Freeing A Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 2) (8 page)

“Thank you, Daphne is it?” Lottie said, remembering her manners.

“Yes, and you’ve met my husband Lance. He’s back at the border, there’s three men take shifts.”

“You’ve been very kind to us. I bet you don’t see this happen every day.”

“You are my fifth. Seems some of you young ladies get a thing for the beast in a man and can’t resist them.” Daphne sounded unimpressed.

“It wasn't like that,” Lottie said. “There were men after me. Men who killed my parents. If I had stayed, they would have killed me.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. I just hope you know what you’ve got yourself into,” Daphne said sadly. “It will be a shock; we don’t have all the modern things over here.”

“No. No I don’t know what I’ve got myself into. But I intend to find out,” she said, summoning her inner strength and swinging her legs off the side of the bed. “God, that hurts.”

“It will get easier. Now, shower and food,” Daphne said, leading her to the small bathroom at the back of the house.

Lottie did as she was told, feeling much better by the time she had let the hot water cascade over her body, while she washed away the dried sweat from her hair. Once dried, she put on the robe Daphne had given her and left the bathroom. Of course, she had no clothes other than the ones she had arrived in, and those were most probably ruined, covered in the blood from her neck wound.

She put a hand to the place where he had bitten her, expecting it to be bruised and sore, but it wasn’t. It was if nothing had ever happened, and she wanted to be sure it had. Was she a shifter, or was it some huge joke? After all, you couldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet. And the rumours and myths surrounding shifters were growing increasingly outlandish.

Letting her senses guide her, she found Daniel; he was in the backyard playing with Lea. They were throwing a ball backwards and forwards. He looked up before she had even left the doorway, knowing she was there.

“Lottie!” Lea shouted excitedly, and dropped the ball to come towards her, and then hesitated.

“It’s OK, Lea, I'm all right now,” she said, holding out her arms for the girl.

“Daniel said I had to be careful not to hurt you,” Lea said.

Lottie looked towards Daniel, who was hanging back. Was he scared of what she might say to him, or was he regretting changing her? “I’m fine now,” she said, to both of them.

He came forward, and his body relaxed, although there was a distance between them she hadn't expected. But Lea bowled into her, and Lottie let Daniel's troubled expression go.

“I thought you would like to help me change into whatever it is I am,” Lottie asked Daniel. “It feels kind of ridiculous. Like it’s not real.”

“Of course, I’ll help you,” Daniel said. “But you need to be stronger first.”

“I feel fine,” Lottie said.

“He’s right,” Daphne said from behind her. “You need to eat and rest. Get used to the other voice in your head first. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”

Lottie felt disappointed. But Daphne was probably right. And inside her, a voice whispered that she could wait until tomorrow. Lottie shifted her attention, looking inside herself. And there, standing in sunlight, her fur golden, her eyes amber, all-knowing, and patient, was a lioness.

Lottie nearly fell over. Only Daniel’s quick reflexes saved her from hitting the ground. “What the hell!”

“She’s there? In your head?” Lea asked. “I can't wait to see her. Is she a lioness? Please tell me she’s a lioness.”

“She is, Lea. And I can't wait to see her either,” Lottie said, feeling excitement and nerves mingle as one.

This was her new life, with her new family. In a new world, and she couldn't wait to begin exploring.

“We can wait and do this at another time,” Daniel said. He was worried about her. They were outside of the house Daphne and Lance lived in. Lottie had become more insistent about shifting for the first time, but he was scared she wasn’t strong enough yet.

“No. I want to do it now. I think I’m going to burst if I don’t change soon,” Lottie said confidently.

“You’re kind of going to burst anyway,” Daniel said.

“Thanks, that is not a nice thought.”

“We need to go somewhere private to do this,” he said anxiously.

“Can I come?” Lea asked.

“Not the first time. Daphne said you can stay here; she’s going to make chocolate brownies.”

“What are those?” Lea asked.

“Can’t you remember them?” Daniel asked.

Lea shook her head. “Nope.”

“Then you are in for a treat,” Daniel said. “Just make sure you save some for us. Lottie can have one as a treat if she gets this right. If not she can watch us all eat them.” He tried to keep his voice light, not wanting to worry anyone. If they had to do this, then he needed Lottie to be relaxed and he needed to know Lea was safe.

“No pressure, then?” Lottie joked.

“None at all,” Daniel said, his eyes catching hers to reinforce this. If she couldn't shift into her lioness, it wouldn't matter; they could live with her as a human. But he knew she wanted to run with them to be like them, and his lion wanted that too. He wanted them to be perfect mates.

We already are
, Daniel told his lion.

“Right. Let’s go,” Lottie said after Lea had gone into the kitchen to help Daphne.

Daniel pulled out some car keys. “Here, Lance has lent us his car and given me directions to somewhere a little more secluded.”

“So I don't make a fool of myself?” she asked.

“So that you aren't naked in front of everyone,” he said lightly.

“What?” she asked.

“Seems that until you get used to it, you have a good chance of ending up naked when you change back,” he said. “Now, I don't mind. But you might.”

“Are you serious?”

“About not minding? Sure,” he said.

“No, you fool. I mean about the naked bit,” she said. “Daphne had to rustle up some clothes for me as it is. I don't want to ruin them already.”

“You won’t. You can leave them behind.”

She blushed. “I can't be naked in front of you.”

“Yes you can,” he said. “Now, shall we get going?”

She sighed. “I don't have a choice, do I?”

“You could always try to shift some other time,” he said, knowing she didn't want to put it off, but wishing in some ways she would. The responsibility of turning her and now having to teach her how to shift weighed heavily on his shoulders. It felt as if he had managed to free Lea, and instead had trapped Lottie in his world.

“No, let’s go,” she said.

“Here, you had better take these,” he said handing her the keys.

“Don't you want to drive?” she asked.

“I can't,” he said, feeling foolish. “I never learned.”

“Then we can make a deal: if you teach me how to shift, I’ll teach you how to drive,” she said.

“I don’t know which will be more scary,” he said, as they climbed into the old car and put their seatbelts on.

Lottie turned the key, and the engine tried to start. Three times she had to try it before it sparked into life. “I am going to kiss my car,” she said, pulling off, leaving a cloud of black smoke behind them.

Daniel coughed. “That’s bad.”

The closeness of her body as she sat next to him in the car was disturbing. Without his collar, his awareness of her was intense, producing a deep ache inside him. His lion was doing his best to get Daniel’s attention, pacing up and down, lifting his head to sniff the air and then roaring, before rolling over on the ground, impatient to be free.

Daniel couldn't help laughing.
I’ve missed you, old friend
, he said, and the lion sat up, looking out with his patient amber eyes.

“This place is amazing,” Lottie said as they drove through a small collection of houses, where a herd of zebra were grazing. “Those are people, right?”

“I think so. Remember, I haven’t been here for over twenty years. In some ways it’s as new to me as it is to you.” He watched as a wolf trotted towards them along the road. Yes, this was surreal, he had seen many things on his travels with Nora, but everything here seemed out of place. Wolves on open grass plains, while zebra grazed, with no care in the world. Those two animals would never be so close to each other, they belonged on different continents.

Unless they were in a zoo,
or a circus
, and his thoughts turned to his old life and all the things he had missed growing up on the other side of the border. Nora had made sure he had a happy childhood, but he could never be so carefree as he would have been growing up here.

“I want to make sure Lea has a happy childhood,” he said. “She’s lost out on so much already.”

“Hey, don't worry. She will forget so much of what has happened. She’s a good kid, and the circus thing ... well, it doesn't seem to have tainted her. She knows how to laugh, how to play.” Lottie looked at him with a sideways glance, unsure of what she wanted to say next. But he knew and said it instead. “I hope I can find a way to forget it all, Lottie.” He turned to look at her, wanting her to feel the full force of what he was about to say. “I hope with your help I can be happy, and forget it all.”

“This bond,” she said. “It will last?”

“Forever. And from what Daphne and Lance said, ours will be stronger because I ... changed you.” It still pierced his heart to think of her in such pain.

“I want that to be the first thing you let go. The first thing you forgive yourself for,” she said. “You knew I was your mate, that’s what you said before you left. So maybe this is how things are meant to turn out. I think you should know that instead of taking something from me, Daniel, you have given me back my life. I was content to live in the shadows until you and Lea came along.”

“Then we will forge a new life together over here in Shifters Prime,” he said, leaning back, his arm on the open window of the car. He breathed in the air, the free air, and was grateful. Grateful for the woman by his side, for Lea making brownies with Daphne, and more than anything, he was grateful never to have to wear that damn collar again.

His hand automatically went to his throat when he thought about it, but it wasn’t there, and he would make sure neither he nor the two women in his life ever had to wear one.

“You weren’t joking about me having to take my clothes off?” Lottie asked. They were standing in tall grass, and there was no one about for miles, but still she was acutely aware that he was asking her to be naked. In public.

“I don't think you’ll be able to control yourself enough on your first shift,” he said.

“Are you going to turn around?” she asked, heat creeping through her body at the thought of him seeing her naked. But she was acutely aware of her generous figure, of her voluptuous breasts and her curvy thighs.

“Do you want me to?” he asked, his mouth curving up in a smile she found so sexy, heat pooled between her thighs. She still couldn’t comprehend the notion that he was hers. Not just her boyfriend, here one minute gone the next, but that he planned to be there for her for the rest of his life. Like an unbreakable marriage contract.

“This isn't going to be easy.” And she didn’t mean the shifting part. Lottie had never been naked in front of anyone since she was ten.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” he said.

“I meant taking my clothes off,” she replied, taking hold of the hem of the sweater Daphne had lent her and lifting it up above her head.

“So did I,” he said smiling as she dropped the sweater to the floor. “If you want me to help.”

“I can manage,” she said, knowing they might not get round to her changing into a lion if he got any closer. Her breasts seemed to swell, her nipples hardening under his gaze. Damn, she wanted to feel his hands on her body.

Later
, her lioness said, which still freaked her out no end.

Her expression must have changed, because his smile became a grin. “What’s she saying?” he asked.

“It’s private,” Lottie said, undoing the buttons on her shirt and pushing it off her shoulders. Her bra was staying put for now, but her pants had to go, and she undid the belt that was keeping them up. Daphne was two dress sizes bigger than Lottie, and her clothes hung on her, making her feel like a real vagabond.

“Want to know what my lion is saying?” he asked. She was enjoying seeing him so relaxed and so happy; the weight had lifted and they might be any two people in the whole world, flirting and laughing on a first date. But they weren’t.

They were lion shifters. And any time now she was going to have to learn to control her lion, or it would control her.

“Don’t worry,” he said, coming closer.

“I’m not,” she said, tilting her chin, trying to look brave. This man, this lion shifter, deserved a mate who was brave and tough. But she felt small and vulnerable.

“I will be with you every step of the way,” he said, his body so close to hers she could feel the heat emanating from him. Stopping, he looked her up and down, making her stomach clench and her sex ache for him. Sex was as much a mystery as being a lion; boyfriends had been too dangerous for Lottie. She was always frightened she would give herself away, confide in the wrong man about her past, and then end up with her cover blown.

She smiled and shook her head. The irony was startling.

“Tell me what you are thinking?” he asked, leaning forward so that his breath caressed her skin.

“I was thinking that I avoided intimate relationships to protect my privacy, and now here I am, in a strange new world, with my cover blown ... because of a man.”

“I will always be eternally sorry,” he said, blowing on the skin that curved above her bra.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said bravely, and her lioness agreed.

“I want you, Lottie, so much it hurts like a physical pain.” His hand stroked her cheek, leaving heat in its wake. Leaning in further, his lips touched hers, softly, questioning her. Her reply was instant.

Lottie kissed him back, her lips parting slightly, a sigh escaping them, and then his tongue slipped inside, stroking her lower lip, igniting a fire in her body that instantly raged out of control. Deep emotions woke within her, and she had to wrap her hands around his neck, holding on to him when her knees threatened to give way.