“How could you dad! I love him,” Siennah cried as her stepfather prince marched out ahead of her, she pulled him back. “Because he is trouble! And he will only cause harm to this family!” he snarled at her, before turning back to the direction he was walking in. “but he loves me, for me! He wouldn’t hurt me or my family!” she pleaded but her father kept going, ignoring her. “I knew you wouldn’t understand! You never have! You’re not my father and you never will be!” she cried before sprinting off ahead of him.

Her heart was pounding as she reached the den. Her sister Siellah was the first to see her, “oh my god, Siennah! What’s wrong?” she cried hugging her. Siennah fought back tears as she explained everything that had happened over the past two days. Siellah growled at the thought of her step father, and all the sorrow he had caused for the three sisters. “I just don’t know why he is doing it,” Siennah sniffed. “He knows how much Jesus means to me, and Jesus has never done anything to me or the pride… it just doesn’t make any sense.” “Don’t worry about him, he only cares about himself and not others, and no matter what happens… me and Sierrah are always here for you.” Siellah said. The evening air stung Siennah’s tear stained face, and she scowled in disgust as Prince strutted past her, toward his mate Princess. He shot Siennah a triumphant smirk before entering the dark cave. Sierrah, their other sister emerged and immediately ran over when she saw Siennah. “What did the bastard do this time!” she cried. “More of the usual… I don’t know what his problem is!” Siellah complained as rain started to fall over the land. Before long a mighty storm had begun and the heavy downpour soaked the lionesses. “Quick! We’d better get inside the den before we freeze to death.” Sierrah shivered, shaking her wet pelt. “Im not going in with that monster…” Siennah replied, ducking for shelter under a nearby tree. Her sisters followed her willingly despite the cold night. an unexpected quick flash of lightning striked through the air, followed by a loud bellowing of thunder, leaving the girls stunned and all of a sudden Thunder, Siellah’s mate showed up, with his sister Kassidi.

“What are you doing out here Siellah, you could get sick!” he cried instantly running up to her. “Prince is being an idiot again…” she sighed, looking back at the nice warm den she could be in right now. “He doesn’t give it a rest does he?” kassidi exclaimed. “he put me and Thunder in charge of the guarding of the pride, and even when its raining, we aren’t allowed off our shifts… it sucks, some lions say he has no heart… plus! He always tells me how bad I am at guarding and how Thunder is so perfect! Ugh I hate him” “well I can’t help being perfect can I?” Thunder laughed punching her playfully. Another lightning bolt clashed through the air, and the lions all jumped in fright. “I hope Jesus is alright… I have to find him, he could die out here!” Siennah yelled over the loud storm. “You’re not going anywhere!” snarled a voice from behind them; they spun around to find prince glaring at them. “But dad-“Sierrah tried, but prince interrupted her. “No! Im sick of this, im going to finish this myself!” he bellowed turning on his heels and sprinting off into midnight storm. He disappeared into the distant fog and Siennah gasped as she realized what was going on. She began to run, the others caught up, sprinting along beside her as the rain dripped down their fur. “What’s happening?” Sierrah puffed, trying to see through the thick air and rain. “He is going to… well he is trying to…” Siellah started but she couldn’t find the right words. “He is going to kill Jesus!” Siennah shouted, the words seemed to click something inside her, and she suddenly filled with determination, her speed picked up and she breathed hard, squinting so the rain didn’t affect her vision.

They turned sharply into the trees, the branches scratched at their backs and pulled at their fur but they kept on running, they had to catch up to prince. They skidded to a halt as they laid eyes on the two familiar lions. “Jesus!” Siennah cried, rushing over and nuzzling his dripping wet mane. “Siennah… step aside!” prince whispered a mix of determination and anger filled his eyes. “No I won’t! Dad you step aside!” she replied frustrated. “No… Siennah please do what he says, I don’t want you to get hurt.” Jesus said, nuzzling her softly before gently pushing her away. “But… you could die…” Siennah exclaimed. “No my darling daughter… he WILL die,” Prince chuckled at the thought of killing his daughters mate. “She’s NOT your daughter… and you will NEVER be our father!” Siellah snapped, glaring at her stepdad.

At that moment prince’s anger was let out and he pounced towards Jesus, he sank his teeth into his back and held on tight with his claws. Jesus roared in pane but shook him off and bit onto the back of his neck, clawing at prince’s face. The others all gasped in shock and tried to help but were thrown out of the battle. Prince took a deep breath, his neck was bleeding but still he threw himself onto Jesus’ back. The two fought for over an hour, both getting weaker and weaker, “we’ll go get help!” Siellah, Sierrah and Kassidi called out before sprinting away, kicking up dust as they went. Jesus twisted around to bite prince but with one final move, prince locked Jesus into his grip as he held his neck in his heaving mouth. His teeth disappeared into his skin and Jesus let out a cry of pain before smacking into the ground.

“NO!” Siennah screamed rushing over, “you monster!” Thunder knew what he had to do and jumped onto Prince’s back, the fight began all over again. Siennah wiped the mud off Jesus’ face and looked down into his pain filled eyes. “are you alright?” she asked, he didn’t reply but grunted in pain and shut his eyes, his shoulder blade was gaping open and blood poured out onto the muddy ground. She held her paw over the wound but he slowly struggled to lift it off and put it onto his heart. “Siennah?” he breathed heavily, “yes, honey, im here, don’t you dare leave me,” “Siennah, I want you to know that if I die… I will always love you…” “No, don’t talk like that, your staying right here with me.” A tear rolled down her cheek and landed onto his wet, muddy fur.

Suddenly the others arrived with Jess, Panda, Heaven, Max, Misty, Peppar and Princess, “guys, ENOUGH!” princess screamed. Prince and Thunder stopped the battle, thunder was barely harmed and prince was full of blood, but was able to walk with a slight limp. “Don’t you see what you are doing to yourselves!” she exclaimed. “Look around you, we are all family here… Jesus, your Siennah’s mate, thunder your Siellah’s mate, and Prince, they are going to be your sons! Why are you guys fighting!” everybody looked around, not knowing what to do next. Jess and Heaven rushed over towards Jesus, and lifted him up onto Max and Panda’s backs. “No, where are you taking him!” Siennah cried, following them, “Siennah, you have to leave, we need to help him, and you will only get in the way.” “No I have to stay with him!” she stressed trying to follow them but Sierrah pulled her back, “no, stay with us, he will be fine.” Siennah protested but stayed put. “Im so sorry for this mess, ill help you all clean it up…” Thunder sighed. Everyone pitched in to help clean up the mess, except for Prince, he snarled before turning towards the trees and limping away.

“Siennah, I need to talk to you…” Princess led Siennah through the trees and into a wide patch of grass. There was a big lake with a waterfall at the far end. It made loud rumbles as the rushing water came crashing onto the rocks below. Wild daisies swayed gently in the wind, under a huge rainbow in the sky. Suddenly a small doe and her baby bounded by. “They all seem to have such perfect lives…” Siennah said watching as they skipped away. “Everyone is fighting a battle of their own; it’s just yours you see the most…” Princess looked at the rainbow sparkling in the sky. “Mum… why does Prince hate him so much? I don’t know what he did wrong…” “well, when prince was younger, his parents were killed by a lion, a lion so fierce that he killed the whole pride, he was blood thirsty and cruel but the thing he missed, was your father, he was so small, that before his mother died she threw him inside a nearby log. Ever since that day, prince swore he would get revenge, so a few months before we found you and your sisters, we went for a walk to find this lion.” Princess sighed, “and you never found him?” Siennah asked. “no, we did find him, we found him with a small cub and a new wife, Prince wanted to approach him, he wanted to fight him, but he saw the way the little cub looked up at him, and he couldn’t take away a father, like his father was taken from him.” Siennah looked at the ground, “what does this have to do with Jesus,” Princess frowned, “well honey… Jesus was the young cub,” Siennah gasped, trying to take it all in. she walked over to the river and looked down at her rippling reflection. “That’s not the worst part… the lion who killed the pride was Princes brother…” princess nuzzled Siennah in a caring way. “You can’t blame your father for wanting Jesus out,” “I know mum, but it’s so hard when he doesn’t see the Jesus I see.”

Siennah kicked at the dust before turning and walking slowly out of the trees with her head down. “Where are you going?” princess asked concerned. “I need to sort some things out,” Siennah replied before scampering off. She turned into the savannah and looked around; her eyes finally fell on her injured stepfather, lying helplessly on a rock. She wandered over, “dad?” she said, he turned around to face her, his eyes were tear stained and his body shook with pain. “I know why you hate Jesus…” she continued, looking deeply into his eyes. “You do?” prince whimpered, he struggled to breathe over his injuries. “I do… and I need to tell you, I know it hurts thinking about what your brother did, he was wrong, and he caused pain in so many peoples hearts… but you have to realise, if you kill Jesus, your just as bad as he is, no, your worse, Jesus is innocent, he didn’t do anything wrong. Killing him wont bring your family back, and it certainly wont bring you closure. You’ve been stuck in the past for so long you’ve forgotten to live your life, that was just one chapter of your great journey and you have many more ahead, but you don’t get to find out what happens in the next chapters unless you turn the page and read on, you can always look back at those pages, and your family will always be with you, in here,” she touched his heart, “but im begging you, don’t make others suffer, for what your brother did to you… your family NEEDS you.” She explained. Another tear rolled down his cheek and fell onto the rock, he looked up into Siennah’s eyes, “your right… Siennah im so sorry, this whole time I’ve been too worried about my problems I didn’t realise I was causing you so much pain.” He held her paw in forgiveness. Siennah knew he was her father and although her heart was still throbbing with hurt, she knew she had to forgive him, “you mean I can be with Jesus?” she asked, he nodded slowly, “come on dad, let’s go home and clean you up,” she smiled helping him off the rock and back to the den.

By now everyone was laying down after cleaning. No one rushed to help prince as he struggled into the area, but when Siennah nodded at them, they raced over and took him into the den. “Siennah!” Her sisters cried running over and hugging her, “are you alright?” they fussed over her, “no im fine, where is Jesus?” she replied looking frantically around, “everyone is fine, but they need time to rest,” Siellah replied before Sierrah led Siennah over to the far corner of their den where they found him lying still in the luscious grass. “Jesus!” Siennah cried bolting over; he lifted his head weakly and looked at her, “oh Jesus are you alright?” She nuzzled him affectionately. His once soft main dry with blood, “Siennah, im fine I just need rest, but after that im leaving, I can’t stay while prince is challenging me, im sorry… I love you so much but it has to be,” her eyes welled up with tears, “but no, Jesus you don’t have to leave I-” “no don’t, you cannot convince me to stay…” he cut her off, “no Jesus! I talked to dad, you can stay, he is fine with you now…” “You couldn’t have figured that out a few hours ago?” Jesus grinned, licking her softly on the cheek. “sorry bout that,” she laughed and layed down, nuzzling delicately into his chest, he wrapped his paws around her and the two lay in silence and happiness, the pride would now be happy and calm… just as it used to be all those years ago...