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

perched on down to the ground.
    She laughed out loud and turned to run. She didn’t need to look back to know what was going to happen, but did anyway.
    The massive, regal-looking, mighty lion took a spill. He let out a whooping noise, turned two somersaults, and got a mane full of mud. She couldn’t stop laughing, even as she ran.
    When he climbed back to his feet, the lion let out a roar that shattered the morning’s peace. Laney sprinted away, her muscles already aching from the exercise, but she felt alive—really alive —for the first time in forever.
    He roared again, and when she looked back, he was shaking the mud and water and burrs and reeds out of his messy mane. “Not long!” he shouted out. “I’ll catch you!”
    And then she heard him laugh.
    At that exact moment, that one singular blip of time, she realized that Elaine was right. Somehow, some way, Laney had happened upon the one lion who was a match for her—clumsiness and all.
    “I’ll believe that when I see it!” she called back to him. “Wanna make a bet?”
    “You’ll lose!” he shouted back. They were both running full tilt, but the alpha’s bulk meant that Laney had a slight advantage, even when considering her general distaste for cardiovascular training.
    “If I catch you, you have to tell me your name!”
    “And if I catch you?” he roared.
    “You can have whatever you want.”
    The words she said occurred to her after they were already out of her mouth. She’d meant it, of course, she’d wanted to say something like that to him in the middle of the Stephen King section, but she also didn’t want to get sued for public lewdness. But out here in the woods? There wasn’t a reason in the world to act more human than she felt.
    “I’ll take that bet,” he said, his voice drawing nearer. “And then I’ll take you .”
    Laney’s heart skipped a beat. She wanted to flop over right then and there and let him win the bet and let him finish what he’d started in the dream. Oh my God the dream , she realized as she deftly avoided a tree stump, and then immediately stumbled on a rabbit hole, but quickly caught her balance. It was him in the dream. How did I not realize it ?
    Electric thrills coursed through her body. She wanted him to catch her, but she thought that for the moment anyway, the chase might be a hell of a lot of fun. One more glimpse backward saw her pursuer slightly closer, but also saw him take a huge spill over the tree stump she’d avoided.
    She laughed, and laughed, and when he got back to his feet, so did he.
    Nothing , she thought, has ever felt this good.

5
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    T ime seemed to pass faster than Laney ever remembered. Every crashing turn, every spill one of them took, every taunt or playful insult thrown by one or the other of the lions brought laughs, fake anger, or witty comebacks.
    “You won’t catch me until I let you!” Laney called out, laughing out loud as she careened around a turn and didn’t fall on her ass, which was happening more and more the longer they went and the more tired she got. Constant laughing didn’t help her balance or her endurance either, but that was a price she was happy to pay for how perfect she felt.
    Already the sun had grown hot overhead. The pale yellow disc of morning was then a full, burning orange overhead.
    “You want to let me catch you!” his voice came from behind, and then pitched to the side with a yelp and a howl. When Laney looked back, her mysterious suitor had managed to not only stumble over the tangle of roots that she’d just dodged, but from the way he was pulling and spluttering, he’d gotten his foot stuck as well.
    She slowed to a trot, then a walk, and then a full stop. “You okay?” she called back.
    “It’s all fun and games until someone breaks an ankle,” the response came.
    Did he really ? Or is he just playing me for an idiot? I’m gonna go back there, thinking he’s hurt, and then he’s gonna jump on me