Loved by the Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter BWWM Romance by Zoe Chant

Chapter One
     
    Kira
     
     
    "I'm telling you, Kira, you should come," insisted Emi over the phone. "I know you have a lot of vacation days saved up, Miss Workaholic."
    This was the third invitation Kira’s best friend had offered her, and Kira was just about on the verge of accepting. It sounded wonderful – a family retreat in a huge house in the wilderness where she could enjoy the outdoors, and a week away from the hospital and all the stress that came with it. What sounded less wonderful was being the odd person out intruding on the Deleons' family time.
    Kira didn't have much of a family of her own. Her parents had passed away a decade before, and she was an only child. Her aunt had taken her in when she was seventeen, but she'd been a harried single mom working double shifts and hadn't paid much attention to her. There was her cousin Rachelle, but they were on opposite sides of the country and stayed in touch mostly through Facebook.
    She was used to doing things on her own: she'd put herself through college, slowly but surely, and now she was the head nurse of an oncology ward. She was proud of what she'd done for herself.
    That didn't mean she wasn't sometimes jealous of what Emi had.
    Emi Deleon – short for Emily – came from a huge family with a sea of cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles, and kids as far as the eye could see, at least the way Emi told it. And Emi was as close as it was possible to be with all of them. Kira had met Emi's sister and mother and warmed to them immediately: they were friendly, gregarious, and welcoming.
    And they were shifters, a family of lions. Emi had clued her in after they first started becoming friends. It had been weird at first, though Kira was past that now. But that wasn't the important part. The important part was that the Deleons were a real family, and despite being Emi's friend Kira just wasn't part of it.
    But she could feel her resolve crumbling as she thought about it more and more. The possibilities flooded her mind: family dinner around a huge table, lit by the evening sun, spring flowers blooming outside the window, conversation carrying late into the night. Everything she'd ever wanted.
    There was only so much a woman could take. "Are you sure your family won't mind?" she asked.
    True to form, Emi jumped on her weakness with the alacrity of the lioness she was. "Not at all! Mom was the one who wanted to invite you, you know, and Tess is so excited that you might come. She couldn't shut up about how awesome you are after lunch the other week." Emi lowered her voice with significance. "I think she looks up to you."
    Damn. Emi knew just where to poke to bring the walls all the way down. "It would be nice to get away for a while," Kira confessed.
    "You bet it would!" Emi crowed victoriously. Kira pictured her fist-pumping and dancing around her living room in excitement. "Plus, haven't you been saying you need to get away from that stalker guy?"
    Oh, him . Kira groaned. "He came by the hospital today. He's never done that before."
    "He's escalating. Did you call the police?"
    "No." Kira rubbed her eyes and flopped onto the couch, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder. "I threatened to call security, though. That got him to leave. For now."
    She had met Gunnar at a speed-dating event. No one had clicked one hundred percent for Kira, but Gunnar had seemed interested and good-looking at first, so she had gone on another date with him. Only after that had his inner asshole and sleazebag come out. When she refused a third date, he turned persistent, even obsessive. He knew where she worked because she'd told him at their first dinner, but she was afraid it was only a matter of time before he found out where she lived. At the moment, all she could do was document everything he was doing.
    "That sucks," Emi said, her unhappiness clear. Emi was the one who had dragged her to the event, so Kira knew she felt responsible. "Maybe if you're gone it'll be