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Chapter 10: Another Pride Tries to Take the Prize

After working for more than three hours, Feral signed a final document and dropped it into his out basket. His mate lay drowsing on the couch but jerked to wakefulness immediately when he heard Ulysses get up from his desk.

"That should keep me from being swamped tomorrow." Feral grunted as he stepped down from his pedestal desk.

"I'll see you early tomorrow then, Uncle." Felina said.

"Thank you for staying and getting this done, Felina." Feral said with a small smile tugging at his mouth.

"You're welcome, Uncle. Goodnight and you too Tendaji." She smiled at her uncle's mate.

Tendaji nodded warmly as he helped his mate on with his coat. "Going home?" He asked.

"Yes. I'm still tired but at least I won't be weighed down by work hanging over my head." Feral said with a sigh as he locked the door to his office.

The two lion guards fell in behind them as they made their way to the elevator.

Later, in Feral's apartment, Tendaji held his mate and kissed him slow and lazily. He wouldn't press for sex since his mate was still sore but needed the closeness and Feral allowed it to his relief. They fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, while Feral was safely in his office, Tendaji again tried to reach his King. More than an hour later, he was ready to throw his phone through the window. 'Where was Kgosi?' He kept asking himself. He contacted his Queen once more and found arrangements for the ceremony were nearly complete.

"Tendaji, perhaps you should bring your mate here now. At least he will be protected in our stronghold until the ceremony."

"My mate is very stubborn my Queen, refusing to be away from his duties any longer than necessary but I agree that taking him there would ensure he would stay safe until the King arrives. Let me try to convince him this would be to everyone's benefit." Privately, Tendaji didn't have much hope of that.

"I will not interfere but if he remains stubborn, Tendaji, I insist that you call me and I'll have a word with him."

"Yes my Queen. I will let you know immediately." Tendaji said obediently. She said farewell and he did the same before hanging up. 'Oh boy! Uly is not going to like this.' Tendaji thought ruefully.

When he went to see his mate for lunch, he dropped the bomb on him.

"What?!" Feral was less than pleased.

Tendaji sighed. It was exactly how he expected his mate to react. "Look, Uly. It's the most sensible thing to do at this point. The Queen has completed all the arrangements so there's no reason for you not to go with me to our compound. It will give you a chance to do some of the greeting you must accomplish with the pride anyway." Tendaji argued persuasively.

Feral growled. 'All except for taking me from my job yet again.' He snarled to himself mentally. "But the King is still not available."

"No, but the Queen assures me he will be there at the required time." Tendaji fibbed just a little.

But he wasn't good enough. "Now you're lying. It could be some time before he shows up and it won't be just five days I'll be absent."

Sighing again, Tendaji used his last card. He took out his cell phone, spoke for a moment, then handed it to his mate. "Here, since you remain stubborn, I've been ordered to have you speak to the Queen. She's on the phone."

Feral looked at the phone as if it were a snake then reluctantly took it from the lion's paw.

"Feral, here."

For the next few long minutes, Feral was forced to listen to Queen Marjani. His face got red and he stuttered refusals but in the end he relented assuring the Queen...his new Queen...shaking his head at that information...he would be leaving by tonight for the Zuberi Pride compound.

He handed the phone back to Tendaji with a grunt of anger then returned to his work, ignoring his lunch which he had no appetite for now.

Tendaji eyed his fuming mate as he took the phone back. He listened for a moment or two, assured his Queen her wishes would be followed, noted the time of the flight, then hung up.

Speaking carefully, he addressed Uly, "Would you like me to pack your things and allow you to continue working and bringing Felina up to speed?"

Feral glowered at Tendaji before nodding his agreement to the plan, handing his keys to his apartment over then returning to his work without looking up again. Tendaji sighed mentally and went out of the office. He told his pride mates they were departing for home then quickly left to get things done.

When his mate left, Feral stopped working and dropped his head into his raised paws. "My life is being planned without any say on my part. When did I lose control?" He wondered aloud, but there was no answer from his silent office. Sighing, he reached for his radio and summoned Felina.

While he briefed a surprised Felina about his sudden trip, Tendaji was at his mate's apartment packing a suitcase. He carefully went around the apartment turning off electrical items and dumping food stuffs that might spoil and tossing out the garbage. He notified the building manager that Feral would be gone for at least ten days and to keep an eye on the apartment.

That done, he took the suitcase and headed back to the hotel where he was staying, packed his suitcase, had his team do the same, sent home the excess guards, and kept a small detachment with him to protect his mate on the way to the airport. Finished, he went downstairs and checked them out. He and his detachment would hole up at Enforcer Headquarters until it was time to leave.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Tendaji was preparing for departure, the pride that had first attempted to make a claim on Feral had been watching the Zuberi Pride members closely. Detecting a planned departure by them, the Tumbuka Pride made their move.

Dressed conservatively and attracting no undue attention as they walked into Enforcer Headquarters, their leader, Tau, went up to the desk sergeant and asked if they could see Commander Feral on an urgent matter.

"The Commander is a very busy Kat. What is this in regards to?" The desk sergeant asked gruffly.

"It's about the munitions stolen from the Megakat Munitions Plant a few days ago." Tau said easily.

The desk sergeant frowned then decided this merited the Commander's attention. "Very well, he's on the top floor. Turn to your left when you get there, you'll see his office."

"Thank you!" Tau said politely. He and his pride members quickly turned away from the desk and made for the bank of elevators.

They managed to catch an empty car. When the elevator opened on the right floor, they moved out cautiously and as quietly as they could. Still trying to not draw attention to themselves they headed for the indicated office. They paused at a corner and Tau peered around it carefully. As they suspected, two Zubari lions were guarding the Commander's door. Expecting this, Tau signaled a Kat in their employ volunteered to draw the Commander out of his office with just enough information to ensure he would do so.

The pride went back to the elevators and held one of them open and waited. This had to be quick and timed perfectly. They only had to wait ten minutes before their agent returned followed by Feral and trailed by the Zubari guards. As soon as the group came level with the open car, the lions inside quickly snatched Feral and grabbed the two guards. There was a mad tussle in the elevator as it descended but the two Zubari lions and Feral were outnumbered and were quickly subdued.

When the elevator reached the lobby, one of them held the doors closed and pressed the button for the parking garage. When it opened there, the two tied up guards were placed behind the elevator pylon as the Tumbuka Pride hustled Feral to a waiting car. They had him surrounded so that the cameras in the garage wouldn't see that he was being coerced.

Soon the car was sedately leaving the parking garage and heading for the place they had been hiding at. Sandwiched between Tau and a large, brawny lion, Feral couldn't move easily. His paws had been handcuffed with the pair he kept in his pocket.

He growled angrily and snapped at Tau's face. Tau just leaned away as his other pride mate yanked the angry Kat back.

"My, you do have spirit!" Tau said drily. "I did warn you I would be coming for you and I keep my promises."

"You won't get away with this!" Feral snarled, furious to have been taken so easily.

Tau smirked, eyes gleaming with triumph. "I think I already have."

They drove for only fifteen minutes before arriving at an unassuming looking house in a rather normal looking neighborhood. The driver turned into the driveway and into the garage whose door closed behind them.

They all piled out and into the house. Tau had Feral taken to a master bedroom. Signaling his pride mate to leave, Tau smiled predatorily.

"Now I have you. I'm sorry I can't give you a little time to adjust but you must be taken by me immediately."

"Try it!" Feral threatened even though his paws were still handcuffed.

Wasting no more speech, Tau grabbed Feral and began to shove him to the bed. Feral wasn't going to make anything easy for this usurper. He twisted away, falling to the floor then kicking up with his feet to sent Tau over the bed to the floor on the other side.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

While the battle in the bedroom was going on, back at Enforcer Headquarters, Tendaji learned his mate was gone and no one knew where. Tracking the last visitor, Felina called an alert and had the whole building complex searched. The two guards were finally found and the ID of the kidnappers was revealed.

When it was learned that Feral had been taken by an opposing pride, Felina's paws were tied and the fight to find and save her uncle was now Tendaji's responsibility. However, there was one thing Felina could do.

"Tendaji, wait!" She called to him before he took off from the parking garage.

"What is it Felina?" He moved closer toward her.

"Here..."She handed him something on a piece of paper. "This will help you find my uncle faster." She turned away, making quick speed for the elevator before he could say anything.

Tendaji looked at the paper and smiled. She wasn't supposed to interfere in a pride hunt but she also couldn't allow her uncle to be taken by someone else so she'd done the only thing she could. In his paws was his mate's GPS coordinates. He gripped it tightly and hurried to his car.

Jumping in he gave the precious number to his communications specialist. "Here, Felina gave us the key to finding Ulysses."

"Wow! She's a great she-kat!" His comm member said in admiration as he dragged out his compact comm center and began the search.

"Yeah she is that. Get me his coordinates as fast as you can. You know what Tau is trying to do. The only thing we have in our favor is just how tough and stubborn my mate is." Tendaji settled back in his seat, arms tightly crossed over his chest.

Dubaku smirked. "I actually find myself feeling sorry for Tau. He really doesn't know what he's gotten himself in for."

Everyone in the car snickered at that little bit of wisdom.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Feral was putting up a strong battle against being taken. Tau had succeeded in removing the tom's outer clothing but nothing else and he still had not been able to pin the powerful kat to the bed or even the floor. He was beginning to sport multiple bruises from Feral's successful hits with elbows, chin, and knees.

"You will be mine. All your fighting just proves how much of a prize you are. I will be the envy of my pride." Tau gloated despite how sore he was from the many well placed blows.

"You wish!" Feral avoided yet another lunge by the lion.

With a snarl of rising temper and several more dances around the room, Tau roared his triumph as he finally managed to pin the huge tom to the floor. He ripped the boxers off Feral, his own clothes having been shed early on, his cock was hard from the primal battle to take this incredible creature and he was inches from finally doing so.

"Now I've got you!" He hotly declared.

"No you don't!" Feral put a knee in the right place to do maximum pain that also shoved the lion off the supine tom.

Howling in pain, Tau was curled in a ball on the floor as Feral rolled frantically away and under the bed. Hissing in fury at the injury, Tau finally managed to uncurl after many excruciating minutes and stared balefully at the tom under the bed.

Waiting for his privates to recover, Tau's mind raced with ways to get the tom from his hiding place and win this battle once and for all.

His pride mates were forbidden to interfere in a taking of a mate. All they could do was listen in some amusement and interest to the noises beyond the door and keep watch against intruders and the tom's original mate.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

It had taken them thirty precious minutes to finally locate the house his mate was in. Moving stealthily, Tendaji's group crept up to the house and went in by way of the garage. It made no noise going up but they knew it would going down, so left it open. Popping the back door and peering cautiously into the kitchen, he found it empty. Slipping in Tendaji eased the swinging door to the kitchen open and saw five lions standing and sitting around. His mate, he knew, was in a bedroom in the back of the house somewhere.

At his signal, his group poured out of the kitchen. Each lion picked a target as Tendaji and his friend rushed past and headed for the hall. Stopping only a moment, Tendaji waited until he could sense what room his mate was in. Racing to the last room at the end of the hall, they charged in.

Tendaji leaped on Tau who was just flipping the bed to uncover Feral. Being attacked from behind allowed the bed to collapse on them, flattening them to the floor.

Snorting in amusement, Dubaku reached down and flipped the thing off them. Underneath were too rather stunned lions. They lay there for a moment then they were at each other's throat.

Dubaku shook his head and headed for Feral who was getting to his feet.

"Do you have the key for these somewhere." He asked politely, keeping his eyes averted from Feral's near naked body.

"In my coat...over there in the corner." Feral said absently as he watched his mate spar with Tau.

Dubaku avoided the rolling pair on the floor and gathered up Feral's clothes. He searched the tom's coat and found the key. He undid the handcuffs and gave Feral his clothes. Still watching the battle, the tom redressed.

There were roars coming from the living area and at one point a lion from the wrong pride nearly got into the bedroom but Dubaku slammed his fist into the invader's face, sending him flying back into the hall. He slammed the door shut and leaned against it to prevent anyone else coming in. Tendaji had to defeat his rival alone.

Feral realized this when he noted Dubaku wasn't taking a paw in the battle. Frowning at the strange ways of the lion prides, he asked, "I take it, I'm not allowed to defend my own honor?"

Dubaku eyed the tom sympathetically. He knew outsiders had a hard time understanding their ways. "No, you're not. He must defeat Tau on his own to win you back that's according to our laws."

"Crazy!" Feral shook his head in disgust.

So far the pair of males were evenly matched that is until Tendaji managed to re-injure Tau exactly where his mate had done just minutes earlier. Tau shrieked in agony and curled up in a cursing ball. The battle was over.

Tendaji staggered to his feet and swayed to his mate's side. He pulled Feral into his arms and sniffed him deeply then sighed as he discovered his mate had not been violated. He was sure he hadn't but had to be certain.

Dubaku opened the bedroom door and found the Tumbuka Pride was all but defeated except for a pair still going at it near the kitchen. As they watched, Jengo finally finished his opponent.

Tired, sore but smiling in triumph, the Zuberi Pride slipped out of the house of their rivals and made for their car a block away. Piling in, Jengo took the driver's seat.

"Where to Tendaji?" He asked as he started the car.

"Back to Enforcer Headquarters." Tendaji sighed. He pulled his mate into his arms and nuzzled his face. "Sorry about this love. I had really hoped we'd get out of here without yet another delay."

"I'd say you've made your point rather painfully. I concede defeat. I've still to brief Felina and finish some work on my desk then farm out some of my more sensitive operations to others before we can leave." Feral's shoulders slumped in reluctant defeat.

"That will be fine love. Our plane leaves in three hours so you don't have to rush and I've already closed your apartment and checked out of my hotel, our luggage is already on its way to the airport so when you're done we leave."

Feral just nodded and sighed.