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

more than ready.”
    Not so long ago, neither Lyssie or I would’ve been able to handle this. We hadn’t been capable of giving or receiving affection. Now I realized how much I’d been starving for it all along. It was one of those sobering moments when I realized how far I’d actually come since working at Forever Home.
    “When are you putting the photos up on the website?” Before all hell broke loose with the Channings and the full moon, we had our monthly photo shoot. I loved the way the animals seemed to know what was going on. They all hammed it up for the camera, curious about the flashy thing in front of my face. I got some really amazing captures. Hopefully it would do the trick.
    “Today. Next order of business, barring an outbreak of mayhem and foolishness, which is just how we roll.” Trina giggled. She was floating on air now that Shadow had shifted. I can’t remember ever seeing her so happy. I could imagine, from the way they were always all over each other, that she’d given him a pretty solid welcome back. “So who do you think you’re going to pick? Figure it out, because they’re going home with you tonight.”
    I realized I hadn’t paid that much attention to Lyssie today. She always made sure I was awake, or else I’d hit snooze until noon. Usually we chatted on the way to work. Well, she’d talk and I’d grunt between sips of coffee. Since we had company this morning, we drove with our guys separately. And I’d been preoccupied since we got here, daydreaming of having Baron in my bed again. Next to Trina, Lyssie looked gray. Shit.
    “Who do you think we should take?” I asked her, standing in the middle of the play room. Most of the dogs and cats were out, weaving between our legs or batting a ball around the room. Others slept in their crates with open doors. I loved that. They didn’t see it as a jail, just as a place to chill. “I wouldn’t mind taking someone who’s been here for a while, like Fluffy.” Fluffy was a bearded lizard with the best smile ever. He didn’t do much besides sunbathe and torture crickets before deciding to eat them, but he was pretty rad. And he had no hope of getting his forever home. When he was lucky enough to get noticed, he was usually greeted with a jump and a shriek.
    “Fluffy’s easy.” Lyssie reached into his cage, he eagerly climbed her arm. “Depending on how we do with one kid, maybe we could eventually take another foster, too.”
    No light in her eyes, even though she was joking. The dynamic with the brothers was weird today, but I kind of expected that. The three of them needed to get on the same page. The part of me that needed Forever Home expected Shadow to tell his brothers not to see us anymore. If that was the case, would they be able to walk away from us? Did Lyssie know something I didn’t?
    “What happened last night?” There was no point in asking her if she was okay since she obviously wasn’t. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
    “Nothing happened,” she said too quickly, turning away from me. She settled in a chair, letting Fluffy crawl onto her chest.
    “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
    “It’s just a thing.” Her eyes glazed over. “I’m scared, okay? And it’s not the sex. I’m terrified once Dallas gets to know me, he’ll realize that I’m a freak. And if he doesn’t, I don’t know if I’m ready to be normal.” The tears fell, but she wasn’t giving into crying.
    I knelt down beside her under the guise of patting Fluffy. “Be honest with him.” Lyssie shook her head. “I’m serious. If he’s anything like Baron, or what Shadow seems to be like, he’ll understand. I felt the same way, because no one got me before. You and Trina do, but it’s because you’re going through it, too. For someone to look past all of it and still want to take a chance, it’s pretty awesome. Don’t make Dallas’ decisions for him.”
    **
    “T his is Fluffy.” I introduced my lizard to my wolf by