Taming The Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter Romance (Gray Bears Book 5) (3 page)

Winston laid his hand on her
shoulder. “You're very brave, Miss Wright. You saved Lorni's
life.”

“I...I did?”

“A woman was murdered
two weeks ago. She was a small business owner and she lived alone.
Like Lorni, she was a widow. Her body was found in the woods. We
believe she was killed by the same wolf shifter who attacked Lorni.”

Kaylee pressed her shaking
fingers to her mouth. “He was going to kill her...”

Winston nodded grimly. “Yes.
You saved Lorni from being tortured and killed by a rogue wolf.
Rogues are usually destroyed by their Alpha before they turn into
cold-blooded killers. But this rogue wolf may have escaped from his
pack.”

Kaylee leaned back against
her pillow and closed her eyes. Winston gave her a moment to regain
her composure. He stared at her sweet, heart-shaped face, and his
eyes trailed down her curvaceous body before he could stop himself.
Even covered with bandages and bruises, he found her very attractive.

Everything about her was
extraordinary. Kaylee was brave, impetuous and spunky. She wasn't
even a resident of Shadow Point. She was just driving into an
unfamiliar, remote town, yet she had leaped to Lorni's aid without
sparing a thought for her own safety.

She was caring and
courageous. Kaylee was human but she had a lion's heart.

Winston could feel his lion
growling softly within him. His beast was drawn to this brave, rash
human female, and he was highly intrigued by her.

He knew who she was. He had
been the Sheriff for many years now, and his instincts were always
spot-on. He never forgot a name or a face and he was an astute judge
of character.

He had guessed that Kaylee
was a relation of Neveah Wright, and he had called Broomstick Inn and
spoken to Ne-ma. Ever since he became the godfather to Gramma and
Ne-ma's little great-grandcub, Jeremy, the two good-hearted but
meddlesome witches had insisted that he call them Gramma and Ne-ma.
He might be the big, stern Sheriff, but they simply saw him as one of
their grandsons, never mind that all their grandsons were bear
shifters, and he was a lion shifter. To them, he was family.

And Kaylee Wright had
traveled all the way to Shadow Point to look for her family.

Winston leaned forward and
said very gently, “Miss Wright...”

“Kaylee.” She
opened her eyes and smiled. “Call me Kaylee.”

He held her gaze and said,
“There's someone here to see you, Kaylee.”

“Me? Someone…?”
She swallowed and stammered, “B-but I don't know anyone in
Shadow Point...”

“I think you do.”
Winston stood up and went to open the door. He went out and saw
Gramma, the Gray brothers and their mates sitting with Ne-ma outside
Kaylee's room. Gramma was squeezing Ne-ma's hand while Aidan and his
brothers spoke in low tones to Ne-ma, assuring her that Kaylee would
be okay.

Ne-ma jumped up as soon as
she saw Winston. “How is she? How is my grandniece?”
she asked, her blue eyes searching his face frantically. “Is
Kaylee…?”

Winston put one arm around
Ne-ma's shoulder and took her small, thin hand in his.

Very gently, he led her into
the room.

CHAPTER
SIX

Kaylee looked up and saw the
Sheriff coming back into the room with a petite, bespectacled,
silver-haired woman.

She gasped. “Grandaunt
Neveah!”

She hadn't seen her grandaunt
in more than ten years. Her grandaunt's blond hair was now
completely silver and instead of wearing her long hair in a braid,
she now wound her silver hair into a bun at her nape. Her blue eyes
were lively and sparkling behind her trademark black-rimmed glasses.

“Kaylee! Oh, Kaylee!
Sweetheart!” Her grandaunt lurched towards her and pulled her
into a tight embrace.

Kaylee stifled a sob and
blinked away the sudden, hot tears in her eyes. “Grandaunt
Neveah...”

“Are you okay? How are
you feeling? Oh, Kaylee, why didn't you tell me you were coming to
Shadow Point. Oh, let me look at you!”

Kaylee swallowed painfully
and looked down, unable to meet her grandaunt's glimmering blue eyes.
Eyes which were so much like her own. They were filled with love,
worry, pain and regret.

“I tried to call you,
Kaylee,” her grandaunt said, her voice breaking. “I
tried so many times, but you moved and you changed your number...”

“Grandaunt Neveah,
I...”

Her grandaunt leaned forward
and smoothed a strand of her blond hair away from her face. She
tsked and said, “Grandaunt Neveah is such a mouthful. Just
call me Ne-ma!”

“Ne-ma?” Kaylee
said tentatively.

“Yep. Everyone calls
me Ne-ma. Even Winston!”

Kaylee widened her eyes at
the big, tall Sheriff. He lifted his broad shoulders in an affable
shrug and smiled encouragingly. There was a little lion cub sitting
on his shoulder and purring in his ear.

My godson
, he mouthed
proudly to her.

Kaylee blinked. Winston had
a godson? Did he have a son too? And a wife, a mate...a girlfriend?

She bit her lip quickly,
feeling annoyed and baffled. The handsome Sheriff's marital status
was none of her business. So why did the mere thought that he
belonged to another female make her insides twist into an angry knot?

Kaylee shook her head, trying
to get her emotions under control. She looked up and realized that
her hospital room was suddenly very crowded.

Ne-ma was sitting on her bed,
and behind Ne-ma was her best friend, Glynda Gray. Kaylee had met
Glynda many years ago when Ne-ma and Glynda came to visit Kaylee's
grandfather, who was Ne-ma's only brother. Glynda was a witch like
Ne-ma, and she was a sweet woman with curly silver hair and bright
green eyes.

“Grandaunt Glynda,”
Kaylee greeted her as Glynda came forward to hug her.

“Ah, just call me
Gramma, like the boys.” She gestured to four beefy, blond men
behind her. “These are my grandsons, Tristan, Aidan, Mason and
Jackson. They're all bear shifters.”

“Hi, Kaylee,” the
four brothers chorused. The Gray boys all had Gramma's arresting
green eyes and cheeky grin.

The four Gray brothers
introduced their mates. Kaylee said hi to Alisa, Elle, Suzanne and
Harper, and even kissed Tristan and Alisa's baby daughter Katie on
the cheek. Jackson and Harper pointed out their son, Jeremy to
Kaylee. “Jeremy is sitting on his godpa's shoulder. He likes
being in his lion form,” Harper said. Kaylee turned and smiled
at the playful lion cub on Winston's shoulder.

Ne-ma held Kaylee's hand
tightly. “That's a very brave thing you did, Kaylee. You
saved Lorni from a serial killer. But...you should have called me.
If I'd known you were coming, I would have driven out to fetch you!
It's so dangerous for you to drive all the way alone...”

“I...I lost your
number,” Kaylee answered in a small voice. “I'm sorry,
Ne-ma. I'm really sorry...”

“Hush, it's over now,
sweetheart,” Ne-ma shushed her. “You're here, and you're
safe. That's all that matters. But you must have had such a fright!
You've been hurt, but no one can hurt you now. No one.”
Ne-ma's blue eyes shone with understanding and compassion. It was as
if she could see all the hurt, sorrow and pain that Kaylee had
experienced.

Clutching both her hands,
Ne-ma said fiercely, “And you're not disappearing again,
Kaylee. I absolutely won't allow it!”

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Kaylee stared at Ne-ma and
opened her mouth. But instead of words, a wrenching sob burst from
her chest.

“I should have kept in
touch, Ne-ma. I know you care for me. I should have come to you,
instead of moving all the time, uprooting myself constantly to search
for...something I'd never find...”

Kaylee broke down and Ne-ma
gathered her in her arms and held her as she cried. “I'm
sorry, Ne-ma,” she sobbed into Ne-ma shoulder.

“Everything is okay
now. You're here, with family,” Ne-ma said soothingly, rubbing
her back. “You've finally found your way home.”

Kaylee sniffed. “I
don't have a home...”

“Nonsense! You can
stay in Broomstick Inn with us!” Gramma said immediately.
“Tristan and the boys can even build you a little house if you
prefer to have a place of your own. Tristan owns Gray's Domain, a
neat construction company.”

Kaylee shook her head. “No,
no, I mean, that's very generous of you, but I couldn't...”
She laughed sheepishly. “I would be grateful just to sleep in
the kitchen of your inn. I never thought...”

Ne-ma planted her hands on
her hips. “We are family. What is this crazy talk about
sleeping on the kitchen floor? Do you imagine that you're Cinderella
or Snow White, and I'm the evil grandaunt who is also an evil witch
to boot?”

Kaylee laughed despite
herself. “No, of course not, Ne-ma! I just...” She
laughed again and shook her head. “Funny that you should
mention Cinderella and Snow White,” she muttered with a
lopsided smile.

“Why?”

“I...I was just wishing
that I would meet my white knight and live happily ever after, just
like in a fairy tale.” Kaylee blushed and mumbled, “What
a silly wish, eh?”

When there was no reply, she
looked up and saw Gramma, Ne-ma and the whole Gray family gaping at
her.

Kaylee gulped and grimaced.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked
nervously.

“Hmm, a knight,”
Tristan, the eldest Gray brother, said with a slow, sly smile.

“I know a Knight,”
another brother quipped.

“Me too!”

“Me three!”

It was Winston's turn to look
startled when all eyes swiveled to him. “What?” he
demanded. “What are they up to?” he said in a stage
whisper to Jeremy. The lion cub growled in response.

“Winston Knight,”
Gramma and Ne-ma whispered together, giving her identical looks of
amazement and delight.

Kaylee exchanged a look with
Winston as the Gray brothers and their mates began to chuckle and
chatter excitedly. She had no idea what they were talking about.
She heard the words “happily ever after”, “wish”
and “true mate” being whispered between the couples as
they threw knowing glances at Winston and her.

Winston grinned at her and
threw up his hands dramatically. Jeremy tumbled off his shoulder,
but Winston caught the cub expertly in his large hands and threw him
high in the air. Jeremy squealed and shifted in mid-air back to
human form. Winston caught a little boy with light brown hair and
hazel eyes securely in his hands and handed the mischievous tot back
to his parents.

Harper kissed her son and
lifted him up onto Jackson's shoulders. Jeremy sat proudly on his
dad's shoulders and waved at Kaylee.

Kaylee waved back. She
smiled as she watched Jackson wiggle and tilt his body at a
precarious angle, while Jeremy clung on for dear life and shrieked in
delight. The toddler was a thrill-seeker, a real dare-devil. She
knew that Jeremy wasn't Jackson's biological son since Jackson was a
bear shifter not a lion shifter. But she saw that Jackson was
Jeremy's dad, truly, completely and forever. The bond between
Jackson and Jeremy was strong and true. They were such a beautiful,
wonderful family.

Her hospital room was filled
with excited voices and raucous laughter. They were making so much
noise, but it was the most joyful noise Kaylee had heard in a long
time. A nurse poked her head in and warned them to keep it down but
she didn't chase them out.

Laughter was after all the
best medicine.

As Kaylee chatted with
Gramma, Ne-ma and their four granddaughters-in-law, she forgot all
about the aches and pains in her body. All she could feel was the
feeling of family.

She missed the warmth, the
closeness, the laughter, the ribbing and bickering. She hadn't
realized how much she missed having a family, a real, loving,
supportive family.

She had traveled a long way
from the city, not knowing where she was going.

But Ne-ma was right. In the
end, she had found her way home.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Winston was finishing up his
paperwork when he saw Aidan leaning against the doorjamb. Winston
always kept the door to his office open so that his deputies could
come into his office and talk to him any time of the night and day.

Sometimes they needed his
advice on the cases they were handling. Sometimes they just wanted
to talk, about what was going on in their lives. He always listened
and he never shut anybody out. He was always objective, fair and he
could size up a person and a situation pretty quickly and accurately.

Winston waved Aidan to a
chair. “What's up?”

Aidan sat down and said
casually, “Kaylee is being discharged from the hospital today.”