Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance Read Online Free PDF

wasn’t going to take advantage of anyone.
    “Oh, look,” Lynn was saying. “Time for class. Dale, Dawn, see you later.”
    “Wait,” Dale said. “Sam, let’s meet up after class. There’s a few techniques specific to your situation that I want to show you.”
    Sam suppressed a shiver. So he would be showing her how to fight, maybe putting his arms around her, coming up close…“Sure,” she said, keeping her voice steady with an effort. “Thanks.”
    “My pleasure,” Dale said, and gave her that subtle barely-there smile.
    “Okay,” said Lynn. “Class time, let’s go.”
    “Of course,” Sam said, hurrying after her. “Sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize,” Lynn said again. “Dale has a tendency to get very focused on one thing and forget about everything else.”
    “He seems very invested in the studio.” Sam wondered if Lynn would be willing to tell her anything else about Dale. All she really knew about him was martial arts expert , lion , and rescuer of security guards in trouble .
    Not that she wasn’t happy to know those things. But she wouldn’t mind learning a little more.
    “He is,” Lynn said seriously. “He took it over at a pretty young age, but you wouldn’t have known it for how responsible he was. He brought the business up out of the red, got it back on its feet, and now we’re doing better than we’ve done in forty years.”
    Sam’s eyes went wide. “The studio’s been around for forty years ?”
    Lynn nodded. “Dale’s grandfather started it back in the seventies. It’s a family legacy, and Dale takes excellent care of it.”
    Sam had so many more questions—why did Dale take it over so young? Where were his parents? Were all of the pride involved in the studio? Was Lynn a lioness?—but they all seemed too invasive and personal.
    She had something else to say, anyway, so she stopped Lynn at the classroom door to say, “Listen, I know Dale pulled some strings to get me into this class. I told him I couldn’t pay for it and he said he’d make it work, but I honestly don’t want to impose on you. You’re the teacher, so you should get a chance to decide if I should be here or not.” Lynn seemed no-nonsense enough to tell the truth if she didn’t want Sam around.
    Lynn studied her face for a second, and then nodded. “Thank you for offering. But Dale has every right to bring a student in like this if he wants, and if I had a problem with that, I’d be taking it up with him, not with you. And it seems like you could use some self-defense, am I right?”
    Sam nodded fervently. “Yes.”
    “Then come on in and start learning how to keep yourself safe.” Lynn opened the door and motioned Sam inside.
    * * *
    Dale was finished teaching for the day, and was just sitting in his office ostensibly working on paperwork but really checking the clock until Lynn’s class was finished, when there was a firm knock on his door.
    “Come in,” Dale said, filled with a sense of foreboding.
    Sure enough, the person who opened the door was Alan Chapman. He was wearing an expensive suit and tie, and his hair was perfectly styled; he kept it clipped short, unlike most lions, who liked a little bit of a mane.
    “Dale,” he said. “I was in the neighborhood, and I wanted to stop by and see how the studio was doing.”
    “You have no financial interest in how the studio is doing,” Dale pointed out.
    Chapman had offered to invest time and time again, but even when the studio was still teetering on the edge of a big hole of debt, Dale had refused. Chapman’s money came with too many strings.
    “Financial interest is not the only interest,” Chapman said, coming in and closing the door behind him. He took a seat in the chair across from Dale. “I also wanted to see how you were doing.”
    “I’m fine,” Dale said flatly.
    “That’s not what the gossip mill says.” Chapman smiled, looking sleazier by the second. “I hear that you’re lovesick over some human girl.”
    Dale