Free Claimed By The Lion: A BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance Standalone (BBW Romance, BBW Shifter Romance, BBW Paranormal Romance, Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) by Laura Sexton

I.
     
                  The empty street sat quietly in the moonlight, lonely in the night. The late hour meant not many people (if any) would be milling around, though a few coyotes may have decided to try to munch on some wayward pets. From distances away, the sound of beating footsteps came toward the sleepy street.
          The footsteps came closer and closer, causing a stir and alarm against the calm. A young, tall, but curvy woman ran out of the darkness with her clothes torn and her swollen eyes looking around manically for help. Blood ran down her arms, legs, and lip, and she appeared to be running from someone - or something.
                  A bored man drove down the familiar street quietly. He hummed to the calm music in his car and turned on his air conditioner to keep himself awake. He brought his face close to the vent, letting the air freeze his face for a moment. He looked up to see the young woman appear in his headlights. His amber eyes grew wide as he slammed on the brakes. He stopped nearly in time but still hit the girl with the final lurch of the car stopping.
                  The man cursed and took a deep breath. This was definitely going to make his insurance rates go up. He could afford it, of course, but it was still annoying.
                  He got out of the car tentatively to check on the woman he hit, “Hey, are you okay?”
                  The girl stood, not seeming too hurt, but the man noticed the many wounds on her body. He didn’t want to be blamed for that. He’d barely even hit her. The woman, on the other hand, felt happy to see another human being, even if that human being had hit her with his car. The man’s extreme handsomeness also helped soften the blow, though she was more concerned with getting to safety than checking him out.
                  “You know, you really shouldn’t be running in the middle of the street in the middle of the night,” the man said as he tried to keep his voice calm. “You could have been killed.”
                  The woman pawed at his shirt desperately, “Please, please help me. Save me - they’re after me.”
                  “Who’s…”
                  Before he could finish, the woman fainted into his arms. He frowned and pulled her into the car, laying her in the backseat. He rubbed his forehead, too tired to handle this kind of stress.
                  “You’re lucky I got a medical degree, lady,” he said softly as he put his car in gear. “I guess you were hit by the right person.”
                  He drove away toward his original destination, now feeling completely awake. The lonely street grew quiet and calm again, no longer troubled by the ruckus. Yet, as the car slowly moved away, a man came out of the shadows and watched it go. He’d been trailing the woman and glared after the car. He cracked his knuckles and let out an angry snort of breath. With that, he moved back into the darkness, quickly moving after the slow moving car.

 
    II.
                 
           The woman awoke in a foreign place. She felt as though she were in a fancy hotel with the extremely comfortable bed and the bland, but exquisite decorations of the room. Her body ached, but she noticed bandages around the cuts on her arms and legs. She also was dressed in soft pajamas she’d never seen before. She wondered how she got them on, trying to remember what had happened after she escaped the horrors she wasn’t yet able to face.
    Had she also been hit by a car? She was so manic and full of adrenaline that she couldn’t even remember. She got out of bed and checked for bruises near her hips. Something definitely had happened. She moved to a large, antique looking mirror framed in gold on the wall. Caked blood crusted on her lips and a black eye appeared to be forming, but she didn’t think she looked