Lion's Mate: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (Rowland Lions Book 2) Read online

  “You’ve met her yourself.”

  “For a minute, when we had a few other things to focus on than our family life! I didn’t have much time to get an impression.”

  Max didn’t know why he was so surprised at Alexandra’s interest. Or the way she said our family life.

  He’d had the impression, he supposed, that their family was distant with each other because they all wanted it that way. Seth had blown that assumption away after Max had gotten him out of Hendricks’ lab, but he’d still...assumed that that was just Seth, the maverick, wanting something different as always.

  But maybe he was wrong. Maybe Alexandra wanted something different, too.

  “She’s the bravest person I’ve ever met,” he started, and then kept going. He described Shoshanna’s fierceness, her determination, her intelligence and resourcefulness...and the way that she could still be so unexpectedly sweet, at the oddest times. The cooking she’d learned from her grandmother. The house with creaky stairs and charming old-fashioned wallpaper.

  “And...” he said finally, cautiously, “I think I want to spend more time there, with her.”

  “Well, of course you do,” said Alexandra, exasperated. “She’s your mate. I...I admit that I worried about you, Max.”

  He blinked. This was a day for surprises. “You did? Why?”

  “The way you took Dad’s example to heart and threw yourself into the company after they died. You never take any time off, you never look away from the bottom line.”

  “Neither do you,” he pointed out.

  “Oh, we’re not talking about me.” Alexandra waved that away. “Besides, if I’m not enjoying it, I complain. You...you took Mom’s example to heart, too. No one ever knows what you’re thinking. No one knows if you’re happy. Or at least...they didn’t. Now...”

  “Yes?” He could feel the smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

  “Now you look happy. So go be happy.”

  “You won’t be upset if I start working fewer hours? Spending weekends in Connecticut instead of in the office?”

  “Upset? Are you kidding? I’ve been trying to convince you to let me run more of this company forever. Normally you’re too much of a control freak to hand any responsibilities over to anyone, even your own sister. I have to take advantage now, while you’re head over heels in love and won’t mind.”

  She was smiling at him, though. She did seem to be...happy for him.

  “What about you?” he asked. “Do you...want a mate? Do you wish you had more than all of this?” He indicated the office, the view, the hallways beyond.

  “This is what I want,” she said firmly. “You know me. There’s nothing I love more than taking over a boardroom and making executives cry real tears into their Kona.”

  “That is true,” he acknowledged.

  “But I’ll be happier with a brother I can talk to about more than numbers,” she said, looking almost shy, which was not a look he’d ever seen on her.

  “I think we can work on that. And when Seth is back in town, maybe we could all get together and talk.” And maybe even hunt Reid down, wherever he was, and invite him to come too. He hadn’t seen his youngest brother in years.

  She smiled. “I’d like that.”

  Then her phone rang. She looked at it. “That’s Signor Bellini from Milan. I can put him off...”

  “No, no.” Max stood up. “I want to go find Shoshanna, anyway.”

  “Of course you do. Go be disgustingly cute together.” Alexandra answered the phone. “Ciao, Signor!”

  Max made a quiet exit.

  He found Shoshanna just exiting the security offices. “All finished?”

  Shoshanna nodded. “He wants to give Kevin and me another contract.” She glanced at him through her lashes. “I guess all of the jobs we were getting from RGS weren’t just because you wanted to give me money?”

  “Certainly not.” Max took on an offended air, although he’d more than once wished he could just ask Shoshanna if she wanted any money, and give her whatever she needed. The official settlement had been generous, but his own resources were so much greater.

  Still, the investigator jobs hadn’t been handouts. “I wouldn’t have recommended you so highly to our security if you weren’t the best. You’ve been getting some of our more high-profile jobs.” Fortunately, the white-collar investigations of the type RGS usually needed weren’t too dangerous, although he had to acknowledge that Shoshanna could handle danger better than most people he’d met.

  “Glad to hear it,” she said, eyes twinkling. “Anyway, we might have a new job soon.”

  “Not too soon, I hope,” he said.

  “Oh? Why’s that?”

  “I thought...well, it’s Friday afternoon.”

  Shoshanna blinked. “So it is. I’d completely lost track of time.”

  “I was just telling Alexandra that I want to start spending less time at the office,” Max said.

  Shoshanna stopped and stared at him. “I thought your job was the most important thing for you.”

  He took her hand. “Not anymore.”

  She blushed hard enough for it to be visible even on her tan-olive skin. “Oh.”

  “I was just thinking how much happier I was in your house than I’ve ever been in my apartment,” he said quietly.

  “Move in with me.” Shoshanna looked surprised, as though the words had fallen out of her mouth without any input from her.

  “There’s nothing I want more.” He pulled her into his arms. “Let’s go spend the weekend at home.”

  “Can’t wait,” she whispered. “Oh, I can’t wait.”

  ***

  Epilogue

  “So let me get this straight,” Kevin said. “You,” pointing his fork at Max, “turned up bleeding and drugged on her doorstep. You’d been the victim of a staged car accident on the part of a company wanting to set up a dystopian experimental hell resembling the one Shoshanna and I barely escaped with our lives, and you’d been keeping your rich, famous, CEO person away from Shoshanna so that she wouldn’t be involved, even though you were secretly mates. You and Shoshanna singlehandedly took down this evil company, and then you swept her off to New York to your glittering office tower, where you told her you want to leave it all behind for her comfy aging Victorian house-in-the-woods.”

  “Not singlehandedly,” Max objected.

  Kevin raised his eyebrows.

  “But otherwise, essentially yes.”

  Kevin turned to Shoshanna. “I cannot believe you didn’t call me.”

  “It happened very quickly,” she defended herself. “And I didn’t want you to get involved.”

  “You are a flaming hypocrite,” he said. “But I’ll forgive you, because you invited me to dinner and it’s fantastic.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly. Seriously. She was a hypocrite, because she’d been furious at Max for keeping her out of the loop to keep her safe, and she’d turned around and done the same to Kevin. Now that she’d been on the receiving end of that sort of protectiveness, she was going to try to be better about it.

  “Yeah, well, I’m demanding dessert also.” Kevin resorted, as always, to lightening the serious mood with humor.

  “Dessert is Max’s department,” she deflected.

  “I brought cheesecake from New York,” Max said. “The best in the city.”

  “You have my blessing,” Kevin said seriously. “Wait, is it the kind with cherries on top?”

  “Yes,” Max said cautiously.

  “You definitely have my blessing.”

  Later, after dinner, Kevin was getting ready to leave when he said to her, “Seriously, Shoshanna, I can’t believe you found your mate. And he’s Max freaking Rowland.”

  “It’s insane,” she agreed. “But...he fits. He loves it here, in this house. And he loves me.”

  “Then he’s perfect,” Kevin said. He hugged her. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks.” Shoshanna blinked hard, keeping the tears b
ack.

  After Kevin left, Shoshanna turned to find Max waiting for her.

  “Well?” he asked. “Do I pass muster?”

  He looked nervous, she realized. CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world, waiting to hear whether he passed the best friend test or not.

  “You do,” she said. “The cheesecake won him over.”

  Max laughed and pulled her in for a kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” Shoshanna relaxed into his arms, happy, safe, and content.

  The End

  A note from Zoe Chant

  Thank you for reading Lion’s Mate! I hope you enjoyed it. If you’re starting the series here and you’d like to read more about Max, his brother Seth, and Seth’s mate Cassie, the first book is Lion’s Hunt (or here on my website for Apple users). Please review Lion’s Mate, even if it’s only a line or two. I love to hear what my readers think.

  If you’d like to be emailed when I release my next book, please click here to be added to my mailing list. You can also visit my webpage, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

  Page down to read a special sneak preview of Lion’s Hunt.

  The cover of Lion’s Mate was designed by Belle Arden.

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  And many more!

  Zoe on Audio

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  Lion’s Hunt

  by Zoe Chant

  Special Sneak Preview

  The office was bullpen-style, with a ton of desks arranged in an open floorplan, probably designed for maximum office productivity. There were a few people of lesser, non-office-worthy status, already at their spots and getting ready for a day’s work.

  Seth couldn’t imagine working inside all day like this. He’d always needed to spend most of his time outside, being active, whether in human or lion form. He’d had a hell of a time in school, jittering away at his desk until the day was over and he could get out.

  Then his surveying gaze got caught at the closest desk.

  There was a woman sitting at it, focused intently on her computer and typing away, even though the workday hadn’t technically started yet. She had long, honey-blond hair and generous curves, and she was frowning at her computer screen like it wasn’t cooperating.

  And all at once, Seth’s lion roared to life.

  Mine!

  Seth couldn’t look away. That woman, sitting at her desk like it was an ordinary day, working in a gray office like all the rest of these normal office workers, was his mate.

  His mate.

  His lion roared again. Mine! it insisted.

  Seth’s instincts were screaming at him to go sweep the woman away from her desk, tell her that he was her mate and they were destined to be together, and kiss her until neither of them could remember their names.

  Wait, he told his lion firmly.

  He had to at least say hello first.

  Keeping a firm lockdown on any shifter-based impulses, he slowly approached her desk. “Excuse me.”

  She looked up. Her eyes widened.

  She feels it too. Seth could instantly tell that she was drawn to him. Her lips parted, she leaned forward, and the air between them seemed to pulse with a kind of invisible energy.

  And her eyes flickered up and down his body. Seth suppressed a hungry smile.

  She wasn’t a shifter, though. There was none of that scent in the air. Just something sweet and musky, womanly and intoxicating.

 
; That meant that she wouldn’t understand that they were mates. She’d just think that they were...attracted to each other.

  Seth was going to have to figure out how to tell her what was happening to them. Between them.

  He’d lost hope of this ever happening. He’d never made a plan for what to do if it did happen.

  Sure enough, she was visibly pulling herself together, covering the obvious attraction with a professional mask. “Can I help you?” she asked politely.

  “Hi, I’m Seth,” he said, smiling. “I’m—”

  And then he stopped short.

  Because he couldn’t tell her who he was.

  He couldn’t tell her anything.

  Click here to keep reading Lion’s Hunt! (Or here on my webpage.)