What she did not say was that she wanted to get a dress my Dad would like. Technically the top female and male should be a mating pair, but because my mom was still alive, my Dad would not sleep with another woman even though they were divorced and definitely not together anymore. The human side of him could understand the divorce, but the lion side could not.
“Of course I’ll go.” I started grabbing clothes out of my suitcase and frowned. “I didn’t bring any cute clothes for a party,” I said after a moment. Usually a party here meant lions roaring and hissing, fighting each other, and lots of barbecued food. “Oh well. I will just wear some…”
“I’ll buy you a dress too,” she said quickly with a devilish smile on her face.
I changed into my riding clothes and frowned at her. “Why are you trying to set me up with Brandon?”
She opened the bedroom door for me and said, “I just want you to look as beautiful as you are.”
I rolled my eyes. “I am not a lion, but even I could tell that was a partial lie.”
She put her arms around my shoulders and laughed. “You know I love you.”
“Love torturing me is more like it,” I muttered as we walked into the living room.
Mark pulled me away from Sarah towards the back door and said, “Let’s go.”
I leaned against his warm side, happy to be able to spend time with him. We stepped out of the house and headed to the left where the large red barn stood. We walked to the barn where the bikes were stored and several members of the pride waved and smiled at me as we went passed them.
We used to have a couple animals in the barn, but we learned quickly that werelions and prey animals do not get along very well. The prey animals felt too stressed out being around so many predators and so we decided it was more humane to not keep animals. Mark was silent as we walked which was not uncommon for him, but still made me nervous. I just hoped he was not thinking up some evil plot against me. He pushed open the barn’s doors and I walked past the various cars and other outdoor vehicles stored inside until I was next to my dirt bike. I ran my hand down my bright green dirt bike, brushing off some of the dirt and wished I could take it to mom’s house and ride it somewhere out there. I pushed it outside and said, “It has been too long since I have been here.”
“I agree,” said Paul as he walked around the corner of the barn with a wide smile on his face. I put the stand down so my bike would not fall as Paul picked me up and hugged me. “Hello, little sister.”
Paul was tall, buff and looked like a California Surfer with unruly blonde hair and tan skin. “Hey, Pauliana,” I said as I hugged him back.
He kissed my cheek. “You are lucky that you’re the Alpha’s daughter or I would beat you for that.”
“You are just afraid of me,” I said as we continued the same conversation we always had when we first saw each other.
“Are you riding with us?” Mark asked.
Paul nodded his head. “If that’s alright?”
Mark smiled. “Of course. I need all the help I can get to keep her safe.”
I rolled my eyes, put my helmet on and then got on my bike smiling. “Just don’t complain about eating my dust.”
I was about to head off when Brandon walked around the barn towards us. He smiled and asked Mark, “Can I go with you all? I was planning on heading out but I would rather not go alone.”
Of course he was going to come. I could not do anything without him apparently. Mark looked at me as if he had read my mind, but I knew he could not. Had I made a sound and not known it? “I’ll see you guys at the river,” I said as I took off away from them and towards the trails. They would catch up to me at the river and I would get to ride alone for a little bit and try to get rid of my anger.
I heard three engines start up behind me as I headed down the trail in front of me, which meant they were hurrying after me. The tires bounced over the uneven dirt and I smiled as I forgot about the guys behind me and just enjoyed the trail. Dad and Mark had spent several days creating the dirt trails for the bikes and ensuring that there were trails suitable for every level of rider. I had started riding the trails on a mountain bike when I was four and progressed to a small dirt bike when I was six. I spun around the first turn, my tires flinging dirt behind me as I turned fast. Here, I was in control. Here, I could do whatever I wanted.
At least that was how I felt until a tree log appeared in front of me. I tried to slow down, but I had been going too fast. I turned sharply, barely making it without falling and swerved around the log. I yelled victoriously as I neared the first jump, flying through the air.
The landing was jarring, but I was used to it and after two more turns I finally made it to the river. I stopped, turned my bike off and took my helmet off. The river was pretty high, which was unusual for this time of the year. I could smell the salt of the ocean, which was about a mile away, and relaxed. This was home.
A large grey wolf stepped out of the woods with its head down looking at me. I glanced at it, but could not recognize who it was. “Hey,” I said softly as I avoided eye contact and tried to figure out who it was by looking at its markings. The werewolves were our allies and wandered into our side of the forest occasionally. I knew most of them from the meetings dad held and the many times that the teenagers of the group had come to play when we were younger, but I could not place this one.
The wolf twitched its ears towards the sounds of the guys’ approaching bikes as it walked closer to me. Even if it could not smell me, the wolf should have recognized me by sight. Why was it acting so weird? “It’s me, Victoria,” I said as it drew closer.
The sound of the bikes grew louder and I guessed them to be about two turns away. The wolf seemed to know they were coming closer because it chose that moment to jump at me with ears pinned and teeth bared. I stumbled backwards, trying not to run, but to get away at the same time.
The wolf’s teeth snapped together a hair away from my arm. I held my scream in and shuffled backwards. What the hell was it doing? No wolf had ever attacked me before. The wolf leapt at me again, ramming into me and shoving me off of the road. It was then that I screamed, as I fell into the cold water of the river. The water closed around my head and I was instantly chilled to the bone and being swept downstream. I kicked as fast as I could and surfaced, gasping in a lungful of air just as I slammed into a boulder in the stream. I screamed in pain as I felt one of my ribs crack.
“Victoria!” yelled Mark from somewhere.
I wanted to call out to him, but I could barely breathe as it was and I needed to focus on getting to shore. I swam sideways, using the current to help me along and had almost reached the shallow part when I was slammed into a rock again. Pain engulfed my entire body and my vision blurred. My body went limp and I was swept back out into the current and underneath the water. The water swirled around me, numbing every inch of me. Part of me knew I needed to wake up and swim, but my body was too exhausted to do anything against the strong current.
Someone’s arms wrapped around my waist and then my body was lifted from the river and set on warm sand. I shivered and took shallow breaths to avoid the pain in my ribs.
“Victoria, say something,” whispered Mark as he moved my clothes to examine my body.
Words were impossible at the moment. Thoughts were impossible. I was alive. I was alive and Mark was here.
Bright light speared my eyes as someone lifted open my eyelids. “Victoria,” whispered Paul.
I wanted to smile at him or say something to him, but all I could do was faint when I took a deep breath and Mark touched my broken rib.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next day I was forced to lie in bed and could not walk anywhere, not even to the bathroom next to my bedroom. Dad stood in front of me with Mark, Sarah, and Paul.
“Tell us what happened.” Dad said sweetly. It was the same voice he used for scared cubs, which was slightly insulting since I was not scared right now.
I shifted on the b
ed to a more comfortable position and winced as my ribs burned. “I was standing by the river waiting for the guys to catch up when a grey wolf stepped out of the trees nearby. I didn’t recognize it so I said ‘hi’ and it came towards me, but did not respond like one of the pack wolves should have. It heard the guys’ bikes coming and tried to bite me. Then it just shoved me into the river.”
Everyone turned from me to look at each other, communicating silently. Mark walked next to me, squatted down and pick up my wet shirt. I would have thought all possible scents were washed off by now, but he inhaled and then growled, handing the shirt to Sarah. She inhaled and her face twisted as rage made her lion side more prominent and her bones moved underneath her skin. Dad took the shirt, drawing in a long breath before handing it to Paul.
Dad squatted down beside me, resting his hand on my forearm. “Don’t worry, baby. You are safe here.” I had never thought I wasn’t safe. I had never been attacked by one of the pack before and we had never had a rival wolf on our land before. I watched as they all left to go speak in private where I could not hear.
I hated being stuck in bed, but luckily I healed faster than a normal human, though not as fast as a wereanimal. Mark came back in a minute later and sat on the ground beside my bed, taking my hand in his and then raising it to his nose to inhale my scent. “I am sorry I could not protect you.”
I rubbed my thumb across his cheek since that was all I could do at the moment to try to console him. In a werelion pride the male lions were responsible for protecting the rest of the pride and especially the females and cubs. In Mark’s eyes I was a female cub and he had allowed me to get hurt and had not been able to punish the one who had harmed me. It was a double failure that would bother him for a while. “You can’t be responsible for me all the time, Mark. Someday you’ll find a mate and have cubs of your own and I will be on my own in another town where you cannot be.”
Mark shook his head. “I shouldn’t have let you go on ahead like that.”
I pulled my hand back in shock. “Mark! This is our territory. I have always been safe here.” That realization made me look at him. “The wolf wasn’t from the allied pack, was it?”
Mark shook his head. “He was from the Minters pack.”
Minters was a town about eighty miles from Canaville and the pack that lived there was comprised of mostly males. The few females that were in the Minters pack were mean, ruthless, and were always trying to pick fights. This was unquestionably an attempt to start a war between us. If they had killed me there was no doubt in my mind that my pride would have gone after them. It was pretty ballsy of them to enter our territory after me, but they had probably sent a wolf they viewed was expendable. Poor guy.
Dad would not start a war, but he would send a message to them to let them know that if they tried a stunt like that again he would not hesitate in ripping off all of their heads. I did not want to know what message he would send. I needed to leave as soon as I could so I would not be a target for them. I knew they would try for me again since I was by far the weakest link.
I started to stand up, but Mark grabbed me and picked me up, carrying me to the bathroom. I held the doorjamb and sighed as I realized something. “He’s going to send someone to guard me back home, isn’t he?”
Mark kissed my forehead and whispered, “What kind of father would he be if he did not?”
“A normal one,” I whispered as I shut the door between us. As much as I hated the idea of one of my Dad’s lions following me around, it was also reassuring to know that the Minters pack would not be able to get me there either.
Sarah was waiting outside the door when I opened it and without a word she picked me up and carried me to my room. I wrapped my arms around her neck and smiled. “You are just the sweetest gentleman around,” I said in a fake southern accent. “I bet the women just faint at the sight of your strong arms and handsome face.”
She set me down in my bed and tipped an imaginary cowboy hat. “All in a day’s work of being the best cowboy in the west, ma’am.”
I laughed and was surprised to realize that my ribs were not hurting that much. “Are we going shopping today?” I asked hopefully.
Sarah frowned. “I don’t think you are in any condition to go shopping.”
I stood up out of bed and peeled the bandage off my ribs. They were still bruised, but instead of being purple and blue they were yellow already. I could have told them that I did not need them to carry me, but knew they would not have listened anyways. I was still surprised at how quickly I had healed. I usually healed quickly, but this was much quicker than usual since I had been in pain only minutes earlier.
“Steven,” Sarah called, “Come here please.”
Dad walked into my room and walked over to me, inspecting my ribs. “Well that’s interesting. I guess my genes are more active in her than we had originally thought.”
“So, can I go shopping with Sarah?” I asked hopefully.
He shrugged as I pulled my shirt back down. “I don’t see why not. Mark will go with you though.”
Sarah snarled, but then looked down so as not to challenge my Dad. “I can protect her.”
Dad took a step towards her and lifted her chin with his pointer finger so that she met his eyes. “I will not let anything happen to my cub. I would rather have both of you with her than one and then have thirty of them jump you and hurt her.”
Sarah nodded her head in understanding and walked out of my bedroom. Dad followed her and as quickly as I could with still bruised and sore ribs I got dressed and brushed out my tangled hair. It looked awful, but I didn’t want to waste time with a shower so I threw my hair up in a messy ponytail and walked out to the living room where Mark, Sarah and my Dad were talking quietly. Mark lifted my shirt up and inspected my ribs for himself.
He looked at Dad and asked, “You think she might…”
He stopped talking before he finished the question and Dad shook his head. “She would smell like a lion.”
“She doesn’t smell human,” Sarah said as they all looked at me.
“Are you done treating me like an experiment now? I get enough of the ‘Victoria’s a freak show’ from mom,” I said angrily as I turned and headed towards the door. I knew it was not fair of me to snap at them like that, but I hated being an unknown. I hated being not quite human and not quite lion either. I was the first child born to a werelion/human match that we knew of. We all knew I was not a werelion and could not change forms, but I healed faster than a human and was stronger than a normal human. I once compared myself to a dhampir in a movie I watched, but Dad told me never to mention vampires again so I dropped the subject. He really hated vampires apparently.
Sarah and Mark came out of the house behind me and followed me to Mark’s plain white pickup truck. I had always wondered why he had such a boring truck, but he never talked about his prior life with me or explained why he liked the dull truck. I had a feeling he used to be a secret agent or in the military. Most likely the military doing crazy special operations missions around the world.
I sat in the center of the bench seat and folded my arms across my chest. Just once I would like to be normal. I was treated normal for the most part at school, but even there people knew that I was not what I appeared to be and kept their distance. I had friends, but I rarely got invited to parties, most of the time I was only allowed to go out to public places with friends from school like the movie theaters or restaurants, but occasionally I was invited to people’s houses. It was almost like an unconscious desire for them to keep me from knowing where they lived. Did their human brains register that I was part of a predator society and they wanted to keep me from finding out where their den was?
Mark and Sarah climbed in on either side of me and we drove in silence to the strip mall which had the only dress store within fifty miles. The strip mall was not a mall by any normal person’s standards. It was one long building which had six stores in it and a gas station with a food mart next to
it. It was a one stop shop on your way through town because no one in their right mind should want to stay in the town and actually live there. That is unless you were a group of werelions who needed room to run and plenty of area to do so without the regular world finding out about you. Yes, it was difficult to keep the world from finding out about the existence of wereanimals, but due to the high number of shifters living in the world and the strategic placement of them in high ranking positions all over the world, any evidence such as medical records which even had a one percent chance of proving shifters’ existence mysteriously went missing.
Sarah linked arms with me as we climbed out of the truck and headed towards the dress store which was the center store in the strip and was very visible with a neon pink and purple sign above the door. The door was painted in the same neon colors with flowers and hearts. “You can wait outside,” she said to Mark pleasantly.
Mark frowned and said, “I am supposed to guard her too.”
She smiled, but she was showing a lot more teeth than she did in her usual smile. An obvious sign if you were an animal, even part of the time. “You can guard the door and if anyone suspicious comes in then you can come inside and assist.”
Mark may have been second in command, but he knew it was not wise to argue with the alpha female, especially when she was in a crabby mood and already barring her teeth at him. He nodded his head at her in acknowledgement and struck a pose, leaning against the store with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face. The store probably would not get any more customers until we left, not wanting to cross Mark’s path.
Sarah led me inside the brightly painted store and the shopping began. We tried on all fifty dress styles, having a mini fashion show for each other since there was no one else in the store except for the owner and then set out our three favorite ones. Sarah looked amazing in every dress, but that was to be expected. Lucky jerk. I looked at her three choices and picked up the white summer dress with soft pink flowers on it. “This is the dress for you. Dad will love it.”
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