Read Melted By The Lion: A Paranormal Lion Shifter Romance for Free Online Page A

more, no less. That’s all. I’m a busy man with a nation to build, and citizens to protect, and I don’t have much time or need for sentimental nonsense.”
    “And that’s all a deeper connection than just the physical is to you?”
    He hesitated for just a split-second longer than I thought he should have before responding. “Yes.”
    “Well, you’re certainly not making a very good case for convincing me to enter into your hoped-for ‘arrangement.’ Because before I was frozen, I guess I was hoping for something more. I guess I was hoping that the man I was to have a child with wouldn’t be opposed to the possibility of developing a deeper connection of some kind along the way.”
    Trevor remained stony-faced, still looking into my eyes but seeming to look through them at the same time. “Well, you won’t get that from me. But, if you do decide to help me in my desire for heirs, which, at the same time, would be you helping to repopulate the post-nuclear-disaster world, a very noble act, there will be something in it for you. This is a business arrangement, after all, and I plan to compensate you fully.”
    Now I was thoroughly disgusted.
    “You’re going to pay me to have a baby with you?”
    “Not directly, though you’ll have full privilege to use any amount of my money, within reason, I suppose, to buy whatever you like, for the rest of your life. In essence, my money will be your money. You’ll only have to ask, and I’ll give you whatever money you need, whenever you need it. You’ll also be allowed to live in the commander-in-chief’s residence for as long as you want. And as you’ll see, it’s quite a spacious, comfortable place to live. You’ll be waited on by my staff, and treated like a queen. You’ll also be treated like a queen by everyone in the community. For helping to repopulate our nation, and especially for helping me to have heirs, you’ll be respected and admired for the rest of your life, and beyond. You’ll go down in history as the woman who ensured that my line wouldn’t die out, which, of course, is very important to me, as future commanders of this nation aren’t going to be elected. Like in the United Free States, the title is going to pass from father to son, or father to daughter’s son if a commander doesn’t have one.”
    I snorted. “Wow. That doesn’t sound sexist at all.”
    Trevor raked a hand through his honey-brown hair, which was currently being made even more honey-colored by a shaft of sunlight slanting in through the windows. “It’s not like that, Savannah. The law of succession isn’t meant to be sexist. I’d gladly have any daughter of mine take the reins of power when I’m gone, but a commander-in-chief must be chief protector of the nation, and funnily enough, shifters seem to be better fighters and protectors than human women. You see, only baby boys born to shifter fathers grow to be shifters themselves, not daughters. It’s just the way it is. We’d have to understand all the mysteries of science to understand why the nuclear blast that turned some men into shifters didn’t affect women in the same way.”
    I snorted again. “Yeah, most of us were just left infertile. Sounds like women got the raw end of that deal.”
    “I wouldn’t disagree with that.”
    We both fell silent and just stood, each of us with our arms crossed over our chests, looking at each other. Then, making the awkward moment even more awkward, the intercom speakers out in the hallway blared with a page, so that neither of us could say anything for several moments. I shifted my gaze to the ground, and Trevor shifted his to the side, knitting his dark brows.
    After the page, he looked at me again. “Like I said earlier, I’m not in the business of forcing a woman to do anything she doesn’t want to do. You’re free to do whatever you please, including not following through on what you’d said you do when you were frozen. However, I do think you owe it to me,