Samantha, or Sam as she liked others to call her, sat next to the lion cage. There was a single solitary lion in the cage, a male one, and Samantha had felt a connection to this lion ever since she started to work at the zoo, which wasn't very long. She felt an attachment to this lion, something that she never felt in any human she knew.

The lion walked out from the stone cave on the warm spring day. The lion's mane was full, and it was a very healthy specimen of a lion. It looked over to Sam, and walked over to her. He took a seat at the side of the fencing, and his light fur poked through the other side, inches away from Sam.

Sam was used to this by now. She remembered the other zookeepers telling her how dangerous this lion was, yet he seemed friendly toward her. With two fingers, Sam stroked his short lion fur, and smiled down at him. "Hah, the biggest reason I took the job as a zookeeper was so I could get close to animals. You may look big and scary, and you have teeth that could just rip through my neck, but you're just a big softie, aren't you?"

The lion looked content. His slim tail waved slowly to one side, and then the other. The lion looked to Sam with slow blinking eyes before he suddenly rolled onto his back.

Sam chuckled as the lion rolled on his back and showed off his stomach. "You're showing every sign that you trust me don't you?"

The lion suddenly rolled away from the cage and stood up. He walked over to the entrance of the cage, and pawed at it with one large white clawed paw.

Sam walked over to the gate, and watched the lion paw at it. "Now, now, I'm sure you want out. I can't do that though, I'd lose my job, and something dangerous could happen to you."

"But nothing says you can't come in with me." A deep masculine voice suddenly spoke out.

Sam froze when she heard the voice. The voice reminded her of a famous cartoon lion. She turned to the cage, and noticed the lion looked right at her. "Was that you?" She knew there wasn't any other human around, and she didn't think there were loudspeakers in the zoo either.

"Who else could it have been?" the voice spoke up again. The lion slowly moved his mouth as he spoke.

"W-woah, you're really a talking lion?" Sam couldn't believe it. She was ready to pull out her cell phone and start recording, but she knew if anyone found out if the lion actually talked, he'd likely be taken away, and she'd feel heartbroken if anything like that happened to him.

"Only to those spiritually a lion can understand me. That is why you understand, and that is why we have a bond towards each other." The lion slowly paced the entrance to the cage. "If you open the cage and join me, I can help you reveal your inner self. I can turn you into the thing you were meant to be born, a lion."

Sam put her hand on the cage entrance. Her other hand grabbed her keys at her waist. She could open the door, but she was hesitant. "I don't know...can you really do that? Maybe I'm just hallucinating."

"Whether you are, or aren't, you know I will not harm you." The voice said. The lion stepped back from the entrance of the cage. "The question is, do you wish to accept your new life as my lioness?"

"I swore lions mated with more than one lioness..." Sam mumbled. She opened up the cage, stepped in, and then locked the cage behind her. She kept her eyes on the lion the entire time she entered his exhibit.

"Hah, you did not answer the question though." The lion slowly walked up to Sam once she was in the exhibit. "Do you. Want to. Be a lioness?" The lion asked slowly.

Sam stared down at the dark yellow furred lion. "I...but..." she still thought she was hallucinating. She looked at the lion, but she tried not to stare directly into his eyes. She had completely forgotten her training as to how to handle large cats. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" The lion paced in front of Sam. "Do you know what it's like to live as a human? I have heard their worries, their concerns, and all of their problems. A lioness will have the only problem to care for her cubs. Doesn't that sound divine?"

Sam could feel her muscles bend and shape. Her bones cracked as she visualized herself as a lioness. She saw herself as the queen to the king that stood before her. "What...what are you doing to me?" She said with a light howl of pain as her human teeth pushed themselves out of her mouth one by one as her jaw reshaped.

"I am drawing out your inner lioness. I can tell you don't like humans. You deserve a better life than being a human. You deserve to be a queen, my queen." The lion brushed his furry body against Sam's side.

Sam's body shivered as she continued to change. She was afraid, but not for the same reasons others might have been if they were transforming. "Your...queen?" She felt her muscles burst. The lion pulled off her shirt, while her pants and underwear fell off easily from her legs as they reshaped and her tail formed. "I get to be your...queen?" It was true; she hated a lot about human life. Animal life was so much simpler. True the wild animals had to worry about survival, but captive animals had not a single care in the world besides when their next meal came.

"Yes, all you have to do is give in to your spirit. Become what you were meant to be, what you want to be." The lion continued to brush up against Sam.

Sam nodded as fur grew from her body. She slowly closed her eyes, and the next time she opened them, they were completely that of a lioness.

Days later...

Another zookeeper went missing. The zoo was notorious for losing its zookeepers, but never toward anything harmful. They not only had to hire another zookeeper now, but they also had to hire someone to take care of the lioness and the cubs that lioness was soon going to bear to the world.
