Daddy’s eyebrows drew down. “I said, eat your dinner.”
Danny could feel Daddy’s lion glaring at Simba in his head, just like Daddy was glaring at him across the table. It made Simba flatten against the bottom of Danny’s mind, whimpering in submission. No matter how much Danny tried to reassure the cub that it was okay, that Daddy would never, ever hurt them, the cub was still scared of the bigger lion.
Just to stop Simba being scared, Danny scooped up a forkful of dinner and put it in his mouth. It was peas. Danny didn’t like peas.
He ate them anyway. His alpha wanted him to.
“That’s better,” Daddy said, back in his normal voice, not the horrible alpha voice that felt like a leash around Danny’s neck. “Listen, if you eat up your vegetables, I’ll take you out hunting. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Just like last night, remember?”
Danny scowled at him. “I don’t wanna go hunting. I want to go back home. I want Mommy.”
“Well I want you here,” Daddy snapped back. “You’re going to be staying with me now. And if your mother tries to get you to go anywhere with her, you come and find me and tell me, understand?”
Obey the alpha, Simba whispered. Alpha is big and we are very small. Obey.
Daddy’s lion made Danny’s head jerk down in a nod. But he couldn’t make Danny be happy about it. He couldn’t even make Danny pretend to be happy about it.
An alpha could control every bit of him…but not the bit that made feelings.
Daddy said a very bad word, one that Danny wasn’t supposed to know. “Listen, my son.” Danny could feel the effort he was making to keep his voice normal, when he really wanted to shout. “I know it’s different, but this is the way things are supposed to be. You should be happy! We’re a proper pride now. Everything will be better. You’ll see.”
Danny could feel Daddy’s lion pushing at him, like fingers trying to force the corners of his mouth up into a smile. He set his jaw stubbornly.
“This is all his fault,” Daddy muttered. “You’re supposed to follow the strongest lion, without question. Not pine like a dog after some sick cripple. I should have fought him in front of you. Then you’d have seen me defeat him. You’d know I’m the strongest, that I deserve to be alpha.”
A very, very tiny growl rumbled in Simba’s throat. He didn’t defeat our real alpha. Our real alpha stepped down. We could tell the difference. The growl shifted up to a whine, Simba’s ears flattening in confused misery. Why did he abandon us? Why didn’t he fight for us? Were we bad? Doesn’t he want us any more?
Danny hugged Simba, trying to comfort him. He couldn’t explain to his lion that Mr. Griff couldn’t fight Daddy, not when he couldn’t shift. Simba didn’t see Mr. Griff as a person at a
ll—just as the biggest, strongest lion ever.
“It’ll be better once we’re in Valtyra.” Daddy sounded like he was trying to convince himself, as much as Danny. “Living with just humans for so long has you all confused. Once we’re back home, you’ll soon learn proper ways. I’ll teach you. We’ll go into the wilderness and live as lions, just the two of us, until we’re a true pride.”
Just the two of us?
Daddy had said something about going on vacation without Mommy before, but Danny hadn’t thought he’d really meant it. “What about Mommy?”
Daddy blinked at him, as though he’d almost forgotten Danny was a separate person able to speak for himself. “What?”
“Mommy,” Danny repeated. He was starting to get a horrible sick feeling right in the bottom of his stomach. “Mommy has to come too.”
“No, she’ll stay here. I know this seems hard to you now, but one day you’ll realize it was all for your own good. She’s just a human. She can’t understand you, not like I do.”
Simba whimpered, pressing against the inside of Danny’s head. The cub wanted him to be quiet, to avoid making the bigger lion angry.
Danny forced words out anyway, through his tightening throat. “I’m not going anywhere without Mommy! Not ever!”
“You will go where I tell you to, when I tell you to!” Daddy’s burning eyes filled Danny’s whole head, trying to drive out all his own thoughts. “I am your alpha! You will do as I say!”
A true alpha never forces anyone, said Mr. Griff’s voice in his memory. You remember that, always.
“No.” He met Daddy’s eyes, and the surprise in them gave him the courage to stand up, clenching his fists. “No! I won’t go, and you can’t make me!”
Daddy shot to his feet, looming over him. “I am your alpha! You will obey me!”
No! Simba was on his feet too, fangs bared at the presence at the back of their mind. You are not worthy to be alpha! We challenge you!
Simba leaped, claws bared. Daddy’s lion had to retreat in the face of Simba’s fearless attack. With a snap, the pride-bond went dead.