The young lioness sank her teeth into the soft neck of a running antelope. Her forelegs enfolded the creature's body, embracing it in death as her weight pulled it to the ground. Blood flowed into her mouth as she fell with the antelope, who kicked desperately as the life drained from its body. Kiara held onto it until it lay still. Then she rose to a crouch, still breathing heavily, and gazed at the animal she had slain. It was an older female, and her eyes were open and glazed. Kiara smoothed her paw over the antelope's face, closing her dead eyes for the last time. She thought about the antelope's life, how it...she...had run and leapt and played in the warm grass. No doubt she had loved her family, and they loved her.

Kiara bowed her head and touched it to the antelope's forehead. "Thank you for giving your life for my pride."

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A/N: I wrote this more for myself than for you readers. See, I had been so absorbed with thinking like a meerkat that I began to think of all carnivores as bloodthirsty killers...Even though I eat meat. Yes, I know I'm a freak. Anyway, I felt I needed to step away from the meerkats for a minute and get into the lions' perspective, and show that they do have a heart, even though they have to kill furry animals who never hurt anybody.