To Lie With Lions: A BBW Shifter Romance (Wolf Rock Shifters Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

then led the two mounts outside into the brisk cold. The sky was clear, the air frozen around them. The horses’ breath hung before their muzzles for a few seconds before disappearing.
    “Let’s take it slowly at first,” said Nash, holding a stirrup while Cecile mounted. “We don’t want these guys slipping on anything.”
    While he was genuinely concerned at what ice might be concealed beneath the snow, Nash’s first concern was the fact that it had been months since he’d been on horseback and he needed to get his seat back. He hadn’t counted on doing so in front of an attractive woman, and nothing was quite so emasculating as feeling incompetent at something that should come naturally to him.
    Cecile took the reins with an impressive confidence, and so Nash mounted Flak, leading them further along the driveway onto a frozen dirt path which led towards the snowy peaks. He was quickly filled with the pure happiness that a kid experiences on winter mornings, running out into a new blanket of white. He knew that Flak liked the weather as well, and that he and his stable-mates didn’t get out much these days. He laid a hand on the horse’s neck.
    “You’ve been around these guys all your life, have you?” asked Cecile from behind him, her voice echoing in the quiet morning.
    “Yeah, pretty much. I sort of hated being away.”
    “I can imagine. So, will you be staying? In Wolf Rock, I mean.”
    Nash turned in his seat, putting his left hand against the solid ridge of the saddle. “Not sure,” he said, looking at his companion from below the brim of his hat. “What do you think I should do?”
    Cecile felt herself lose control of her face, happily surrendering to the smile that formed.
    “Well, I think you should stay here. You obviously like it.”
    “I’m liking it more and more,” said Nash, turning to face forwards.
    His plan had originally been to ride along a narrow trail which would l ead them onto a safe but somewhat predictable ridge, but now he’d changed his mind. He turned at the first fork they hit, taking a left towards a valley down below.
    “We’ll be heading onto a neighbour’s land,” he explained, turning back again. Cecile had had to remain behind him because of the trail’s limited width. Now, as the land opened up, she was able to navigate Daisy to Nash’s side. “I want to show you the more hidden bits of the territory, if you’re up for it.”
    “ Totally. God, I love it out here,” she said. “You’re so…free.”
    “Do you usually feel like you’re not?” asked Nash. It wasn’t remotely in his nature to ask personal questions, particularly of a stranger. But despite his initial nervousness, this woman put him at ease, somehow. Maybe it was that he’d spent such a lot of time around humans in the last few years, and that she was a shifter. She would understand. She would know his instincts and the reasons for his curiosity. She might even understand his attraction to her, though she was out of his league.
    There wasn’t supposed to be a hierarchy in the shifter world; not really. Not outside of the general pack mentality where an alpha male tended to dominate. But class—social class, monetary standing—were not considerations normally. However, it seemed more and more that such a thing was developing, and that this woman came from a family that might be considered above Nash’s rank. He didn’t like that much, but he liked her, and she seemed genuine.
    “I don’t usually feel free, no,” she said. “When you have a father like mine, there’s no feeling free even if you’re thousands of miles away from him.”
    “ I almost hate to ask, but why’s that?”
    “Oh, let’s see: he controls my finances. Who I see. Where I go. What I study. All that sort of thing.”
    “But, and forgive me for noticing this: You’re a grown woman. Couldn’t you do your own thing and tell him to shove it? Or are you afraid of losing your inheritance?”
    Nash regretted