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His New Pride

Lion Transformation

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Cario

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“Come on, David, the lions aren’t going to wait around for us forever!”

He rushed to get ready, stumbling out of the lodge house, which was a much stranger design than what he was more often used to back where he lived in the US. The safari park was part of a nature reserve, but one that they took tourists out on, with guides. It was a busy type of job that his aunt quite often griped about having to deal with “rather entitled folk”, but it was still one of many ways that people could be brought out to appreciate the natural world without causing harm to it.

That it had the added effect of them being more present in the nature reserve dissuaded poachers too was very much a bonus… The heat, after all, was not the greatest threat to the animals that had adapted to live in the savannah, though he was keen to explore beyond the park too. Even if his best friends were there – well, perhaps it was a little too forward to consider the lions his friends, for they were different creatures, but he did enjoy their company a lot. It was too dangerous to be down with them on foot, with their flashing fangs and sharp claws, but they greeted up, in the jeep and from the viewing areas, with leaps and growls, nuzzling and rubbing up as close to him as possible.

There was one lion, the leader of the resident pride of the nature reserve, that he enjoyed the company of the most – and he would sit out on one of the lower viewing platforms, which was surrounded by plexiglass and nicely shaded, for hours to be with him. The lion had a rich, brown mane of fur and soft tawny fur. Well, David assumed it was soft. He could not tell, always having to be kept at a distance from him, though he ached to be in and amongst the lions.

Yet that would be foolhardy… Even though he might well have been a little simple-minded and willing to take a risk like that, his aunt would never have allowed it. The lions knew that the people there would not harm them, though the true extent of Anna’s relationship with them was not quite as simple as many would have liked it to be. There was more to the lions, after all, than met the eye.

Soon, David was to learn that too.

His blonde hair was cropped short around his ears, a little shorter than what he would have usually worn it as, but he’d thought it would help him stay cooler. His blue eyes were typical for his hair colour, though he didn’t always know how to behave at the nature reserve. There was so much work to do there and it was very much not a holiday for him there, as he always wanted to be involved, to be helpful. Whether it was with the guides or helping out with the lodges or even around the park, David always had to be busy, one way or the other.

His aunt smiled at him, waiting at the jeep with her sunglasses on a string around her neck, her practical shirt a muted shade of green, her bags already packed, seemingly, for a very hard day of work. David matched her smile with his own as he walked over, but his aunt’s smile heralded something more, something to his day that David could never have anticipated.

If prey was scarce within the bounds of the nature reserve, they would also go out to feed the lions and hyenas and others, though it was the serene thrill of the way of life out there that David leaned into the most. And that was exactly what his aunt wanted to gift him, especially considering all his hard work around the reserve and, in particular, the tourist and visitor centres.

“So, where are we going today, Aunt Anna?”

He didn’t call her “auntie” anymore – that had been something for when he had been much younger. He’d stopped calling her that when he’d been around thirteen; at nineteen, he was well past that. But she still smiled at him as if he had called her that again, for she was still a maternal figure to him. And she wanted to make sure that he had the best experience while he was there with her on holiday than ever.

“David, can you get something behind the jeep for me?”

He smiled and nodded, bending down to pick up a bag – but what he could never have expected was for his world to soften to black. As if he was falling asleep while being completely aware of everything that was happening, he exhaled softly, a light smile on his face, safe and warm and comfortable.

Even if he did not know what was happening, he trusted his aunt.

Aunt Anna would never lead him astray.

And he knew, most certainly, that she would never hurt him.

In the darkness, he breathed out gently and lost himself to true unconsciousness as his body re-formed itself for her will…

*

“David… David? It’s time to wake up.”

He groaned and tried to rub his face, but his hand did not move the way that he expected it to. That was strange, very strange, but he shifted his weight a little, his body feeling…larger than before.

“Ggggrrrrr…”

He’d tried to groan, but a very strange noise came out. That was odd, so odd, but he didn’t feel bad. In fact, he felt comfortable. He felt secure in himself, blinking his eyes open to find that he was lying on the ground.

Not behind the jeep, however. He seemed to have been moved to another part of the reserve, one that he was not as closely familiar with than others. A watering hole had been framed with trees, clearly taking more sustenance from the lingering water during the dry season, the ground, at that time, lush with thick vegetation.

He groaned and licked his lips, but didn’t see anything other than the richer yellow grass, the green relegated beneath the trees. The sun would soon heat up the land and the types of grasses across the savannah more often than not glowed golden: one more thing that he adored so much about the land.

Yet he was not the man he had been as he rolled onto his stomach, shaky and secure, two things that very much did not go together. He grunted, stretching out as his aunt looked down on him, watching over him, making him feel safe. He didn’t seem to have hands anymore, fingers not curling as he was used to, though his vision filled with two long legs, as if he was perched on top of a lion. For he would know that tawny fur anywhere, how the claws pricked from the toes, even if his mind struggled to comprehend the changes.

Unnff… What is happening?

_ _

But he didn’t feel bad at all. He only felt powerful… Strong! He yawned widely, his jaw opening much more than he was used to, letting out a low growl. Anna crouched down close to him, running her fingers through his hair. Even that was thicker than what he remembered… But all would become clear soon enough.

“Take it easy, David,” she said gently, though her lips still perked up in a reassuring smile. “You’ve got a lot going on there, so relax… Try to stand. You’re about to meet your lion friends at long, long last.”

He tried to ask her what she meant, but all that came out was a low growl, eyes dropping to the huge forepaws before him.

In that moment, he understood. He understood the muscled power of the feline form that he had been turned into, heart leaping and thudding, even as he relished in it. He could not feel fear, no – not when everything was so perfect! Perhaps David should have been more concerned about being, very clearly, transformed into a lion than he was, but that was his problem to bear. And it was very much not a problem at all, not when his aunt was there, looking after him.

“Try standing,” his aunt advised, a smile stretching across her lips, widening her grin. “You look very handsome, David, my, oh, my! I thought you’d been working so hard around here that this was the only way that you could have a real break. You’ve always loved the lions and…well…”

He could finish that sentence for her. “And now you are one of them.” That should have been the rest of it, though David was too caught up in his new body and form to care about words. He growled, feeling his new vocal cords ripple – no longer capable of human speech, but, well, there was very clearly his mind still in there. He could still think, breathing quickly as his great flanks shuddered with every breath, stretching out his forepaws and getting his claws to extend and retract.

Wow…

_ _

It was everything that he had never known that he’d wanted – and he could see his lion friend now! That was the best thing of all and, frankly, David did not even mind that the ability to ask his aunt had been taken from him in the form of human speech.

He didn’t need it anymore. Not as he shakily stood, wobbling on four legs, not used to his centre of balance changing. It was strange, all so very strange, though he thought that he would be able to get used to it quite quickly, trying to turn in a very shaky circle to take in his new body. His fur was a light golden brown, as if it had been sprinkled with mined gold, his mane evidently black where it flickered into his line of sight. It was darker, much darker, than the mane of any other lion that he had seen.

Dimly, David was aware that he was naked, though he did not feel bare, not with so much fur covering him, from head to tail. His tail swung back and forth behind him, casually, lazily, one part of his body that he didn’t have to think about. In a way, it just seemed to take care of itself, doing what it needed to do, communicating with flicks and stiffness, changing notes whenever required. He had learned to read the body language of the lions before, but had wondered at some of the things that they had done, what had not seemed entirely lion-like behaviour, according to nature documentaries and texts that he’d read, before…

Maybe all that was going to come to light, but his aunt guided him carefully to the small pond, the watering hole that would have attracted many creatures, if not for the fact that his aunt was there, watching over him. Most likely, she had scared them all off, but it allowed him enough time to look down at himself in the water.

He was much bigger than the average lion and rippled, very obviously, with muscle. He could not help but admire himself, first turning to the left and then the right, angling his head one way and then the other. There was not a spare ounce of fat on him, everything lean, even if he didn’t think he was mean. There should have been more shock there than there was, reeling from it, but he shoved that aside as he bared his pearly white fangs.

“You’re getting into it now!”

He grappled, just a little, with the sense of being a lion, but it was so hard to be at all concerned about things when he just felt so settled on all four paws, more and more confident in the set of his body. He was just so powerful, aware of every tiny muscle in his body; at least, that was what it felt like. As if everything had fallen into place, even relishing in the sinuous sway of his long, leonine tail, how it felt right, helping him balance. Even at that point, he didn’t know what he would do if it was missing.

David ran his tongue experimentally around the inside of his teeth, careful of the fangs, though it would take a lot more force, from his jaw, to actually bite through something. His tongue, however, was raspier than he had expected it to be, remembering that wild cats had barbs on their tongues – much rougher than the tongues of domestic cats. They were designed to strip flesh from bone, giving them a strict advantage when it came to hunting and devouring every last bit of an animal.

He shuddered, panting lightly with an open mouth, his lips edged with black, as he looked down into the water, his reflection shimmering restlessly. Could he really do that? Would that be too much for him, to hunt and live as a lion? The prospect was not as challenging, not to him, as David might have thought…

Luckily, Anna was there to inspire confidence, as she always was.

“Don’t worry, I’ll change you back after you’ve had a good break,” she reassured him, though took a step back from David as if he really was one of the wild resident lions at the nature reserve. “Go! Have some fun for once, I know how much you’ve been dying to properly meet the other lions and this is the only way I can do it for you. No more work for you!”

She shooed him off and he leapt away like a startled house cat – just a much bigger version than any kind that might have been found stalking mice and other small rodents for pest control over there. In fact, he had a feeling that snakes were a more natural and effective pest control around the lodges, but that wasn’t what they told the tourists. They were comfortable with the idea of cats than snakes, to say the least!

Oh, it was no matter! He couldn’t let such things linger on his mind as he growled his thanks to his aunt, but resisted the urge to throw himself at her and hug her. In his current form, he would have most surely flattened her. He was, at least, more than a little glad to hear that his transformation was not permanent, because he would very much still like to be a man, a human, but…to be a lion too…

That was just something that David could not have passed up, one way or the other. His aunt left him there, first letting him know exactly where he could go to meet her, setting off a handheld radio through which she would know that he needed her. She said something about it being a bit of a squeeze to get him into the old shack, but that it was the best option.

He didn’t mind. He appreciated the relative privacy as she left him out there, the air buzzing with insects, ears twitching back and forth, all to catch every little sound. His nudity did not escape him, though David had not quite been able to explore it as he had wanted to, not with his aunt around. There were some things, after all, that a guy just had to enjoy on their own.

He was muscular and almost curvy – at least for a lion. That was more obvious when he sat down, craning around to look at his hind end. His thick rump was not something that could be denied, but, sitting up higher, he could look down between his legs at what lay at the crux of his hind ones. He was still male, of course, with the mane and all, but the massive pair of dark-skinned balls was not something that he could have anticipated. They were easily several times the size of the balls that he had had as a man, but, ultimately, they were in keeping with his lion form and body, so much bigger than he had been.

He grunted and shook his head, poking faintly at the fleshy fold of a sheath tucked down there, in front of his nuts. There was a space between them, though nothing emerged from his sheath yet, so he did not spend much time there.

A roar cut through the air, a distance away, and he leapt up, heart pounding. His pride! Or, they should be his pride, the lions that he wanted to be with so badly. Without even thinking about it, his body coiled and sprung into motion, every part of him on proud display. His tail flung out behind him as he launched himself into a run, though not quite flat-out. Lions were not known for their stamina, but rather short, explosive bursts of speed, fuelled by the power of their muscles. Sometimes, they chose prey that they could corner and wear down away from their herd, allowing them to conserve energy. That was just why lions were said to be so lazy: from all the time that they spend conserving every drop of energy that they could, for precisely when it was needed.

Yet, for him, streaking across the plain and rustling through the grass that tickled his underbelly, he did not have to go far. The lions yowled for him, clustered in the shade of a copse of Acacia trees, clearly having a morning cat nap, bellies already fat and round with a recent meal. They would not need to eat again for a while, he knew, not that there was any risk at all of him becoming their next meal. Not when he was one of them.

If the lions had been anything other than the intelligent beasts that they were, they might have sent him packing, seeing him as infiltrating male to the pride. But they welcomed him with, well, open “paws” leaping to greet him in feline displays of pleasure, even though their claws were sheathed and tucked away. There was no malice at all in any of them as the entire pride of males and females alike surrounded him, fifteen strong and now with a sixteenth member, him.

Yet the one that David was the most interested in meeting was the male that he had spent time with as a man, though they had never touched before. He should have already known that he was welcomed as a part of the pride, as a man, though there was too much going on all at once for David to take it all in.

He stood firm, panting lightly, as his friend raced towards him, the male lion’s tongue flickering between his teeth, though only joyful cries broke his mighty jaws.

“Friend!” The male roared, light on his paws even as he bowled David over, growling and nipping in play. “Thought never here!”

There must have been something between them and his aunt too, some knowledge and manner of speaking that could be passed between the lion and human, though David was simply glad to be there and amongst them, rubbing up against his brother. The touch of fur on fur was simply luxurious, exhilarating as if something that he had not even realised was missing had settled inside him, deeply rooted and sinking deeper.

Their language was a simpler kind as lions, but came through more in facial expressions and body language, as well as the growls and purrs that were their language. It gave them more than enough ways to understand one another, perhaps even more so than how it was for David as a human, but he still caught himself translating some things in his head.

“Wanted to…come,” he growled, taking a while to find the right way to say it, his tongue thick in his mouth to shape his grunts and growls. “Woman…changed man. Lion now.”

We know, we know, they yowled, circling him, though there was no rush that day. If they had been a prey animal species, perhaps they would have run for the sheer joy of it at that time, but the soft laziness of a lion was all that was needed at that time. He thought that he should have been off running, exploring and enjoying everything that there was to being a lion, but that was not really what it was all about.

At the reserve and park, which his aunt looked after, they had all their needs met. Sure, they could hunt if they wanted to, though there was no real need to. They would be fed by the guides and workers that dealt with the tourists, more often than not, drawn out so that they could put on a bit of a show. It was not something that any of the lions minded, or so they told David, stretched out and lazy in the shade.

The heat of the day was the best way to relax, letting a warm sense of laziness sink into him. It was the kind of laziness that brought with it true relaxation, purring throatily as a lioness butted her head against his.

How could he have not known that that was where he was supposed to be? He’d been so drawn to the lions, during his time out on holiday with his aunt, but perhaps he had distracted himself too much with chores and helping out to know that there was something more there, something greater at play. He didn’t just want to hang out with the lions, but wanted to see who they truly were, more to them, finding that they all had their own little personalities. They just weren’t as overt as human ones – at least when viewed through human eyes.

Every lion had a name in their language, but the big male that was his buddy went by Omari.

“Come with us,” he invited David when the heat slipped from the day. “Show our territory.”

Gladly, he went with them, relaxing into the low roll of his stride, though he did follow the lead of the other lions too. For, even as they left their preferred sleeping area, they marked their territory, semi-squatting and lifting their tails to spray. He wrinkled his nose, expecting it to reek, but the aroma of a lion was, actually, quite pleasant to a feline nose, containing so much more information to them than it ever would have to a human being.

What was just “smelly” to a human told a lion just where another lion had been, what their state of mind had been, whether they were stressed, whether they were well fed or not. It was a struggle indeed to sift through it all at once, though David was driven to mark more trees and rocks, refreshing their scent and adding his own, as he lifted his tail to spray urine.

The lionesses, despite David staying close to Omari, simply wanting to spend that time with his lion friend, seemed especially interested in him too. They only came up to his shoulder at best, for he was much bigger than they were, too large to honestly be a natural lion.

“So big,” one purred, rubbing up against them even as he walked. “Come hunt with us!”

“Soon,” he said, baring his teeth lightly in a pant, his lips kept soft and relaxed to not appear a threat. “Not hungry now.”

They leapt and played with him, though instinct did not guide him in the kind of play that they knew. He got knocked over, despite his size, by Omari and one of the lionesses, growling as he went tail over head, tumbling and fumbling to get back to his paws. For their kind of play was something derived from hunting behaviour, ways that they had learned to practice hunting back in the days when they had all been nothing more than lion cubs, though everyone there had grown into a strong, powerful adult.

David was, however, surprised that the lionesses took such an interest in him. Sure, he was bigger, but there was Omari and two other males in the pride too, surely cubs on the way too. He’d lost track of when their mating seasons were, but perhaps that was something that he should have kept a closer eye on, considering that he was now a lion and the lionesses all crowded around him as if he was far more than simply the new kid on the block.

He relished in his form, however, the new sense of power that easily rolled through him with every step. Even how his balls swayed and wobbled, evidently on show, was a relief. It was as if he had been hiding so much before and had finally come through to his true self, which had required, in a sense, a stripping of his human garb.

Besides, it was so much more comfortable to be in just his fur. The lions took their time, walking him about, though their pauses for play, swiping and pretending to “fight”, though there was never any harm truly meant in it. They just wanted to play, to enjoy one another, leaping about and twisting as if they were trying to get out and away from each other.

But they still came together, purring and walking so closely that they touched multiple others, tails swinging as their powerful rumps made their hips swing. His balls hung low, lower than Omari’s, swinging back and forth with every step, though he was not in tune enough with himself and those around him to realise that that was a very alluring part of his body that the lionesses were eyeing up. It was as if he was prey to them, though not the kind of prey that had anything to worry about.

His tail curled, long and thick, sure that his fangs were gleaming. It was good to walk and it was good to move, seeing the reserve from another perspective. There were tourists there, coming along in cages placed on the backs of vehicles – all for their protection. The lions, of course, didn’t have anything to worry about there, not as they chased the tourist jeeps with gusto, leaping and yowling, even letting out throaty, deep roars.

David grunted, throat rumbling. He had a roar in there too, different from the one that he had let out so far, though it had to come, one way or the other. Omari grunted, eyes glinting, one forepaw lifted.

“Let it free!”

And, so, he did, bellowing a deep, masculine roar that had the tourists gasping, cameras lifted, snapping a million photos of the largest lion ever to be seen on the range. They cried out about his dark mane, how glorious he was, some making jokes about him – but he didn’t have to listen to that. He strutted back and forth as if he was the most glorious lion on the range, the biggest, the best, even though he already saw himself as part of his pride, one and the same with all of them.

In the pride, no one was better than the other.

“Look, the lion’s smiling at us!”

He, of course, still had lingering human facial expressions that could not so easily be set aside and he leaned into it, baring his teeth in an approximation of a human smile. With a great hefting and shifting of his weight, David rose onto his back legs, standing tall on just the two legs, rumbling a growl.

“Ahhhhh!”

A small girl, with wide eyes and a huge grin, to match his, stretched across her face, shrank back against the opposite side of the cage towed along behind the jeep, where the visitors that went out on the reserve stood. There was no danger to either of them, though he still gave her a wonderful demonstration of the might of a lion, the rippling, powerful muscle residing where it belonged under his golden fur, the dark passion of his mane. Wondrously, she raised a hand, as if to touch him, though the cage would keep them apart.

It was not for him to break that barrier, of course, not when it was there so that the tourists could see and enjoy them, also giving money to the reserve. For the lodges had a good income, even if it was not always enough to get the reserve to break even.

David would see what he could do about that, putting on a show for the tourists as he strutted back and forth, his massive chest thrust out before him, even play fighting with Omari. There was no ill will between them, though the tourists didn’t have to know that, even as the guide laughed from the driver’s seat of the jeep. He was just as amused by the antics of the new lion as the tourists were, though what he did not know was that it was Anna who had arranged his transformation.

Still, David did not know why she had transformed him and, frankly, he didn’t care either. He had been concerned, at first, why he had suddenly woken up in a different body, but knew there was no harm, everything coming together as if it had all simply been meant to be.

They could wonder where the new lion, the huge lion, had come from, but that wasn’t going to change anything. He would still put on a show, all to draw in more tourists, growling and stalking, hunkering down low to the ground only to leap out and chase a lioness who flicked her tail back in his face.

The evening, however, came, darkening the landscape, and the tourists left. There was no peace there, not even as they retreated to an outcrop of rocks, having taken some meat from the tourist jeep and still not needing to feed fully. A full meal could be had another day, though the lions could relax as they were.

“Brother? Where you going?”

Omari watched David climb to the top of the outcrop of rocks, though David grumbled in light embarrassment, not really giving his brother any answer. The lion would not understand what Pride Rock was from that old movie, from a very long time ago, one of the very first that David had watched in the cinema all that time ago. The wind brushed his coat lightly, like ghostly fingers stroking all over him, relishing in every soft moment, how his strong body was so simply a part of the landscape, as was the rest of the pride.

Should he have been embarrassed to be naked in front of the tourists, he wondered? It felt wrong, now that he allowed his human mind to overthink it, that he was out there naked, letting everything hang out. It was different when he was just with the pride, not worrying about anything at all, not about his nudity, not anything. It just felt comfortable like that, but he supposed it was okay when none of the humans knew that he was a man in the body, and lifestyle, of a lion.

But a lion, most notably, did not need clothes. The people did not look at him like they would a naked man, for he was a lion and there was nothing more natural than that, animals out in their usual state of being.

He posed at the top of the outcrop of rock, a few metres up, though he didn’t care for the measurements, even as Omari joined him. The lion purred and butted his head up softly against David’s to nuzzle him, though that was fine, all fine by him, considering that there was nothing at all there that could ever cause David any trouble or harm. Not when he was with his pride.

Days passed and he learned his way around the reserve as a lion, often going down to the viewing areas and the fences of the park where visitors could see them more easily in their natural habitat. That was a different experience for David than before, seeing the visitors from the other side of the fence, and he curiously walked up close to it, even though there was a double barrier so that no questing fingers could wriggle through to his side.

Everyone was protected there, even though the lions, of course, would never do anything to hurt the visitors. Maybe other lions, outside the reserve, were not like them, had different instincts and levels of intelligence, but that did not matter to them. What mattered was their pride, their tightly knit community, that every lion there was looking out for the others, at all times.

Humans put their hands up against the fence, so close to him and yet still separated – but not all the lions could suppress the protective part of their instinct. With a savage growl, they leapt and warded the humans that came in too close to David back, though they never once touched the fence, regardless of how the people shrieked in shock and surprise.

“I’ve never seen one of them do that before!”

Davis smiled, lips stretching, baring his teeth, though a lion’s smile was so ferociously, even then, that the people watching him could not help but take another step back.

“No danger,” David said, lowering his head as if to show that there was no threat there. “All friend, many friend.”

The lions’ language was more simplistic than humans, but he felt that it cut everything back to what was needed, relieved by that, though it did sound strange in his head when he translated it. Smiling again at the humans, he showed his teeth, and the humans started, tipping forward curiously, confident in their safety even as the other lions circled and came in close to David. Even though their brother lion had not been a part of their pride for all that long, they were not willing in the slightest to let any harm come to him at all.

Yet they bored of amusing themselves around the humans, pacing away and taking their time to simply be and exist as lions. They had been fed up close to the centre and lodges that day, and David licked his chops, relishing in the feel of being full and satisfied. It was a good feeling, something that was even more appreciated than it would have been if he had been walking around the nature reserve as a human being.

A lion was better. Far better.

Away from the fence and viewing area, they took their time to walk and mark their territory again. He seemed to spray more than the other lions and made sure to take his time in marking, not rushing it. The more his scent sank into the ground and the trees, the more he felt like he was a part of it all, belonging there. His pride was there and he was with the pride, a lion not singular.

He didn’t quite know where the thought had come from, though David did understand that it was a little different when it came to him being in the reserve. It was not natural for a man to mark his territory like that, though he still had his human mind in the lion’s body, a hybrid of both, in a way. His tail lifted almost without him thinking of it, though he didn’t feel embarrassed at all about marking his territory, even as urine gushed from him in a rough spray.

It was easier to sink into his lion part, mind softening and easing away all thoughts as the sway of his big, muscular rump pushed him back and forth, comfortable on all fours. It was as if that had been the way that he had moved for his entire life, it came that easily to him, his rump swinging and his balls moving with the swing of his body. If he dropped his tail low enough too, he could feel his tail brushing his balls, adding an extra element of sensation as he teased out something a little more.

His shaft, after all, had to be paid some attention too, sooner or later…

Omari often joined him in spraying and marking, the lion acting naturally, even if they were not like the minds of any lions that David would have ever expected, honestly, to come across. They were different, clear in mind and heart and intent, making it so very easy for him to follow along with Omari’s lead, watching how the more experienced lion showed him precisely how to scrape up the bark on trees, sharpening his claws. There were better ways to do it than how he had been trying so far, though David did not mind having to take things more carefully, at least a little, his tail swishing back and forth, though…

…there were some distractions too.

Not bad distractions, not in the slightest, though if David had been more aware he would have noticed that Omari was giving him space. A lioness, Imani, purred as she sidled up against him, letting the full length of her long, sinuous body rub up against David’s side.

“Greetings…”

Words, not even in their language, were not needed, not as David purred in turn, deep and throaty, though he had not thought that a lion was capable of as much purring before he had joined the pride. He hadn’t even seen his aunt in days and, well, his human life just felt so far away, as if it was a dream and his life there as a lion was his reality.

“Come…”

She moved before him, hunching down a little and lifting her tail, signalling her readiness, though he had never seen a lioness act quite like that before. It was as if she knew that she had to make things even easier for David to see that she was willing and receptive, exposing her slit, so tight and tucked away that it was barely visible under her tail to anyone that wasn’t explicitly looking for it.

He panted softly, chuffing deep in the back of his throat through a raspy breath. His body knew what to do, even if the lion’s mind was racing to catch up, the lioness purring out her want for him.

“Take me,” she said, inviting him with a flick of her tail, exposing herself further to him. “I want you.”

She put it simply for him, yet David’s body had to catch up with her need, even as he chuffed again and scented the air. It was thick with her need, her body ready for mating and releasing pheromones. However, he didn’t need to rely on anything as simple and as basic as body language when they had their language, winding it around them as his sheath, finally, plumped out with his shaft for far more than the simple need of urination.

It was a thick length, powerful and throbbing with need, though such arousal had not flooded him quite like that since he had been transformed into a lion. David gasped lightly, though his flanks shuddered, Imani’s eyes glittering as she looked back at him in the red and gold glow of the early dawn light.

He wanted her and snuffled under her tail softly, nuzzling and lapping, his tongue experimentally stroking over her sex while his body readied itself. His human side felt like he should have been doing more to prepare her, but the lioness knew what she wanted from him and yowled out permission.

“Take me!”

David obeyed her, sliding inside, his cock taking a few prods and pushes to find her slit, for it was not the same as having sex with a woman. No, it was so much better, his large hind paws sinking into the ground, claws digging deep to steady himself, feeling power and muscle rippling through him. She was just one lioness, Imani, but she would become even more special to him than before, all in times to come.

Her succulent heat grasped his cock as he thrust deep, following the rocking rhythm of his body, how he hunched down and around more than he would have in sex, as a man, to fill her. She barely moved, but dropped down with a note of acceptance before him, her tail still shoved off to the side, to keep her need apparent, though her heavy, pleasured panting was more than enough for David. At least, for him to be assured that she was enjoying it as much as he was.

He needed it though, instinct taking over and controlling his thrusts, much to the ecstasy of the lioness. He couldn’t stop now that he had begun and the lioness would not have wanted him to either, not as every stroke filled her completely, using every inch of his cock. She yowled and clawed at the ground, but in her shrieking lust was a cry for him to keep going, even though every passionate stroke of his throbbing member was greater and more potent than he had ever imagined it could be.

More so than being a man… So much more so, as David thrust and thrust, his cock raking back and forth inside her, that he doubted that he would ever want to return home to being human ever again.

But that would be something to consider later, much later, his barbed cock grinding up deeply inside her. Her body, however, was readily designed for a rougher kind of mating and he could only try to follow her lead, even if he twinged with concern for her. Despite following instinct, he didn’t want to harm Imani in the slightest.

Omari, however, had chosen another lioness, a beauty with glowing, rich fur with almost a russet hint to it. David should have known her name, but he was too caught up in his own pleasure to think of that, eyes grazing Omari’s as the two male lions took their pleasure with their partners. Omari’s cock was smaller than David’s, purely as David was the larger lion, taking their lionesses together, in tandem, well and truly brothers in the heated lust of the pride.

Omari’s lioness, perhaps even his mate, yowled as he sank inside her, setting up a pace that David would have called more brutal, though the lioness seemed to love it, rocking back against him and lifting her hips a little more from the ground. Even though the traditional mating position had the lioness lying on the ground, that did not have to be the case for them when they could think it through, changing things and positions so that their pleasure was heightened.

Imani moaned under him, ducking her head, orgasm gripping her. He would learn, in time, just how to bring her to orgasm much more quickly than he had that time, the barbs of his cock pricking and pulling through her pussy as he thrust. Yet the clench and pull of her cunny around him milked him of his load, pleasure shooting even higher, losing control that, frankly, David did not think that he had.

It was just so intoxicating, the kind of sex that he could have gone on and on through, night and day. There was nothing about it that was not right for him, panting heavily as he released excess heat from his mouth, tail lashing the air with a thick, obsidian tuft of fur right at the tip. Imani grunted and rocked back against him, though Omari’s chosen lioness still took a kind of control all of her own, rocking and humping up higher than Imani. Yet it did not matter what each lioness chose to do, not as they all took their pleasure from each other.

It was up to them. Even as Omari climaxed first, very nearly in time with the lioness under him, the lioness that he was mounting with such feral, rough pleasure. She roared and lifted her tail high as he crammed her pussy full with his cock, clearly clenching and rippling around him, massaging his cock with her passage. Even if it was inadvertent, it was more than enough for Omari to tremble in utter bliss, relishing in it, sinking into the moment more than anything else.

There was nothing more that the lions could do that could make such encounters better for them. They didn’t have to overthink it, however, not like human beings, letting carnal lust and passion power them through, with each and every rolling stroke of their hips.

For David, it was beyond anything that he could ever have comprehended as a human. Pleasure raced through him and he swore Imani was thrust into a second climax under him, her pussy slick and wet around his cock, tightening as if she was trying to grip him harder, to pull him deeper. It was all needed, all so very much, pulling and tugging, rippling around him.

What he didn’t know was that his very own aunt was there, in a jeep, watching them from a distance. Of course, she would never have interfered with the natural lives of the lions, but, well, she’d just wanted to see how David was doing. She hadn’t expected to find him enjoying his lion form quite that much, but she wasn’t going to tell him not to. It was all for him, after all, to use as he saw fit and she could only feel glad, in that moment, that she had finally gotten him to take a proper break and holiday.

He didn’t see her there, even if the other lions acknowledged her presence, each keeping a respectful distance. David could only think of thrusting harder and faster, his powerful body grinding into her without any sense of shame, merely taking in all the sexual bliss that was there for him to catch in his giant jaws. His teeth glistened in the easing light at the end of the day as he blasted out a roar, his great flanks trembling with the force of his cry, letting loose his lust.

Hot, sticky ropes of lion cum splattered up inside the lioness, though David had no true sense of the force of his spurts of cum, not as he thrust through it, drooling splatters oozing out around the length of his cock. He had to keep going though, instinct guiding him, several more barbed thrusts pulling from him until he sank deep and stayed there, shuddering. Every last drop of his seed flooded her and Imani purred, tired but satisfied, trying, even then, to arch and rub back up against him.

“Cubs… Later,” she said, though he thought that her words were a promise too. “Again, David!”

So it was that he mounted her again and again, as many times over as Imani wanted him to, though the other lionesses were interested in him too. It was Imani, that night, that kept them away with a yowl and a hiss, defending the mate that she had chosen for that time, even if lions would be shared around amongst the lionesses. The pride did not practice monogamy, not as humans did. As long as everyone was happy, David was more than content to continue exploring his kinky breeding prowess as a male stud lion.

He lost track of the days and how time was passing, not minding as he relaxed amongst the pride, even getting to hunt a zebra when their hunger and prey drive grew to such a point that it had to be satisfied. It was a quick kill and an easy meal, however, shared amongst the pride, everyone getting their fair share.

On the last day of his holiday, which he had not even realised had come, his aunt met him close to the visitor centre, their tourists having left for that week.

“So, how are you enjoying your lion form?” She asked, not giving away the fact that she had caught him mating with Imani. “Are you ready to transform back now?”

Even though he could still think and talk in a lion’s language, the problem there was that he could not speak in the human tongue. And that was okay too, for, in a way, he had found a new lease on life amongst the pride of other lions, the place where he belonged. He’d always been called there, back to the nature reserve, time after time again, but he had never thought of staying there, of how it had always felt like home because he was meant to be out there as a lion.

He shook his head, smiling widely, though it looked a lot more fearsome than his old, human smile. Better too – at least, in his opinion.

His aunt cocked her head, though the smile pulling at her lips betrayed that, maybe, just maybe, she had cottoned on a little more to what he meant, anticipating it. Yet David did not know just how he could have not wanted what he was about to agree to.

“You’re not ready to transform back?” His aunt clarified, one hand on her hip. “Your mother will surely be expecting you to stop by before you head back to work, you know. Or would you rather stay here?”

He made himself quite clear, shaking his head again and taking a big step back to sit down, quite firmly, on his haunches, so that he was with his pride again. The other lions had settled a little further back from his aunt and him, just to give them a little space, but space was not something that he needed in that regard, not honestly. He was close with the lions and would have much rather been pressed up against them, feeling the soft brush and sway of their tails, the easy muscle that layered their entire forms.

Aunt Anna smiled more widely.

“I thought this might be the place for you. But, you do still have a life to live. How about I arrange to extend your holiday a little, for now, and then I’ll show you exactly how to transform into a lion anytime you like?”

He cocked his head, half-lifting a paw in question: what?

“You have a life still, David, but you can come back anytime,” she added, running her fingers gently through his mane. “You can make the choice yourself, able to transform back and forth, and decide then. But you can have plenty more time to enjoy your form now.”

He liked that idea very much. For he had, well and truly, a foot in each world: the world of the lions and the world that he had come from. Maybe, one day, he would be ready to decide on which world he was going to live in full-time, but there was nothing that was going to force him to decide. And just why should he not have everything he wanted, after all, if he could have both?

Anna smiled, pressing her hands together. Even if she had had to surprise him with his initial transformation, she was glad to see that it had all, very swiftly, worked out for the best. She’d only expected David to want to meet his lion buddies face to face, yet even she, from a distance, could see how the bond and relationship between them all had developed – and so quickly too! Soon, in the months to come, there would be lion cubs running around and learning to play and socialise and even hunt, cubs that came from David’s seed.

Perhaps it was not a conventional way to think about her nephew, but, well, Anna was not a conventional kind of woman either. That was why she had taken one litter of cubs too, herself, from another lion, many years back. Letting David experience that all too and make his choice was the best gift she could give him.

He ran with his pride, loping with a long, easy stride that was ground-covering while it lasted. With miles and miles of wilderness to explore, he made the most of the moment, considering that he would have to experience another kind of life and world soon enough, but lions were good at not worrying about what was to come.

He would only, in the end, be able to transform into a lion when he was within the bounds of the lion park, for it took that sacred soil to elicit the help of the old, old magic and spirits, but that was okay. David could not imagine ever wanting to transform anywhere else, if he was honest, always finding ways to come back to the safari park, though he was no longer the useful helper that he had been. He had a far more important job to do with the pride, living his own life, settling into his stride as a lion on every return.

But that was for the future. Omari, the pride leader, was content to have him there, a brother to enjoy the lionesses with, though the lionesses could be quite demanding too, for the needs that they served. He’d been quieter, before David’s appearance as a lion, yet having a brother there, a true brother, slotted something into place for him, letting him come through, even his fur glossier and gleaming with a sultrier glow of golden tawny.

Together, every one of the lions was stronger. Together, every one of the lions was more powerful. They needed one another, the pride coming together, delighting in their power, their relaxed, safe way of life, the existence that they led.

One day, David would return to the pride and he would never leave. Until then, he returned every time that he could, watching his cubs be born, growing up big and strong.

Baring his teeth at a starry night sky, with Omari at his side, David roared, showing his teeth, sharing his joy in a feral lion’s passion with the rest of the reserve, the miles and miles of unspoilt nature that was there. All for them, all existing as it should.

With his new pride, he had finally found himself.