Vitani grumbled. 

“And lost. Like a cub,” Imara smirked.

“Yes. I lost. Breed meeeeee,” Shabaha chimed in from under him. “I am so ashamed over losing that you should put your penis into me. To make me less ashamed.” She lowered her voice, suddenly serious: “FOR HONOR.”

“Kings, you’re the worst, Shaba,” Kasi moaned. “Some of us take this seriously!”

“Hear that? They want me to solve all their personal problems,” Shabaha whispered up to Kion. “But I’d really prefer for you to solve my personal problems, instead. Sometimes it’s hard being the smart one, and I just want some time for myself, you know?”

“Right,” Kion raised a brow. 

“I promise you’ll enjoy it,” Shabaha winked, suddenly lifting her paws to stroke along his thick sheath. Kion’s breath caught, and his thoughts became fuzzy. 

“Well someone has to be first,” Vitani sighed. “And he did pin her in combat. We all know the rules.”

Kion made a face. What kind of “rules” were these??

“It’s a dirty trick,” Kasi grumbled, but sat watching, tail lashing behind. 

“Emphasis on ‘dirty’,” Shabaha said loudly, then looked up at him, lowering her voice. “C’mon, honeycub, give momma some sugar,” she caught his eyes and held them for a moment. She gave him a wink, her voice low and collected. “I know it’s weird… We gotta have some fun with it, right? I got my role to play with this group, and now you have yours.” She curled a paw in his growing chest mane and gave him a surprisingly maternal smile. “I promise not to bite more than you want. You ignore me and have some fun, okay?”

Kion blinked as the caring expression slid off Shabaha’s face like it had never been there, replaced by leering lust in her blue eyes. She grinned toothily, but gave a big wink, running her paw over his balls and up his sheath to tease at the tender flesh hanging free. 

“We all have a part to play,” Kion repeated to himself in a low mumble. Shabaha smiled and nodded. Kion took a deep breath, just as he had many times when taking charge of the Lion Guard. He knew how to play a role when needed, and Shabaha was right. He had been on the edge of forgetting why he was really here. He smiled. It was easy to forget what was right under your nose, sometimes. He’d been thinking of Shabaha as a wild, unstable girl. Maybe some of that was true–who could say with Outsiders?--but she was no girl. She was probably twice his age, and knew exactly what she was doing. That he was sure of. 

Maybe the whole thing was weird. So what? Duty was duty. Shabaha knew that, and deep down so did he. 

“You’re just begging to be put in your place, aren’t you?” Kion growled down, unable to avoid saying it with a smile. He saw the spark in Shabaha’s eyes, recognizing their connection. 

“But not while all my pridesisters watch! How will I ever live down the shame?” Shabaha yowled dramatically, covering her eyes with the back of a paw. Kion had to fight to keep from laughing. 

“You should have thought of that before you stole from your pridesisters,” Kion managed to say with a straight face. He reached around Shabaha and twisted, managing to lift her into the air and mostly over onto her belly. She let out a surprised “Ahhh!” at the demonstration of strength.

“What’s your place, lioness?” he snarled to her. “Tell your pridesisters!”

“Under you, Kion!” Shabaha moaned, lifting her tail eagerly. “My place is between your legs! Bila hofu!”

“Oh fuck, I’m not going to be able to watch this,” Tazama whined from behind them, and Kion caught a small glimpse of her tucking her tail with a miserable cant to her ears. 

“I guess there’s no point in being modest in a situation like this,” Imara sighed. She had stepped around closer to the others, who now formed a small semi-circle of watchers. She lay down and spread her legs wide, reaching down to slide a paw over her swollen opening and looked to Tazama. “Go ahead, girl. Blame it on the heat if you want to. I know I’m gonna.”

Kion watched as one after the other the lioness found comfortable positions, watching and touching themselves. A shudder of pleasure ran through him, realizing every single one was fantasizing about him. He thrummed a growl in his throat and leaned down over Shabaha, disguising a whisper as a nip to her ear.  

“Thanks,” he muttered, tilting his muzzle away from the others.

“Don’t worry about it, kid,” Shabaha whispered back. She smiled and wiggled back against him, making him suck in a breath as his cock slid beneath her tail. “Don’t go easy, okay? I really do need this something fierce. Pull my nape like you’re trying to take the hide off a zebra… But other than that, just have fun, okay? OH–!”

Kion didn’t wait. He grabbed the lioness’ nape in his teeth and pulled. Jerking her back towards himself and thrusting into her in the same motion. In an instant he was inside of her, and there was no going back. The world faded slightly behind him. He could hear sounds from the other lionesses, the beginning of “oohs”, perhaps, but they drifted into an ambiguous nothingness. His world became the warmth around him. Under him. Even the scents focused from the ubiquitous aching stink of heat into the scent of one lioness, and of gratified need.

“Oh… oh…. Pull my nape, Kion. Bite me. Rut me!” Shabaha groaned under him. Kion did just that, pulling harder than he ever would have dared with Kiara. Shabaha made wordless sounds in response, her paws flexing and clawing in front of her. He could feel his hips smashing into hers and hear the “thump thump thump” of their fur colliding. It all became part of the environment. Their world reduced to a heated cacophony of sensations. 

He felt himself grabbing at Shabaha, putting one arm under her and tugging upwards. She gasped as he flexed, his muscles working against her back. Perhaps she hadn’t realized he wasn’t even trying, yet. 

“Oh yes… Oh yes…,” She gasped repeatedly, filling Kion with confidence. “I’m a bad little lioness for you… Make me carry your cubs to make up for it!”

Kion snarled, not really listening. The world was a blur. He flexed and Shabaha’s front half left the floor. He braced through his right leg snarling and holding her up partially with his left, but most of her weight was between his teeth. He had never mated like this. Never would have, if Shabaha herself hadn’t told him to follow his own pleasures. But now he did, and he had never felt anything quite like it. 

He was vaguely aware of the tensions around him reaching a crescendo as Shabaha’s forelegs left the ground. Vaguely aware of how she spread her pawtoes wide in ecstasy. Vaguely aware of the moment his teeth penetrated her flesh and the copper taste of blood slid over his tongue. He held her like a cub, pressed up against his chest, enjoying the closeness of her whole body as he took her. 

They came together. As Kion’s teeth met in the loose flesh of her name, and his claws scored her lifted chest, they came. Shabaha just a moment before. Just enough for Kion to feel her clench around him, and know her body was asking for his cubs. He didn’t pause before giving them both what they wanted. Pushing into her as hard as he could and releasing deep into her heated body as she did everything she could to pull him deeper still. He realized she had roared, but he held her, his muzzle locked in her nape. Holding, holding, holding, until she went limp against him. Only then did he lower her to the ground and step back.

She didn’t even have the energy to swat at him, merely rolling partially over as he pulled out of her, a river of hot lion seed dripping after him. 

“Oh, kings, fuck,” one of the lionesses to his side exclaimed, followed by a whimpering gasp and a new flood of pleasured scent in the air. Kasi, he realized belatedly, but his eyes were for Shabaha. 

She looked up at him, an expression like wonder in her gaze. No, the release of pain, Kion realized. The absence of the pangs of heat, for now. Relief. She mouthed “thank you” to him, and he nodded back. 

Then she lay back and raised a paw. “Obviously he’s all mine… Obviously. But I’m just gonna defend my claim from right here, if you all don’t mind. You all be good girls and just kind of… Give up, okay? Alright, good talk, thanks.” She gave a thumbs-up signal and collapsed again.

“Yeah that’s not gonna happen”, Imara noted dryly.

“Nooo! Kion, defend yourself for me!” Shabaha said, half-rolling over with a flomp. “I wish I could, but I don’t want to.”

“Uh huuuuh,” Kion said, smiling despite himself. Shabaha had always scared him a little. He hadn’t realized she was fun! Still breathing heavily, he eyed the other four lionesses. All of them except Imara had covered themselves, and Kasi was dramatically looking away from him, her ears in a deep blush. Imara was no longer touching herself, but lay half on her side with her legs spread and a smirk on her muzzle, as if daring Kion’s gaze to linger on her dark femininity.

Kion’s eyes narrowed a little. “Tazama,” he said, keeping his eyes on Imara, who’s ears twitched in a tic of surprise. 

“Me?” Tazama said, sitting up a little.

“Yeah. Come here. Clean me,” Kion said, stepping a little towards the lionesses and crouching, displaying his still-dripping sheath. 

“Oh–okay,” Tazama stepped forward. He could tell her equilibrium had been thrown off by his earlier use of her for demonstration, and she didn’t know how to handle it. A part of him wanted to help her, but he didn’t know how to handle this situation either. What he did know was that of the remaining lionesses, he was most concerned about Imara. The big lioness looked like she wanted trouble. 

“Are we gonna…” 

“Maybe, if you’re good,” Kion said with a leer that made him feel a little dirty inside. “I think Imara wants to watch,” he said just loud enough for everyone to hear. They giggled, and Imara’s expression darkened a touch. “C’mon. Good girl,” he guided her head with a paw, pushing her between his legs. She didn’t resist, letting him grind her nose into his wettened groinfur. Opening her muzzle and taking him into her mouth, her tongue wrapping around him and suckling the tastes of her pridesister from under his barbs. 

Kion groaned a little. He started thrusting, at first mostly for show, but quickly the motions became real. She was good! “Mrrr, that’s it, get me hard again,” Kion chuffed. “You can’t even pretend you don’t want it any more, can you? What you’d do to have me on your back… I’m sure Imara will love to watch that. You know she’s more of a watcher than a doer. Mmm, you sure you girls didn’t make a mistake? I think your keenest of sight was Imara all along!

All the girls laughed, and Imara rose to her feet. “You little!” her ears were back against her skull. It was everything Kion could do not to flee, but the cocktail of sex hormones pumping through his system kept him steady. 

“Hmm, I think Kasi should go first too. Imara last. What do you think, Vitani?”

Vitani just shook her head, a wide grin on her face. “You’re on your own with this one, killer,” she snorted.

“I haven’t put up with this shit for days just to be mocked by a cub barely off his mom’s tit,” Imara snarled. Tazama shrank back a little, looking from Kion to Imara and back. Kion desperately wanted to step back, but he knew he couldn’t. He rose, knowing his maleness was hard and swinging under and behind as he stepped forward towards the lioness. He huffed, feeling his fur rise, adrenaline tickling under his pelt. She was big, sure. He was bigger. 

She snarled and he snarled back, still coming. He saw no doubt in her eyes, but he did see a flash of realization. She had thought he would back down. Roll over. Not today.

His forehead hit hers with a thump, both of them still snarling “back off” warnings right until they touched. She pushed on him. Tested him. He held his ground with a grunt. 

“Maybe you’re big where you come from,” Kion growled, “but you’re in the Pridelands, now. You’ve gotten used to Kovu.”

“Kovu could snap you like a twig,” Imara snarled at him. “Size doesn’t mean strength.”

“Doesn’t it?” Kovu took a chance, turning his back. Imara stared under his tail, stunned. Kion left his tail lifted a little, balanced on all fours and ready for whatever happened. Ready for anything except what did happen, at least.

Imara looked from his undertail to him. Her snarl faltered, returned, then broken into a laugh accompanied by a *snerk* sound.

“‘Doesn’t it?’ Hahaha! ‘Doesn’t size mean strength’, and then you show me your cock! That doesn’t even make sense! Oh, Kings, cub… You’re as hung as any lion I’ve ever seen, I’ll give you that much.” She laughed again. “‘Doesn’t it…’” 

Kion let a grin slide across his muzzle and relaxed a little, taking the offered opening. 

“Listen Imara, I’ve seen you push a full grown elephant on a rock. I really don’t want to challenge you to a strength contest. But if that’s what you really want, that’s what you’ll get.” 

Imara shook her head. “I can’t tell if you’re dumber than a pile of elephant dung or part shaman.” she snorted. “You think I need to prove myself, Kion?” She shook her head. “I’m three times older than you, just as much stronger, just as much smarter, and I’ve proved everything I’m gonna prove in this spin of the Circle. Well, almost everything.”

“What’s left?” Kion asked, curious.

Imara held her gaze off to the side for a few long moments and when she turned back to him, Kion realized she had been composing herself.

“Motherhood, stupid cub,” she growled, her voice rougher than usual. She took a breath and her expressions drifted into that uncanny neutrality he’d seen from the Outsiders. “Don’t you think it’s odd that none of us brought cubs with us to the Pridelands? Lionesses our age?”

Kion starred. He hadn’t really thought about it at all. Perhaps it was because the Outsiders tended to be small, or because he didn’t know them well, but he tended to think of them as younger than they were. He knew Imara was the oldest of the new guard, and she was probably almost as old as his mother. Even with limited access to males in the Outlands, it was unusual that none of these lionesses had children, as far as he knew.

“No, why would you think of that? Young, virile male about to leave his pride? Naw.” Imara stepped up to him.

“My cubs didn’t make it. Most of them didn’t in the Outlands. There were three. Omari and Nia, and then Khari. Nia made it the longest. A few seasons.”

“I’m so sorry, Imara,” Kion whispered. He hadn’t realized.

“This isn’t a game, Kion,” Imara growled. “This isn’t just you puffing yourself up and proving you’re a big boy to a bunch of old, needy ‘nesses. You get me? It can’t be. I won’t let it, even if these younger cunts will. They’ve got time I don’t. This might be my last heat for all I know, and I will be fucked by the makei before I give it to an unworthy piece of shit to be my cubs’ father, do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kion responded instinctively, completely losing grasp of the sense of character he had been projecting.

Imara looked at him, her teal eyes blazing. 

“You wouldn’t be my first choice,” she said at last, “But you’re not unworthy. You don’t know who you are yet, that’s all. Lucky I’ve been around long enough to see your heart. Out here stands a stupid cub, but I think inside there might be something worth having more of in this world. You know I can tear you apart, but you’re still ready to challenge me for the sake of your pride. That means something.”

Kion looked at her, meeting her gaze, and nodded a small appreciation. Imara put her paw under his chin. A claw tickled his throat, but he held himself firm, not breaking her gaze. 

“But if you don’t take this seriously with me for one second, they will bury you in this cave, got it? You are going to be the father of my cubs. I refuse to tell them their father was an idiot.”

“You really know how to bring a party down,” Shabaha called from behind them. 

“Shut the fuck up!” Imara roared past Kion, but a small smile appeared on her face. 

“At least you’ve got one thing going for you,” Imara sighed, dropping her paw, tugging on Kion’s mane on the way down.

“What’s that?” Kion asked.

“You’re not old enough to be a complete waste of space yet,” Imara winked. “Better to remember you that way than the kingly pain in the tail I’m sure you’ll grow into any minute.”

Kion laughed, shaking his head. “I’m glad you find me worthy, Imara. I am,” he said. “I know I’m young and not the lion you’d choose, but now that I know your story I–”

“Shut up,” Imara cut him off, rubbing under his chin and sliding her pelt along his as she walked past him. “I’m not here for your gooey Pridelander speeches.” She flicked her tail under his chin and he turned, catching a wink from her. “I’m here to see if you can manage to be a lion. So come on, *Musuli*…” she licked her lips and lowered herself, raising her tail in front of him. Putting herself on display in a way that made Kion instantly hard. “Show me you’re worthy to put your cubs in my belly.”

“I thought I was gonna be next,” Tazama whined quietly to the side, only to be quickly hissed into quietness by the others. Kion ignored them, stepping towards Imara. Admiring her and letting the scent of heat fill him again. She was older, sure, but a fine lioness. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate him saying so, so he kept the sentiment to himself, but the realization lifted him from a sense of duty into a state of desire.

“I don’t need any games, cub,” Imara said softly, looking up at him and rubbing her cheek sensually on the stone floor. “You’ve only got one thing to prove.” 

“No I don’t,” Kion huffed in her ear as he mounted her. She tensed, but he rested himself easily over her body, licking up her nape. He felt her shudder and relaxed. He held himself back, waiting to feel her at ease against him, his body hot against hers. “Everything’s proved,” he whispered in her ear. “I already know I’m worthy. I could never be on your back otherwise.”

Imara moaned, an unspoken barb dying on her lips. She gasped lightly as he touched himself to her entrance and slid into her in a long, smooth motion. “And you,” he growled through their pleasured breathing, “will be a wonderful mother to my cubs.”

Imara uttered a louder gasp as he pulled back and thrust into her. Their mating was a delirium of sensations. Without a word spoken, the two shared more than Kion ever would have thought possible. With every lover he had been with he felt something different. With Imara, it was as if their bodies were communicating without their minds. They moved together, and each breath of growing bliss between them reverberated into a resonance he felt to his core. 

Kion knew Imara was going to climax before it happened. He knew beyond reason that she knew the same of him. He was not surprised when he felt her push back against him and tighten herself around his shaft at exactly the right moment. He wasn’t surprised as her tail rose, sliding over his lower belly with boundless sensuality. Was not surprised when she pushed her nape into his muzzle for him to bite. 

“Give me your cubs,” said everything in her body; and he did.

The next thing Kion was aware of was a whispered “Wow” from Kasi, which drew a small snort from Imara. She turned and licked Kion’s muzzle, receiving a reciprocal kiss on her muzzle. 

“Not bad, kid,” she whispered to the heavily breathing Kion, bumping his nose.

“Does that mean you won’t try to take my head off when I dismount?” Kion teased back.

“Not on your– OWW!” Imara snarled and swatted at Kion, who ducked ungracefully out of the way. Imara grabbed him on the second try, pulling him into a powerful grasp that turned into an unwanted grooming.

“Don’t go getting too full of yourself, Prince,” Imara growled, as Kion scrabbled for the freedom to breathe.

“Hey, show some respect! That’s the father of your cubs, you’re talking to!” Shabaha butt in, drawing a long-suffering groan from Imara. She gave Kion’s head one more lick and let him go with a bump of her muzzle. 

“Well… I’ve made worse mistakes in my time, I guess,” she said gruffly, but with a wink at Kion, who smiled back at her.

The cave had filled with the heady scent of sex, now, the tangs of heat and desire mingling into a new overwhelming atmosphere that was clearly having an effect on everyone present. Even Vitani had moved closer to the other lionesses watching, their bodies rubbing against each other’s in subtly erotic ways. No one bothered hiding their arousal any more, and even Kion found himself feeling more relaxed, standing with his cock mostly still erect and not bothering to hide it from the onlookers. What would be the point? They’d just watched him do his best to put cubs in two of their guard. He knew he was a mess at this point, but the reek of musk in the air overrode any of his natural sensibilities. 

“Kasi. Come here,” Kion said with an unapologetically lewd grin on his muzzle.”

“M-me?” the youngest Outsider squeaked, looking up and around herself, as if she’d suddenly forgotten her own name. 

“Hey, what about me?” Tazama piped up, though she kept her head low in uncommon submission. A concession to Kion’s unspoken rise in status in the Outsider’s eyes. 

“She’s older,” Kasi said, her voice so hoarse it was almost a whisper.  

“Kasi. Come. Here.” Kion enunciated, his posture taking on a more dominant stance. 

Kasi rose, stepping slowly over to the prince, to a whimpered “aww, c’mon” from Tazama. “H-hi,” she said, grinning awkwardly at Kion as she stepped up in front of him. 

“Hey,” he grinned back. He realized with a start that Kasi was probably about the same age as Kiara. He’d never been very close to her before. Her lithe body, built for running, made her look younger than she was. She was almost Fuli’s size! His body roamed over her appreciatively, in a way he only belatedly realized probably would have cost him his ears if he had done it to Imara or Shabaha. Kasi only blushed and lowered her head. That, of course, left her staring right at his hard maleness, which made her blush harder and look around awkwardly for anything else to look at.

“Oh, by the ghost of Scar, just kill me,” Imara groaned, sitting down beside Shabaha. “Cubs. You’re old enough to know better, you sad excuse for a lioness!” she heckled Kasi.

“Back off, Imara! You had your turn!” Kasi snarled at her. 

Imara just shook her head. “I swear that bitch is more than half cheetah,” she grumbled, laying over Shabaha’s back in a way that gave her a good view of the pair. “Go on. Chirp for him, or whatever it is you’re gonna do.”

“Hey, don’t pay attention to them,” Kion whispered as Kasi started to turn in Imara’s direction. She looked at him, her dark violet eyes locking with his. “Pay attention to me, okay, Kasi?”

“Okay,” she agreed, nodding and blushing again. “Sorry, they’re just always teasing me–”

She cut off as Kion’s muzzle found hers, pushing her lips apart so his tongue could slide across her teeth. The lioness made a sound an awful lot like “meep!” and then her eyes rolled back, her body relaxing. Kion chuffed deep in his chest, rumbling masculine approval.

“Are you ready for this?” Kion growled into her muzzle. 

“S-so ready,” Kasi mewled back, sliding so her body was closer to his. He loomed over her, a single paw on her back almost covering it. She felt like a cub in his arms, but he had the grace not to say so out loud, but his mind kept wandering to memories of Fuli. Her tightness, the shudders he had felt through her lithesome frame…

“Tazama. Vitani,” he called to the other watchers. Both perked their ears. Tazama rose all the way to a half-standing position. “Wanna help?” he asked.

“I guess we could– Well…” Vitani rolled her eyes. Tazama was already gone and bounding towards the pair. “So much for dignity,” she groused, rising to follow. 

“Oh, fuck dignity,” Tazama growled, sliding up near Kasi, though keeping a respectful distance. “Smell this cave. That’s what dignity smells like when it’s three days dead.”

The lions shared a laugh, Vitani shaking her head. “When she’s right she’s right,” she grinned, sitting down next to Tazama. “How can we help… Prince,” she said with a smirk.

“I don’t think Kasi here is as ready as she thinks she is,” Kion said with a wink. “And even if she is… I’m gonna fix that. And while I do, well… I’d hate for you ladies to feel left out.”

“But I am ready!” Kasi objected, only to have Kion kiss her silent again. 

“Follow my lead,” he purred. “Ignore them. Focus on you and me.”

A sound that might have started as a complaint exited her muzzle as a strangled sound of pleasure as Kion’s claws traced a pattern down her back. 

“Tazama,” Kion growled, beckoning the Outsider closer. “Get me ready for your pridesister,” he growled, his paw slipping down under Kasi’s tail. He found with surprise he could reach it easily, due to her size, and grazed his paw against her wetness. 

“Yes, sir!” Tazama grinned, ducking her head under Kion’s body, suckling his messy sheath into her muzzle. He growled into Kasi’s muzzle, hips starting to rock as Tazama began a mixed series of suckles and grooming licks. 

Kion’s paw rose up Kasi’s back, dragging her tail up in the air as it went. “Do you mind if your sisters get you ready too?” Kion growled a husky purr. “It’s something we can share, Kasi.”

“I don’t mind,” the lioness whispered. Kion smiled and nodded with his head towards Vitani, who smiled and licked her lips. “You dog,” she mouthed to Kion, striding behind Kasi and rolling onto her back, navigating her way under the small lioness. 

Kasi gasped and shuddered at Vitani’s first lick, grasping Kion hard around the shoulders. “Oh! Oh Prince Kion, I had no idea you were so… So adventurous!” she gasped. 

“He didn’t either!” Shabaha shouted from the side, almost before Kion thought the same response.

Kion snorted a laugh despite himself, shooting Shabaha a glance, brows raising as he saw the two had shifted to a much more… friendly position since he last looked. 

“What? You think you get to have all the fun? Fuck off,” Imara made as if to shoo him away with a paw, then groaned and closed her eyes as Shabaha dipped her muzzled down between the other lioness’ legs. 

Kion looked back to Kasi, who was looking at him with a slightly embarrassed grin. “Heat will do that to all of us, I guess,” she giggled. 

“I’m starting to not mind,” Kion admitted with a wink. 

“Ah! Oh kings… fuck,” Kasi responded, falling forward and grasping Kion’s mane tight in her claws. Pulling on it, her body rocking in response to something Vitani must be doing beneath her. “You have no idea what it’s like. It feels so good, but it’s not like… like normal pleasure. Argghhh, oh stars. It’s like… Like eating when you’ve been starved for days. Like water in a drought. Oh fuck me, I can’t think! Kion, stop her or I’ll cum!”

“I’m not going to stop her,” Kion growled, kissing the lioness again and putting his paw behind Tazama’s head, grinding into her muzzle sensually. “You’re just going to have to get used to cumming against me, Kasi.”

“Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Kasi gasped and then bit into his mane, holding on as her whole body seized. Kion held her tight, growling a little in his own pleasure as he listened to the sounds of sex around him. Imara’s small huffs to his left. The sound of Tazama’s suckles beneath him. Vitani spluttering in the deluge of Kasi’s orgasm. He felt pride. The cave that had been filled with nothing but tension a few hours ago was now awash with nothing but pleasure, and it was his to lead. 

“I’m getting so hard for you right now, Kasi,” Kion said in an almost-whisper. Talking huskily into the lionesses ear as she bucked and came over Vitani’s muzzle. Driving her imagination into overdrive, and her orgasm with it. Kasi was making chuffed repetitive sounds of pleasure, a driving “oh! oh! oh!” as her body continued seizing. 

Kion half-closed his eyes, letting pleasure wash through him as well. He was tired, but that tiredness ebbed from him as he focused on the sensations flowing through him. His paw flexed over Tazama’s head, and she murred happily, vibrating the sensation through his cock and sheath. 

“I want you in me…” Kasi moaned at last, ducking her head into Kion’s mane as best she could. There wasn’t a lot of mane there, yet, but she slid her cheek against his and buried her muzzle against his neck. 

“I know,” Kion said, running a paw down her nape. He pushed her down with easy strength, guiding her head next to Tazama’s. Letting her watch and enjoying the blushing flick of her ears as she saw his full size slipping in and out of the other lioness’ muzzle. With a moan she opened her muzzle and joined Tazama, lapping along his shaft with her pride sister.

“He tastes like a prince!” Kasi breathed out loud, looking to Tazama with her eyes wide. 

“Yeah, he does,” the other lioness agreed with a half smile, spontaneously kissing Kasi on the muzzle. Licking Kion’s taste from her lips. Kasi meeped with surprise but then leaned into the kiss, opening her muzzle and letting Tazama slide her Kion-coated tongue over her own. Kion watched for a moment, heart pounding, and then slid around the pair towards Kasi’s rump while they were distracted. 

“Do I ‘taste like prince’?” Kion whispered to Vitani, who looked at him upside down with a muzzlefull of Kasi’s pussy. 

She gave one more lick and then slid her muzzle free, a crooked grin on her face. “It’s a lioness thing,” she chuckled.

“Huh.” Kion decided he’d have to digest that information later. He giggled a little almost to himself, realizing how his mind was wandering with Kasi and Tazama kissing each other in front of him, and Vitani’s muzzle covered in Kasi’s juices mere feet away… Such a sight would have made any kind of thinking impossible a few hours ago.

“I’ll tell ya later, kid,” Vitani said with a roll of her eyes, as if reading his mind. Kion snorted, shifting his attention back under Kasi’s lifted tail.

“You may want to move,” he said to Vitani with a wink. 

“Eh, I’ve gotten comfy,” Vitani winked back. “Go ahead, big boy.” Kion raised a brow in surprise, but smiled and stepped forward. He had to lift himself a little bit more than with the other lionesses, because of Vitani’s position, but his cock almost immediately found Kasi’s slit all the same. He huffed in eagerness, spreading his legs around the lioness’ hips and positioning his bulk over her. He felt Vitani’s breath between his legs, her nose nuzzling at his balls and then licking on them. Suckling one as he positioned himself, and the idea of her doing that while his cock slid into the other lioness drove him wild.

“Oh, Kings!” Kasi had just enough time to exclaim as he thrust into her. Swearing like a Pridelander as the Prince of the Pridelands slid his claim into her. Kion groaned, putting one paw on Tazama’s rump to steady himself. Thrusting slowly and enjoying the sights around him. Kasi and Tazama still kissing. To his right, Imara and Shibaha taking turns between each other’s legs. 

He felt Vitani’s claws catch on his hips, pulling herself towards him, and his eyes went wide as her nose touched under his tailhole, followed swiftly by wet, heated laps of her tongue. His own claws sprang out in surprise, and both lionesses beneath him moaned as they felt the pinpricks through their fur. All of a sudden, the slow thrusts didn’t matter. Kion could feel his body reacting like it was his first time again all over, orgasm lifting into his gut with each slow stroke into Kasi’s warm depths. His paw strayed under Tazama’s tail, and she lifted it high immediately. 

“OOoooooh, he’s touching my tailhole,” Tazama groaned to Kasi. “It feels so naughty, hun. So good.” Kion grinned at that, and let his other paw do the same, slipping back a little until his pawthumb could rest against Kasi’s pink tailbud, pushing against it as he fucked her. She gasped and hugged Tazama tighter. “Mine too!” she whimpered, holding onto the other lioness.

“I’m going to cum soon,” Kion growled out loud for both of them to hear, paws moving in a little circle under both of their tails as he thrust in a counter-rhythm to Vitani’s licks. He was not going to last long at all, but the kissing lionesses i n front of him didn’t seem to care at all. He grit his teeth, trying to form words before he lost all control.

“When I do… I want you to switch places, okay, girls? Okay?” He prodded until they both nodded. “I’m not gonna wanna stop… Grrr….! Kasi I’m going to fill your womb until you can’t take any more, and then give your pridesister the same while you’re still dripping my load!

“Oh… Oh, do it, my prince! Fill me!” Kasi whimpered back, claws clutched in Tazama’s fur. “I want you to fuck her with the same seed you’re pumping into me… Oh, Kings, I’ve dreamed of you like this, Prince! Make me yours! RRrrraAWWRrrr!”

Kasi’s pussy clenched around him like a vice and Kion ducked his head, trying to bite her nape. He could only reach half down her back, but he bit and held on as orgasm took him. His head swam as he held the lioness tight, leaning over her back and using his weight to hold her in place as he emptied himself yet again, surprised to find his orgasms had lost no vigor. Bright lights exploded behind his eyes, and he was conscious of his balls jerking against Vitani’s chin, and the foreign but incomparable sensation of her nose nuzzling against his clenching tailhole as his body squeezed a new load of royal cum into the young Outsider beneath him. 

In fact, he was so far gone in the pleasure of his orgasm that it was Kasi who rolled out from under him, rather than him dismounting. And almost before he could process what was happening, Tazama had shifted to take her place, straddling Vitani and shoving her rump under his belly.

“Oooooooh, look at that, he’s still spraying!” Kasi moaned, rolling on her back next to lionpile, his cum glistening in her wet pussy. 

Indeed he was. Kion looked down in a haze, watching his cock splashing cum onto Tazama’s rump. She hissed and pushed back, and he found her entrance by instinct, growling loud as his still-spurting cock slid into her heat. The sensation was indescribable. Almost uncomfortable in its tense ambiguity. Pleasure, pain, and feelings he’d never had before coursed through his body until all he could do was let out another rumbling growl; a primal rumbled roar. Both Shabaha and Imara looked up, though he paid them no mind. His mind was filled with one directive: Mate.

“Please, Prince, please, Prince, please…. Oh!” Tazama’s claws slid out, scoring the stony floor of the cave as Kion slammed himself deep into her. 

“I will give you everything you’ve waited for,” Kion snarled over her, his blood awash with adrenaline. Muscles trembling even as they drove him into her. A biological machine built for the single purpose of impregnating lionesses. He knew all the lionesses were watching him, and he didn’t care. All that mattered was emptying himself into the lioness currently beneath him and sending her off with his cubs in her belly. 

“Oh Kion… Oh, Kion, yes…..” Tazama moaned beneath him, eyes rolled back as he fucked her furiously. “I need you, my king,” she whimpered helplessly. Making him her king without thinking. Kion only snarled, thrusting harder, his paw on her rump pushing into her tailhole, pulling her back and forth on his cock roughly.

She could call him what she wanted. He knew he was her king, right now. They were all his. These former Outsiders who had taken up the role of the Guard he loved. They were his pride. 

He roared this time. Not a short snarl of pleasure, a claim of ownership that rumbled and shook through the cave with all the authority of the Roar of the Ancestors. Every lioness in the cave felt their fur stand on end as they watched him make a claim of ownership in the most primal way, filling their pridesister while they watched. Filling her with the seed all but Vitani now carried. The roar carried a message each of them understood perfectly well without words, and their bodies responded. What had started as a reluctant duty had become something more. Something dangerous, but something true. 

Kion pulled back and Tazama turned, walloping him across the face. He snarled back, uncaring, and she rolled over against Kasi, eyes burning with feral passion. Kion’s seed dripped haphazardly across Vitani’s face as he stepped back, but he didn’t care. He growled louder, looking at each lioness one by one. Daring them to reject his claim.

“....C’mon, now. Easy.” 

He snarled, realizing one of the females was daring to speak to him. 

Vitani, a voice told him. The voice sounded familiar. 

“Easy. We asked a lot, I know. Shh. You’re king here, Kion. We know. Shh.”

Kion. That was him! He shook his head. That’s why the voice sounded familiar. It was his. 

His vision cleared slowly, and Vitani’s face came into focus, stern and concerned, standing between him and her lionesses. Her body conveyed nothing but quiet confidence. No aggression, no passivity. Ready for anything. 

“V-vitani.” He said carefully, as if remembering how to speak. 

“Yeah, that’s me,” she smiled a little. “Back with us, kid?”

“No! Not ‘kid’! King!” a voice within him howled, but that voice got quieter even before it had finished speaking. 

“I…. Uh… Yeah,” he said slowly, pushing fury he couldn’t entirely understand down into his belly. 

“What do we do?” Kasi said quietly. Kion wasn’t sure who she was speaking to.

“Don’t worry, I got it. We’ll deal with this,” Vitani said easily. Kion gulped.

“Uh, what…”

“C’mon. Let’s walk and talk,” Vitani said, walking towards him. He took one more look at the other four lionesses, each looking at him with a range of expressions on their faces. He turned and followed Vitani, noting the mess across her face.

“You, uh…,” he gestured at his own nose. “Got a little something…” Vitani rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” she insisted. “This won’t just wipe off, anyway. Gonna need a lot of washing.”

“Sorry,” Kion said again, his breath starting to come a little easier. He realized they weren’t really walking anywhere, just towards the area of the cave with the most space, back near the caves of lore. “What happened?” he finally managed.

“Mating frenzy,” Vitani said. “Heard about it. Never seen it.”

“Mating frenzy?” Kion wracked his brain, trying to find the term, but came up blank. Vitani sighed.

“You’d have no reason to know about it. It happens when you… well…, when you’re taking over a pride, I guess.”

“WHAT??” Kion exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. 

“Like I said, I’ve only heard of it. During missions when I was young and dealing with a lot of the unstable prides beyond the Outlands. They were always changing males and sometimes I’d hear stories. Most prides aren’t like the Pridelands, you know. From what I’ve heard you haven’t had a takeover in… what? Four generations? Five?”

“I… I guess I don’t know,” Kion said, feeling like his mind wasn’t quite working as expected. 

“You’d know if you became a rogue,” Vitani shrugged. “But that’s not how you Pridelanders do it, I guess.”

“What do you mean ‘taking over a pride’?” Kion hissed. Vitani sighed again, 

“You made yourself our king back there, kiddo,” she said with a wry smile. “Didn’t think you had it in you, if I’m honest. Really didn’t.”

“I’m not your king!” Kion hissed. “I’m not even your prince! I’m out of here tomorrow!” 

“Look, I don’t make the rules. We’ll figure this out.” Vitani growled. “I don’t know how it works any more than you do. It’s a male thing. I’d say ask your dad, but he was raised by a fucking meerkat. Maybe it happened to him after Scar, maybe not. It’s a response to a lot of lionesses who aren’t yours being in heat at once, that’s all I know. Gets you ready to fight for dominance. Look on the brightside, kid… I was wrong. It happens. You’re not quite as wet behind the ears as I thought. You should have been out in the world starting your own pride by now. You’re ready.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck,” Kion groaned, spinning in a small helpless circle. He didn’t remember much specifically, but he remembered the sensations. And when he looked at Vitani he felt a strong urge that hadn’t been there before. An ownership. A will to fight. And that same feeling echoed in his mind when he thought of each of the lionesses in the cave. As much as he wanted to argue with the feeling, he knew he’d fight his own father to the death before he let Simba near them. And the thought of leaving them to head to the Tree of Life filled his belly with a dread he had never felt before. Even the thought of Rani waiting for him paled in comparison. 

“I guess Simba should have known,” Vitani said, but then shrugged. “But I dunno. Maybe not. Maybe no one told him. Maybe he thought you were different, I don’t know. This is why males have to leave their prides in time. Or at least that’s what they say. Our pride treated Kovu as our male before he could even… you know… So we never had to deal with anything like this, ourselves. 

“I’m your king,” Kion said miserably, looking over Vitani. Allowing his new feelings to stretch and expand. Studying their contours. 

“Yeah,” Vitani said softly, stepping forward and nuzzling under his chin with an affection he had never seen her give another lion. “We felt it too. I think it might be stronger in the others since you’d already mated them.” Kion gulped at the way she said it so matter-of-factly. “But… I feel it,” Vitani admitted, rubbing down his side. “It’s different from heat. I’ve had a lot of those. Never had a king claim me.” She made a snerking sound. “Mom wouldn’t allow it,” she laughed, as if to an internal joke. 

“But there’s good news, I guess,” she added.

“There is?”

Vitani made an ambiguous motion with her head. “Sort of. Your claim is just a claim. It goes one way. We feel it, but we don’t have to agree to it.” She winked at him. “You males think you’ve got all the power, but I think you know that’s not how it works.”

A bunch of conflicting feelings collided in Kion’s breast. Hope, anger, despair, desire… “I… wha?”

“It’s an agreement, in the end. And it’s our choice to accept or not,” Vitani looked over Kion’s shoulder, but they couldn’t really see the other lionesses from their position. “You make your claim… We can reject it. Trouble is…”

“What?”

“You did a real number back there,” Vitani said with an almost sad smile. “I gotta be honest… It’s not gonna be easy to get those girls away from you.” She snorted. “Couldn’t you have just sucked?” she said in a joking tone. “You’re way too young to be that good. I underestimated you.”

“I was just trying to help!”

“Oh, you helped,” Vitani laughed and shook her head.

“This isn’t funny!”

“Eh.” Vitani made the funny side-to-side gesture with her head again. “Maybe not. In the Outlands you learn that sometimes the only way to keep moving forward is to laugh.”

Kion was silent, his ability to think slowly returning.

“I’m your king,” he said again. Vitani nodded.

“And there’s a part of me… A fucked up, stupid, hyena-brained part of me that wants to be your queen, Kion,” she said softly. Kion looked at her, eyes wide, but he saw immediately she was telling the truth. It was written clear as the stars in her lavender gaze. 

“I can’t,” he breathed. The single statement felt like tearing out a part of him. A piece of his heart. 

“I know,” Vitani said, and he saw his pain mirrored in her eyes. “I do.” She sniffed, wiping her nose with a paw. “Shit,” she said with a half-laugh. “Sure never felt this way about Simba,” she laughed. “We may be in the Pridelands now but I’ll be a monkey’s aunt if he ever lays a claim like that on any of us… Fuck.”

“Well… you know…” Kion rumbled, thinking out loud.

“What?” Vitani cocked her head in confusion. Kion took a deep breath, wondering exactly how big of a mistake he was making. But he knew what he wanted. 

“I guess I’m your king for the moment, whether either of us like it or not, so….” he stepped forward, running his muzzle alongside Vitani’s. She sat stockstill, eyes wide in surprise as he slid his cheek against hers like a lover. “I guess that means I need a queen,” he growled in her ear.

“Kion, it’s not that easy,” Vitani said in a rushed gasp. 

“Say no, then,” Kion rumbled, his body warm against hers. His blood rising. 

“It’s already going to be hard enough to reject the–”

“Say. No. Then.” Kion growled forcefully, his cheek never leaving hers. There was silence.

“I’m going to go out there with you,” Kion said at last, as if she had said yes out loud. “I’m going to mate you while they watch, and you are going to roar the name of your king, Queen Vitani.”

“Yes, my king,” Vitani said quietly, and their muzzles met.

They took a few steps together in a haze of anticipation, but before they rounded the corner into the main part of the cave, Vitani stopped in her tracks. 

“What?” Kion asked softly, stopping and turning once he noticed she was no longer following. 

“Kion…,” Vitani’s tone was distant and thoughtful. He waited patiently, watching her find her words and wondering what was bothering this lioness who seemed so unbothered by almost everything.

“You know how I said I can’t have cubs?” she said at last, looking up at him.

“Yeah,” Kion nodded. “I remember.” 

“I wish I could.” 

Kion sat still, not knowing what to say, or even if he should say anything at all. Given Vitani’s frequently violent reaction to being comforted, he didn’t want to overstep. But despite that danger, he approached the smaller lion and put his head on her neck, and she responded by pushing up slightly. She was silent for a few more long moments. 

“The things my mom made me do… Well… Maybe she didn’t make me. Maybe I wanted to. It was all for the mission, then. I’ve never really known where… where she stopped and I began. The mission was everything…” she drifted off again, deep in memory. Kion said nothing, observing.

“I was useful. We got a lot of information. But what it did to my body… I thought it would only hurt then. That’s how we were taught to deal with pain. You just didn’t feel it until it went away. But it never did go away, Kion…”

Kion, unable to stop himself, lifted a paw around Vitani’s body, pulling her closer to himself. He was almost surprised she didn’t resist, but instead rested her head into his mane. He expected her to be crying, but she wasn’t. She just stared at the floor, as if the pain she was describing were a painting. A puzzle she could work out with enough focus. 

“You know, she never made excuses. Mom.” Vitani continued. “She knew it was rape. She said so. She knew sometimes it went too far. Sometimes she went too far…” Vitani’s claws were scraping the cave floor now, making echoing clicks beneath them, to some rhythm only she could hear. “She knew the consequences, but I didn’t. I was just there to do my job. She sold my present and my future too. Shouldn’t she have told me?”

Kion swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat, his eyes closed tight to control his emotions. With everything he had been through, he had the sense he couldn’t begin to imagine what Vitani had endured. And here she stood, whole and well. Just imagining what she was describing made a part of him want to break down and leave his body on the spot. Yet she had continued, carrying this for longer than he’d been alive.

“It should have never happened,” he said at last, carefully controlling his voice. Pulling back the rage and sorrow he felt. He knew Vitani didn’t need his emotions right now. She needed the truth as her rational mind could see it. “But yes. She should have told you. If she were fair, she would have. I don’t think she was, though, Vitani. She wasn’t fair to you.”

“Yeah.” Vitani said simply, as if she had reached the same conclusion many times, but never quite been able to understand why.

“We don’t have to mate, if you don’t want—”

“No! I definitely want to. Silly male,” Vitani grinned and bumped the bottom of his chin. She chuffed and Kion stood still, trying to figure out how she’d switched to laughter from such a painful story. 

“Well, I can be gentle then, if you–”

“NO! Vitani laughed again and slid out from under him, playfully swatting at his muzzle with a paw. “I like it rough. I always have.” she winked at him, but then her expression softened and she sighed. 

“I mean, if you even want me. Why would a king want a queen who can’t give him cubs?” 

Kion’s mind spun for a moment, and a thousand responses sprang to mind. Platitudes and pastiche of the ultimately empty comforts he’d heard lionesses give each other in quiet moments. But those didn’t feel right, here. Instead he took a step forward and play-smacked Vitani back.

She gasped and dodged a second strike. “Because you’re you.” He said. “And you know it. Not one in a thousand lions in the Serengeti could be you, Vitani. Any pride you’re in will grow around you. Maybe you can’t have cubs, but you’re mother to more than most lionesses ever will be. That’s a stupid question, and you know it.”

Vitani sat still, as if shocked, and then smiled slowly. “I guess I am pretty awesome, huh?” she grinned. 

“Totally,” Kion agreed with a matching smile. 

“Alright, enough shit. I just needed you to know, kid,” she said, slipping back into her persona as Guard leader. “Now come fuck me, if you’re lion enough,” she winked, flipping her tail and starting back. “But, just… If you could not talk about cubs?” she added? “It’s always been a mood killer. Lions just want to breed, breed, breed. I get it, but…”

“No cubs,” Kion agreed, beginning to follow after her, bumping her flank with his muzzle. “Yes, rough.” Vitani chuffed in approval, eying him over her shoulder. “Pull out and take my ass when I’m not expecting it,” she winked. “I’ve always liked that.” 

Kion gulped, eyes suddenly following underneath Vitani’s tail as she led him back to the rest of the guard. Emotions were still spinning within him that he knew he’d have to sort through later, but, to his surprise, lust pushed them right aside. And as he looked out on the four still messy lionesses in front of him, he had no trouble regaining his stride as the male who had made them that way.

“Well, girls, you all felt that,” Vitani said as she strode into the main cavern.

“Yeah, like you ‘feel’ an elephant fucking you up the ass,” Imara growled, rising to her feet. “What are we going to do, Vitani? This wasn’t part of the plan!”

Vitani opened her mouth to reply, but Kion stepped in front of her, standing tall and trying to do his best impression of his father when dignitaries were visiting. 

“We all have a bond we didn’t expect,” he began, glad that words found their way into his mouth when he opened it. He had no idea what he was going to say next, but knew he couldn’t let the gathered lionesses see it. “I came to you to help, and in each of you I found something that helped me instead. I know you see me as a cub. And when I came to this cave, I saw you as Outsiders. It seems we see each other differently now.”

Kion walked further into the cave, approaching the four lionesses, who were all gathered together and had clearly been talking about the situation. They met him with a range of expressions, but each dipped their head a little, an instinctive gesture. 

“You know what? I am a cub, in a way. You’ve all seen so much more of life than I have. And I had no idea what I was doing when I laid my claim. That’s the truth of it. I didn’t expect or want this. But it was knowing each of you that triggered it. Each of you are lionesses any male would desire and find pride in.”

“But what are we going to do?” Kasi said, with a tremor in her voice. “Simba won’t allow it, and…”

When she trailed off Tazama looked to all the other lionesses and then spoke up “But we’d join you, Kion. We joke, but no cub lays a claim like that. We will follow you. If there’s a fight, we’re in.”

Kion took a deep breath, his desire to accept their loyalty warring with his determination to do what he knew he had to.

“I will be your king,” he said, following quickly with “only for tonight.” The lionesses looked at each other, and back to him in shock. He stood tall as he sensed Vitani sliding alongside him. “Vitani has agreed to be my queen for this one night,” he continued, meeting the gaze of each incredulous lioness one at a time. “And tomorrow I will abdicate my claim without a fight.”

“Can we do that??” Kasi gasped, looking to the elder lionesses for guidance.

“We can do this,” Vitani said without hesitation. “We are the Lion Guard. We have chosen to protect the Pridelands, first. And when Kion is gone, we will serve under Simba, just as before. It is our prerogative to choose our male, ladies. Today, I have chosen Kion.”

“We can’t just choose a king for a day and move on!” Imara hissed. “Where is the honor in that?” 

“It is not your honor that will suffer, Imara,” Kion growled, stepping up and standing toe to toe with the largest Outsider. “It is mine. Because tomorrow when I leave, I leave knowing I am abandoning my first pride. A pride that will always have my heart, no matter where I go. That is a dishonor I will always bear.” 

“Shit”, Shabaha chipped in, for the first time. “This is a mess. It’s not his fault we’re so drop-dead fucking gorgeous, is it? I mean, I walk by with my tail up and I’d have fucking cheetahs laying claims!”

Tazama laughed out loud, and Imara made a snerking sound. Shabaha took the moment to slide under Kion’s chin, winking at Vitani as she did so. 

“So he’s our king for one day, so what? One day we were all looking forward to having Kovu back, and the next we were pledging to Simba on a promise. He sure as fuck never layed a claim like that for us, did he? I, for one, was getting a little bored having just one king to look forward to,” she winked at Kion and flipped her tail at him. “Hail, King Kion!” she called with faux-gusto. “May you usurp my rump for seasons to come!”

“I guess having cubs born to my actual king is better than a prince,” Imara grumbled.

“Wow, a king!” Kasi said, eyes wide, as if it somehow changed their relationship. “Wait, are you going to mate us more? As king?”

“I mean, yeah, if you want–” Kion started.

“She wants,” Imara, Tazama, and Shabaha said in unison.

“The Usurper King. Like cub, like sire,” Vitani said in a barked laugh, and the Outsiders laughed with her. Kion realized that had probably been their title for his father, once, and managed to chuckle with them. 

“Yeah, yeah. King of Smartasses, more like”, Kion replied, to a roar of laughter from the lionesses. He felt a bump on his side as Vitani teased past him.

“Speaking of asses…” she growled, eyes hooded.

“Mmmm,” Kion responded with a hungry grin. A part of himself still couldn’t believe he was behaving this way. So open and blatant. But another part of him realized he was among friends… No among his pride. Here he was king, and he would make no apologies. Not any more.

He nudged at Vitani’s flank and she growled. He nudged again, nipping this time, and she lowered herself in front of him. He rubbed his muzzle against her rump, navigating a chain of kisses around her tail and hips. She gasped and her tail twitched as he found a tender spot, just to the side, where it connected with her body. He nipped at it, watching her tail rise… Seeing her exposed for him sent a thrill through him that he didn’t bother to hide, and he nipped more, watching her rump rise with her tail, his chin brushing her ass and pussy as he licked about her sensitive parts. 

“You need it here, don’t you?” Kion rumbled to her, nuzzling himself down to lick across the outline of her wettened slit. His tongue spread her, exploring her taste. 

“Fuck… You know I do,” Vitani moaned. 

“And you want it here, too…” Kion grinned, lifting his licks to her tailhole and listening to the lioness groan a garbled response. He could hear her claws clicking on the cave floor as she stepped back and forth in anxious need. He kissed her on her pussy again, harder, tongue pushing into her body for a moment. She tasted like a queen, and he had to push down a small thought that said “Rani never tasted this good, did she?”. He would deal with that later. Everything that mattered was now.

He rose over Vitani’s back, and she turned to greet him with a sarcastic smile. “I was worried I was gonna have to tear your package off and make use of it myself, at the rate you’re going,” she jabbed. He grinned and pushed himself against her, watching her eyes flutter as his cock found her entrance. Watching the confidence turn to need as he pushed just enough for her to feel him enter her. Letting her feel his weight on her back. 

“I’ll take however long I want,” he growled into her muzzle, kissing her while she was distracted. Feeling her return the kiss. “Whether that’s slow and easy, or…” Vitani snarled under him as he pushed forward all at once, slamming himself into her roughly. With any other lioness he would be worried about hurting her, but not Vitani. She said she liked it rough, and he doubted he could even manage what she would call “rough”. But he would give her everything he had.

“Oh! Oh Gods, you… rrr… little…” She spluttered, pushing against him. Turning as if trying to get away, but he put his paws around her and held her in place. She was so small. He could feel it, physically… Vitani always seemed so much larger than her body, but with her underneath him this way, he had only to apply his weight to hold her down. To press her into place between his legs. To make her his.

He pulled back, raking her with his barbs and letting her push with all her strength against him, refusing to budge. Only when she collapsed, snarling and shaking, did he push himself into her again. Hard, vicious, thrusts that almost made his stomach hurt with the impact against her rump. 

“Do your sisters know you like it rough like this?” he growled, putting his paws on hers. Pinning them to the ground and angling himself to pound down into her body. Pushing hard enough that he could feel his sheath being forced back. 

“S-shut… the… fuck up… and keep going!” Vitani snarled back, her violet eyes partially rolled back.

“Oh, fuck that looks so hot,” he heard Kasi whispering, and looked up to see her pawing while she watched. “I want that next,” she groaned, to a rough “hush” from Imara, whose own paw was sliding suggestively up and down one row of teats.

Kion grinned, burying his muzzle in Vitani’s nape, and his cock in her pussy. He rocked into her body, trying to feel everything as her body responded under his. Then he felt it, like a signal. A small tightening through your muscles. It happened in an instant, and he didn’t think about it. The prince bit down on Vitani’s nape, pulling on it hard and sliding his cock out. She roared and he had to strain to hold her in place–kings she was stronger than any creature her size had a right to be!–but he did hold her. In fact, he found her tailhole without trouble, despite her movement, and he bit down, tasting blood as he forced himself into her ass. Penetrating her hard in one long stroke.

Vitani came for him so hard that he was momentarily afraid she would hurt him or herself. She tightened around him like nothing he had ever felt. Like she might explode. She made a keening sound. A hiss, that turned into a war cry like he’d never heard, and all he could do was hold on and pray to the Kings. In fact, he really didn’t have to move. As soon as she relaxed at all, Vitani was pushing back against him. Violently shoving her rump against his shaft in a way that made his barbs catch each time. He bit his lip, overcome by the sensation. He had never taken a lioness’ tailhole before, and this feeling was so much different than he could have imagined. Was it always like this, he wondered?

“D’un stop…” Vitani almost whispered out. He wasn’t even sure it was words at first. Then he realized and gave into the feelings, rocking his hips in a counter-rhythm against hers. Truely fucking her ass.

“Harder, Kion,” Vitani whimpered, louder this time. “Fuck my tail, cub. Fuck my shithole raw! RRrrrawrr! You’re so big… It’s so good…”

Kion tugged on her nape, increasing his speed, though he had the feeling that, with Vitani pushing back against him as well, he really couldn’t thrust much harder! That gave him an idea, though, and he suddenly dropped Vitani’s nape, letting her collapse into the ground, and quickly gathered her tail into a paw, guiding it into his muzzle and pulling on it hard. He put his paws on her back, holding her down bodily even as he pulled on her tail, lifting her rump into his thrusts. 

Vitani tried to spin and swipe at him, but Kion caught her arm easily, pinning it again. She smiled hazily up at him, and he smiled back, knowing it was part of the dance. Part of this. Part of them. He leaned down, kissing her with her tail between his teeth, and feeling her kiss back. 

“That feels really good,” Kion moaned to her.

“I bet it does, dirty little ass-fucker,” Vitani growled back, eyes hooded. “Does my king want to cum in me?”

“Oh…” Kion groaned, imagining pulling out now. “Do I need to–”

“No, honeytree,” Vitani gave her growling giggle, nipping at his nose. “Keep going. Don’t stop. Fuck your cubs into me just like I know you want to. Go on. Show my pridesisters how you fuck your queen. I want them to watch, Kion. I want them to see you fill my ass until I leak your cubs for a week. Do it!”

Kion made a strangled whimper, ducking his head as the sensations washed over him anew. 

“That’s it, cub. Fuck your queen like an Outsider. Fuck my ass, Kion!” Vitani snarled, putting her paws in his mane, her claws sinking through to prick at his neck.

“C–can’t…”

“Oh, yes. Yes! Just like that. I’m going to cum again with you, my king!”

Vitani pulled herself into his mane, and Kion felt himself drop her tail he was panting so hard. She didn’t seem to mind, though, only holding on and biting at his throat as he thrust himself into a mating haze. He wanted to give her everything. His queen. 

His.

With a snarl, Kion roared, feeling himself tip over the edge. He felt Vitani clamp down on him at the same time, her roar muffled into his mane. He came like it was his first time all over again, a dazing explosion of raw need pouring from him, obscuring all thought or reason. He held his lioness and she held him, and his body did what it was made to do, pumping and rocking until every last ounce of his seed was deep inside her body. 

When his senses returned it was to Vitani moaning “Yes, my king… Yes, my king,” in a surprisingly soft mew, stroking at his mane. Watching his face. He had the sense he had been there a while, but couldn’t begin to say how long. She smiled when she saw his eyes open, and he thought he got a glimpse of the lioness she might have been.

He managed to lick her nose before collapsing in a pile next to her.

*******

“I think you broke him,” was the next thing he heard. Shabaha, he thought.

“I’ve never seen a lion cum like that!” Tazama said.

“Me either,” Imara added. “And I’ve seen plenty.”

“Do you think he’ll–”

“Do we think he’ll still be able to destroy that sorry travesty you call a rump? Yes. Hush, he’s waking up.” 

“I think… I like Kasi’s concerns the most,” Kion managed to groan, to a ripple of laughter around him. 

“Alright, alright, give him some room,” Vitani stepped between the others, smiling softly down at him.

“How long was I out?” Kion grunted, rolling onto his stomach. 

“An hour or two,” Vitani grinned. “Long enough to be missed,” she winked. 

“Heh. Wow. Sorry about that,” Kion said, yawning and shaking his mane, looking at the gathered lionesses. 

“You should be! My poor jaw may never recover. I had to eat Kasi out, like, 5 times to keep her from trying to give you mouth-to-dick resuscitation.”

“Shabaha!” Kasi gasped, blushing hard. 

“He owes me!” the lioness insisted, primly. 

“Does he owe you for insisting Tazama fit her whole damn paw inside you, too?” Imara grunted.

 “She almost snapped it off, too,” Tazama said ruefully, lifting her paw.

“We heroes are never truly appreciated are we, Kion?” Shabaha said in a mournful tone, trying to lean against Kion only to get smacked aside by Vitani.

Kion’s eyes met Kasi’s. She ducked her head, still blushing. “Sounds like you all had… fun,” he grinned. 

“If that’s what you call a bunch of lionesses having an orgy around you, then sure. I guess it was okay,” Vitani rolled her eyes. “Of course it was fun. C’mon. Up, up. Someone ate all your cum out of my ass. I need it replaced.” Imara coughed, and Kion caught her blushing. He couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Well…,” Kion rose to his feet, shaking his mane again. “I suppose I have a duty, don’t I? You are my pride, after all.”

A cascade of small bows followed, and Kion held himself high with pride. 

“Yeah, yeah, King Softy,” Vitani chuffed, nuzzling into his neck, and he chuffed back. 

“C’mon,” she winked, slipping in front of him, tail aside. “Let’s get you much harder.”

“You’re terrible,” Kion laughed.

“Mmm, you know how I adore flattery,” Vitani lowered herself, and Kion’s laugh became a rumbling sigh as he pushed his nose under her tail, spreading his own legs as he felt muzzles and mouths moving to greet him.

The sun was setting outside; he could see the dim, umber light fading from the cave entrance. He had the serious sense that he would not be sleeping tonight, and the thought filled him with energy. 

“Until the pridelands end!” he said with heart.

“Shut up and fuck me, Kion.” Vitani growled back.

Kion laughed, and thoughts of leaving the Pridelands drifted far away. For the first time he could remember, tomorrow didn’t exist; leaving a space in his mind that was filled with nothing but happiness. 

He licked Vitani’s neck and she chuffed. He smiled, ready to enjoy every moment of now.

And he did.