Shelter Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #6) by Kristen Strassel Read Free Book Online Page B

at first, and I expected her to pull away in a protest about pancakes, but then she gave herself over to the kiss. Her fingers brushed against my cheeks, our gazes locked, and those pancakes were going to get burnt to shit.
    “I’m glad last night...helped,” she said, turning back to the stove and flipping the pancakes.
    “You were frigging amazing.” I leaned against the counter. “I might fake sick every night for the rest of my life if that’s what I have in store.”
    Lyssie looked up from her work, shy again. “I like to take care of people.”
    It was useless to try to stay away from her. I ran my thumb over her lip. “Who’s taking care of you, Lyssie?”
    She slid pancakes onto a plate, and carried them to the table. “Do you want maple syrup?” she asked.
    “Sure. And you didn’t answer my question.”
    She sat down across from me and took a long sip of her coffee. “I think I’m doing a pretty good job.”
    “If you’re taking applications, I’m interested in applying for the position.” The corner of my lip curled up before I took a bite of my breakfast. “This is good.”
    “Thanks.” She put down her fork and sighed. “That’s not exactly what I’m looking for.”
    “Then what do you want?” I asked softly. I didn’t expect an answer. “I know what I want. I want to make the look—the one when you think the ground is about the open up and swallow you—go away. I want you to feel as incredible as you make me feel. And whatever’s next for you, I want to hold your hand and watch it come over the horizon.”
    Her mouth opened, and she met my eyes. “That sounds incredible.”
    “Well, you’re in luck, because I happen to have an open position. You’re probably overqualified, but the benefits are amazing.”
    A smile broke out over her face, her eyes lit up, like the sun coming up over that same horizon. I could get used to seeing it every morning for the rest of my life. But clouds marched over, blocking the light. “Last night, I’d never—“
    I reached for her hand and she gasped. “And you were amazing. I don’t care what you’ve done before, or what you haven’t. I don’t want you because you’re like every other woman. I want you because you’re not.”
    The sun was back, and she squeezed my hand. “I’m not the one who’s amazing. You are.”
    **
    D on’t get me wrong, I loved the holidays, but it felt good to get back to work. We had big plans for the Channing Reserve, and I was anxious to see them come together. For years, my brothers and I had built houses on what used to be forest land. Instead of taking even more from the wolves, we had an opportunity to give back. The Channing Reserve had a livestock rehabilitation center, and we’d planned houses and cabins. They could take the forest away from us with urban sprawl, but this place that had brought us so much pain would be what put us back together. It was our future.
    The shell of Baron’s project waited for us by the stream that ran though the property. With the chaos that Christmas brought, X’s condition, planning an attack against the Montana wolves, and now this god damn Full Moon Fever we hadn’t been able to touch it in a week. This is what we needed, something normal to get everything back to the way it was.
    “He’s back from the dead.” Baron slapped me on the back, then circled me and raised his goggles to get a better look. “Kiera said she thought the zombie apocalypse would break out at the apartment last night. You didn’t eat Lyssie’s brains, did you?”
    I strapped my goggles on, grinning. “That’s not what we did at all.”
    “Nice.” Baron nodded, picking up the next piece of wood to cut. “Well, you’re back to your old self, so looks like Lyssie’s got the antidote. We should probably show you off to those Montana assholes, so they know their plan didn’t work. And we can do that right now, since it looks like we have company.”
    A black SUV parked next to my