The pride had only taken a few tentative steps out into the house's
garden when suddenly a beam of light started wafting over the gate and
into the front yard. Instinctively and quietly they all took cover.
"Who the hell is that?" Josh hissed to Rex and Mendez, who had hidden
in the same bush as him. "Do you think they saw us?"
"I don't think so," Mendez said uncertainly, his eyes wide, breathing
slow. "I don't know."
The lion men's hunter instincts were kicking into overdrive as they
lay in the bush. Thanks to their improved sense of sight and smell
they were able to see that Ric had hidden across the path from them,
unable to pick anywhere else at the time.
Footsteps came closer, and then there were voices, two men.
"You sure this is the house?" the one with the flashlight said.
"Yep. Seems like a prank call if you ask me. How could full grown
lions end up here? There's not been any report from zoos, either..."
The first one sighed, opening the gate and coming into view, waving
the torch all over the garden and looking in the windows. "Nothing?"
the other asked.
"No, nothing. I guess we'll head back."
Upon hearing this the three lionmen breathed an inward sigh of relief.
Something told them that getting caught would not bode well. The
flashlight man was stood so close to them that they could practically
smell his scent.
"Wait," the second one said, coming up behind his colleague just as he
was going to turn around, pointing to something. "The front door's
open. And the lights are off. And what's that smell?"
Josh cursed under his breath. All that mating and he hadn't thought
twice about the unholy musky scent it must've left. He'd totally
forgot about the door, too.
"We better go in," the first man decided. "Hold this," he said,
passing the flashlight as the two stepped over the threshold
carefully.
The three lion men looked at each other, then over to Ric in the
opposite bush. They shot each other a look - what now?