1st POV]
(1 month later)
I've really done it.
I got them pregnant.
It has been a month already since the Playboy arc, and many females are experiencing a change in hormones and are no longer coming into heat. There were four lionesses who experienced such changes.
It was the early signs of pregnancy. These females are Zuri, Nala, Tala, and, strangely enough, the older lioness Amara. I expected the first three lionesses because I spent most time with them and they were my favourites.
But luck had also gotten Amara. You should've seen her smug and proud face when she realised she was pregnant.
After more than a month, my injuries were already healed as well. There were scars all over my body; they were bigger than I would've liked, but would probably fade over time.
I had been active for a week now. And more active than I had ever been, to be honest. Not only did my patrol range increase, but I was consistent in hunting down prey too.
I was going to be a father. And I think that knowledge ignited some primal instinct in me.
The researchers were very interested in the topic of pregnancy as well. The number of humans monitoring us increased subtly. It was obvious because now there were two vehicles constantly parked in our vicinity.
Although that didn't last for long. I displayed a clear sign of dislike towards the second jeep and the new humans it contained. I did not want to be treated like some specimen or circus clown to watch.
So now there was only one group of researchers. The original crew, those were the only ones I wanted to keep around me.
...
The sun was already nearing its height in the sky by the time I returned from my early patrol. My body had stains of blood from one rogue I tracked down and killed. He was running from me, so it took the whole morning to catch him, even with Grim's help in the sky.
I reached the human researchers before I reached my pride. But something was off that day because Dr Tonson was out of the vehicle and came towards me.
"Hey Leo!!" He called out with a wave to get my attention.
I stopped and turned to look at him and at the thing he had in his hands.
"Look what I have here!!" he said, and on his right hand was a piece of meat.
I deadpanned. What the hell were they up to?
"See this? See this?? Look at this," he said and put the meat on the ground before moving away.
I turned direction and headed towards him out of sheer curiosity. When I got closer, I could see other pieces of meat on the ground. They formed a path leading to a place beside where they parked their vehicle.
I deadpanned even harder. The set-up was straight out of a cartoon. I knew immediately that they were trying to lure me somewhere.
I lowered my head to sniff at the meat and quickly realised that it was the meat of a warthog.
That made me pause to process their sheer ignorance. Here I was, dining on premium buffalo meat whenever I wanted and they tried to lure me with what, a pig's meat? That was like trying to invite Gordon Ramsy to your home with the proposal of making instant cup noodles.
"No?" Dr Tonson almost shrunk when I turned to him without even touching the meat.
He reached inside his pocket and took out a protein bar which he quickly unwrapped and showed to me.
"You want this?" he asked once more and this time, I was interested.
Protein bar or human foods in general was something I could not get when I wanted. Although buffalo meat was still better even as a source of protein, I valued their rarity.
He held his hand high when I walked close to him and I ate the bar from his hand. My mouth was the same level as his head.
"I told them this would work better, they didn't listen," he said and took out another bar.
But this time, he did not give it to me and instead used that as a lure. He led me to where he wanted and I followed behind him after contemplating.
When we reached beside the car, I finally saw the weird platform they had on the ground. After a few seconds, I realized that it was a platform scale. The scale was set atop another platform they made so that the uneven ground would not interfere with the measurement.
They wanted to weigh me.
I looked around and there were five other researchers, some in the vehicle whereas Ramirez and Hana were beside the scale. The man had his camera out to capture every moment.
On the scale there were organs. I suppose those were the same organs of the warthog and they were hoping I could climb on the scale to eat that.
It was a silly plan, quite cute if I was being honest.
I walked to the scale and quickly inhaled the organs without climbing on the scale.
Ramirez groaned, "I told you we should've fixed the meat on a pole or something,"
But little did they know, they don't need to do all this. I was infinitely curious to know my exact weight and size as well. So after I cleaned the scale of the organs, I stepped up.
There was a small screen at the edge of the scale. The platform itself was big but I still had to curl my body to fit there. Everyone gawked and celebrated when they saw me climb on the scale.
We all looked at the numbers shown.
"442.7 kilograms," Hana read out loud, she released a shaky laugh, "That's nearly half a ton,"
I tilted my head in wonder too.
"He has not grown as much compared to previous months. His body had to heal instead of growing after all," Dr Tonson concluded.
"But I suppose he would definitely hit or maybe surpass half a ton," he added afterwards. The humans on the vehicle were jotting down everything on a notebook they had in hand.
"Thank you my lord," Dr Tonson said and threw the bar at me. I caught it with a snap of my jaw, my movement causing everyone to flinch back.
I climbed off the scale and headed back to my pride afterwards. The humans were busy with their new discovery so I left them be.
The scent of females wafted over my nose when I reached the pride. Although four were pregnant, there were still many females hoping to get pregnant too.
Here we go again.
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[3rd POV]
"The females are pregnant," a researcher walked in on the large tent of the main station. She held with her test results written down on paper. The humans had been tracking in any way they can about the health of Leo and his pride.
This was possible because the crew, the special crew as they now referred to as, were tolerated by the pride. They could get research materials without having to tranquilize or use any other force.
The lions had seen them as a part of their pride almost, like the vultures perhaps.
"Hmm? Give that to me," Dr Tonson asked, his study glass on his face.
Dr Tonson and some other researchers were busy making a new profile for Leo at his current stage. They had his exact height and weight measurement, also getting the hormone level, his genetic material and all that stuff.
They even had his semen to study and to be truthfully honest, the thought of impregnating a lioness in hopes of studying his offsprings came to mind.
Dr Tonson took the papers and carefully read it through for a few seconds. He took his glasses with a chuckle, "The man really did it. We thought the chance of pregnancy would be low since he has so many females and has the habit of spreading his affection instead of choosing heavy favourites,"
Emmanuel took the paper and read through it briefly, "Them seeds strong like him I guess,"
"This provides us the perfect opportunity to study in depth what makes Leo special. Will the offsprings inherit his genes? If they did, this could be big in finally realizing what makes Leo, well Leo," Dr Tonson said.
"For sure," Emmanuel agreed.
"Thank you sweetheart. Do try to pinpoint who these pregnant females are and make sure you track their pregnancy closely," Dr Tonson said while handing back the papers to the researcher.
Emmanuel returned back to his seat and sat down. He leaned back on his chair and put his feet on the table. But he did not return back to his work. Instead, he stared off at the empty space thoughtfully.
For a few minutes there was silence. Dr Tonson returned back to his works but noticed Emmanuel's weird behaviour.
When Dr Emmanuel took out cigarettes and started smoking, he finally turned and asked.
"Anything wrong?"
"Me? Nothing. Nothing's wrong," Dr Emmanuel said and took a long drag of his cig before blowing the smoke at the old man's face.
"What do you think? It's my thing to smoke when I'm stressed. Of course there is something wrong," Emmanuel said.
"Well, it will be helpful if you share what bothers you so,"
"Poachers," Dr Emmanuel said without missing a beat.
"Poachers?"
"The rangers have caught some, but there are signs that more are still out there. And if Leo were to have cubs..."
"You think they will try to steal the cubs?" Dr Tonson asked.
"Although we try, Leo's existence is not actually a secret anymore. Many people, especially those in animal fields know about him and his significance. Chances are, it is not just us that are interested in his cubs," Dr Emmanuel said.
"You really think so?"
"Some Dubai prince who has nothing better to do with his money would spend a fortune," Dr Emmanuel said, "The problem is that Leo wouldn't allow more of us to be stationed near or even close to him. It's hard to keep security in that case,"
Dr Tonson remained quiet but thoughtful as well.
"If Leo keeps going, with the amount of females he would have near hundreds of cubs. Not far fetched that some would get lost right?"
"That's too many assumptions."
"Well assumption is kind of my thing. I even write shit stories in my free time remember," he said.
Dr Tonson chuckled.
"Hopefully, no one does anything stupid,"
Dr Emmanuel laughed hard.
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Author : Two chapters due to yesterday no update.
I always want to keep the six chapter a week schedule even though we are not aiming for rankings anymore.