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

morning run, not wanting to seem too much like a crazed lovesick idiot. They’d agreed to meet after Sam got home, and stopping by all, Hi, I know we had a plan, but I just couldn’t stay away… seemed too much like a scene from a cheesy movie.
    Instead, he circled around the opposite end of the city, came straight home, showered, and got dressed. In a nice suit, even though he’d be overdressed for breakfast; for Sam, it was a dinner date.
    Dale didn’t eat out much, and so he’d had a hard time finding a good place to go—most places that were open for breakfast this early in the morning were diners or Denny’s. But he’d eventually found what looked like a cozy restaurant that specialized in brunch and opened at 7.
    He checked his phone. 6:31, no messages. Sam had probably just gotten home.
    He waited, getting more and more antsy as the clock ticked forward. Calm down , he told himself. She was probably showering and putting on makeup. Doing her hair.
    He had no idea what Sam did to get herself ready for a date, he realized. He was looking forward to finding out.
    But he was also incredibly anxious. Strangely anxious, considering it was only 6:45 and he had literally no reason to think Sam would want to cancel. Was this what being a lovesick idiot was like?
    He forced himself through some basic breathing exercises, the sort of thing he used to center himself before a training session. They didn’t work very well.
    At seven, he gave up and called Sam. If he looked like a lovesick idiot, that was fine.
    He couldn’t have said why, but he needed to hear her voice.
    The phone was picked up after two rings, and Dale was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard something that made his blood freeze in his veins.
    “Dale,” said Alan Chapman’s smooth voice. “I’ve been expecting your call.”
    * * *
    Freddie drove them to a small house in a bad neighborhood on the outskirts of town.
    They pulled into a tiny garage, and Chapman yanked Sam out of the car by her wrist, while she wished bitterly that she’d had time to go to more than one of Lynn’s classes. All she could think to do was to go limp, and Chapman and Freddie together could carry her no problem.
    Plus, they were lions.
    So she went quietly, although Chapman’s grip on her wrist stayed bruisingly hard.
    Inside, there was barely any furniture, just a card table and a few folding chairs set up in the kitchen. Chapman picked up a pair of handcuffs from the table and put one around her wrist.
    “Don’t want you getting away," he said, and closed the other around a cabinet door. Sam eyed it, but it looked too strong to break.
    “ Why don’t you want me getting away?” she asked. “I’ve never done anything to you. I can’t give you anything. I don’t have any money.”
    “I don’t want anything you have, Samantha.” Sam hated the way he said her name, in a drawn-out, caressing tone of voice. “I want what your lover has. And he’s going to give it to me, or he’ll never get you back.”
    “You’re going to fight Dale," Sam realized all of a sudden.
    “That’s right." Chapman came up to her, way too close, and Sam backed up until her hand hit the full length of the handcuff. He reached out—
    —but he was just going into her pocket. He pulled out her phone. “Let’s see," he said. “Oh, here he is. Just ‘Dale,' Samantha? No cute nicknames? I’m disappointed.”
    “Dale won’t give up his pride," Sam snapped, and she realized as she was speaking that she hoped it was true.
    As much as she loved Dale and as happy as she was that he loved her back, she wouldn’t want him to sacrifice all of his family and friends to this sadistic asshole just for her.
    “Dale’s pride has been a problem for me for a while," Chapman said, laughing at his own pun, “but I think I have finally brought it to heel.”
    The phone buzzed in his hand. Sam knew who it was. No one else would call her this early in the morning.
    Chapman smiled,