Free Conquer Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #4) by Kristen Strassel

hold it. Since our rescue, Shadow swung first and asked questions later. If at all.
    “Turns out we didn’t need one.” Shadow grabbed the last beer, twisting it in the hem of his shirt to open it.
    Fuck. “You killed him.”
    Don’t get me wrong, I wanted Walter dead. But that was supposed to be my kill. It would never give me the same satisfaction unless I felt his heart stop beating.
    “Nope. Didn’t have to. We forgot something very important. Walter isn’t like his father. He hid behind Ryker his whole life. Let his daddy fight all his battles. One on one, he couldn’t stand on his own. His guys wouldn’t fight our new guys, since they’d all worked together for so long. So it was me and Dallas against Walter.”
    “What happened?”
    Shadow look a long sip of his beer, trying to suppress a laugh. “He fucking ran off a cliff. Full speed. His eyes must’ve been going or something. At first, I thought it was a trick. Like he disappeared and was planning some sort of retaliation. But I went back today, and he was pretty easy to find. The buzzards are picking him clean.”
    Holy shit. Walter was dead. Which meant...
    “You all right, Major?” X asked. “This is pretty fucking good news.”
    “Yeah.” I shook away the shock and turned to Shadow. “We’ve got some work to do.”

Chapter Ten
    C ass
    “Calm down.” Connie glared at me. Emma snuggled against her, and Connie smoothed her hair down, rocking her back and forth. “You’re upsetting the baby. And Walter will come home when he’s ready to be here.”
    Three days since he’d been home. It wasn’t unusual for him to disappear, but never for this long. He hadn’t answered my calls or texts, and his voice mail was full. No one on the ranch had any idea where he was, either. Weird. A strange chaos swirled around the property. He hadn’t left instructions. No one liked to guess what Walter wanted. It was a recipe for disaster. I punched code after code over his voicemail message, trying to open his mailbox. Hip to my game, he changed the password frequently. “She’s not a baby. And I don’t care what he does. He should at least have the decency to call.”
    Connie rolled her eyes. “Don’t try to convince me you’re concerned about your husband.”
    “It’s about respect.”  I wasn’t familiar with the emotions churning inside me. Something wasn’t right. And last night with Major skewed everything. I’d always felt like a visitor who’d outstayed her welcome in this house, but now my wolf was rumbling under my skin and she needed to run.
    I’d made up my mind. I was leaving Walter. Our marriage was an unpleasant necessity, and everyone knew it. This was bigger than me. I had to think of Emma. She watched us fight and claw at each other constantly. Before last night, keeping her here seemed like the best thing, but my eyes had been opened. I was setting her up for disaster. A life of not knowing what love was. My daughter deserved better than that.
    “He doesn’t have any respect for you, Cassidy.” Connie smiled, setting Emma down. She turned to Emma, dismissing me like I’d disappeared. “I think Rudolph is on tonight.”
    “What do you want for dinner?” I caught Emma before she ran off. Connie brought her home late and probably filled her up with garbage.
    “Not hungry.” Of course not. She wriggled away from me, distant like she always was with Connie around.
    “You have to eat something.”
    “She had her playdate today. We made ice cream sundaes.” Connie wiped the counter. I cleaned it minutes before this argument broke out, but of course, that wasn’t good enough either.
    I blocked Connie from following Emma to the living room. “Listen. I appreciate your help, but that’s exactly what it is. Help. I set the rules, you follow them. Emma gets confused when you’re around. She needs a consistent message.”
    “Emma’s not the one who’s confused. You are.” Connie backed me against the counter. I shook