Never Enough Pride [Ash]

"Be careful" he said nuzzling her before he moved and laid down beside the three remaining Cubs, not liking that he wasn't with Sasha protecting her, but knew the Cubs needed the protection.

Sasha woke when it was dark outside and she sniffed the air, looking to her mate and giving a soft nod, slowly getting up and picking up one of the cubs.

Kovu laid down next to her, watching the entrance carefully, sitting there alert until nightfall.

"Alright" She said quietly, licking him softly before she curled up and went back to sleep.

He nods "get some sleep kitty - I won't move until you wake up" he promises nuzzling her.

"When its dark we can, I want to do it when they cant see us" She said and nuzzled him softly.

Kovu nods toward the food, "once you eat you can start taking them over one by one while I stay here with the rest" he offers, lïcking her ear encouragingly.

Sasha jolted awake when he came back, thinking the humans were back, she relaxed when she realized it was him and she saw the food, starting to eat, "I think we should move to the other den soon, I feel watched in here" She murmured.

He looked up, knowing Sasha hadn't eaten for a while he padded out of the cave and to the fenceline where the food had been left out, he ripped off a large chunk and moved back to the cave where he placed it near Sasha.

She purred and stretched her limbs, her tail lashing and she slowly dozed off, exhaustion taking hold of her.

He smiled nuzzling into her softly, his mane hanging down brushing against her softly. He licked under her chin.

She rolled her eyes and batted his face lightly, laying on her side and relaxing.

Kovu chuckled, "it just means you won't have to worry about me getting to protective of any make they might meet" he says with a smirk.

She shuttered and purred when she felt his tongue along her spine, her tail lashed and she huffed softly, "It would have been nice to have daughters this litter" She murmured.

He smiled and licked along her spine, "I never really minded" he said again watching the small litter, finding it amusing to watch their small brawls and small bodies tangling.

"I cant believe we have no daughters" She mewed quietly and watched the four males, making sure the smallest one was alright and wouldn't get beat up by his larger brothers.

Kovu chuckled watching the small fights with intrest, he continued to groom Sasha, his tail wrapping around her protectively.

She calmed when ghe keepers were gone and she started purring loudly, licking the male's nose before grooming the cubs, separating any fights whenever it happened when the cubs fought over teats.

Kovu smiled down at Sasha, laying down behind her and pressing hi head on her back to watch the cubs suckle. Such a simple sight but gold for his eyes. He licked her ears softly, before drawing his full attention to the cubs.

The lioness pressed herself against the lion and she softly started to groom him back, "We'll think of something, I think they'll be fine" The first keeper said before slowly getting out of the fake den and being followed by the other keeper.

Kovu noticing the humans bewilderment moved over to Sasha and started grooming her. The siitation seemed unnatural to him his presence couldn't have been antispated but with kiaras attack Kovu had no choice but intervene. But now, even though he would have otherwise made himself scarce due to the birthing. It felt natural to protect his mate and cubs regardless of what he should have done.

"We've gotta wait man, we'll try something else, normally the males aren't even let this close to newborn cubs, even in captivity" One keeper said.

"But who knows what he'll do! He may attack the female and the cubs, just because they're in captivity, doesn't mean they act differently" The other keeper argued.

At her words and obvious distress, Kovu turned back to the keepers and snarled again, he made sure to move to place his body between them so it was seen as protective instict not simply being aggressive.

Sasha looked up at him and whimpered, she had no idea what the humans were saying or about to do, all she knew was that her cubs would be taken from her and she didn't know for how long, "They cant..." She whimpered.

Kovu stood his ground, his head slowly turning back to look at Sasha, wanting her okay before he stood down, after all he wasn't just protecting the Cubs.