Free Lion's Love by Kate Kent Page A

woman that takes on a shifter needs to be confident, and bold.”
    “I think I could handle one,” I replied softly. Deep down I wasn’t so sure, but her smugness was annoying as hell.
    Roxanne grunted. “Even if you could handle a shifter, how could you stand living in Shifter Villages? There’s nothing there—no shopping, restaurants…”
    “Shifter Villages? Why would I have to live there?” Shifter Villages was about 100 miles from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, the town I lived and worked in. Though I’d never visited, I’d heard the terrain was rocky, and there were a lot of shifters living there without a whole lot to do.
    “The ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ site was started by a bull shifter from Shifter Villages to find wives for the men of the town. It’s almost all males that live in the town right now. I hear it can get pretty damn rowdy.”
    “Oh, ok. I didn’t know that.” Chambersburg was not a big city by any means, but the town had decent restaurants, shopping, and other amenities. The idea of moving to a town with nothing to do like Shifter Villages wasn’t so appealing, but the idea of finding true love certainly was.
    “What’s it matter,” Roxanne sniffed, “the site probably doesn’t work anyway.”
    “Well,” I said, tapping the screen, “they’ve only been in business for a short time. I’m sure it takes a while to make a perfect match.” I looked at the corner of the screen. There was the word ‘zero’ under the words ‘Marriage Matches Made.’
    “Just don’t go getting your hopes up,” Roxanne said, smugly.
    Roxanne really could get under my skin. She was always trying to belittle me. She knew I was quiet and too polite to complain to her or to the management at my company—though it was getting harder and harder. She poked her finger at my birthmark, my shyness, and anything else she could.
    She had never come out and mentioned my birthmark directly, but she’d make coy little references to it. If she wasn’t making vague references to that, she took jabs at my curves. I’m a tall girl with big breasts and hips and more of a belly than I need, but I’m ok with that. I exercise and eat healthy. But Roxanne seemed to think anyone over a size 8 needed to stop eating. She would offer unasked for weight loss tips and make snide little comments; like the time I came to the office wearing a cute pastel sundress I’d just bought.  It was hard to find nice dresses in plus sizes, but this one was awesome—buttery yellow, with tie shoulder straps and a flirty, ruffle bodice. I felt pretty in it as I danced into the office. Roxanne took one look at me and shook her head. She said something to the effect of it looking as good as it could under the circumstances. She made me feel so bad I never wore the dress again. I tried to avoid her, but it was hard in the small accounting office we worked in.
    “I would just hate to see you disappointed,” Roxanne added.
    Though normally I would just ignore her, I couldn’t help but respond this time. Her insistence that the site wouldn’t work for me had me seething inside. “According to what I read on the site, there’s a match for everyone, and I think that includes me,” I said calmly, though I could feel the tension building in my jaw.
    Roxanne pursed her lips. “Well, you can always try finding a match on the site, but…don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”
    As Roxanne sashayed away from my cubicle, I shook my head. I had to keep my cool. I could not, under any circumstances, let her know she got to me. Her attitude irked me so bad. Bitch!
    I moved my cursor to the top of the screen to exit the site when a pop up flashed on the screen: ‘New Shifters Added Today–Is Your Marriage Mate One of Them?’ I glanced at the clock. I still had a few minutes before break was over. I knew Roxanne was probably right and I would never find my match on ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies,’ but it couldn’t hurt to look, could it?
    I