Free Protect Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #3) by Kristen Strassel

“You don’t have a submissive bone in your body.” I’d known it all along but after last night’s careful exploration, I could say it with absolute certainty.
    She sat up, the sheet falling away from her body, I ran my fingers over her nipple then fell to the scars. Fuck, she flinched. I hated that. I didn’t want her to apologize for the thing that made her the strongest. “And you’re cool with it?” She bit her lip, unsure of herself. “No man has ever handed me the reins before. It’s fucking exciting.”
    “I’m a beta. I’m built to take commands.” My whole body was painfully on point. Any minute I knew Lyssie would knock on the door. Kiera and mornings were not friends. We couldn’t get lost in each other. “I’m excited, too. I’ve never let anyone do this, either.”
    Kiera and I were going to have a lot of firsts together. This was the first time I’d woken up next to a woman I’d had sex with. Anyone before this had been a drunken romp, a faceless need for release. I was tired of pretending I was something I wasn’t, and denying myself what I really wanted.
    “We need to talk about stuff.” Kiera had settled against her pillow again, no intention of going anywhere. Temptation rocked through my body, but Lyssie knocked before I had a chance to touch her. Kiera grimaced in the direction of the door. “I don’t want to mess this up, Baron.”
    “You can’t.” I sat up, pulling her upright along with me, and rewarding her with a kiss. She had no idea how much we had to talk about. This shift had changed everything. “Let’s go to the shelter and check on Shadow.”
    **
    K iera grabbed my arm before we walked in. She had her giant travel mug full of coffee in the other, and she was still pretty grumpy. “I’m scared for Trina. I’m scared for Shadow, too, but she won’t be able to handle it if he’s hurt. She keeps saying it’s her fault.”
    I raised an eyebrow, apprehensive about what we might find, too. “Why?”
    “Beats the hell out of me.” We looked over to Lyssie; she shrugged, having no explanation. Dallas stood behind her, just as nervous as I was.
    “Did she go to war too?” I asked.
    “No.” Kiera put her head down, heading up the stairs. “That’s up to her to tell you. We don’t kiss and tell around here.”
    The girls squealed and I saw why once I entered the room. Shadow stood, tall and human, in the middle of the shelter. I hugged him, clapping my hand on his back. “Glad to see you, man.”
    “How’d it go the other night?” Shadow wasted no time getting down to business.
    Dallas took the lead. “We followed Major to Ryker’s land, because we decided to let him see what you’d done with his own eyes. The whole way there, he was talking shit, figuring you were too much of a pussy to take care of business. The look on his face, Shadow.” He slapped his thigh. “Man, I’m sorry you missed it.”
    “What about Ryker’s men? Were they still there?” Shadow asked.
    “For the most part. Some ran when they had the chance.” I knew that would piss him off, and he wasn’t going to like my next thought, either. “Some of them are shifters. I wonder if they were old fighters, wolves he had in the ring before us. In exchange for their ‘freedom,’ they had to serve him. You know how he liked to play games.”
    Shadow’s expression sobered. “I never thought of that.” He shook his head, leaning against the window. The girls worked in the background, but all of them were paying more attention to us than their tasks. “We’ve got to get back there, put new structure into place, and make them trust us. I can’t have Major there fishing for recruits.”
    “I need to talk to you about that,” I said quickly. No need to waste any more time.
    Shadow walked toward Trina as he talked, taking a crate from her. “Make it quick, Baron. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. I couldn’t have been down for the count at a worse time.”
    “Not here.”