Heart of the Pride

Due to some odd quirk of fate, young human trader Luca has been chosen as the new patriarch for a pride of leonin, the lion people. Thankfully, Aditi, the sweet and motherly matriarch of the pride has a plan to help him settle into his new marital duties, and has even recruited some help to do so.

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If you spot any typos, do please let me know in the comments!

Thank you and I hope you enjoy the story.

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Luca tried his best to relax in his room, though so far not having much success. He had tried his best to be productive by fastidiously washing and perfuming himself so fastidiously that if he were to do it one more time, he'd probably peel his skin off.

The lovely aroma of the incense burner tickled his nostrils, helping him with the tension of his muscles as he laid on the silken sheets and soft mattress of his woven bed, but his mind couldn't slow down and going over and over again how he had ended in this odd, yet exciting, situation.

His family had been traders for generations, it seemed, Luca having learned the ropes of the family business from both his father and grandfather; trading silks, spices and other wonderful items from the far east.

Most of this trade happened through intermediaries, the distances being so vast that products often needed to change hands before reaching their destination. Many merchant houses had taken to using magical aides in this process, with minor sending spells to maintain communication and perhaps even hiring wizards and sorcerers to move things faster or even teleport them.

But ultimately, most of this trade still happened the old fashioned way, with long carefully arranged caravans that crossed seas, plains, deserts, jungles and whatever was necessary to make their goods reach those who desired them and were willing to pay the price.

For the longest time, Luca's grandfather had been planning a long expedition to the east, to carefully map the route the goods they were purchasing were taking, and perhaps hire some trustworthy people to ensure things run smoothly every step of the way.

As fate would have it, preparations for this massive trip were finished around the time Luca came of age, and the young trader, tired of his city and hungry to see the world, decided to join the voyage, much to the delight of his grandfather who had hoped several of his grandchildren would join and perhaps take positions along the route, for who better to leave in charge than family. Or at least, so did his grandfather think.

It had been an arduous yet spectacular adventure, with their caravan witnessing many wonders they could have never experienced back home. And not just that, but as they crossed rivers and mountains Luca became more and more fascinated with the culture and peoples, human or otherwise, that lay beyond their small world back home.

Their months-long trip had finally taken them past a mighty river that seemed to cut a gigantic mountain range in twain, and on the other side of it they had been confronted by shrublands and savanna-like forests.

Here, in this far away land they found the city of Dhola, an important stepping stone in their routes, for it overlooked both a vital mountain pass to its north and a busy riverport to its south, making the city rich with exotic goods and information to be shared.

Despite humans normally being the major species of anywhere they went, Dhola had not been founded or was even populated by a big contingent of humans, though they were still the biggest minority. The main people inhabiting it were the local leonin, which as the name given to them by humans implied, shared many similarities with the lions in the nearby forests and shrublands, but they walked on two legs and talked just like humans and most other sapient species did.

The same way there wasn't a single type of human, there wasn't a single type of leonin, and those local to Dhola had developed their own traditions and customs.

While Luca had never had the chance to check this first hand, from the books he had gathered it seemed that leonin from Dhola were smaller than their cousins from other latitudes, making them comparable in size to humans, though from personal experience Luca could tell they were usually bulkier and more muscular.

Society in Dhola was formed around prides, which was the leonin's common family unit. It normally involved a single male leonin, that was to be the father and patriarch of the pride, and an unspecified number of females, some having as little as just two while some others had up to eight or even more. Regardless, the most common number of females in a pride was about five from what he had seen.

While most prides just existed during the lifespan of their members, and formed for the same reason marriages usually happened in all species, that is to say, their members had fallen in love... some had stood the test of time and become almost like noble families in the city. When a member of one of these prides passed away, a young promising leonin was adopted into the family, this potentially keeping them going for centuries in some cases.

Like in most societies, the people of Dhola were strict in trying to avoid consanguinity though, tradition and law dictating that the patriarch and his wives could not be related by blood, even going so far to specify by how many familial degrees they had to be separated at the very least.

But since established prides were very much families, and they wanted to keep their influence and history within their family tree, what had ended up happening is that the patriarch more often than not was the one with no relation to any of the women in the pride.

It made sense, while the patriarch was alive and virile enough to sire children, he would do so with his wives, and once he passed, the surviving women of the pride would adopt their daughters or granddaughters into it while bringing in an outsider male with no blood relation to them whatsoever.

To help things along when a young patriarch came in, it was tradition for some of the women in the pride, particularly those no longer fertile, to take a step back, so to speak, making room for younger women to take their place. This was not codified in law anywhere, but it was so common as to be basically a de facto rule. These women that took a step were still part of the family, and technically still part of the pride till death, and thus still were cared for and sustained by it, but in reality they were very much free to live life as they pleased.

Some stayed dedicated to their homes for their whole lives, helping to raise the children of the pride, keep their household in order, or focusing in the family business, while others made a clean break and went on to do their own thing, perhaps moving in with life-long friends in another pride, an adventure in a new city, or just enjoying hedonistic pleasures until their body couldn't take it anymore.

In recent years, as the population became healthier and started to live much longer, it had become acceptable for a patriarch to voluntarily retire too, though there was no hard and fast rule for it. All of these people that were still healthy and active would then normally disengage from the politics of the city and its day to day running, leaving it in the hands of a younger generation while continuing to help in a reduced manner.

Regardless, all of this meant that while the patriarch was honoured in day to day life, and patriarchs of influential prides had very high status... their society at large was mainly matriarchal, with the women in the prides accumulating more and more power through the years, till the patriarchs had basically become comfortable and well loved figureheads, with most choosing an unofficial matriarch that spoke for all members of the pride.

While it wasn't legally required to do so, and sometimes prides just flat out chose a new patriarch in private, it was common for the older women in the pride to hold something like a pageant or contest to find the most desirable man to effectively marry their daughters and continue their line.

And thus, Luca concluded, it came back to him.

After spending a few weeks in the city, negotiating deals and making arrangements, Luca's grandfather had approached him with a request. Since he had noticed how enamoured his grandchild had become of the local culture, he asked him if he wished to stay and be their family's representative in the city.

Luca had thought long and hard about this, unsure about his future in this remote place, but his grandfather had been correct in noticing his fascination with the city and their inhabitants, so in the end he had decided to embrace the challenge and stay.

Settling in had been somewhat challenging, not because the leonin didn't want him here, as mentioned before they had many human visitors and settlers, but rather because their housing was not really designed for a single man to live on their own. Most young leonin stayed with their families until they joined a pride of their own or they took their chances outside the city, where they were well regarded for their strength and feline senses.

In the end, he just opted to pay for a room long term in a local inn, and made it both his home and little office.

After a year in the city, while he was not rolling in riches, he had made a good amount of business with the local traders interested in sending their goods back to his native land, and to his pleasant surprise, he had started to receive invitations to events and other social encounters.

But while most of these engagements had been invitations to perhaps make connections, discuss deals or curry favor with one another's, one particular invitation stood out from all the others. It was one to choose a new patriarch.

The Ohja pride was one of the oldest ones in the city, probably going back to its very founding, with many famous healers, priests and herbalists bearing their name. Their patriarch had suddenly passed away last year, sometime before Luca moved it, but now their period of mourning was over, and the head of their household, Aditi, had summoned many men from across the city to select who would be their new patriarch.

Luca of course attended, it would have been incredibly rude to reject the invitation, but he assumed he would be at the event mostly as a formality, perhaps because the Ohja wished to discuss business with his own family in the future.

The event had been held in one of the city's temples, a truly extravagant party with delicious food, dancing and drinking galore. As expected, many of the city's bachelors attended, trying to make an impression on the attending women of the pride so they may choose them as their new patriarch.

But it turned out that Luca had made a mistake, perhaps a fortuitous one, but a mistake nonetheless. He had assumed, incorrectly, that not attending the event would have been rude, when in reality, the social expectation was to only attend if you were truly interested in the position, for while there were less leonin males than females, it could still be a challenge for many young men to find a pride, with many leaving to other lands in search of fortune and perhaps a mate. Thus, coming to such an event without the intent to give it your all, was seen as potentially stealing the role in a pride from someone that truly wanted it.

His other mistake was assuming that him being human automatically disqualified him from the position, but it turned out that this was also not true, and while extremely uncommon, technically any man capable of siring children with the women of the pride was eligible. And well, humans and leonin could indeed interbreed.

So when all the bachelors sat around a table with the women of the pride present, and they were to introduce themselves and say why did they think they'd be a perfect new patriarch, Luca said with full honesty that he didn't think himself worthy of the role, and wished all the others luck while giving his heartfelt thanks to his hosts for the invitation.

If glares could kill, he would have been torn to pieces there and then, the outrage of the other bachelors palpable through the rest of the night. However, for some reason, his words really seemed to amuse matriarch Aditi, who demanded calm and decorum from those present and kept throwing glances at him while they all ate.

After dinner was over and the floor was open for drinks and dancing, giving everyone a chance to mingle and perhaps make an impression, Aditi took Luca away to a quiet corner, covering him from the murderous glares of the other bachelors, and patiently explained to him why he seemed to have drawn the ire of the rest of the guests.

He had, of course, apologised profusely and offered to take his leave to avoid further embarrassment, but the keen leonin woman had confronted him with quite a question.

"Do you wish to leave because you don't want to be our patriarch... or because you think you would be a bad patriarch?"

This had stopped Luca in his tracks, the keen and beautiful gaze of the matriarch's emerald green eyes forcing him to dig out an honest answer from deep within himself, and after a few quiet moments of contemplation he was finally forced to confess that the idea of being the patriarch for such a prestigious, and beautiful, pride of women such as hers would be a dream come true, for he had fantasized about something like it many times since moving to Dhola.

His answer had seemingly pleased Aditi, who smiled at him while moving closer with a purr and placing one of her warm hands over his. She then started drilling him with questions about everything and anything, though at the time Luca didn't feel as if he was being interrogated, or perhaps interviewed, since the matriarch's gentle gaze, soft voice and reassuring touch basically disarmed him completely and melted his anxieties into nothingness.

After a conversation that seemed impossible to finish and the matriarch had to cut short so she could see to the other candidates, she nuzzled his cheek and gave him a loving lick, asking him to please stay there while she sent over some people to ensure he had enough food and drink for the night.

What followed was all the women of the pride coming over to see him one by one, each bringing some drink and food to share while they conversed with him. Each chat was different, with one of the women asking him deep questions about his feelings, his philosophy and other deep subjects, while another happily spent her time with him just drinking and telling him about her rather interesting life. The most curious had been one that started asking Luca unashamedly lewd questions, which he tried answering as best he could while blushing like mad.

The event well went past midnight, the women of the pride enjoying the company of their guests as they all drunk and danced, with many of the present bachelors trying to impress those present with feats of strength, endurance and... dancing, as being a good dancer was considered quite attractive for a man in Dhola.

Eventually the morning came and all the tired participants went their separate ways, though Aditi held back Luca a bit just in case the other bachelors still felt outrage at him. Just before he left, she gave him a big hug, pressing his head onto her warm and soft motherly bosom and told him how much she looked forward to seeing him again.

Luca wasn't aware at the time, just feeling that he had become good friends with the matriarch and nothing else, but Aditi had made her decision there and then.

A few days later, a messenger went to fetch him at his room at the inn, and invited him to come as soon as possible to the Ohja household. Luca suspected this was a summon for all the bachelors to let them know they had not been chosen for the role as patriarch, but when he arrived it turned out to be completely the reverse.

He was taken to a ceremonial room that had been decorated from top to bottom with flowers, coloured paper and aromatic oil lamps, in which the women of the pride had assembled to see him and, to his shock, offer him the role of patriarch.

Luca was utterly shocked, which amused the other women, who thought they had made it pretty obvious they found him both interesting and cute, and they politely demanded to know his answer.

For a moment, Luca thought about turning them down, still unsure if he was worthy and fearing not just failing them, but leaving them ashamed for having taken such an atypical choice in him.

But before he could say something that he'd regret all his life, Aditi had come forward once more and held his face with her warm hands, her silky fur making his fears melt into nothingness once more. She looked at him with her green eyes, utterly piercing into his soul, and asked him the same thing she asked him the other night.

"Do you wish to leave because you don't want to be our patriarch... or because you think you would be a bad patriarch?"

Luca stared back at her, utterly lost in her eyes. He had raised his hands to hold hers, and once more opened up like a book, unable to keep anything from her. "You are all so beautiful, and your pride is so important, I'm afraid I will bring you shame and disappoint you..." he said, almost crying as he told her the truth.

But she had smiled and gently moved to kiss him, the licks on her short snout locking with his, forcing the young man to push away his thoughts for a second and give himself to her in a long passionate kiss unlike any he had ever experienced.

"It is because of your humility that I first became interested in you..." she said, caressing his face, "do not be afraid of failure, be afraid of not trying..."

Luca just stared at her, awestruck.

"Now, what we need to know, what I wish to hear... is this..." she said, holding his hands tightly, "if you were to become our patriarch, would you pour your heart and soul into it, doing your absolute best to make us proud and happy...?"

Luca looked at her, taking a deep breath before speaking again. "Yes... I would..." he said, filled with determination thanks to Aditi.

She smiled in response, clearly pleased before she spoke again. "Will you then join us as our patriarch, and thus give yourself to us so our family continues on, grows strong, happy and healthy for many moons to come?"

Luca smiled, almost crying with excitement. "Yes, I will, if you would have me..." he said, bringing her hands closer to his face and pressing his cheeks against them.

Aditi was clearly delighted with this reaction of his, and let out a soft purr as he enjoyed her fur. "Then it is with great joy that I welcome you to your family, patriarch Luca," she said, kissing him again.

All the other women of the pride advanced towards him, putting their hands on his and kissing him just like Aditi had done.

Once the whole pride had gathered around him, Aditi spoke once more as they all purred in unison while embracing him. "And just as you vow to give it your all so the pride grows strong, happy and healthy, we swear the same to you, for you are family now, and it is our duty to care for you just like you care for us."

Luca got nuzzled from all directions as he melted into a happy puddle between his new wives. A kernel of panic was still bouncing around his mind, but their sweet and loving presence dampened it until it was buried deep into his mind.

The following days had been, ironically, more about logistics than anything else, moving his few possessions to his new household, getting a tour around the premises, filling out all required paperwork, for Dhola law demanded such things were properly registered, and of course, meeting everyone in the family.