Eric was one of the most perplexing males to me. He had a face that was not ugly or attractive, but rather he blended in with the crowd. You could meet him and then not recall a single thing that stood out about him a minute later. Even in his lion form he had ordinary markings and I would sometimes confuse him for someone else and someone else for him. Dad said it made him a great spy and that he was used for a lot of recon.
Dane was a pretty boy with perfect white teeth and looked like he was preparing to be a politician with his “everything is good” smile.
“So what have you been up to since we last saw you?” Dane asked around a bite of food.
“School and just living,” I said, not wanting to go into detail about this year’s events.
“So we hear you are being courted?” Eric asked.
I smiled and pushed the last bits of egg around on my plate. “Yes.”
“And we hear that it’s by both alpha males from this pride,” Eric said with a smirk.
Both? “Not really, it’s sort of complicated, but I’m…” I began, but then Dad whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“Games start in five minutes. Head over to the arena now if you want to play or watch,” he yelled. He looked around the people until he found me and wiggled his finger at me to come to him. “I need you for a moment.”
I groaned and then smiled at the guys. “Sorry, guess we will have to wait to get caught up. You guys going to the games?” They all nodded their heads. “Alright I’ll see you there.”
They watched me walk away and then I heard them whispering behind me. How did they hear that about Brandon and Michael and me? And Brandon and I weren’t courting. So who had told them that? And why hadn’t I been able to tell them that only Michael was courting me?
I walked into the house and found myself walking into an Alpha’s meeting. The four other alpha couples, Sarah and my Dad were all sitting around the living room looking at each other. “Um, you called for me?” I asked Dad quietly.
The alphas all turned and looked at me and I felt the weight of their gazes like any prey would. I kept my eyes lower than theirs and stayed perfectly still as I took a deep breath and let my fear wash away. They wouldn’t hurt me and besides, Dad and Sarah were closest to me anyways. If one decided to try, Dad would take them down.
Dad faced the other alphas and let gold roll over his eyes. The others looked down a moment to concede that he was the strongest predator in the room. “Yes, I would like you to talk with us a minute. I have heard some interesting rumors about an incident involving you and two boys at a party and I feel it would be beneficial for the others to hear what happened.”
Oh crap. I should have known Brandon would tell him about it. I looked at Sarah and she smiled sweetly at me. “You want me to tell you what happened?” I asked.
“I want you to tell them what happened and what you were feeling and thinking,” Dad said softly. He looked into my eyes and said, “I am not angry about the incident.”
I sat down on the floor at his feet and took a deep breath. “I had been having issues with these boys for a while and at the party I had a few drinks.” Dad growled and I cringed, realizing Brandon had not told him about that part. “They picked a fight with me and my anger just boiled over. I started punching them and kicking them and…” I stopped, feeling like a freak for what I had been thinking.
“It’s alright,” Sarah whispered, “Just tell us what happened.”
“I got more and more mad and even though they begged me to stop I didn’t want to. I got some of their blood on my hands and I wanted more. I wanted to have more of their blood on me.”
I stopped talking and Dave, the alpha of Justin’s pride said, “I thought something like this might happen with her.”
I looked up at him in shock. “You did?”
Dad nodded his head next to me. “We knew that it was possible for you to gain some of our abilities, as we have seen by your rapid healing, fast running and greater than human strength. I had hoped that you would not inherit bloodlust since you did not inherit the lion or the ability to shift.”
“I have only had it happen twice,” I said as I looked at my father.
“Twice?” he asked. “When did it happen before?”
“It was when I was a kid. I don’t really remember it that well, but Michael does. You could ask him what happened.”
“Is this why the Minters pack wants her?” asked Maria, the alpha female of Eric’s pride.
“No,” I answered before my Dad could. “They want to use me to start the war by killing me. And one of the wolves has decided he wants me as a mate even though I have not shown any interest towards him.”
“Okay, you can go to the Games now. I just wanted to hear your account of what happened,” Dad said and patted my head.
I stood up and smiled at the other alphas. “It was good to see you all again.” I turned away and walked slowly out of the house and headed towards the arena which was really just a section of the forest that had had the trees removed so that there was a large area for the lions to play in. They liked to have contests to show off their strengths and each Gathering they held the Games. I made it to the arena and received warm greetings from all of the pride members I past by. All of the prides, except for the alphas, were gathered and standing in loose groups around the arena. I jogged over to Mark who was helping set up the first event at one end of the field, tractor tire tossing. “Need some help?” I asked hopefully. I didn’t have a chance at winning most of the games so I preferred to help with them so I could participate at least in spirit.
He shook his head. “It’s all set up, but since you are our fastest runner you could be the one to mark off where the tires land.”
I smiled. “Sure.”
“Just don’t run under the tires,” he said with a smirk.
I smacked his arm and showed him my teeth. “I’m not an idiot.”
He laughed and went to talk to Gina who was a twenty year old, dark-skinned, model who my dad had rescued from an abusive pride four years ago. With Sarah’s help she had completely turned around from the shy, nervous girl that she had been when she had first come here to a spitfire who had been on almost every big name magazine. She was in charge of recording the measurements so that we could figure out who was the winner of each event.
“Boo,” Michael said from behind me.
I turned my head slowly and rolled my eyes at him. “You’ll have to do better than that if you want to scare me.”
He laughed and then whispered, “I haven’t forgotten about our interrupted discussion earlier.”
“What discussion?” I asked, completely unaware of anything we had been discussing earlier.
“About Brandon kissing your cheek,” he said with a bit of a growl.
I sighed. “Oh.”
“He and I had a small talk, but nothing has been finalized yet.”
I turned around and stared into his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
He shrugged. “I can’t have a male sneaking around trying to steal the female I am courting out from under me.”
“He is not doing that,” I whispered angrily to him. “He and I are friends, Michael, and he was just being friendly.”
“Too friendly,” Michael said and then shook his head. “And I think you are naïve about his intentions towards you.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “Whatever. The point is that I do not want you fighting him. So, unless you want me pissed at you, leave him alone.”
“Oh no, angry Victoria?” he said in mock fear.
I punched his arm and gave him my best growl. “I’m serious. He is my friend and I won’t have you harassing him.”
Michael started to snarl, but Dad walked up and clapped him on the shoulder. “Are we ready to start the Games?”
I smiled at him and nodded my head. “Yep. We’ve just been waiting on you old folks to hobble on over here.”
Dad lifted his lip and showed me his teeth.
“Watch it, cub.”
I laughed and walked away from him, walking down the edge of the arena so that I could be far enough down that I would not have to run too far once they started throwing the large tractor tires. I waved to people as I passed and said hi to others. Sean walked towards me and then stopped next to me with a smile. “So, you still as fast as before?”
I shrugged. “You’ll get to see in a minute and judge for yourself.”
“I think we should have a foot race,” he said with a smirk.
I smiled. “Sounds like fun. Go tell Mark to add a foot race to the events and I will gladly enter.”
“It is the only thing you can beat us at,” Mary said with a sneer behind me. “Trying to make the hybrid feel better, Sean?”
Sean growled at her and I was surprised at the deep-tone of his growl. “Go walk off the cliff, Mary. No one wants you here.”
“Aw, are you still bitter about me turning you down?” she asked with a smirk.
Sean laughed. “We were six and I hadn’t realized what you would turn into. I would have rescinded the offer once I realized what a wench you are.”
She snarled. “Watch it, Sean.”
“Why? You going to fight him?” I asked with a laugh. “Only a stupid lion picks a fight with an opponent they can’t win against.”
“And what does that make you since you keep picking guys you can’t have?” she asked with a laugh. “You think either of them really wants you? They don’t want a human. They want a lioness. You will never be good enough.”
I started to move towards her to fight her, but Brandon grabbed my arm from behind me and stopped me. “She is not worth it, Victoria. She is just trying to pick a fight with you in public to try to prove something. Unfortunately the only thing she would prove is that you are better than her.”
“She is not better than me!” Mary barked.
“I think she is. So does Michael and Sean. So far you are zero for three,” Brandon said with a smirk.
She snarled at me and whispered, “Soon you will get what you deserve.”
I watched her walk away and wondered if I really would be able to beat her in a fight. I wasn’t as strong as her, but I was sure I could get her mad enough to make mistakes. I just didn’t know if it would be enough, especially if she shifted forms.
Brandon squeezed my arm and said, “Don’t let her get to you. She’s an idiot.”
I smiled at him and then slowly pulled my arm away as I turned towards Sean. “You really asked her out?”
Sean rolled his eyes at me. “We were six. It wasn’t like it was serious. I was just a dumb kid.”
Dad cleared his throat and everyone turned towards him. “I want to thank each of the pride’s alphas and all of their members for joining us at this Pride Gathering. We value your friendship. The rules for the Games are simple, you follow Mark’s instructions and the winner of each event gets a free trip to Martin’s Steakhouse, paid in full by me.”
The crowd cheered in excitement. Martin’s was by far the best steakhouse around and with Dad paying it meant they could order as many steaks as they wanted.
“Now,” he said, getting their attention back, “Mark will post the event pages on the trees. Come write your name down on the page for the event you want to participate in and we will begin shortly.”
“I’ll go tell Mark to add a footrace and then I will sign you up,” Sean said with a smile at me. “Can’t wait to make you eat my dust.”
I rolled my eyes at him and turned to Brandon. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to see if you needed any help,” he said and then looked behind me and his lip twitched. “Or not.”
“What’s up?” Michael asked as he came to stand beside me.
“Just leaving,” Brandon said and then turned and smiled at me. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I watched him go and felt conflicted. I wanted to ask him to stay, but that would be a slap in the face to Michael and I could not make him think I was choosing sides. “What did he want?” he asked with a smile on his face.
“He was just seeing if I needed help with the events.”
“Do you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope. Why don’t you go sign up for some events so that you can work off some of your pent up energy. Maybe you will be a little less moody then.”
He laughed and kissed my cheek. “Fine. I’ll go sign up so you can see how strong and sexy I am.”
I watched him walk away and sighed. Males were always temperamental, but it seemed like he and Brandon were more temperamental than usual. I really did not like being the cause of that.
Sarah jogged over to me with the measuring stick in her hand. It was a tall pole that had a measuring tape on the bottom that you left hammered into the ground at the beginning and then you would run to the spot to measure with. “You alright?” she asked. “Is my little brother giving you trouble?”
I smiled. “Yes, but I told him to go work off his moodiness.”
She laughed. “That’s my girl. Don’t give in to their grumpiness and tell him how it is.”
“We almost ready to start?” I asked to change the subject.
“Yep,” she said with a nod, “I’ll go tell Mark that you are ready.”
People were still mingling around the sign-up sheets, but it looked like traffic was slowing. Mark walked to the center of the arena and whistled loudly. “We will begin with the first event in about two minutes. I will call names three at a time, make sure you come stand in line in that order or your score will be given to the other person if you are in the wrong order. Victoria will be measuring and Gina will be writing down the measurements. We will announce the winners at the barbecue tonight so don’t bother Gina or Victoria to try to find out who won in advance.”
Gina grabbed all the sign-up sheets from where they had been posted on the trees and sorted them in the order the events were going to be run. I stretched out my legs and then waited to start my runs.
“First event is the tire toss. You will stand at the beginning line, pick the tire up and throw it as far as you can. You can pick it up, spin in a circle or whatever you want, but if we think you intentionally threw the tire at someone, you will be disqualified from all events and be disciplined.” I fought the urge to look for Mary. “Alright, Santos, you’re up first followed by Greg, Thomas and Phil.”
I watched as Santos, a fifty-something year old man who looked in his thirties walked to the tire and squatted down by it. He looked at me and smiled. “Get ready.”
I gave him the thumbs up and he lifted the giant tire as though it were a basketball and threw it double-handed over his head. I watched it sail towards me and then started jogging as it continued past me. The tire seemed to gain momentum as it flew and I had to start running to catch up to it as it landed. I marked the spot and held up my hands, showing Gina the distance with my fingers. She repeated it back to me to make sure it was right and then wrote it down. Brandon ran to me, grabbed the tire with a quick smile for me and then ran back to set the tire at the beginning.
“Carlton, add yourself to the line,” Mark called.
I ran off to the side and waited for Greg to throw the tire. He looped an arm under the tire and then spun in a circle like a discus thrower and threw the tire. I watched it sail towards me and then started jogging as I watched the tire above my head. The tire landed just in front of me and I stabbed the measuring stick into the ground and read the number. I was surprised that he had thrown it fifteen feet farther than Santos, but it was hard to tell how strong a werelion was just by looking at him. Plus, Santos probably would have done better if he had thrown it like Greg.
The event continued with over sixty participants in the one event. Luckily with the efficiency of Mark’s leadership it was not taking very long. We finished the first event and the tires were moved off into the trees and Mark whistled for everyone’s attention. “Now we will have a foot race. As you all know, Victoria has been the winner every
time we have held one of these, but Sean seems convinced that he can beat her this time. Everyone who signed up, come over and get in a straight line. Gina and I will be the judges of the winner and will stand on opposite ends at the finish line.”
I stabbed the measuring tape into the ground and jogged to stand in line with the others who had signed up for the race. Surprisingly both Brandon and Michael were in line. “I’m surprised you both are here,” I said as I walked past them.
“Why?” Michael asked.
“I figured you wouldn’t be able to handle getting beaten by a girl.”
Brandon shrugged. “Only one way to find out if you can beat us.”
I stood next to Sean and smiled up at him. “You ready?”
“Ready to make you eat my dust,” he said with a wide smile.
Paul cheered from the sidelines, “Go Michael!”
I turned and glared at him. “Traitor!”
He laughed and shrugged at me. Sheila was sitting next to him on the ground, petting her sleeping cubs and yelled, “Go Victoria!”
I gave her a thumbs up and said, “See, someone loves me.”
“Only one,” Mary said as she walked to stand between Michael and Brandon.
I was definitely looking forward to beating her.
Mark raised his hands and we all turned towards him. “No tripping, cutting off or any shenanigans. I want a fair race and I will personally punish whoever strays from that. On your marks.”
I dug my toes into the ground and leaned forward. Here was my one chance to prove that I could do something better than them.
“Get set.”
No matter what happened, I had to win this.
“Go!”
I took off and ran as fast as I could, pumping my arms faster than ever. A few stayed with me at first, but it was no contest. Brandon, Sean and Michael tried their hardest with determined looks on their faces, but they just were not as fast as me. They were stronger and healed faster, but I could outrun them any day. Probably the only thing that could save me if I ever encountered a group of lions or wolves who meant to hurt me. I just had to make sure I didn’t get surrounded like the last time at the restaurant.
Daughter of Lions Page 21