Free Shelter Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #6) by Kristen Strassel Page A

Her hips moved wildly, not missing a thing. Lyssie’s blood-slick fingers gripped my back, and she kissed an uneven trail from my cheek down to my neck.
    “No.” I pulled away from her when she came too close to the bite.
    It was like someone hit a switch—her body deflated underneath mine. The light faded from her eyes. “I wasn’t going to do anything.” Lyssie looked away. “All right, that was a lie. I wanted to make that mark mine. You’re stuck with it for life, it’s going to scar, and that bitch will have a piece of you forever. A piece of us. I can’t have all of you because of that.” She ran her finger dangerously close to the healing wound.
    “You have all of me.” I picked up her hand. Her fingers were stained red. “Do you need any more proof than that? I don’t know what will happen to you if you touch that bite. Look what it does to me. You’re human...I can’t risk that. This isn’t going to be easy on either of us, but if anything happens to you because you touch that bite, there will be hell to pay.”
    Lyssie stared at her hand, mouth open in horror. Shit. We’d gone too far. I’d never lost control like that before, totally given myself over to another person. Her smile was shy at first, but it gained confidence as it grew. She motioned for me to lay next to her. As soon as I settled, she put her head on my shoulder, and tangled her legs between mine. She reached down and slipped the condom off. We may have been a perfect fit when I was inside her, but this was so good, too. “Ember can try to take you from me, and maybe she’ll succeed.” She placed her finger over my lips when I started to protest. “But she’ll never have this. The way we are right now. No bite can give her that.”

Chapter Eleven
    L yssie
    Today was one of those unexpected but much appreciated warm January days. Either that or everything seemed sunnier and brighter now that Dallas and I were truly together. I’d dreamed of being with Dallas, and being the center of someone else’s attention for so long, but it wasn’t anything like I expected. I wanted to believe I was Dallas’ mate, but every time I let myself settle into the idea of it, it was interrupted by the image of Ember at The Redheaded Stepchild, ripping down his sweater, and exposing the bite. I swore I could taste her pine flavor like cheap cleaning products. I was willing to bet it was probably poisonous.
    Regardless, Dallas had started every day of this New Year waking up in my bed, not hers. Ember may have a little bit of his skin stuck between her teeth, but I had his body, and more importantly, his heart.
    It changed things. In the last twenty-seven years, I’d learned to enjoy my own company, never expecting someone else would actually enjoy it more. Now I laughed more easily. And I could almost tolerate Kiera and Trina’s endless sex talk.
    “I like cuddling.” Sometimes I even joined in. The girls were still shocked when it happened, but they always listened to what I had to say. I’d held back so long they probably figured it had to be good. “When we settle for the night, I put my head on Dallas’ chest and his heart is still pounding. I mean, I did that. It’s my favorite part.”
    “I bet our counselors didn’t anticipate that being part of our therapy,” Trina said, looking off in the distance, smiling at whatever vision played through her mind. “Each of the guys is powerful and fierce, and we, the staff of Forever Home, can bring them to their knees.”
    “They told us to give the animals a chance.” Kiera chuckled, hooking a leash on one of the dogs. Since it was nice out, we planned to take the dogs for a walk. There were twelve of them, and three of us, and every time we did this we would up with a tangled mess. Somebody always managed to get off their leash, and someone else would eat something they shouldn’t. But the dogs loved it so much it was worth dealing with the aftermath for the rest of the