CHAPTER 2 — THE LIONESS'S DECISION
Every instinct screamed at me to run.
But my legs refused to move.
The lioness walked slowly across the wet stones, her massive paws making almost no sound. Every step brought her closer. Her amber eyes never left mine, and I could feel my heartbeat pounding against my ribs.
This was how people died in the wild.
One wrong place.
One wrong moment.
One hungry predator.
I slowly raised my empty hands, trying to appear as harmless as possible.
"I don't want to hurt you," I whispered, though I knew she couldn't understand my words.
The lion cub trotted toward its mother and rubbed its tiny head against her powerful front leg. The lioness lowered her nose and carefully sniffed the cub from head to tail.
She paused.
Then she looked back at me.
The silence was unbearable.
Suddenly, the lioness let out a deep roar that echoed through the entire valley.
The sound shook the mountains.
Birds exploded from the trees.
The ground seemed to vibrate beneath my feet.
I was certain it was the warning before the attack.
Instead...
she did something I never expected.
She walked directly past me.
So close that I could see every scar across her face.
Every drop of rain clinging to her whiskers.
Every slow breath leaving her nostrils.
She could have killed me with one swipe of her paw.
But she didn't.
She stopped beside the cliff where I had rescued her cub.
For several seconds she stared into the abyss.
Then she turned toward me once again.
Her eyes no longer looked filled with anger.
They looked... thoughtful.
Almost grateful.
The cub suddenly ran back toward me.
It rubbed against my leg before returning to its mother.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
It was almost as if the little lion wanted to thank me.
The lioness nudged the cub gently with her head, and together they began walking deeper into the forest.
I watched until they disappeared among the trees.
Finally, I breathed again.
My hands were shaking so badly I could barely pick up my backpack.
I thought everything was over.
I was wrong.
As I started hiking back toward the trail, I noticed something strange.
Fresh tire tracks.
Deep.
Heavy.
There were no roads anywhere near these mountains.
Who had driven here?
Curiosity got the better of me.
Following the tracks through the forest, I soon heard voices.
I crouched behind a fallen tree.
Three armed men stood beside two off-road trucks.
Large metal cages were loaded onto trailers.
Inside one cage...
another lion cub cried desperately.
Inside another...
a wounded leopard paced in terror.
One man laughed.
"The mother won't leave the area. Once she comes looking for the cub tonight, we'll catch her too."
My blood froze.
Poachers.
They hadn't accidentally crossed paths with the lion family.
They had been hunting them all along.
One of the men unfolded a tranquilizer rifle.
"That lioness is worth a fortune alive."
Without thinking, I quietly pulled out my camera.
I zoomed in and began taking photographs.
License plates.
Faces.
Weapons.
Animal cages.
Evidence.
Then...
CRACK!
A dry branch snapped beneath my boot.
Every head turned toward me.
"There!"
"Someone's watching us!"
Gunfire exploded through the forest.
I ran.
Branches whipped across my face as bullets struck trees behind me.
I didn't know these mountains well enough to escape.
But someone else did.
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From somewhere deep in the forest came a thunderous roar.
The lioness.
