The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

A Lion in Spring
by Mary Ann Peden-Coviello

In the dappled shade thrown by an acacia tree, a mighty lion lies patiently waiting. He yawns, displaying his sharp, yellow fangs, his tongue curling. He appears, to the unwary, to be lazing away this spring afternoon with nothing on his mind but the sensuous, sensual curve of his favorite lioness’ left hip.

As the sun sets, the scent of zebra tickles the lion’s nostrils. He opens his mouth and tastes the tantalizing fragrance on the air. Hunger, asleep in his belly for hours, awakens and nudges him with its sharp elbows.

Silent as death in the moonlight, the lion leads his pride onto the Serengeti plain, tawny flanks invisible against the yellowed grasses. He leaps and pulls down a zebra mare. His jaws clamp onto her throat and suffocate her while his claws rip apart…