Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant Page B

“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