Daughter of Lions

by Banks, Catherine

  Dad growled softly. “The one you fought in the fight club? The one who hurt you is his brother?”

  Sam stood up. “I don’t know how you pulled it off, but obviously you are a family of freaks.”

  Now I got it. “This was for revenge, wasn’t it?” I asked.

  Sam glanced at my Dad nervously and I understood. Brandon lunged forward and punched Sam in the jaw, knocking him out cold. He would have hit him again if Dad had not barked his name and made him step away from Sam. I felt numb inside. I knew that Tim was still holding a grudge, but I had no idea Sam was too. I didn’t even know Sam cared. To think I had had a crush on this guy!

  Dad slapped Sam’s face. “Wake up.”

  Sam groaned and sat up, rubbing his jaw. “What?”

  Dad stared into Sam’s eyes and said, “You ever come near my daughter again and it will take the cops a hundred years to find all of the pieces of your body.”

  Sam swallowed in fear as he stood up backed away, climbed into his car and then peeled out as he drove away from the curb. So much for a normal life. Now he was going to tell everyone I was crazy and I would never get a real date in this town. Once I turned eighteen I would have to move to another city just to find a guy who did not know me to try to get him to date me.

  “Victoria,” Brandon whispered.

  I could not believe Sam had done this as revenge for me beating his brother, but I had seen it in his eyes, so had Brandon and Dad. If they had not been here, he might have hurt me. I was strong and fast, but if he had surprised me or pinned me somehow, I might have…

  Arms wrapped around me and I jerked back in surprise, my brain still in fight mode. Brandon dropped his arms and kept his eyes lower than mine. “It’s just me, Tori. I won’t let him hurt you. I promise.”

  I knew he wouldn’t. No one in the pride would have let him hurt me. Brandon should have been furious with me. He should have hated me, but now he was trying to console me. Why? And what was with the nickname?

  Dad looked at me and I saw the disappointment and sadness in them. I had hurt a pride member for a human boy who had almost hurt me. I had betrayed both races. I turned and ran up the stairs and to my room so that I would not have to face them.

  CHAPTER SIX

  For the next week I hardly came out of my room. When I did venture out it was only to eat or use the restroom. Mom left me alone, but then again she hardly ever checked on me anyways. Dad came in and said goodbye, but I barely registered the interaction. I never saw Brandon. Sandy tried to call me, but I ignored her calls. I heard her stop by before my Dad left, but he talked with her and she left without trying to come in my room.

  I had never felt helpless before, but now I felt worthless and helpless. School was going to be a nightmare. Thankfully I only had a couple of months left and then I would be free. Of course then I would have to go back to the pride and face them. Could I ever face them? Sarah and Mark would know what happened and I could not bear to see their faces.

  As I stood in front of the mirror in my room fixing my hair into a high ponytail for cheerleading practice on the first day of school I tried my hardest to suppress all of the feelings I had and forget about the pride. Maybe if I pretended to be human I could make it through the rest of the school year. I hiked my backpack up and walked out of my room. I walked past the guest bedroom and inhaled, swearing I could still smell Brandon. I sighed, knowing there was no use in wishing to change things that I could not.

  Sandy smiled at me as I climbed into her car. “Hey, you alright?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “I’m fine.”

  We drove to school and she prattled on about her and Devon’s trip to the beach and how some guy had tried to fight him. I wanted to listen and I tried to nod my head in all of the appropriate places to show I was paying attention, but she caught me off guard when she asked, “So, you do like purple colored ding dongs?”

  I started to nod my head then looked at her. “What?”

  She smiled. “Victoria, I know you are upset about what Sam did, but it’s not going to affect you at school.” Her smile turned evil. “Devon and I already took care of it.”

  “What did you do?” I asked with a migraine building in my temples.

  She shrugged. “Just made sure everyone knows the truth so that he could not spread nasty rumors about you.”

  I groaned. “Great, now I have an enemy for life.” Truthfully I was thankful. I would rather have two brothers hate me then have the entire school think I was more of a freak than they already did.

  We parked in the front of the student parking lot, one of the many perks of getting to school early, and made our way to the football field. Everyone else had already arrived and as soon as I was within walking distance they all converged on me with hugs, apologies and promises that none of them would ever go out with him again. Surprisingly that made me feel incredibly better and I started smiling.

  We warmed up with a brisk jog around the track and then practiced our cheers. They were perfect as usual so we all headed to the locker rooms together to get changed for school. The rest of the school had arrived and the noise was almost deafening as everyone recapped their breaks to each other.

  “I cannot wait until summer break!” Rachel, one of my fellow cheerleaders squeaked.

  “That’s only because you are going to your grandparents’ farm to flirt with that older ranch hand,” Sandy teased.

  We laughed and poked at Rachel and she smiled, loving the teasing. I was about to make a comment to her when the group stopped walking and all smiles disappeared. I turned and discovered Sam was in our path.

  “Can I talk to you, Victoria?” he asked, seeming incredibly polite and sweet. Damn, he was a good actor.

  “Sorry, we are busy,” Sandy said, pulling me past him and the rest of our group following close behind like a herd of sheep trying to slip past a coyote.

  Sam grabbed Sandy’s arm, his mask slipping to reveal his anger. “I was not talking to you.”

  I punched him in the stomach as hard as I could, making him grunt as I knocked the wind out of him. He dropped Sandy’s hand and I pushed her behind me, towards the other girls. “Keep your hands to yourself. I understand this is difficult for you to understand, but unless you want to keep getting embarrassed then you need to learn it real quick.”

  Sam stayed bent over and as I turned to walk away he grabbed my arm and would have punched me if Brandon had not wrapped his arm around Sam’s throat and squeezed, cutting off his air supply. “You really didn’t get the hint, did you? Victoria is not interested in you and if you do not keep your hands to yourself I will be forced to break them.”

  Brandon! “What are you doing here?” I asked as I looked at the normal clothes and backpack.

  He smiled and squeezed harder as Sam continued to struggle against him uselessly. “I’m going to school. Your Dad had me transferred here since I am going to be staying for a while.”

  Oh no. “There is no replacement is there?” He shook his head. “There was never going to be a replacement?” He shook his head again. Great. Just great.

  “Um, Sam’s turning blue,” Sandy whispered.

  Brandon released him and Sam fell to his hands and knees gasping for breath. Brandon walked over to me and looked over my body. “Did he hurt you?”

  A crowd had gathered and was whispering in shock about Brandon’s strength and the fact that he had just held Sam with one hand. I shook my head. “No.”

  He looked at Sandy. “You?”

  She shook her head and smiled. “Victoria punched him for me.”

  He smiled. “Good.”

  I looked around at the girls and realized that all of them were basically drooling over him. Hell. “We need to get showered and changed,” I said, drawing the girls’ attention back. “Thanks for stopping him.”

  Brandon walked up to me, inhaled my hair and whispered, “Anytime.”

  We watched him walk away and I suddenly felt ill. He was going to be guardin
g me and going to school with me for two months and I had just tied him up and gagged him to go on a date with a jerk he had ended up protecting me from, twice. He was going to make my life hell, I knew it.

  “Who was that?!”

  “Is he your boyfriend?!”

  “Is he the one who knocked Sam out?”

  “Is he single?”

  “He’s so hot.”

  I ignored all of their questions and headed towards the locker rooms. It was going to be a frustrating day. I could see the writing on the wall.

  The questions did not stop in the locker room and I finally gave in, answering their questions. “No, he is not my boyfriend. He is a friend of the family’s. He’s single, but I don’t think he wants a girlfriend right now. Yes, he knocked out Sam at my house when he tried to hurt me. I know he’s hot.”

  I dunked my head under the showerhead to drone out the voices. Why him? Why did Dad have to leave him to guard me? Was this his punishment? Was he punishing me for tying Brandon up? Or had Brandon volunteered so he could torture me? I was betting on the latter because it’s what I would have done.

  I changed into my halter top and bell bottom jeans and headed towards my first class. The school was buzzing with chatter and all eyes were on me as I walked. Word spread fast in a high school and sometimes the stories became incredibly skewed. By the end of the day I had no doubt that someone would be telling people that Brandon and I had beat up the entire football team.

  My first two class periods were awful since everyone stared blatantly at me while they whispered. At lunch I grabbed food from the cafeteria line and walked to Sandy and sat down across from her and Devon. “Can this day be over yet?” I asked.

  Devon smiled. “Don’t worry. In a couple of days things will die down.” His smile disappeared and he said, “Thank you for punching Sam. He and I are going to have words later about him touching my girl.”

  I lifted the burger to my mouth and was about to take a bite when I noticed a swarm of girls come into the cafeteria, surrounding Brandon. He smiled and flirted with each of them as they stood in the food line. Let the torture begin. I set my burger down and stood up. “I just lost my appetite.” I grabbed my bag and hurried from the cafeteria without saying anything to Devon or Sandy.

  “Victoria!” Brandon yelled from behind me. I ignored him and continued walking. “Hey, wait up.”

  “What do you want?” I asked as I walked, not looking at him.

  “What’s wrong? I can feel your anger like someone biting my arm.”

  “It’s nothing. Go back to your gaggle of hens.”

  He laughed. “Hens, that’s a good one.” He grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Hey, I’m just trying to fit in.”

  I glared up at him, really wishing I was taller so that I could meet him eye to eye. “If you are trying to hurt me because I was a jerk and tied you up, do not do it here. I get that I messed up and I should not have tied you up and I am sorry that I did it. But you should not flirt with women you have no intention of dating. You are just going to hurt their feelings and make them feel bad about themselves.”

  He blinked in silent shock and I took the advantage, walking away from him again. Stupid lion.

  My anger lasted until the last class of the day, but as I walked out towards the football field I only felt sad. Sandy met up with me at the soda machines and we walked to the bleachers to watch the guys’ practice. I was watching the players when Brandon took a seat next to me. “Hey,” he said in a friendly tone.

  “Hello. How was your first day?” I asked civilly.

  “Fine.” He was staring at me like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut.

  Sam threw the ball too high for Devon to catch and I realized that was because he had purposefully sent it straight at Brandon and me. I ducked down, but hadn’t needed to since Brandon grabbed it one handed, a foot in front of my face. He growled. “That kid has a death wish and I am about to grant it.”

  I touched his arm to get his attention on me. “Don’t fight him at school, please. And no killing or permanent maiming.”

  He smiled. “I was just going to throw the ball back to him.” Brandon turned and threw a perfect spiral straight into Sam’s gut, which knocked him off of his feet. Everyone stared in shock at Sam and then looked at Brandon who sat down beside me and leaned back casually. “See, I behaved.”

  I couldn’t help smiling, at least until Sam walked towards us. Brandon stayed in his relaxed position and continued to smile smugly. Sam stopped next to the edge of the bleachers where I was sitting and glared at me. He whispered, “You won’t always have your friend here, you know? Someday I will find you alone and…”

  Brandon hopped down and stood toe to toe with Sam. “Are you stupid? Did you really just threaten her right in front of me?!”

  Sam smiled and then swung at Brandon who took the punch to his jaw, his head not even moving from the punch, and smiled. “You hit like a girl. Hell, I think Victoria hits harder than you.”

  Sam swung again, this time wildly as rage took over his better judgment. Brandon ducked down and punched Sam with a massive upper cut to the stomach that actually lifted him up off of the ground completely. Sam fell to the ground gasping for breath.

  The Coach headed towards us. He pointed at Brandon. “You.”

  I knew he was going to get in trouble. I had told him not to fight him.

  Brandon tensed. “Yeah?”

  “You play ball?” The coach asked with his hands on his hips.

  “I used to, but I just transferred here.”

  He looked at Sam. “He’s going to get suspended for attacking Ms. Victoria here and for picking a fight with you so I need a quarterback. You want the job?”

  Brandon looked at me and shrugged. “Sure.”

  Coach clapped him on the back as they walked away. “Where did you learn to throw like that?”

  Brandon smiled. “I come from a big family of mostly men.”

  Brandon had just joined the football team as the quarterback. What the hell was happening?! Was this some alternate universe?

  “This just keeps getting better and better,” Sandy said with a big smile.

  I groaned. “He is torturing me on purpose.”

  “I think he is just trying to be near you as much as he can. I think it’s sweet.”

  I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the bench behind me. Brandon was introduced to the team and Devon clapped him on the back like they were old friends. Great.

  “Come on, I need to lift before they get in there,” I said irritably.

  Sandy followed me away from the football field, passed the locker rooms and to the weight room. The Coach had agreed to let me lift weights as long as I had a spotter after seeing me squat as much as his basketball players last year. I loaded the bar with weights and laid down on the bench.

  “How much is this?” Sandy asked.

  “One hundred and thirty five pounds.” I lifted the bar off of the rack, lowered the weight to my chest and pushed it up. “Too light.” I set it in the rack. “Add five pounds.” Sandy added the weight and I repeated the motion, still effortlessly. I hadn’t realized I had bulked up.

  “Five more.”

  She removed the two and a half pound weights she had just put on and replaced them with fives to make the total weight one hundred and forty five pounds. This time it was a little heavier, but I could still do it relatively easy. “Ten more pounds.”

  “You sure?” Sandy asked skeptically.

  I smiled. “Yes.”

  She obliged and I was about to lift the bar off when the guys entered the room. Devon walked over, counting the weight. “One fifty five? I don’t think you can push it up.”

  “This here is our miracle girl,” Coach said as he led Brandon towards me. “I have never seen a girl so small and petite bench and squat so much.”

  Brandon crossed his arms, which made his biceps bulge. Why hadn’t I noticed them before? “Her Dad is super stro
ng too.”

  “You know her?” Coach asked.

  Brandon smirked. “I know her Dad. She and I only met a little while ago.”

  I did not like that smirk. I lifted the bar off the rack, lowered it and pushed it back up. “Add ten.”

  “That might be too much,” Devon said.

  I stared into Brandon’s eyes and said, “Don’t worry, I’m a freak and besides, I won’t hurt myself.”

  Devon pushed Sandy to the side and took over adding weights and spotting me. Brandon stood next to Coach and watched me with that stupid smirk on his face. Why the hell was he looking at me like that?

  I did my set and felt the strain. Another ten pounds was probably my limit for the day. “Ten more,” I said.

  The football team started taking bets with each other. Brandon just stared at me. “You should play nice with her, Brandon, she’s got one hell of a punch,” Sammy said. Sammy had been in my fighting club and I had accidentally cracked one of his ribs in one of our fights.

  “I know,” Brandon said.

  I lowered the bar and pushed it up slowly. The guys were cheering me on and with one last shove I pushed it all the way up. “Nice,” said Devon as he helped me guide it into the rack.

  I smiled and sat up. “Thanks.”

  “Alright, I need the room for the guys,” Coach said.

  I nodded my head. “No problem, Coach. I need to leave anyways.” Brandon tensed and looked at me. I smiled and waved. “Bye boys.”

  Sandy linked arms with me and we walked to the parking lot. “Want to go to a movie?”

  I frowned. “I’m not really in the mood for a movie. How ‘bout dinner at the House?” The House was our favorite place to eat because it had every type of food you could want from sushi to chow mein to burgers to steaks to phó.

  “Yum!” she exclaimed as her way of saying yes.