Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (2 page)

“All right?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said, “I think so. Sorry for flipping out.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “You were just scared. Anyone would have been scared.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much for doing that. I thought I—I don’t know what would’ve happened.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and shivered a little.

The man stepped forward a little, reaching out, but stopped himself before he got too close. “There’s no need to thank me. Anyone would have stepped in. I’m just glad I was here.”

He had an odd way of smiling, she noticed; it was more in the way his face looked, like it brightened a little all over, than any real movement of his mouth.

“Not as glad as I am,” she said. “And not everyone would have done it.” Not everyone could turn into a
lion
and frighten them away, was maybe more to the point.

“Everyone should,” he said. “Looking out for other people is—uh, is something I can give a big lecture on. In different circumstances.”

Sam huffed a tiny laugh. His warm not-quite-a-smile and his sincere, open words were helping her relax even more than the breathing exercise had.

She wished she could have him here by her side all night. Her job would improve immensely, that was for sure.

“It’s important to me,” he said. “But I don’t need to tell you that—you’re doing it professionally.” He gestured to her uniform.

That made Sam feel guilty for a whole host of reasons, not least of which was that she’d never have taken this job if she hadn’t been desperately broke. “I protect the building more than any people inside it,” she said hurriedly. “And I guess I’m not very good at it. Thanks again for helping me.”

“No one’s good at four against one,” he said. “But you’re very, very welcome. Can I walk you home? Or somewhere safer?”

That sounded great, but—“I can’t leave before my shift ends.” She pulled out her phone to check the time. 5:31 AM. “It’s almost over, though. Another half-hour and I can go sign myself out and go home.”

“I’ll wait with you, then,” he said.

“You don’t have to do that,” she protested, although she
really
didn’t want to be left alone again. It was technically morning, but the mid-November sky was still jet-black. And she kept thinking about how those guys, or other ones, could pop up again at any minute.

She wasn’t thinking about going back to work tomorrow night.

“I know I don’t have to,” he said, smiling again. Just the tiniest quirk of the corners of his mouth, she noticed, and the rest of it was in the muscles of his face. He had a really attractive face, in a kind of an…aristocratic way, like he could play some Roman emperor in a movie.

“I want to,” he continued. “I wouldn’t feel right leaving you out here in case those men came back.”

“Then thanks,” she said, although she also felt compelled to point out, “But I’ll be back here tomorrow night, just the same. It’s my job.”

“It doesn’t seem very safe,” he said, frowning a little.

“Hey,” she said, trying for careless, “I knew it was dangerous when I took it.”

And I had to take it anyway.
She blinked hard as her eyes started to fill up, and choked back the tears. Adrenaline or something, making everything seem overwhelming. “Gotta get back to my post,” she said briskly, and turned away, swallowing down any incipient crying.

The only thing that could make this night
better
would be breaking down and sobbing in front of her rescuer.

“I’ll stay with you until you’re done for the night, at least,” he said, following her back to her spot by the building’s back door.

She knew she should protest, tell him to get back to his life, that she’d be fine, but…she didn’t.

Instead, she took up her position again without saying anything—normally, she’d walk her rounds one more time before heading in to fill out her shift report, but tonight she was skipping it. Her friend planted himself firmly next to her, and she actually felt warmer with him standing there.

Not to mention safer.

“So,” she said, wanting to distract him from the topic of how dangerous her job was or wasn’t. It wasn’t going to change, so why spend time worrying about it, right? “I never got your name.”

“Oh,” he said, and—it was hard to tell in the streetlight’s glare, but he might have
blushed
a little. “I sincerely apologize. That was rude. My name is Dale Addison.”

“I’m Sam,” she said. “Samantha. Holt.” She sounded awkward and halting, and exactly as self-conscious as she was. Wonderful.

“I’m very happy to meet you, Sam.” Dale graciously ignored her stumbling over her own name.

“Not as happy as I was to meet you.” That moment when he’d shifted…she’d never seen anything like it.

“I don’t know about that,” he said, but didn’t go on.

If it were a line, she would’ve expected something like,
It’s not every day I meet someone
blah blah blah, but Dale just sounded serious, like he was really thinking about the question.

Sam wasn’t sure what to make of that, so she just offered, “Sorry I interrupted your run.” He was wearing workout clothes, in the middle of nowhere at five-thirty in the morning; now that she was paying attention, it was obvious what he’d been doing.

Dale shrugged. “I go every morning. I don’t get a chance to shift out on the street every morning, and I wish I did, so thanks for that.”

“I didn’t know there were any lion shifters in the city,” she said, and then mentally kicked herself. She knew shifters were pretty private—the reason most of them lived way out in the middle of nowhere was to keep people from poking into their business.

“We keep a low profile,” he said. “But there’s a whole pride of lions living in this city. Hardly anyone knows about us.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Sam said quickly. “I mean. It’s not anybody’s business if you’re just living your lives in the city like everyone else, right?”

“That’s what I’ve always thought,” he said. “I’m glad you see it the same way. I appreciate your not mentioning it.”

“That’d be a terrible way to pay you back for saving my life,” she said. “Blabbing your personal business all over the city.”

“A lot of people would want to tell everyone they knew,” Dale pointed out.

“I would never do something like that,” Sam said indignantly.

Although it wasn’t like she had anyone to tell. Most of her friends had been at her old job, and when she’d been laid off, they drifted apart. Now that she was working nights, her schedule didn’t match up with anyone else’s.

And her family…well, the less said about them, the better.

She was distracted by the depressing thought that she was mostly alone these days, and the silence stretched out, becoming awkward again.

Then Dale cleared his throat and said, “I couldn’t help noticing earlier…you don’t have much self-defense training, do you?”

Sam blushed, hot and ashamed. “No,” she admitted.

It wasn’t like she had a lot invested in being a badass, but it was shameful to be so obviously bad at her
job
. She’d always taken pride in doing good work, but here there was no way she could feel like that.

“They didn’t train you when they hired you?”

Sam shook her head. “They just told me what the protocols were for a few different situations. They told me there were hardly ever any incidents, they—they just needed a warm body in their uniform to discourage anyone who might think about breaking in.” Her face was hot again.

“I can’t believe how irresponsible that is.” Dale sounded disapproving. “Well, I guess it’s typical corporate cutting corners. But they put you in danger by leaving you out here all night alone. The least they could do is help you take care of yourself.”

Sam shrugged. She agreed with him, but it didn’t seem right to bitch about her employer while she was literally guarding their doorstep.

“Listen,” Dale said. “I work at a mixed martial arts studio.”

“
Really
?” Maybe he
was
a martial arts expert.

And he’d still chosen to intimidate those guys instead of beat them up. Sam’s respect for him went up even further.

He nodded. “Really. And listen. We have a women’s self-defense class on Thursday evenings at seven. It’s designed to help women learn to protect themselves, no fancy moves or anything, just practical techniques in case you’re attacked. Like tonight.” He put his hand on her shoulder, not gripping tightly, just a light touch. It still almost seemed like Sam could feel heat of his hand through her jacket. “Would you consider coming by this week?”

Sam hesitated. She wanted to—she’d go just to see Dale again, she realized, let alone learning how to keep herself safe at her job—but.

“I don’t really have the money for classes right now.” It was embarrassing to admit, but Dale already knew she couldn’t do her job, so why not tell him she was broke, too? It was the truth.

“First class is free,” he said quickly. “And I hate the idea of you standing out here undefended every night. I’m sure we could figure something out.”

She hesitated a little more. “Do you teach the class?”

She thought about Dale showing her how to stand, putting his arms around her to guide her hands—but then she’d be his student, and it would probably be against the rules to—

To what? Date? Sure, this gorgeous, buff, cultured-sounding, kung fu master
shapeshifter
definitely wanted to date
her
.

But Dale was shaking his head. “A good friend of mine teaches it,” he said. “She’s a foot shorter than me, fifteen years older, and she still kicks my ass half the time when we spar.”

“Really?” Sam would’ve loved to be that badass someday.

Dale nodded. “Really. She’ll like you, I can tell.”

Sam blushed again. “Okay,” she said, before she could talk herself out of it. “I’ll come.”

He smiled again, and this time it was a real smile, lighting his face up. “Thank you.”

* * *

“Thank you,” Dale said, incredibly grateful that Sam had finally said yes. He was trying not to think about what would’ve happened if he’d picked a different route for his run this morning.

He couldn’t get the picture of Sam struggling with those men out of his head. His lion had been growling protectively ever since he’d seen her, and the idea that he might not have come this way—

He could not believe that this company
had been so careless with Sam’s safety. Having her out here all night,
alone
, with no way to defend herself, was insane.

Something occurred to him. “Do you have any way to get in touch with someone inside the building in an emergency? Do they have any protocols for that?”

She pulled a walkie-talkie off her belt and held it up. “Supposedly with this. I use it to check in once an hour, and I always get an acknowledgement. But I tried it when those guys showed up, and nothing happened. I think the guy who runs the cameras took a break.”

She’d called for help, and no one had been listening. Dale’s hands curled into fists, and he forced them to relax, breathing deeply. “That’s unacceptable,” he said, as calmly as he could. “You should complain.”

But she shook her head. “I can’t,” she said. “I need this job.” She smiled, without any humor. “Remember, I’m broke.”

She was so matter-of-fact about it. It made him want to wrap her up in his arms and tell her not to worry…which was ridiculous. He wasn’t the sort of man who whispered sweet nothings into women’s ears.

Even if she was so beautiful it hurt. The way her dark hair fell softly around her shoulders, the curves he could see under her guard’s uniform, the tilt of her nose under her large, chocolate-brown eyes…

“Is there anything you need?” he asked, instead of saying any of that out loud. “Did…something happen that you need help with?”

She was obviously smart and capable—more capable than “a warm body in a uniform.” Maybe there’d been some crisis that had forced her to take this job—theft, fire, medical bills?

She shrugged. “Nothing more than has happened to anyone. I was laid off, I applied to every job that was open, and this was the only place that hired me. I lived on savings for a couple of months and that pretty much used up all my money.” She gave him another rueful, unhappy smile. “That’s life sometimes.”

Dale was simultaneously impressed by her calm, determined courage and furious that she’d been put in a situation where she needed it. He’d never experienced anything like what she’d been through—he’d always had the pride behind him if he needed them.

He wanted to ask where her family was, why they weren’t helping her, but he’d already bombarded her with too many personal questions for one night. Especially a night like this.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, instead. “I promise that we can work things out with the class.”

He wanted to promise her much more.
You just met this woman, Dale!
he told himself. His lion stirred unhappily at that, and he made himself take another deep breath.
Calm down
. He wasn’t normally a spontaneous person—Lynn would already be looking sideways at him about the last-minute addition to the class. He didn’t know why he suddenly wanted to hand Sam the moon if she said she needed it.