Read Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance for Free Online

things, I’ll be right with you.”
    “Sure,” she said, and watched him walk off. His butt looked amazing, even in workout clothes.
    He returned quickly, holding two short wooden rods. “We don’t have any real nightsticks here, and next time I’ll remember to ask you to bring your own, but we can go over some basic moves with these. Since you have a weapon, you should really know how to use it.”
    “Sounds good.” She took the stick he handed her. “The other night I got in one good hit with it—” She remembered how satisfying it had been when the stick connected with the guy’s stomach—“but I was mostly afraid they were going to take it away from me.”
    “That’s the trouble with having a weapon but no training,” Dale said seriously. “It just becomes your opponent’s weapon. Your weapon should be working for you .”
    “Okay,” she said. For some reason, the way he said your weapon was…really hot. She tried to ignore it, and held up her stick. “How do we make this work for me?”
    “First, if you’re not using it but you want it ready, hold it up resting against your shoulder.” He demonstrated, with the stick back on his right shoulder, and she copied him. “That way, it’s not out for your opponent to grab—unless he’s behind you, watch out for that—and you’ve got it ready to swing with enough space to get momentum.”
    “Got it.”
    “Now, in this position, when you swing, you’re already building up power. You want to swing it forward, pretty hard, and then follow through by bringing it up to your opposite shoulder.”
    He demonstrated—the stick made a high-pitched swish noise as it came down, and then up across his chest to his left shoulder.
    Sam concentrated hard on the movement of the stick…instead of how broad his chest was, how powerful his shoulders were, or how big his hand looked on the stick compared to hers.
    “Now you’re in a position to swing it again immediately, from a backhand position,” Dale continued, and demonstrated the swing in the opposite direction, bringing the stick back to his right shoulder when he was done. “See?”
    Sam nodded. “I see.”
    “Okay, give it a try.”
    Sam swung the stick down from her shoulder as hard as she could, finished the swing up at her left shoulder, and reversed it. She was surprised at how much momentum and strength she felt just from a wooden stick.
    “Nice power and speed,” Dale approved, coming over to her. “Really good. The angle of your swing needs a little adjusting, though—may I?”
    “Sure.” Sam inhaled as he came closer and caught his scent—something faintly spicy and very masculine. Then he took her hand—almost enveloping it, his hand was so much bigger.
    “Right now, you’re swinging it like a tennis racket,” he mimed it with her hand, “which is understandable, but makes it much, much easier for someone to knock it out of your hand.”
    He brought his left hand around her body and met the swing with it. His hand knocked the stick askew, almost out of her grip.
    Of course, that could also have been because he had his arms around her , and was murmuring in her ear, and it was making it hard for her to concentrate. She tried to focus and keep her breathing steady.
    He’s not interested , she reminded herself. He’s just being nice. He’s teaching you something, pay attention!
    But oh, he smelled so good .
    “Instead,” he said, his breath tickling her cheek, “you want to swing it like a knife. Pretend you’re trying to hit something with the sharp end of the blade, not the flat side of it.”
    He brought her hand gently back to her shoulder and started another swing, this time straight out forward towards an invisible target.
    His fingers held hers in a warm grip, and this time he followed through on the swing, brought the stick up to her left shoulder—now literally holding her wrapped in his arms, just for a second—and then guided her through the backhand swing. His