Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (15 page)

Sam stared at him. “How dare you,” she said.

Peripherally, she could feel Dale coming up on her right side, while Lynn stood solidly at her left, but for the moment, all she could see was Chapman. “You
kidnapped
me, you hurt me, you tied me up, and you threatened to kill me if Dale won this fight. Well, guess what. Dale won this fight, and you don’t
get
to kill me.”

“Better think twice,” Chapman snarled, and shifted into a lion.

Beside her, Dale and Lynn both shifted too, but Sam was barely aware of it, because a hot, tingling sensation was sweeping over her.

She knew she should be running away, but instead she could feel a growling sensation in her chest, and she was leaning forward—

—no, wait, she wasn’t leaning forward—

—she was putting
all four paws on the ground
. She was a lioness.

Her whole body felt alive. She was filled with strength and ferocity, and for the first time in a long, long time, she wasn’t afraid at all.

Her claws extended, ripping into the grass, and she bared her teeth at Chapman and growled.

Chapman had jerked back in surprise when she shifted, and now was staring at her in utter disbelief. Sam growled again, wanting him gone.

Dale’s mane brushed against her, and she stepped closer to him, until they were standing shoulder to shoulder. She felt invincible—not only was she a lion, but her mate was next to her, and when she inhaled, he did as well.

And together, they roared.

Chapman leapt back. Sam snarled at him, and it felt
good
.

Chapman shifted to human, and Dale did as well. Sam followed reluctantly. It was easy to shift back—she found that she could think about her human body, and her lioness form melted away—but the second she was human, she wanted to go back to her other shape.

But there were more important things to think about, like Chapman’s retreating form. “How—” he said. “Addison, you turned her? That’s against the rules!”

“Funny you should care so much about the rules
now
.” Dale’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “But it wasn’t me. It was Freddie.”

Chapman’s face transformed into an ugly sneer. “Freddie,” he said. “I’ll kill him.”

“Good luck finding him,” Dale said. “Although you’ll have plenty of time to do it, because according to pride law, you must be out of our territory by tomorrow morning, and you can never again come back. If any of us sees you here after dawn tomorrow, the penalty is death. Do you understand?”

Chapman snarled at him. It sounded weak to Sam’s ears, after hearing a real roar.

“
Do you understand
?” Dale repeated.

“I understand,” Chapman ground out.

“And one more thing.” Dale took a step forward. “If you ever look at or speak to Sam again, I
will
kill you.
Stay away from her
.”

Chapman snarled again and stalked off the field.

Together, the pride waited in silence until they heard the BMW’s door slam, the car start, and Chapman drive away.

“Well,” said Lynn once he was gone, “I hope he doesn’t stop driving until he hits the Pacific.”

“
I
hope he keeps going,” Sam said. She turned to Dale. “Are you okay? You’re hurt.”

Dale shook his head. “It’ll heal, don’t worry. Shifters heal faster than ordinary humans.”

Sam frowned. “You don’t need a doctor?”

“I really don’t,” Dale said. “I promise you.”

Sam subsided, satisfied that while Dale might have enough male pride to claim that he was fine at first, he wouldn’t look her in the eye and lie.

“Now,” said Lynn, “it’s time to acknowledge our new alpha lioness.”

Sam blinked. “I thought—” she looked at Lynn. “Aren’t I just your apprentice for now?”

“Practically speaking, yes,” Lynn said. “Officially, it’s time to recognize you now. It takes a while for a new alpha to learn what’s what, but that lioness is the alpha from the moment she’s acknowledged. Dale Addison,” her voice took on the more formal tone she’d used in the circle, “do you recognize Samantha Holt as your mate and the alpha lioness of this pride?”

“I recognize her,” Dale stated. He shifted into his lion form, and turned to Sam.

Sam shifted too, since it seemed to be the appropriate thing. It was amazingly easy—it felt like she was just acknowledging a part of herself that had always been there.

Dale nuzzled her neck, and then sat on the ground. Sam sat next to him, and the entire pride shifted as well, and they came together in a group around Sam and Dale, and collectively bowed—even Lynn—until their noses touched the ground.

Sam felt a little uncertain for the first time since she’d changed, but—if this was her responsibility now, it was her responsibility. She sat tall and vowed internally to be the best alpha lioness she could be.

After a minute, everyone sat up and changed back, and Dale and Lynn followed suit.

“That’s the boring part over with,” Lynn said. “Do you want to change and run for a bit?”

Sam felt her eyes get wide. She thought about darting through the hills with the pride, Dale by her side. Her paws on the ground, scenting the air.

“
Yes
,” she said.

“Then let’s go,” said Dale, teeth flashing in a wide, happy smile.

* * *

When they got back to the studio, Sam was exhausted but delighted. They’d had an amazing time—it had actually been
fun
.

Sam hadn’t realized lions played games with each other, but in a way, it had been like running around with a bunch of big cats.
As
a cat. They’d darted around, chased each other, leapt for low branches, and generally had a great time.

Sam had wanted to go back to Dale’s apartment and spend a delicious hour or so together before she had to go to work, but Dale had said that there was one more thing to take care of at the studio, so they’d driven here instead.

Inside, Lynn was waiting at the desk. “Sam,” she said, “I want to offer you a job here at the studio. You’d be my assistant, dealing with the administrative and financial matters pertaining to the business. You can take some time to think about this—”

“I don’t need any time!” Sam interrupted. “Sorry. I—I would
love
to take a job at the studio.” Quit her job? Work in the same building as Dale? Work as Lynn’s assistant, and have a chance to learn from her? This was like a dream come true.

“All right,” Lynn said, smiling. “I just wanted to make sure you really wanted this. I have the paperwork here, if you want to take a few minutes and sign everything.”

“Yes. Please.” Sam looked at Dale. “Was this your idea?”

“Technically, yes,” Dale said, “because I thought of it the day I met you. But Lynn suggested it to me, not the other way around.”

Sam was smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. “Thank you,” she said to Lynn. She looked at Dale. “Thank you.”

Dale shook his head. “Thank
you
. I love you.” He kissed her.

“I love you,” said Sam. “And I already love this pride. I can’t wait to learn everything you have to teach me,” she said to Lynn.

“Start by signing, and we’ll go from there,” Lynn said dryly, and Sam laughed and signed.

* * *

Epilogue: One Week Later

“Are you sure?” Sam asked Dale, who was just hanging up his phone. “Don’t they have things to do?”

“They have to get to know their new alpha lioness.” Dale squeezed her shoulder. “Besides, everyone spends some of their time helping out the pride, around the studio or out in the country or wherever. It feels good.”

Sam could attest to that. She’d spent the last week shadowing Lynn at the studio, getting to know the rest of the pride who worked or studied there, and she felt so
full
now. Like everything she did was meaningful, and with every move she made, her life became more intertwined with Dale’s and the pride’s. It was wonderful.

And she knew she’d never be alone again.

Especially not after today. She looked around her apartment, which was all boxed up and ready to go. “Where’s the list?”

“Right here.” Dale brandished the sheet of paper.

While Sam packed, he’d labelled all of the boxes, indicating what was in them, what room in Dale’s apartment they were going to, whether they were fragile, and whether they could go on the bottom of a stack or had to be on the top.

Sam truly wanted to help Dale relax and stop taking responsibility for everything in his life, but she had to admit that his attitude had its uses. The List had become central to the moving plans.

The buzzer sounded. “That’s Lynn with the truck,” Sam said, hitting the button.

“Great,” Dale said. “She and I can get started, and you can take a break and wait for the cavalry.”

“I can do
something.
” Sam looked around at the stacks of boxes.

“You packed the last of everything last night while I was still at work, even though I said I wanted to help,” Dale said.

“You were at work, not sitting doing nothing,” Sam argued, when there was a knock on the door. She went to open it.

“I was doing paperwork,” Dale said. “While you were lifting heavy things. That seems wrong.”

“Lionesses can lift what they want,” Sam said.

“Women can lift what they want,” Lynn added as she came inside. “Are you saying we’re weak?”

“No!” Dale was starting to look flustered. “I just want to help—” He frowned at Lynn. “You’re teasing.”

Lynn turned to Sam. “You’re very good for him. He never would have figured that out before.”

“You never teased me like that before,” Dale protested.

“No, you just never noticed,” said Lynn. “Now, I’m parked out front, so it’s time to quit being ridiculous and pick up some boxes.”

Dale lifted his hands in surrender and led the way.

The buzzer sounded again, forestalling any more arguments Sam might have made about wanting to lift
one
box of her own stuff.

She was honestly excited to see what she could do with her new lioness strength. She’d already taken a few special self-defense lessons with Lynn, and she was amazed at how strong she was now, even in her human form.

Dale and Lynn left the apartment, each with boxes stacked high, and at the same time, three teenagers clattered down the hallway and stopped at Sam’s door.

“Hi, Sam,” said the oldest, a boy named Travis who, Sam had been informed, was Dale’s second cousin and had changed for the first time extremely early, at fourteen, and so already had four years of experience on Sam in the lion business.

“Hi, guys,” said Sam, motioning them in.

Travis was followed by Victoria, who was seventeen and Lynn’s fiercest follower in women’s martial arts, and Liam, who was almost eighteen and apparently much more into computers than sparring, although he was the tallest of them all and looked like he could lift more than any of them combined.

“So Dale made a list,” Sam said. She held it up, and watched Travis try to hold back a grin. “It’s color-coded,” she added.

That got her a few giggles.

“This is why everyone should have a pride alpha coordinating their move,” Sam said. “So basically you want to take boxes with a red sticker first, and put them on the bottom, and then an orange sticker, and so on. Blue and purple stickers are fragile.”

Victoria reached for the list, and examined it. “When did he have time to do this? He’s always at the studio. I thought he slept there until I heard you guys were moving in together.”

Liam elbowed her, and she glanced up at Sam, half-guilty.

“I do have a couch in my office, but it’s too small for me to sleep on,” said Dale from the doorway, and all three of the teenagers jumped.

“I just want to
thank you all for doing this
,” Sam said over Victoria’s
I—uh—I didn’t—
“I really appreciate you guys taking time out of your days, and I promise there will be pizza when it’s all over.”

“Score,” said Travis, and grabbed the list out of Victoria’s hand; she snatched at it, and he scooted away. Liam followed them, peering at stickers as he went.

“I hope you don’t regret getting yourself into this,” Dale said, smiling warmly at Sam.

“Nope,” Sam said, smiling. “They’re cute.” And they were—rough-and-tumble and a little irreverent, but that just made them seem more like lion cubs to her.

* * *

The kids turned out to be a big help—having six people instead of three meant that the move went incredibly fast.

Sam made sure she had a chance to talk to each of them separately, and they all seemed friendly, although Victoria and Liam were typically teenaged-monosyllabic most of the time. Travis, on the other hand—