Loved by the Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter BWWM Romance
Read Loved by the Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter BWWM Romance Online
Authors: Zoe Chant
By Zoe Chant
Copyright Zoe Chant 2015
All Rights Reserved
Kira
"I'm telling you, Kira, you should come," insisted Emi over the phone. "I know you have a lot of vacation days saved up, Miss Workaholic."
This was the third invitation Kira’s best friend had offered her, and Kira was just about on the verge of accepting. It sounded wonderful – a family retreat in a huge house in the wilderness where she could enjoy the outdoors, and a week away from the hospital and all the stress that came with it. What sounded less wonderful was being the odd person out intruding on the Deleons' family time.
Kira didn't have much of a family of her own. Her parents had passed away a decade before, and she was an only child. Her aunt had taken her in when she was seventeen, but she'd been a harried single mom working double shifts and hadn't paid much attention to her. There was her cousin Rachelle, but they were on opposite sides of the country and stayed in touch mostly through Facebook.
She was used to doing things on her own: she'd put herself through college, slowly but surely, and now she was the head nurse of an oncology ward. She was proud of what she'd done for herself.
That didn't mean she wasn't sometimes jealous of what Emi had.
Emi Deleon – short for Emily – came from a huge family with a sea of cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles, and kids as far as the eye could see, at least the way Emi told it. And Emi was as close as it was possible to be with all of them. Kira had met Emi's sister and mother and warmed to them immediately: they were friendly, gregarious, and welcoming.
And they were shifters, a family of lions. Emi had clued her in after they first started becoming friends. It had been weird at first, though Kira was past that now. But that wasn't the important part. The important part was that the Deleons were a real family, and despite being Emi's friend Kira just wasn't part of it.
But she could feel her resolve crumbling as she thought about it more and more. The possibilities flooded her mind: family dinner around a huge table, lit by the evening sun, spring flowers blooming outside the window, conversation carrying late into the night. Everything she'd ever wanted.
There was only so much a woman could take. "Are you sure your family won't mind?" she asked.
True to form, Emi jumped on her weakness with the alacrity of the lioness she was. "Not at all! Mom was the one who wanted to invite you, you know, and Tess is so excited that you might come. She couldn't shut up about how awesome you are after lunch the other week." Emi lowered her voice with significance. "I think she looks up to you."
Damn. Emi knew just where to poke to bring the walls all the way down. "It would be nice to get away for a while," Kira confessed.
"You bet it would!" Emi crowed victoriously. Kira pictured her fist-pumping and dancing around her living room in excitement. "Plus, haven't you been saying you need to get away from that stalker guy?"
Oh,
him
. Kira groaned. "He came by the hospital today. He's never done that before."
"He's escalating. Did you call the police?"
"No." Kira rubbed her eyes and flopped onto the couch, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder. "I threatened to call security, though. That got him to leave. For now."
She had met Gunnar at a speed-dating event. No one had clicked one hundred percent for Kira, but Gunnar had seemed interested and good-looking at first, so she had gone on another date with him. Only after that had his inner asshole and sleazebag come out. When she refused a third date, he turned persistent, even obsessive. He knew where she worked because she'd told him at their first dinner, but she was afraid it was only a matter of time before he found out where she lived. At the moment, all she could do was document everything he was doing.
"That sucks," Emi said, her unhappiness clear. Emi was the one who had dragged her to the event, so Kira knew she felt responsible. "Maybe if you're gone it'll be out-of-sight, out-of-mind?"
"Fingers crossed." Kira didn't want to dwell on the negative, though, so she changed the subject. "So what should I bring?"
She and Emi chatted about packing for a few more minutes. Afterward, Kira stayed on the couch and let herself fantasize about what it would be like. A week of relaxing, maybe some hiking, helping to clean up after dinner. Maybe she'd even meet someone. Maybe one of Emi's cousins was her type. He'd have to have dark hair, a chiseled jaw, and a pair of big strong hands. Kira shivered as she thought about those hands sliding over her dark skin.
But daydreaming about her ideal man wasn't going to get anything done. And it wasn't like her track record with relationships was great. Her last boyfriend had made it a point to remind her how lucky a curvy black girl like her was to be noticed by him at all. That had ended quickly.
And the Deleons were shifters. That would complicate things even if, against all odds, she did meet someone special.
Still, she couldn't help but harbor a secret little hope.
***
The drive out to the Deleon family house only took a couple of hours, but Kira felt like they were in the middle of nowhere. There had been nothing but trees and sky and road in every direction for the last twenty miles.
Over in the driver's seat, Emi was fighting back a yawn. Kira grinned.
"Told you we should have gotten coffee."
"Shut up," Emi grumbled.
"When will you learn I'm always right about everything?" she teased. In fairness to Emi, neither of them were exactly used to getting up at five A.M. on a Saturday morning and packing luggage into a car. Kira couldn't even remember the last time she'd taken a vacation; her supervisor had practically gone catatonic with shock when she told him she was taking the next week off.
They turned onto a dirt road, which Emi told her was the final stretch. They were almost there. "How many people are you expecting?" asked Kira. She had brought a few dozen mini-cheesecakes tucked away in a cooler. They were nothing compared to Emi's cupcakes, born of her time in pastry school, but Kira hated to be a burden.
Emi shrugged. "Twenty? Twenty-five? Depends on how many kids there are. One year there were thirty of us. Things got a little tight." She rattled off the numbers casually, like they were nothing. How big must this place be?
"It won't be everyone, though," Emi added. "People have other stuff going on."
When they turned a corner, Kira's question was answered. A huge house stretched before them, with an enormous covered deck wrapping around the front.
The first word that came to Kira's mind was
stately
. It was patterned on the style of classic Southern homes, with plenty of windows and columns and a gazebo out to the side, but like it had been dialed up to eleven. It was enormous. She'd never seen anything like it in her life except in magazines or on TV.
An array of cars and SUVs was parked out front, along with a few people milling around. Navigating around the little kids, Emi parked among them and they both got out.
The second she was out of the car, she turned to Emi with her hands on her hips. "You didn't tell me your family was rich," she said accusingly.
Emi held up her hands in placation. "Not rich-rich," she assured Kira, the hint of a plea in her voice. "Just, you know . . . this is the family home. Our other homes are totally normal, I swear!"
"Mm-hmm," said Kira with skepticism, but she was smiling.
Emi reached out to hold her hands, her eyes shining. "I can't wait for you to meet the rest of the family. You already know Tess, but there's my cousin Andrea, and her brother Cole, who's the alpha – he's
so
your type – and Mason, he just started college, and . . ."
Kira squeezed back, pushing down her nervousness. "Come on, let's get the bags out of the trunk."
But before they could, she heard an amused, male voice come from behind her. "Did I hear my name?"
Startled, Kira turned, and saw the most handsome man she'd ever met.
He was tall, well over six feet if she had to guess, and looked like he was sculpted from marble, if marble went to the beach. His skin was tanned everywhere she could see, but naturally, like he spent a lot of time outdoors. An air of authority radiated from him that made her straighten her shoulders instinctually, even though he was standing casually with his hands in his pockets. Up close Kira could see a pair of penetrating hazel-green eyes under a shock of dark hair, and they were locked onto hers with an intense attention.
Not even noticing Kira's stunned silence, Emi jumped right in and hugged him. "Cole! You jerk, were you listening to us?"
Cole accepted her hug with good humor, his gaze still on Kira. Over her head, he said, "You think I'm her type, huh?"
The corner of his mouth lifted, and Kira found herself glad she was wearing sunglasses.
"Thanks for thinking of me, cuz." He gently disentangled himself.
Emi punched him in the arm. "How did a jerk like you get to be in charge anyway? Kira, meet Cole. He's the alpha of our pride."
Cole offered his hand. As Kira took it, his hand squeezed hers gently. His eyes never left hers; when they touched, Kira felt a tingle go down her spine. His skin was a little rough with callouses – just the way she liked it. She couldn't stop herself from wondering, in graphic detail, what those hands could do to her, gliding over her skin, caressing, reaching between her legs . . .
Thank God shifters weren't psychics. At least as far as Kira knew.
Cole
When she turned around, Cole thought his heart was going to stop. It definitely skipped a beat or two dozen.
Gorgeous
, he thought.
Mine
, his lion growled, but while Cole liked the idea of the sentiment, he tried to push that part of himself away for the moment. Emi had told him she'd be bringing a friend – someone who wasn't a shifter, even though she knew about them.
His lion wasn't going to take that treatment lying down, though. The woman, whoever she was, exuded a quiet confidence as she surveyed the house and them met his gaze boldly from behind her sunglasses. What he wouldn't give to see her eyes . . . he knew they would be as beautiful as the rest of her.
And she was beautiful, with long dark curls he wanted to run his fingers through and curves beautiful enough to make his mouth water. Cole's lion rumbled his agreement with this assessment.
Shut up, you
, he thought half-heartedly.
Fortunately, Emi saved him from looking like a star-struck dumbass when she rushed up to him.
Still, he couldn't take his eyes off her. When she – Kira, that was her name, and Cole knew he was going to remember it forever – when she shook his hand, he felt the firmness of her grip and saw the warmth of her smile. Finally, she reached up to push her sunglasses back, and Cole was rewarded with a pair of warm chocolate eyes, flecked with amber.
"Thanks for the welcome," she said, and her voice had a smooth, low quality that shot straight to his groin.
"Any friend of Emi's is a friend of the family," he said, unable to think of anything smarter to say.
But she was smiling. "'The family,' huh? Maybe it was my
Godfather
marathon last weekend, but that sounds kind of menacing. You guys like the Mafia, except you transform at the full moon?"
"Full moon? That's werewolves. And there's no such thing as werewolves – I think you've been reading too many fantasy books," he said with a cheeky grin, the one that had gotten him into a lot of beds and a lot of barfights.
She laughed, deep-throated and sexy. "Oh, is that right."
"It is." He let his look turn serious for a moment. "But we do take care of our own. Always." Cole's lion rumbled his agreement. Sometimes that line was a threat, but for Kira it was a promise.
"Good to know." They stood looking at each other for a moment, not wanting to move, before Emi coughed conspicuously.
"So there's some luggage to unpack . . ."
Laughing, Kira went around to pop the trunk. Trailing after her, Emi looked over her shoulder and shot him a knowing look. Because it was Emi, it was full of waggling eyebrows and a shit-eating grin.
"So you guys are really getting along, huh." She actually tried to elbow him – like an alpha's reflexes weren't several times faster – but gave up pretty quickly.
"Emi," he said with a light note of warning in his voice. She rolled her eyes, but followed him around to the back of the car.
"Let me?" Cole suggested to Kira as she reached for the handle of her luggage.
She quirked an eyebrow, but her smile was soft. "And a gentleman to boot. Chivalry isn't dead after all."
He showed them to the room they would be sharing, up on the second floor. It had a great view, with big windows on two walls because it was on the corner of the house, and it looked out on pristine prairie land in both directions. Since it was springtime, there were fresh green growth and flower buds everywhere.
Kira ooh-ed over the view, pausing at one of windows to slip her hands into her back pockets while Cole set down the luggage at the foot of the bed and Emi excused herself to use the bathroom.
"You like the outdoors?" he asked, coming up behind her.
"Always," she said immediately, and Cole's lion gave an approving purr. "We had some cherry trees I used to climb when I was a kid, but I didn't really appreciate it till it was gone."
He didn't want to push, so he stayed silent and waited for her to continue. After a moment she did.
"My parents both died when I was seventeen. Car crash."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
She shrugged one shoulder, a little too quickly. He could tell she was still hurting from it, but she didn't want to show it. No wonder, if she hadn't had much of anyone she could be vulnerable around. "It was over ten years ago now. Anyway, I went to live with my aunt and cousin in California for a little while until I turned eighteen, and the house had to be sold to cover my parents' debts."
Cole could imagine her vividly, young and fierce and grieving and strong. He was struck by the urge to put his arms around her and pull her in close to him, but he resisted. That would be presumptuous. Instead he settled for squeezing her shoulder.
She didn't pull away from him, at least. She shot him a quick smile over her shoulder. "So you all have this huge mansion in the middle of nowhere, huh?"
Cole let her change the subject. "I know what you're thinking. Southern-style plantation home, big family, long history . . . but this was never a real plantation. Granddad had it built back in the forties; he just loved the look of it. The pride needed a new place to settle down after the last one was destroyed, and he was in construction."
"Destroyed? What happened to it?"
Cole grimaced. "Same thing that's happening to all of us, unfortunately – development. Not a lot of wild land left for us."
Curiosity shone in her eyes. "But you have homes and you live human lives, don't you?"
"We do," he allowed. "But we're not like other people, not about this. We need a place to roam. A space to call home. To be a pride together. Without it . . . well, we just wouldn't be
us
anymore."
"No?"
"Lions can lose their ability to shift if their prides aren’t rooted enough. We're born out of strong ties to the land. Without those ties, we can become regular people. I know that doesn't sound so bad," he added, catching her eye, "but it is, for us. It's our heritage, our identity. It's an important part of us, and losing it – well, let's just say I don't want to experience it."
Kira nodded, her dark eyes solemn. He knew she understood what he was saying, even if this was an unfamiliar world. The moment had turned serious, heavy, but it hadn't diminished the chemistry, the connection, between them at all – on the contrary. Cole was right at her elbow, and he hadn't taken his hand away from her shoulder. He let his fingers trail down the back of her arm and watched her shiver in response.
She turned toward him a little, and a charge of electricity passed between them. Her mouth parted, and his eyes were drawn there, unable to stop thinking about kissing her, taking her mouth with his own and tasting her.
She felt it too; she leaned toward him as if drawn, and she slipped her hand up into his. Cole leaned down –
"Uh, should I come back later?" Emi's voice chirped cheerfully from the doorway.
As if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over the proceedings, Kira pulled away from him, and immediately he mourned the loss.
"We should unpack," she said to Emi, crossing the room to the wardrobe. Her eyes only flicked up toward him once, and much as he didn't want to, he took that as his cue to leave.