Page 6 of Lion's Legacy of Flame

And yet it felt to me as good as it might have felt if she’d been trained as part of a sultan’s harem!

Sorry, the point I’m trying to make (poorly, I might add) is that my feelings for Claire go beyond physical even thoughthe physical experience with her was, without question, quite extraordinary. I feel much more for her than makes sense to me. I feel deeply for her. It doesn’t confuse me because Claire is unworthy of deep feelings or anything like that at all. On the contrary, I believe Claire is a remarkable woman more than worthy of affection, adoration, and more.

But I know so little about her, and Lions are plodding thinkers. We don’t make enormous life decisions immediately. Friendships develop over years, not weeks. Relationships happen with the girls we grow up with. We keep our surroundings organized, and we keep our lives organized as well. We are driven by thought and by organized processes.

We don’t discount emotions like the aliens in… Vulcans. Like the Vulcans. We don’t discount emotions at all. We have things organized to maximize our joy. We avoid chaos because chaos is likely to cause negative, unhappy emotions. Lions are quite emotional. We just don’t make emotional decisions. All of this is hardwired into us. It’s hardwired into our natural counterparts as well. A pride survives because it operates as a pride.

Human scientists think they understand prides, but they don’t. It’s not as egregious as the misunderstandings about wolves where naturalists came up with the entirely incorrect alpha wolf concept. They weren’t studying a pack of wolves in the wild but a family of wolves in captivity. The leader wasn’t an alpha. It was a father. Anyway, scientists aren’t quite as egregiously wrong about Lions but they’re still wrong.

In the wild, a lion pride is organized around?a core group of closely related female lionesses. These are most often littermates and their mothers and daughters. They form the foundation of the pride. A coalition of male lions joins to defend the territory the tribe claims. Human scientists mistakenly treat the prides as matriarchal because of the female core, but they’re not. Every male or female has a role, and the leader is a male lion.

The females are primarily responsible for hunting and raising cubs. The males guard against threats, which are almost always other lions.?Putting matriarchy or patriarchy on a pride of lions or, for that matter, almost any predator species, is foolish. One lion usually emerges as the dominant male, leading the pride and making key decisions in some cases, but for the most part, decisions are made cooperatively. Those are natural lions.

Shifter lions are a little bit different but still based on a clear structure and division of duties. So, we’re very good in team roles that are clearly defined.

“Hey, uh, Brady?”

My internal monologue ramblings break apart with Thomas’ interruption. I step off the treadmill in the house gym and look at our newest recruit. He’s a wolf shifter, young and full of energy. I kind of envy his free spirit. Right now, though, he looks terrified.

“What’s up, man?”

“Um, there is a school bus sitting outside and the teacher and some other guy, just stepped off and said they’re ready for the tour. Do you know about any tour? Garrett didn’t mention anything and I don’t know what to do about ...”

“Hey, just relax. Tell them I’ll be right out to get things going. Now, you’re going to be around to help me wrangle these guys, okay, but I’ll do the heavy lifting. So, again, just be calm and give me enough time to check the schedule. Okay?”

Thomas almost sags with relief. “Yeah, okay, I’ll, uh, go let them know.”

He takes off and I start swearing under my breath. I want to believe that Garrett didn’t schedule something like this for when he would be out of the firehouse, but I know how distracted he can get.

Sure enough, when I check the calendar, I see a notation about the tour. The date is correct, today’s date, damn it. He justgot the day of the week wrong, putting it on next Monday instead of today.So, they showed up right when they should.

I shrug off the instant thought I have about how Lions make better organizers. Garrett is an outstanding squad captain, and I have no problem running the tour.

I get myself changed into a shirt and jeans, a little more presentable than the gym clothes I was wearing. Then, I head out to meet the group.

Thomas turns to me with such gratitude I almost laugh. The guy didn’t want anything to do with this. Well, he’s going to be my wingman, so he better pull it together.

The kids are fourth graders from the local school. They’re right on that edge between thinking something like this is cool and trying to act too cool to like it. I don’t mind. I’m pretty good with kids, and I’ve done this tour a million times.

I start right at the heart of things, with the trucks. I go over the different types and tell them they’ll get to take pictures in one at the end. Now, they’re showing some interest.

As the tour progresses through our kitchen and our gym and our living quarters, my mind wanders a little. I think of Claire and how she might think about me with these kids. Then, I have the wild thought of what it would be like to have a kid with Claire.

Yeah, this is crazy.

The kids all end up with the trucks again. I hand out stickers and badges and plastic helmets. Again, some are just too cool to put them on or act excited about the gear. Others are super excited and put the stickers and badges on instantly.

I let Thomas handle taking the pics. I hand him the camera and grin. “Your turn to be the cool guy.”

He rolls his eyes but I can see he’s happy as he helps kids hop up into the engine. He even shows them some of the controlsand what they do. A few boys talk him into letting them turn on the siren.He needed to be warmed up, but he does great.

Overall, it’s a great tour and everyone is happy. Crisis averted and we have a great story to tell Garrett when he’s back at the station.

An hour later, I’m back in the gym and my mind wanders back to the ins and outs of lion shifter society. I am thinking my fixation can only be down to one cause, and it’s a beautiful one.

Claire.

Chapter Six

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