Shifter’s Surrender by Jennifer Dellerman Read Free Book Online

from Pete to Kaylie, noting immediately that something was wrong with her movements. Scanning her body did nothing but make his cock twitch with approval. He loved the way she moved, loose and limber, her hips swaying with enticing ease. That heart-shaped, ample ass begged for his hands to cup and squeeze it while he slid his cock into her wet sheath.
    Groaning at where his thoughts always took him when he looked at Kaylie, he almost missed the slight limp and the way she scowled at the pitcher. Flicking his gaze to the mound he caught the intense hatred Celeste aimed right back at Kaylie.
    This was so not good.
    As the first pitch rocketed over the plate, Dean hopped over the perimeter fence. He saw Kaylie jump back and knew that his concern was not misplaced. Celeste was out for blood.
    Then the second pitch and—crack!—Kaylie connected! Dean skidded to a halt, pride crashing through him even as he noted the way she’d adjusted her stance to make the hit. The woman was damn smart and stubborn as hell. She could have taken the walk—painful hit and not the first from the looks of it—but she didn’t. Damned foolish woman.
    With his gaze intent on Kaylie, Dean barely registered the ball hurtling through the air, aimed at Kaylie’s head. Her battered plastic headgear was no protection against a ball thrown with a velocity that no human could ever achieve. Even as his feet began to move, he knew he’d never reach Kaylie in time. He was fifty feet away when the ball connected with Kaylie’s helmet, twenty when she went flying. She’d barely hit the ground when Dean leaped the fence surrounding the playing field. Racing to her side, he dropped to his knees and simply froze. Hands that shook remained inches from her still frame. He was suddenly afraid of touching her, not out of his idiotic denial of sparking the mating heat, but out of fear of causing more damage to her fragile human body.
    She was lying on her side, her face toward him, eyes closed. The helmet was, amazingly, in place, but the large, jagged impact crack right above her left ear had nearly split the headgear in half. The sight stopped his heart dead. He wanted to yank the pathetic piece of plastic away and soothe her injury, but was beyond terrified at what might lay underneath.
    “Kaylie,” he croaked out, finally reaching out to pick up her hand. He looked down, noting how small it was in his larger one. “Kaylie, baby, wake up.” He placed a hard kiss to her palm and then laid it on his chest, covering it with his left one. Carefully, oh, so gently, he ran one finger of his right hand down her exposed cheek. “Open your beautiful brown eyes, Kaylie. Look at me. Curse at me. Anything.” He felt an overwhelming need to gather her in his arms and rock.
    Someone fell to their knees on the other side of Kaylie and he growled out in warning even as he looked up.
    “Easy, Dean,” Caleb murmured, Tess on his heels, calling her sister’s name.
    Humans and shifters alike all started to gather around them and Dean snarled, his fangs flashing, his wolf ready to snap and maul anyone that came too close to his injured mate.
    “Dean,” Caleb hissed, “you need to reel it in. Jacklyn is coming and you must let her examine Kaylie.” He motioned with his hands, stalling others, like Pete, who were trying to get closer. “We need to make room here. I want everyone back ten feet, and do not make me stand up to enforce that request.”
    Immediate shuffling was his answer.
    Just then a petite brunette crouched slowly at Kaylie’s head. “Dean,” her voice was a husky whisper, melodic as it was urgent. “Alpha, please. I need to remove her helmet.”
    “No,” Dean’s voice was guttural, more beast than human as he leaned protectively over Kaylie.
    “Yes,” Ruth Gentry, Kaylie and Tess’s mother, said as she dropped to her hunches next to Dean. She was the only person either brave or stupid enough to get close to Dean in his feral mood. Foolish