Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (13 page)

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't I have a good reason to be pleased with myself?"

"Get up here," she said, and he gladly obeyed, letting her pull him down into a thorough kiss. She was tasting herself, he thought, and flushed with heat.

She shifted up and pushed at him, and he went with it even though she didn't have the strength to roll him over. They ended up reversed, with him on his back and her kneeling over him.

"Your turn." She kissed him again.

The thought made blood pulse in his cock, but he said, "Only if you really want to."

He knew that some women didn't really enjoy giving blowjobs, and he never, ever wanted to pressure a woman into doing anything she didn't enthusiastically want to do.

"Trust me," she said, and he could see that her pupils were still dilated with arousal, "I want to."

"Then I'm happy to take my turn." He opened his mouth under hers when she kissed him again. Her tongue slid along his, and he couldn't help wrapping her up in his arms and holding her close while they kissed.

She pulled back eventually, breathing hard. "You're distracting me from what I was going to do.”

"I can't help it," he said. "You're the distracting one."

"So prepare to be distracted," and she ran her hands down his chest, with just the smallest hint of fingernails making sure he knew where she'd been.

She kept going down his stomach, pausing to brush kisses over his abdominals, and stopped with her hands on his hips, looking down at his erection.

"You know,” she said, “you’re gorgeous all over, but there’s one particular spot where I think genetics has just…outdone itself.”

"Thanks," he said, shifting his hips. "I appreciate the compliment."

"I haven't been with that many men," she said, which he was stupidly pleased to hear about, "but I have to say, you really stand above all of them. If you know what I mean." She looked at him thoughtfully.

Dale shifted again—with her looking him over like this, he was so hard it was starting to get uncomfortable. "Sam—"

She smiled at him, and her eyes had that sparkle to them. "Yes?"

She was
teasing
him, he realized—drawing it out on purpose. "
Sam
," he said, "Please touch me."

The teasing sparkle drained away, and in place was pure lust. "That's...really hot to hear. Okay. Your wish is my command," and she bent her head to taste him.

He was expecting more teasing—for her to lap at the head of his cock, or just lick around the base—but apparently Sam felt like he'd had enough, because she engulfed him in her warm, wet mouth right away, and Dale heard a growl coming from deep in his chest.

It was probably the best thing he'd ever felt, Sam's mouth on him, and suddenly all of his concentration was focused on lasting long enough for it not to be embarrassing.

She was incredibly good at it, sucking hard at the head and slipping her tongue into his slit, then licking down his length and getting him good and wet, and finally wrapping her hand around the base and jerking him off as she sucked. The rhythm was perfect.

He could hear himself talking—"Just like that, Sam, you're perfect, you're so perfect, you feel so good—" and knew it was incoherent sex babble, but he couldn't stop himself to save his life.

It was all right, though, because he meant it all. She was perfect.

He was at least in control enough to say, “Sam—Sam, I’m going to come,” when it was imminent. She didn’t pull back, though; instead, she brought him off in one long perfect wave—it just built and built and built until he tipped over the top and came hard.

When he could move his arms again, Dale pulled Sam up into a tight embrace, inhaling her scent and wrapping her sleep-warm body up with his. “That was amazing," he said into her ear.

“Back at you," she whispered, breathless.

He smiled into her neck. “Good way to wake up?”

“The best," she said. “I wish I could wake up like that every day.”

“That can be arranged," he said, and she laughed.

“I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t.” He kissed her neck, and then her chin, and the side of her face, and then pulled back to meet her beautiful brown eyes. “I want to wake up to sex with you every day. I want you in my bed every night. I want to make breakfast for you every morning.”

Her gaze flickered away. “I want that, too," she whispered.

He kissed her cheekbone. “You don’t sound that sure.”

She pulled back, and he let her go, until she was sitting next to him on the bed, looking down at him. There was love in her eyes, but also sadness. “I guess...this all seems like too much of a good thing. Too good to be true. That you should come out of nowhere and be everything I ever wanted…”

“Hey.” He sat up and took her hands in his. “You deserve everything you ever wanted. You deserve the best that I can give you. You deserve orgasms every morning and breakfast in bed.”

He meant every word. When he thought about what she’d gone through in her life, and how strong she still was...his heart felt like it was breaking.

She smiled at him, sweet and heartfelt. “Thank you. But I don’t know. It almost felt like Chapman and Freddie coming after me was...the other shoe dropping. The balance to the scale.”

“
No
, Sam," Dale said, unable to keep from leaning forward and wrapping her up again. “
This
is the balance.” He hugged her tight. “This is what’s right.”

She leaned into him. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

He shook his head. “
You’re
the best thing that’s ever happened to you. And Chapman’s never going to touch you again.”

“
That
, I believe," she said, and sat back. “Don’t you have a fight to get to?”

“That’s right," Dale said. “We’d better get moving, I wouldn’t want to be late to beat him.”

* * *

Sam had pulled herself together by the time she and Dale got in the car.

“I don’t really think you’re going to be snatched away from me at any second," she said to him as she put her seatbelt on. “I just sometimes remember...being a kid, and my mom, and I think that’s how it’s always going to be. Feel free to knock me back into reality when that happens.”

She’d never shared one of those insecure moments with another person before, and having Dale there to hold her through it had been...wonderful.

“Trust me," said Dale, “I’ll do that. Whenever you need me to.” He squeezed her hand, and then started the car.

They drove a ways in comfortable silence—they were going out of the city, Sam realized, and she guessed they must be on their way to the territory the pride used to shift.

Sure enough, a good twenty-minute drive from the city limits, Dale pulled off onto a dirt side road, and they ended up in a clearing that had become a makeshift parking lot.

“Everyone’s early," Dale remarked as they got out of the car.

“Must be exciting, an alpha fight." Sam looked covertly around to see if she could spot any lions. None immediately appeared, although she saw a few people in human shape a ways off. “Are we going over there?”

“That’s right.” Dale took her hand and set off, leading her along a path through tall grass.

Sam appreciated the feeling of his big hand engulfing hers. As confident as she’d acted about the fight—as confident as she genuinely
was
about the fight—there was still a tiny bit of doubt. What if Chapman got in a lucky shot? What if—

“Dale," Sam said urgently, coming to a stop and tugging on his hand. When he turned, she said, “This fight isn’t to the death, is it?”

“Not usually," Dale said seriously. His golden eyes were steady, and his voice was level. “I have no intention of killing Chapman, in any case. The fight goes to whichever fighter can pin the other. The loser has to leave the pride, and the city, forever.”

Sam let out a breath. “Okay. Although I don’t think Chapman would mind if you died.”

“Too bad for him, then," Dale said grimly, and turned to keep walking. He kept her hand in his.

When they emerged from the grass, they were in another level clearing, which ended with the beginnings of a sparse group of trees on the far end. Low, rolling hills stretched off into the distance. Sam looked at it and wondered how much of the territory belonged to the pride.

She didn’t have time to ask Dale, though, because they came up on the small group of people she’d seen from their car. To her relief, Lynn was already among them, and Chapman was not.

“Welcome, Sam," Lynn said, as warmly as Sam had ever heard her speak. “Let me introduce you to some of the other members of our pride. This is Tammy," a short Asian woman with gorgeous long hair, “Bruce," a blond man who looked like he could be Dale’s cousin, and maybe was, “David," a tall, slender man with bright red curls, “and Joyce," a short, plump woman about Lynn’s age or a little older. “Nancy, Rafe, Jorge, and Luke are over there marking out the circle—” she nodded to a small group of people talking intently about a hundred feet away—“and everyone else is on their way. Maureen’s bringing the kids.”

“Kids?” Sam asked dubiously.

“Young lions, who’ve already gone through their first change but aren’t eighteen yet, or still live with their parents," Lynn said. “No unchanged children are allowed to witness a fight.”

Good
, Sam thought, and decided not to mention that
she
hadn’t changed yet. She wasn’t a child, and she was going to watch Dale bring Chapman down.

Lynn said, “Dale, let me speak to you for a second.”

“Not right now," Dale said politely but firmly, looking at Sam, and Sam realized that he didn’t want to leave her alone with strange pride members.

“Go on," she said. “Lynn probably has something important to talk to you about. I’ll be fine here.”

Dale’s eyes flicked from her to the other four, and back again. “You’re sure?”

She gave him a firm nod. “Don’t worry.”

Dale went off several steps with Lynn, oriented so he was facing Sam while they talked.

Sam turned to face the four new acquaintances. “Hello," she said, with as much confidence as she could muster. “It’s very nice to meet all of you.”

Bruce was looking at her a little suspiciously. “You’re human," he said, although there was a bit of an upturn at the end, like he wasn’t sure.

Sam wondered if she was giving off any lioness...pheromones, or scent. She thought about just agreeing that she was human, but decided there wasn’t any disadvantage in sharing what had happened. “I’m not sure, actually.”

“How can you not be
sure
?” Tammy raised an eyebrow.

“Freddie, Chapman’s friend, bit me a little this morning." Sam tugged up her sleeve to show the scrape.

The lions collectively inhaled in shock. “On purpose?” Tammy asked, leaning in to inspect the cut.

“I don’t know," Sam said. “He meant to hurt me, but I don’t think he meant to turn me.”

David peered at the cut. “He didn’t do a very good job if he meant to hurt you.”

“
David
," said Joyce.

“What?” David asked. “I didn’t say that was a bad thing.”

“It’s true, anyway," Sam said. “Dale showed up and took care of things before he could do anything really bad.”

“Did Freddie do this, too?” Tammy’s fingers ghosted just above her cheekbone.

“No," Sam said. “That was Chapman.”

David’s eyebrows were up. “No wonder Dale wants to fight him.”

“I can’t believe Chapman agreed to fight
Dale
," Tammy said.

Sam decided she didn’t want to explain the whole kidnapping plot right now. “It was complicated," she said. “Is Dale that hard to beat?”

It wasn’t like she didn’t trust Dale’s word that he could beat Chapman, but a second opinion would just be...nice to hear.

“He’s untouchable on the practice floor," Bruce said. “I’ve never seen him fight for real, though. I don’t know if he ever has.”

“Has Chapman?” Sam was suddenly seized by fear—all she could think of were Lynn’s strictures from Sam’s single self-defense class:
You can practice all you want, but a real-life attack isn’t going to be like this
.

“I don’t know," Joyce said thoughtfully. “Never for alpha before, obviously, but who knows. People used to fight a lot more often underneath Dale’s father. One of the many reasons we’re happier to have Dale here.”

Sam glanced back at Dale, more worried than she had been. Chapman was at least ten years older—maybe he’d been in some real fights in his life.

But Dale was a martial arts
instructor
, she reminded herself as Dale met her eyes and started back to the group immediately. He knew what he was doing. He knew just as well as Lynn that real-life situations were different from the practice room.

And he’d taken Freddie down without so much as blinking.