Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (7 page)

“What sort of guys have you dated?” Dale was frowning. “In my opinion, that’s the bare minimum a man should offer. You know that most women can’t come just from intercourse.”

He sounded so indignant that Sam started to laugh—and broke off in the middle to gasp as another aftershock pulsed through her.

“
I
knew that,” Sam said when she recovered her voice, having a hard time believing that a
man
was making this speech. “I don’t think most guys do.”

“Most guys need to educate themselves,” Dale said firmly. He stroked his fingers along the inside of Sam’s pussy, and she gasped. “So, do you want more? I can do this for a long, long time before I get tired, believe me.”

Sam shook her head. “No,” she said. “I want you inside me.”

Dale’s golden eyes closed for a second. “You’re not the only one,” he said when he opened them. “Let me just—” he pulled his fingers out, and Sam gasped again.

She watched him fumbling for a condom with his slippery fingers, and she thought that although his calm, graceful confidence was sexy as ever-loving hell, she loved him the most when he was being awkward.

Wait.
Loved?

Then he turned around, having triumphed over the condom, and she made the decision to put that little realization aside and think about it later.

He kissed her again before doing anything else—long, passionate kisses, slow and deep and thorough, until she almost forgot anything else was happening, she was so caught up in his mouth and his arms wrapped tightly around her.

When he tilted her hips up and pressed slowly into her, though, she felt liquid and open and hotter than she’d ever been. She wrapped her legs around his hips and arched her back as he started to thrust.

It felt—it was impossible to describe how good it felt. She’d always found sex to be a little overrated, happy to get an orgasm out of it if she could, but mostly enjoying it for the opportunity to connect with her partner.

She’d never felt so overwhelmed with pleasure, clenching around every thrust, clutching at his shoulders with her fingers as she shuddered around him.

Dale was watching her face as he moved inside her, changing his angle based on the sounds she made, and it wasn’t long before she was riding the edge again, moaning, “Faster, faster, please, please—”

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, and he shifted to hold her hip with one hand while he reached the other between them and stroked over her clit. Once, twice—Sam shrieked out loud as she came a second time.

And at that Dale finally seemed to lose control; he pressed her down against the pillows and thrust harder and faster as Sam spasmed around him, sweat darkening his blond hair, his breath coming in harsh pants.

“Sam,” he said, his voice deep and roughened, “
Sam
—”

Sam wrapped herself around him, holding on tight, and Dale came with a deep growl that made Sam shiver down to her toes.

* * *

It took them a while to catch their breath.

Dale kept running his fingers along her arm, from her shoulder to her elbow and back again; occasionally he’d bend his head and place a kiss right in the center of her breastbone.

Sam stroked his hair back from his face and thought about how much she loved him.

It was too soon, she knew—too intense, too much. They barely knew each other. She wasn’t in any position to start a new romance, with her life teetering on the edge, working nights at a job she hated.

But there was no getting around it. She loved him. She didn’t think she was going to stop anytime soon.

After a while, he drew in a long breath, and he said, “I don’t know how much you know about shifters.”

“Not all that much,” Sam said cautiously, not sure where this was going.

“A lot of shifters have some traditional beliefs about love.” Dale was still tracing patterns over her arm. “Lions in particular can be a little…overenthusiastic about it. In my opinion.”

Sam stifled a laugh; he’d said that last bit like he’d had some arguments about it. “What do you mean?”

“Shifters are supposed to have mates. One person that you’re supposed to be with for the rest of your life. Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

Dale laid his head down on her shoulder. “I’ve never really believed in it. I’ve seen people say they found their mates, but it’s obviously just a line to get someone in bed with them. My—my parents said they were mated, but that was pretty clearly a lie.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam said, keeping her voice steady and calm.

She wanted to know more about Dale’s parents, but she wasn’t going to ask any questions now that she knew he sounded like
that
when he was talking about them.

“It’s a long story,” he said. “Maybe I’ll tell you later. Anyway, people obviously just thought,
well, I like this person and I think they’re attractive, I guess they’re my mate
, and didn’t think about the consequences of telling someone they were bound together forever.”

“You’re a person who thinks about consequences, though,” Sam said, sure she was right.

Dale nodded, his hair brushing her chin. “I thought it was a monumentally stupid thing to do. I always told myself that even if I got married, I wouldn’t try to fool the poor woman into thinking she was my mate.”

Sam could feel something warm in her chest—a full, happy feeling just waiting to come into full flower. “But?” she asked, her voice trembling a little.

“But I was wrong.” Dale pushed himself up from her shoulder and looked her in the eye again. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I hardly even understand it. It’s not just that you’re brave, and funny, and beautiful, and smart, and you don’t give up, and that I know I’d fall in love with you no matter what. It’s something deeper. You and I belong together. I
know
it.”

Sam blinked, and blinked again—her eyes were filling with tears. She bit her lip, trying to hold them back, because she
never
cried and she didn’t want to start now. “I—” she started, and her voice broke.

Dale’s face softened, and he leaned down to kiss the corners of her eyes, first the left, then the right. “Hey,” he said softly. “Hey, it’s all right. I’m not going anywhere.”

A tear ran down Sam’s temple into her hair, and then another one. She swallowed and pulled herself together enough to say, “I love you. And you’re right. We belong together.”

Dale kissed her temple where the tears had run, and then he gathered her into his arms. “I love you, too.”

* * *

Eventually, they had to untangle themselves and get up. “You take the shower,” Dale said. “I’ll make us some food. You must be hungry.”

Sam
was
hungry—it was about lunchtime for her, and she’d eaten a light breakfast, not wanting to be too full for the class. She showered in Dale’s bathroom, washing her hair in his shampoo, and came out in a cloud of steam that smelled like him. She thought about smelling like Dale for the rest of the day, and smiled.

“Hey,” he said when she got out. “I didn’t know if you wanted to put your workout clothes on again, so I got you a shirt. It’s the smallest one I could find, but it’s still not your size, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Sam said. “I know you guys think seeing a girl in one of your shirts is hot.”

Dale grinned, surprised. “Well. Yes.”

She pulled on the T-shirt—it was so big it half-slipped off of one shoulder. “Well?”

His eyes were drawn to her bare shoulder like magnets. “Hot,” he said.

She kissed him. “Your turn for the shower.”

* * *

While Sam was in the shower, Dale prepped a bunch of ingredients for omelets, and when he got out, he had Sam pick whichever fillings she wanted.

“Bacon for sure,” Sam said. Dale was happy to hear it—he hated when women felt like they needed to eat like rabbits. “And cheese and mushrooms and spinach.”

“Excellent choices all.” Dale dropped the bacon into his pan. “I try to save bacon for special occasions, and today definitely qualifies.”

“You
try
to?” Sam asked, raising her eyebrows, obviously trying to distract from the fact that she was blushing a little. It was adorable.

He shrugged. “Sometimes bacon
is
a special occasion.”

She laughed. “I definitely agree. And it’s been a while since I’ve had anything home-cooked like this.”

“Don’t you cook?” Dale asked, and then realized how that sounded. “Not that I’m expecting you to cook for me. I like cooking.”

Sam laughed a little. “I can cook some, but I never learned anything too fancy. And with working nights, and not having much money…it’s been a lot of rice and beans and a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, that’s all.” She shrugged.

Dale bit back an offer to buy her groceries. Every week for the rest of their lives.

They should probably wait to talk about living arrangements until they’d been together at least a week. “Come over here and eat whenever you like,” he said instead.

By virtue of having all the ingredients prepped, he managed to get his own omelet done just as hers was cool enough to eat. They sat down at his little kitchen table, knees brushing underneath, and dug in.

“So,” Dale said, after Sam had had a few bites and assured him she liked it, “there’s some things we should talk about at some point. About the pride.”

Sam’s eyes snapped back to him, suddenly alarmed. “If I’m your mate, does that mean I’m…that I have some role in the pride? I’m not a lion!”

“Not being a lion will limit what you can do in the pride’s structure,” Dale said. “But you’ll still have some authority, just because you
are
my mate. So you should meet everyone pretty soon, and we can talk about what sort of things you might need or want to do. Actually, you should talk to Lynn about it, because she does most of it now.”

“She can keep doing it,” Sam said firmly. “I’m not stepping in and taking over for her, or for anyone. It wouldn’t be right.”

“It
is
right,” Dale said. “That’s how the pride works. But maybe you and Lynn could talk about it and work out which responsibilities are whose.”

Sam looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted
any
responsibilities. Dale could understand—this had been sprung on her without any warning.

But she gathered herself together quickly and asked, “How many people are there in the pride?”

“Thirty right now,” Dale said. “Not everyone lives in the city or comes to the studio regularly, and there are some people who are way far out in the country and are mostly only members of the pride in name. So the day-to-day stuff isn’t that complicated. You saw how Lynn kept Dawn in line the other day.”

Sam nodded, smiling a little.

“That’s standard alpha female stuff. Keeping an eye on the younger members, making sure they don’t get out of line.”

“Oh,” Sam said slowly. “I could be good at that, if I had a chance to get to know them.” Then she looked up. “If Lynn’s the alpha female right now, does that mean you’re the alpha male?”

Dale nodded. “I’m in charge of the pride. Technically I should be making all of the business decisions—the pride has assets, that’s sort of complicated—and keeping all the adult males in line, while Lynn deals with the adult females and the kids and any personal or family issues, but in reality we just split everything based on which of us is best able to deal with it.”

“That sounds a lot less, um,” Sam paused.

“Sexist?” Dale nodded. “A lot of the traditional ideas are like that. I promise you that being part of our pride doesn’t just mean having babies, and you don’t have to do what I tell you. Unless you’re in danger,” he couldn’t help adding. “Then you have to do what I tell you.”

Sam nodded seriously. “If I’m in danger, I promise to do what you tell me.”

“Good.” Dale smiled. “Lynn almost never does what I tell her.”

“How often do you try to tell her to do things?” Sam asked skeptically.

“Almost never.” Dale shook his head. “I did tell her to take you on in her class, though. And she barely even argued with me. I guess she could tell you were special.”

Sam blushed again, and again immediately changed the subject. “So, what sort of things have come up that Lynn had to handle? Or you. I just want to know what I’m getting into.”

“Understandable,” said Dale. “Once in a blue moon, one of the younger pride members will shift when they shouldn’t, and we usually have to come help calm things down, along with their parents if they’re a minor. Since I’ve been alpha, no pride member has ever hurt anyone, but if they did, we’d have to take charge of the legal repercussions.”

Sam sobered. “This is more serious than arguments or kids getting out of line, then.”

Dale nodded. “We have to remember that we’re dangerous to others, and that living in a city can be dangerous to us. Lynn and I also run the monthly pride get-together, which is advertised as a fun potluck, but we always make sure to talk to everybody about how often they’re getting a chance to shift, if they want to tell anyone about the pride and who that is, and things like that. It’s important to check in with every single pride member as often as possible, and catch any problems as early as possible.”