Free Grayslake: Lion to Get Her (Alpha Lion Shifter Romance) (Kindle Worlds Novella) (The Jamesburg Shifters Book 8) by Lynn Red Page A

into it right then, maybe not ever if she had a choice. There it was again though, confusion pecking at the back of her head; her undying need to know things that she couldn’t deny herself. She hated that she needed it, and she didn’t want to know any more than she already did, but she had to know.
    “Did he do all the shit the papers say he did?” she asked, nervously watching the cubs gathering for Kiddie Time. Of all the things she wanted to do right then, entertaining a gaggle of pups and kittens wasn’t high on her list, but at least it would distract her a little. If nothing else, that would be a shred of welcome reprieve. “Because some of the things I read were pretty horrifying accusations. Some shit about being a terrorist?”
    Elaine shook her head. “You’ve been reading gossip rags. The short answer is ‘no he didn’t.’ But that said, he’s been on the run from... well, someone. He’s all into the whole ‘be your animal self’ thing which apparently flies in the face of some people in power. Although, I have no idea in the world why he decided to disappear to Redby Township of all places. And what the hell’s going on out there?” She pointed out the front door where a modest crowd of people had gathered.
    Laney shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the growing crowd. “I read one thing that said he faked his own death. To be honest, I thought it was really stupid and possibly the dumbest thing I’d ever read until I started reading more.”
    “When did you read all this?” Elaine asked. “Did you have a big hot date this morning and then decide to research your new boyfriend? What the hell are they doing? Are we having some kind of news conference out front? I don’t remember anyone reserving the front steps of the library... well, ever, pretty much.”
    For a moment, Laney was slightly confused about the whole goings-on. “It is kinda weird,” she said. “Looks like a press conference or something. But who the hell would—”
    Laney shook her head. The only thought running through her brain was the worst thing she could imagine. Scary as hell, she imagined Rip sauntering up to the steps of the library and putting on a big show about something. Maybe political, or whatever he called what he did—not politics, but philosophy or... whatever it was—but she didn’t want any part of it.
    At least, that’s what she told herself. Underneath the fear and the trepidation, she really did want to see him again. She wanted to tell him why she’d run, she wanted to bare her soul and tell him all her terrors. “If I let him in, then I have to admit all the things I’m afraid of are real,” Laney whispered under her breath.
    Laney shook her head and apologized for grumbling. “Just forget I said that out loud,” she added. “I don’t much know what’s going with my brain lately.”
    “Right,” Elaine said, “so about the reading. When did you do that, exactly?”
    “It does take about twenty minutes to get here from my house, you know,” Laney said. “Wait, why are you side-eying me like that? What ? I was only looking at the stoplights. I’m crazy, but not stupid enough to stare at gossip rags and dirt sheets on my phone in the middle of driving. Give me a little credit.”
    Elaine stared at Laney for a second with her head cocked to one side as she studied her friend’s mood. Every few seconds, Elaine took the opportunity to scratch herself behind one ear, then the other, with her ever present pencil.
    “Why do you do those giant crosswords?” Elaine asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
    “To pass the time? To keep my brain age down? Normally if someone asked me that I’d figure they were just making conversation but I know you don’t do that, so there must be some—”
    “Is that it, or do you do them because if you sit around in the quiet and just think about things, you’ll fall apart?”
    Laney curled her thin top lip into a snarl. “That was pointed,” she said,