Read Online Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant - Free Book Online Page B

little nervous-looking. Freddie pretty much does whatever Alan says. Same goes for him—if he talks to you, come find me.”
    Sam nodded again, looking a little unsure. “Does he ever come to the studio?”
    “More so lately,” Dale said. “It’s making me a little suspicious, honestly. Lynn and I are going to see if we can find out if he’s up to something.”
    “I’m sure if anyone can find out, it’s you two,” Sam said.
    “I hope so,” said Dale.
    * * *
    Sam kept wanting to pinch herself. It wasn’t just that Dale was interested in her after all—no, he also had to be amazing in bed and a great cook.
    The stuff about the pride was a little sobering, though. She was still thinking it through when they finished eating, and Dale started to clear the dishes.
    “No way,” he said when she tried to help. “You’re a guest.”
    “I thought I was your mate?” she asked, unable to resist teasing a little.
    He gave her his warm almost-smile. “Are you trying to argue yourself into doing the dishes?”
    “You’re right,” she said. “Forget I mentioned it.” But she stood up and came to stand next to the sink. Watching a gorgeous man do her dishes—now this was something she could get used to.
    She couldn’t leave the pride politics alone in her head, though; she kept worrying over it, wondering if she was going to have to try and keep full-grown lions in line.
    She had a feeling they wouldn’t want to take orders from some random non-shifter woman who was dating their leader.
    She’d be very careful, she decided. She’d absolutely defer to Lynn—maybe she’d look at herself as Lynn’s apprentice. She could tell people that, and maybe she’d seem less…presumptuous.
    She wondered if there was any official ceremony to put her in place as Dale’s mate, other than a regular marriage. Possibilities immediately sprang into her mind, some of them fun, some of them…not. “So are there any traditional customs your pride does still do?” she asked cautiously. She didn’t want to get surprised by anything.
    “Well…” Dale hesitated, “the induction ceremony for becoming alpha is…we have a hunt, in lion form. It’s very traditional.”
    “Am I going to have to do something like that?” Sam could already feel her heart start to speed up. She wasn’t a lion!
    “No, no,” Dale said. “It’s just for the male alpha. You don’t need any kind of ceremony, just my word that you’re my mate.”
    “Oh.” Sam relaxed. Then she frowned. “Where do you hunt?”
    “We have some land outside the city,” Dale said. “Not good for farming, not close to anything, not worth developing. We use it for hunting and for pride gatherings, sometimes just for fun. Anyone can go there and shift anytime they want to.”
    “That’s nice.” Sam hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she’d been wondering how all of these lion shifters handled living in the city where they could never shift; it was good to know they had an outlet.
    “My father bought it,” Dale said. He took a breath, looking straight down at his hands doing the dishes, and said, “It was one of the few good things he did for the pride.”
    Sam had to decide quickly what to say; it was obviously hard for Dale to talk about this. She settled on a simple encouraging, “Oh?” Please keep going, she thought. She had a feeling this was something Dale didn’t talk about much.
    “He wasn’t a very good alpha.” Dale set down a plate in the sink and turned to face Sam. “He liked to fight, and he was very good at it, which kept him alpha for his entire adult life, but he wasn't a good leader . He didn’t understand business very well, but he refused to admit weakness and get help with running the studio. He didn’t like most people and most people didn’t like him, so he couldn’t handle the interpersonal relationships in the pride. And he bought into the traditional values very hard, so he was pretty sexist.”
    “He sounds like a hard