ROMANCE: Mated To The Lion (Paranormal Lion Shapeshifter New Adult Contemporary Romance) (Shapeshifter Mystery Alpha Lion Romance)

by Alice Roberts

  And the latter was just too unfortunate since Damaris always wanted to be taken out on dates. She also wanted to turn up to work one morning only to find a banquet of flowers on her desk with a note to her so that she could make her colleagues a little bit jealous. But it just wasn’t happening for her. Every morning she would turn up to a cold, empty desk and the old faces in the office always reminding her of the importance of coming to work early.

  Damaris had some serious punctuality issues, and she attributed this to the fact that she didn’t have a love life or anything that closely resembled it. And needless to say, it did make her sad for a bit. But that aside, she thought that it would be an excellent idea for her to keep the faith since she believed that maybe one day, a handsome price will come to her rescue and make sure that everyone else in the office was jealous as hell when that time came.

  Her friends also didn’t give her a piece of mind with the fact that she was settling for being single. Of course, she was the prettiest girl of them all and the fact that she was still single and not dating some rich guy just didn’t seem to make any sense to them.

  “Come on girls, you know it's all about love and not anything materialistic. Just make sure that you mind your own damn business and let me work on my personal life. I will let you guys know when I am unable to pay my bills so that you can get me hooked to a billionaire or a politician. But until then, just know your girl is beautiful!” Damaris would laugh

  But her friends weren’t going to take that bluff. They were dead serious that she needed to have a husband and not just any other guy, but a guy who would match up with her class as well as looks.

  “The last thing that we do want our girl is for her to get hitched to some good for nothing bastard. And I entirely agree, you need to have a guy who is in a position to get you all sorted out financial but also a beast who will ensure that you come to work glowing like a child in a Vaseline ad.”

  Everyone at the lunch break laughed at Florence’s joke. Yes, she could afford a couple of jokes here and there, but in the end, she also knew that the most important thing at that moment was getting to find a man who will complete her best friend. Damaris just sat there, not knowing what to tell her friend at the moment.

  But she knew deep down that they were right. It had been a while before she had the opportunity to have a man to love her for who she was. And now that she had just turned twenty-seven, she was starting to get a little too old for being single, and Damaris thought that maybe, just maybe, she should start listening to what her friends were telling her because they were right.

  It was a little bit tricky because when her friends had started something, it was very hard for them to lay off. And now that they had decided to gang up against her, it seemed as though nothing could be done to make things better. And so all that Damaris could do at that moment was to watch and hope that they were going to drop the subject and just let her be.

  But as they were discussing how much they loved her and how they wanted for her to get to enjoy life, Damaris thought of the men who were always giving her the look around the office. Of course, they were all charming and seemed as though they had something going on in their lives. But eventually, it seemed as though she had a copy of each and every one of their reputation and that reminded her of the main reason she didn’t even consider them.

  Then there were the men that her friends had been trying to introduce to her. There was Mike, the biker who turned out to be a bisexual rock star after Damaris thought that maybe something incredible could get to happen between them. And just like that, she decided to ditch him like expired milk.

  Then there was Peter, the pastor who always turned every situation and conversation into an opportunity to sneak in Jesus. Which left Damaris wondering how Jesus was going to help him last a minute longer during sex. And just like that, she decided to ditch him as soon as she refused an invitation to co-pastor in her church.

  That was about three years ago. And that was also the time that Damaris decided to stay celibate for all she cared. Yes, she missed the dating life.

  But that said, it also seemed as though it was best for her just to kick back and wait for some amazing miracle to happen to her. As a matter of fact, that was the last thing she believed in, but as long as it kept her friends shut, she thought she might as well tell them that she was confident that her miracle was around the corner. But sadly, it seemed as though that excuse wasn’t going to hold that much.

  “So Florence, since you look like a person who knows what she is talking about, what do you propose we do to find our good friend here a man worth her salt?”

  “And here I thought you guys will never ask. Well, I think I just know the right man for Dee here!”

  -The war hero-

  Denis had just retired from the military and was still sitting at home, wondering whatever the heck he was going to do with the billions that his father had left him in his will. His family had invested heavily in pharmaceutical industry and from the look of things, it was giving them incredible returns.

  But since an experienced board was running the business, it seemed as though the only good thing happening to Denis would be to take a couple of billions and start something of his own.

  And since he was a fitness freak, he thought about starting a world class gym which would offer all sorts of services to their clients and also make sure that the people were having the time of their lives getting fit. At first, Denis wasn’t that good with people because he was so used to the army that he dished out orders more often than not.

  But with a little bit of training, he started doing things the right way and needless to say, the clients were more than happy with the kind of services that they were getting which was more or less an amazing thing. Thankfully, most of the people who came to his gym were the elderly who were rich and were more or less associated with his family, and so they were a little bit tolerant.

  But then after he got better at this, more people started flocking in and without a doubt, it became an incredible place to be. And just like that, Denis made sure that he was making millions on the side thanks to his family funding him. But the problem was that he had a womanizing problem. He just couldn’t get to settle down no matter how hard he tried, and that was why he chose to get busy with the gym.

  Despite the fact that he liked taking different women out, he knew that he was turning thirty-one the following year. And now that he was crossing over to the wrong side of thirty, he knew that Denis was going to be laced with lots of responsibilities and getting to settle down was going to be a prime move that he had to do. He had seen fellow billionaires screw up their lives, and now they were languishing in a dreadful place in life just because they went too far with being bad boys.

  And just as he was cleaning the gym after a long day of helping the elderly get in shape, someone paid him a visit.

  “Hey, didn’t you read the sign? We are closed woman. Go back from whence you came!” he smiled right before dropping the broom and hugging his longtime friend.

  “I know you want me gone. But I am sure after hearing what I have to tell you, you will be begging me to stay.” Said Florence with a smile on her face.

  “I see you are still sly as you have always been. So tell me, what you have in mind. And I do hope it's something very constructive or else I will have to kick you out.”

  “Jesus! Can you stop with the threats and offer a girl something to drink? Jesus Christ man! Ha-ha.”

  Denis and Florence had a very long history. It all began when Florence had an idea of starting a television show, and Denis was about to fund it when Nine-eleven happened. After losing his father to the terrorist attack, as they decided to call it because it wasn’t, Denis was so appalled to the point that he decided to join the army, dropping everything else including the project that they had with Florence.

  Florence was such an incredible opportunist. And so the moment when Denis left, she quickly jumped in bed with another billionaire
who offered to sponsor the show. Denis only got to see her show from the war and was glad that Florence had made it to TV. But Florence wasn’t happy, and so she refused to see him when he got back from the war.

  She even didn’t want to pick his calls since she said that he sold her out, which wasn’t the case. And the next time that they got to see each other was at that moment.

  “So, what brings you here woman. Oh, and first of all, you look good.”

  “Thank you. And please, don’t flirt with me. I came here to give you a girl since it seems like you need a woman to help you take care of this dump.”

  “Dump? Come on! Look at how the gym is, state of the art is the word that came to your mind when you stepped through those doors. Don’t hate, appreciate!!!”

  They laughed and clinked their glasses in a toast and sipped on the vodka that Denis was already sipping on. And without further ado, Florence continued selling her manifesto without waiting for any more. Denis smiled as it reminded him just how they all started with their venture.

  “I know this girl, trust me, she is your type. And if you just get to know more about her, then you will be one helluva happy guy. Just take your time and get to meet her. And if you happen not to like her that much, then it's all good. I will be the first person to apologize and take it all back. I know what you want. So what do you say?”

  “Ok Florence, now that you know my life much more than I do, what do you propose? Where do you think I can find this incredibly amazing woman that would complete me and make sure that I am not a player anymore?”

  “And here I was thinking that you were never going to ask that question. Well, she is out there in the car waiting for you.”

  -Love at first sight-

  Damaris walked into the gym for the first time and looked around as though she was suspicious of something. And it wasn’t her fault since she had never stepped foot in a gym despite the fact that she looked lean as though she was a person who made a point of hitting the gym more often than not. It seemed the sight of hot people and thick metallic plates being dropped into the ground just looked like a health hazard – something that she didn’t want to be near.

  But anyway, it seemed as though Florence had a plan and since Damaris had given her the green light to mend her life, she also took an oath to let Florence do whatever the heck he wanted to do. In the end, Damaris agreed to shop for some gym apparel and get to meet her man of her dreams.

  She also had been told that the mysterious guy was also in the military, but then retired because he just didn’t get to understand the point of the violence. But at the end of the day, he chose to get to the country and get to use his military skills to get people fit for life. And that was just about all the information that she deliberated to her friend, sitting that the more she told her about Denis, the less mysterious he would become to her and in the end, nothing good would ever get out of that.

  And there she was, standing in the gym and trying to understand why on earth was she doing there, looking all shod in training clothes when she wasn’t even going to be training. And at that point, she was left with no other choice but to move towards the two who was talking about her as though she wasn’t even around.

  Then their eyes met, and Damaris almost fell due to the kind eye contact that the two had been having. He was the perfect man, judging from his physique all the way to how he was getting to carry himself. Denis, in other words, was the man of her dreams and since she was very much attracted to her, the only thing that she could have done at that moment was making sure that she was trying to maintain her calm.

  But the truth was that they were both having the same effect since Denis was having a difficult time talking to Florence while he was eyeing the girl as she was walking towards her. And in his mind, all he was thinking was that Florence had outdone herself. Damaris was simply the girl that he had been waiting for all his life, and if at all it meant having to stop being a bad boy just for her, then it wasn’t going to be a difficult problem to solve.

  But now the only problem was getting to seduce her and have her convinced that she was the right match for him.

  Yes, it was going to be a difficult nut to crack, but at the end of the day, all the right things in life came through lots of struggle which was more or less an important thing indeed. Florence, on the other hand, was just standing there smiling as she eyed the both of them. For sure, it was going to be a fascinating encounter, too bad she wasn’t going to be around to witness it all go down.

  “Well, in as much as I would like to stay and be your third wheel, I have places to be and people to see. If any of you get into trouble, you have my number.” And with that, Florence bounced, leaving the two of them looking very confused and not having any idea of what they were going to do. But thankfully, Denis was an alpha and a bad boy as well.

  That only meant that he wasn’t planning on showing just how nervous he was. But for a very long time, he had finally come across a woman who made him very nervous, and that meant that he liked her for sure.

  “Well, I don’t know what Florence told you about me and my business, but we are passed closing hours. But since I also happen to be the owner, I don’t see why I can’t bend the rules just a little.” Denis said right before taking her hand and kissing it, making Damaris melt a little.

  “Oh, trust me, training was the last thing I came here to do. Besides, all I wanted to do was just kickback and make sure that I get to meet you.”

  “So, what do you have in mind?”

  ***

  The walk was incredible. And that almost gave them some opportunity to get to know so much about each other. For instance, Denis made a point of talking about his time in the war and virtually plenty of things that he learned from there. Damaris on her part just talked about work and how she got to meet Florence.

  But in the end, the two made such an unusual connection to the point that they held hands while walking and that alone was such an amazing and powerful statement. Of course, there were lots of things that the two wanted to share. But from the look of things, time wasn’t on their side, and so Denis had to escort her to the driveway.

  “Well, I see Florence has left me.”

  “Florence, haha, I don’t know I am not surprised. The girl just wanted to you to stay over. But not to worry. I will get my pilot to drop you home.”

  “Wait, pilot?”

  “Yes. I think the chopper will help you avoid the crazy traffic. But not to worry, he is the best.”

  Damaris just couldn’t talk. She had no idea that she had had a walk with a very rich man. And the fact that Denis chose not to speak about the money made him even more attractive.

  And as they were waiting for the private chopper to come, someone was busy taking pictures and filming in the distance.

  -Love like no other-

  Since the meeting was incredible, Denis and Damaris decided that it would be a good idea if they went out on their first date. They had known each other a week, and they had spent several hours that week texting and making phone calls all over the place just to ensure that the first date wasn’t going to be awkward. And by the time that they agreed on meeting up for a dinner date, it was apparent that they had a lot to converse about and needless to say, it was just off the hook.

  And once again, Denis outdid himself as far as being magnanimous was concerned. He didn’t waste his time talking about how rich he was. Instead, Denis chose to keep things simple, making sure that he had taken an interest in knowing much more about her instead of wasting time talking all about himself. And as the conversation became much more intense, he made a point of grabbing her hand and rubbed it gently, turning her on.

  “I think we should have something to drink, don’t you think?”

  “That would be very great.”

  And even before they were done with having that romantic connection, a whole bottle of vodka was brought to the table and they started drinking without further ado. It was such an incredible t
ime together and needless to say, they continued having a good time until it got to that point where she wanted to leave – but not for an apartment but wherever he wanted to take her.

  ***

  They got back to Denis’ mansion, and since they were a little bit tipsy, Damaris didn’t care to look around. Denis was already kissing her and touching her all over the place to the point that she felt as though she was on top of the world. And in return, Damaris felt as though her body was going to heat up and so she embarked on kicking off her shoes and then tried to remove the dress. But it was way too tight for her.

  Denis saw that she was struggling to multitask and for that matter, made sure that he had slid his hands over her back and gently unzipped her dress, then unhooked them on the shoulder and let it all slide down, all this when he was still kissing her. The sensation was nothing short of magical, and it got to the point where she just couldn’t resist him any longer.