Daughter of Lions

by Banks, Catherine

  “But I thought a pride could only have one Alpha male at a time?”

  “The pride always has the current leader and then the younger Alpha who will take the roll when the old one is killed, unable to keep his station or retires.”

  “So Michael was the younger Alpha, but somehow Brandon ended up in our pride and now we have two?”

  She nodded her head. “Exactly.”

  “Most prides take in strays, so why haven’t I heard about this happening before?”

  “Alphas are not very common. You usually only find one Alpha for every one hundred lions you meet. It is rare that you find a stray who is an Alpha.”

  “So who is going to be the next Alpha? How is that determined?”

  Sarah exhaled loudly. “I think you had better discuss that with your Dad. I know the basics, but he will know everything. I don’t want to say something that will frighten you if it is not necessarily going to happen like that.”

  “What about females? Is it the same for you?”

  She nodded her head. “Yes.”

  I did not want to ask because I was pretty sure that I already knew, but I had to know for sure. “Who is the younger Alpha female?”

  “Unfortunately it is Mary.”

  I knew it. “So it would be better for the pride if I left both Michael and Brandon alone because it would be better if whoever became Alpha also mated with Mary?”

  “I’m not mated to your father and our pride is doing great,” Sarah said.

  “But you are not doing great.”

  She laughed bitterly. “I did not think you had noticed my feelings for your father.”

  “Everyone but Dad knows.”

  “The pride is fine and functioning and that is what matters.”

  She was hiding her feelings, but I decided to leave her alone. “Okay. Thank you.”

  She walked me to the door and hugged me. “Just remember that they are the ones who should fight over you. You should not have to fight for them.”

  “Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen,” I said as I pictured Michael and Brandon fighting. I walked back towards my house slowly as I thought about the question Sarah had asked. Michael had only just come back into my life and already I could not picture myself without him. But I could not picture it without Brandon either. I wished I could just make up my mind, but it was not that easy. They both offered similar and yet also different things. Was it wrong for me to feel for Michael when I had not seen him and did not really know him? He seemed the same to me. It felt like it always had when he was around, except now my hormones were playing a role.

  I started by Paul and Michael again, but Brandon and Mark were not there this time so I walked towards them and looked at Paul. “I’m hungry.”

  He smiled and then draped his arm across my shoulders. “I would love to take you to get some food, but you know I can’t leave Sheila and the cubs alone for too long.”

  I sighed. “Yeah. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

  “I can take you to get some food,” Michael said with a smile. “My treat.”

  Paul released me and smiled. “Good! It’s taken care of. I’ll see you guys later.”

  Michael looked at me with a serious expression, one I so rarely saw on him. “I’m sorry about causing you more problems.”

  I shrugged. “If you really do feel the way you say then it could not be helped. If you don’t, then tell me and the problems will stop, at least on your end.” I felt my body tense up as I waited for his response. All of this was stressing me out. Weren’t men supposed to be simple and easy to read? Why were they making things so complicated?

  “Of course I really want to date you,” he said as he walked closer to me. “I have never lied to you. Everything I said earlier was true and those are my honest feelings.”

  I could not do this right now. “Okay. Let’s not discuss it anymore today, okay? I’m really hungry and my head hurts.”

  He smiled and the funny friend I had grown up with returned once more. He draped his arm across my shoulders and led the way out of the forest and towards his car. “Well then we better not keep your stomach waiting.” He started the car and reached over, linking his hand with mine. “What do you want to eat?”

  “Don’t you know?” I asked teasingly as we drove away from the house. How could it feel so right to hold his hand when it felt so good to hold Brandon’s? Was it because Brandon was new? Was I just being a spoiled girl who wanted the shiny new toy? Part of me wanted to pull my hand away, but another part of me felt happy at having him hold my hand.

  “If you haven’t changed that much, then you want a double bacon cheeseburger with fries and a strawberry shake,” he answered as he pulled over in front of Jed’s, the best burger place in town. The restaurant was old and run down looking, but it had an amazing grill and as long as it made my stomach happy I could care less what the place looked like.

  “Right,” I answered as I climbed out of his car and into Jed’s. Michael ordered our food and I found a booth for us to sit at.

  He joined me a moment later and folded his hands on the table top. “So, why don’t you tell me what you have been up to the past five years?”

  “I was living with my mom and going to school out there. I was a cheerleader and somewhat popular. I had a few enemies, but didn’t realize how much they hated me until Brandon started going to school with me a few months ago and one of them had planned to, um, hurt me.”

  “Why did he want to hurt you?” he asked softly.

  “Because I started a fight club and his brother beat the crap out of me, breaking my collar bone to try to teach me a lesson. I later embarrassed him and so his brother was going to get me back for it.”

  “Did Brandon beat up the guy who was going to hurt you?”

  I shook my head. “I did. I kind of had…” I stopped talking and looked at the tabletop. Michael didn’t know about the bloodlust and I wondered if I should tell him.

  “Bloodlust?” he asked softly.

  I jerked my head up and stared at him in shock. “How did you know?”

  He smiled. “You had it when we were kids, you just did not know what it was then.”

  “Oh,” I whispered, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders. I cleared the emotions and asked, “What about you?”

  “Going to school and staying under the radar. I didn’t do any sports or anything because I was afraid I would hurt someone. I worked part time at a mechanic shop for money and that’s how I bought the car.”

  “That’s great. You always loved cars.”

  “What about your car?”

  I sighed. “It’s done. Brandon and Dad finished fixing it for me.”

  “And you didn’t punch him for doing that?” Michael asked in shock.

  I laughed. “I was really mad at first, but Dad explained that he had been doing it to be nice so I couldn’t really be mad.” And I hadn’t even taken it out of the garage yet. Part of me felt like it wasn’t even mine anymore.

  “Order up!” yelled the cook.

  Michael got our food and then set the tray down on the table. I looked at the food and realized that for the first time a male really was giving me food with an interest in mating with me. If I took it now I would be admitting that I was interested in possibly mating with him and starting our courtship. I stared at the food a moment longer as I debated and then looked up at Michael’s face. He watched me with open fear and for the first time I realized that he’d had this expression numerous times when we were kids and he had been around me. This decision would shape the next two months of my life and could possibly mean the end of a chance of Brandon and I being together. I couldn’t withhold verbally becoming mated to Michael after my birthday if I really did want him.

  The people in the restaurant had no clue that they were sitting in on such a big event. It was an event that would change everything for me. Should I take the risk? What if he decided he could not take me as a mate because I am not a lioness? And s
houldn’t I leave him to date Mary if he was to become Alpha?

  “You know Mary, right?” I asked. Of course he knew her, we had all grown up together in the pride, but I had to ask.

  “Yes,” he said softly, trying to guess what was happening.

  “You know she is going to be Alpha female, right?”

  He nodded his head. “I’m aware of that.”

  “And she’s very pretty,” I added despite the foul taste it left in my mouth.

  His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he tried to decipher the underlying question. “Yes, she is nice to look at.”

  “So, then you should be trying to date her.”

  “Attractive physically does not mean attractive emotionally. You know as well as I do that she is a wench.”

  I bit back my laughter and looked at him seriously. “If you are going to be Alpha, you should have a mate who is also Alpha.”

  “Your Dad is not mated to the Alpha female and the pride has been doing great.” He watched me a moment and said, “And as I recall, you and Mary are not really friends.”

  “No, she doesn’t like me because she thinks I am spoiled and that I should not be considered one of the pride since I am not a lion.”

  “So why should I date her then?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

  “To secure your place as Alpha.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not how it works.” He leaned forward and whispered, “I have no interest in Mary. I am only interested in one female and I have been trying to see her to show that I am interested for the past five years, but she never visits when I do and I did not want to ask your Dad for your number. I thought that might be a little awkward.” He nudged the tray towards me a quarter of an inch.

  “What if you decide you can’t mate with a non-lion,” I whispered.

  He picked my hands up in his and stared into my eyes. I sat transfixed as his eyes changed from human to lion and he said, “That is not going to happen. You have been just as much a part of the pride to us as Sheila and any of the other females. To me, you are just a lion who refuses to change.”

  I pulled my hands away and shook my head. “But I can’t change. I can’t ever run with you in lion form. I won’t be able to have lion cubs.”

  “But you will be you and you will understand what it is like to be a lion even though you aren’t. You will be able to tell what I am thinking or feeling even while I am in lion form. You will be the same beautiful girl that I have been best friends with, except this last five years of separation and really, does it feel like we have been separated?”

  I had to admit that it felt like our friendship had never stopped. If he was being honest then what did I have to lose except a probable heartbreak from Brandon? I reached across the table and picked up a French fry. “My Dad will kill you if you break my heart,” I whispered as I raised the fry to my mouth.

  He smiled happily and said, “Paul would too, which is why I plan on keeping your heart in one piece.” I swallowed the fry and he moved around the table too fast for me to follow and hugged me tightly, kissing my cheek. “Thank you.”

  I nudged his leg. “You’re welcome. Now, let’s eat.” I grabbed my burger and dug in, moaning at the juicy meat and cheese.

  Michael laughed and slid my strawberry shake towards me. I slowed my eating and savored the food before drinking my shake. It was the most delicious thing I’d had in a long time. We walked outside when we finished eating and I basked in the fading sunlight, letting the rays warm my skin.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “My stomach is now full,” I said with a smile. I patted it then said, “I think I need to go on a diet though. I think I’m getting fat.”

  He lifted my shirt and stared at my stomach a moment before kissing it. I held in my gasp, trying not to agitate his predator side. He stood up and stared into my eyes with a passion that made me slightly fearful. “I think you look sexy in a bikini. You have no need to diet.”

  I smiled at him. “Who are you and where is my teasing and bullying friend?”

  He draped his arm over my shoulders and said, “Didn’t your Dad ever tell you that the reason boys threw rocks at you in elementary school was because they had crushes on you?”

  “So you tied me to a tree and left me alone for three hours because you liked me?”

  “I told you I was sorry for that,” he said with embarrassment on his face.

  “Only after Dad swatted you and made you do chores around the house.” I sobered for a minute. “That was one of the scariest nights of my life, well, except for these new ones.”

  “I never left you that night, Vic. I hid a few trees over. I thought it was funny at first and did it to teach you a lesson, but I am sorry that I did that to you.”

  I linked my fingers with the hand above my left shoulder and bumped him with my hip. “It’s okay.”

  We drove back and laughed about pranks we had pulled on Paul together. My favorite was when we had stapled all of his pants to his bedroom floor. We decided that Paul was long overdue for a prank and that we would have to plan one soon. We parked and I realized that we hadn’t visited Michael’s house. “How come you’re not parking by your house?”

  “I don’t have a house,” he said a bit angrily.

  “What? Yes you do. You and your parents’ house is just a few minutes away in the forest.”

  His teeth ground together. “No, that’s Brandon’s house now. Apparently my parents told Alpha that they were not coming back to live with the pride and assumed I would not either so they did not care what he did with the house.”

  No wonder Michael was not particularly fond of Brandon. I could not imagine Dad’s home being taken from me. “So, where are you living?”

  “With Sarah.” He shook his head to clear the bad thoughts and smiled. “Come on. I need to change and I would like to play with you for a while.”

  I climbed out of the car and followed him to the grassy area most used for changing. He lifted his shirt off and I allowed myself to really admire his body. He had perfect abs and a chest I wanted to run my hands over. As if sensing, or seeing, my wishes he walked over to me and smiled down at me. I lifted a hand slowly and placed it on his chest. It was so different to feel like this about Michael, but when I thought about it, maybe I had always felt like this and just had not understood it. I knew we were out in the open, but I wasn’t planning on doing anything bad, or at least too bad. I ran my hand slowly down his chest and then his abs, loving the hardness of them and the way they flexed harder wherever I touched. I stopped at his waistband and looked up at his face. “I like these.”

  He picked up both of my hands and placed them on his chest. “I worked out extra hard to be sure you liked what you saw. Did it work?”

  I stood on my toes and stopped centimeters from his mouth. “What do you think?” I whispered before kissing him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

  He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me tight against him. His body was so hot, temperature wise, as well as looks, and I wished I could just melt into him. He stepped back from me and started unbuttoning his pants. I turned my back to him and heard him laugh softly. “Not ready for that yet?” he asked teasingly.

  “No. Not for a long time,” I answered.

  “Only until you realize that I am the perfect mate for you,” he answered. I had nothing to say to that so I kept my mouth shut. As soon as I heard his bones popping I turned around and squatted down.

  Michael was the most beautiful white lion I had ever seen and also the only white lion known to us. His mane was so long and thick that it made Brandon look like a juvenile. He shook his thick fur and looked up at me. I met his eyes and held my hand out towards him. “You all there?”

  He snorted and then ran his head under my hand. I buried my face in his fur and inhaled the scent I had loved so much as a child. He pulled away and dropped his head between his front paws and stuck his butt and tail up, wagging it back a
nd forth in an invitation to play like a dog.

  I stood up slowly and then ran as fast as I could towards the forest. Michael growled loudly and crashed after me, purposefully making noise so that I could hear him. I swerved around trees to avoid him and ran as fast as I could towards the ocean. Michael was the only other person who used to go cliff diving with Mark and I and I knew he would enjoy it after a run through the forest. He huffed and snarled as he grew closer and closer to me, his giant paws eating up the ground and the distance between us. I stopped at the cliff’s edge and turned around. Michael paced back and forth in front of me a moment and then started to change. I ran past him a little ways and then jumped out as far as I could, pushing off on the edge of the cliff with my toes, and spreading my arms out like a bird. I yelled happily and straightened my arms up over my head as I dove down towards the water.

  The water surged up over my head and I quickly turned around and kicked upwards, not wanting to have a repeat situation like the last time when Brandon had saved me. I surfaced and gulped in air, the salt stinging my throat. Michael surfaced a second later beside me and wrapped his arms around me, bringing me as close to him as I could and still be able to kick to tread water.

  “You should have let me throw you,” he said as he pushed my hair back from my face.

  I smiled. “You have to earn that.”

  “And how do I earn that?” he asked seductively.

  I laughed and pushed his chest, swimming backwards. “You sure you haven’t been dating humans or others? You are very good at flirting.”

  “I have been saving it all up for you,” he said with a smile. I floated on my back and kicked my feet so that I would go towards the shore. He splashed water over me, making me sputter as I wiped it from my face. I dropped down and splashed water back at him. As he was wiping his face I swam away from him, trying to get far enough away, but the tidal wave of water he sent at me still covered me. He laughed happily and I swam after him, splashing as I went.