Free Lion's Love by Kate Kent

CHAPTER ONE
     
    For all of my life I just wanted to give and feel love. But people either stared boldly or turned away because of the way I looked. It made me feel like a monster. I was born with a huge port wine stain on my face. It looks exactly like what you’d think—like I was at a party and someone threw a glass of wine at me and it splashed on the left side of my face—only it never rinses off. The rest of my skin is pale and smooth. I would look normal—maybe even pretty—if it wasn’t for this ugly stain. I grew up feeling terrible about myself, and my parents never tried to make me feel better either. They just looked away like I was some kind of marked demon. I dealt with teasing and torment from other people my entire life. But one day, I decided I’d had enough. I couldn’t stand being alone for one more minute. I had to at least try to find love. My name is Sherry Cole and this is my story…my confession…
     
    ~*~
     
    “You don’t really think that site works, do you Sherry?” a voice asked from behind, startling me.
    Roxanne…ugh, my know-it-all co-worker. It was my lunch break, and as usual, I was eating at my desk. Couldn’t I have any peace? Though for the most part I liked the people I worked with, Roxanne and a couple of my other co-workers, Jamie and Susan, could be catty and nasty. They were the definition of mean girls.
    I turned to see her peeping over my shoulder at the computer screen in front of me, but it was too late to cover it. The “Luscious Lads and Ladies Marriage Mates” logo took up almost one half of the mating website’s home page. It was pretty obvious I was checking it out.
    Earlier today when I’d slipped into the break room to get a cup of coffee I’d overheard some of my co-workers talking about the website. I’d never heard of it before, but apparently a local news station had reported on it recently. One of my co-workers said that once you created a profile you could contact others on the site, or they could contact you in hopes of a potential marriage match.
    I was aching to find that special someone to love. The thought of getting married and starting a family really appealed to me. I felt shy and awkward when I met men in person—maybe, just maybe, I could meet someone to build a future with online. When I got back to my desk, I’d looked up the site immediately and was just beginning to explore what it offered.
    “Well, umm…I was just looking,” I said softly. “I know it’s a new site, but it looks really professional.”
    “Yeah, but the site’s not really for people like yo...” Roxanne’s voice trailed off.
    “Who—who is it for?” I asked sharply. She pissed me off. I knew what she was thinking. The site was for ‘regular’ looking people. Other people could find matches on Luscious Lads and Ladies because they looked normal. They didn’t have a big ole’ glass of wine stain smack dab on their face for the whole world to see. “Just because I have a birthmark…”
    “This has nothing to do with birthmarks. It’s a shifter mail order bride site. All the men on there are shifters looking for mail order matches, and all the women are non-shifters looking for a shifter to mate with.”
    “Shifters?!” I was surprised. I hadn’t realized that the men were
    shifters looking for love and not ‘regular’ guys.
    “Do you really think you could handle a shifter?” Roxanne asked.
    I thought about what I knew of shifters. Though I didn’t know any personally, I had heard that male shifters were huge men with a voracious sexual appetite, and when they mated it was for life. I liked that.
    “And why not? Why couldn’t I handle a shifter?” I couldn’t help but lick my lips. The idea of a lifetime partnership with a sexy shifter who wanted to make love to me all the time was a turn on—not that I would tell Roxanne that!
    Roxanne raised her eyebrows. “Come on Sherry, you’re the shy, quiet type,” she shook her head.  “A