Shelter Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #6) (2 page)

Ember joined a group of female wolves, laughing and looking back at me. All my life I’d wanted a mate. But not that one. And I wouldn’t be made a fool of.

“Give me a minute,” I said.

“Dal, stop playing games. We’re too old for this.” Baron sighed.

After Baron said he wouldn’t fight anymore, I took everything he said with a grain of salt. Who quit a pack? It gave me more leverage, sort of. I still had to answer to Shadow, but definitely not to Baron.

“There’s no games to play.”

Humans and wolves pushed past me, jockeying for position. I found our group—Lyssie was sandwiched in between Trina and Kiera, the two of them were trying to get her to dance. She moved with them for a couple beats, then covered her face in her hands, shaking with laughter. I caught the glint of the necklace I’d given her for Christmas hanging around her neck.

She’d shut me out after I’d given it to her, and I was so fucking relieved to see her wearing it. I still had a chance. I’d never tell my brother that I needed the beer to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

I didn’t know what to do with a woman like Lyssie. No mating meant no dating. Women like Ember, no problem. We had a primal need for each other than was easy to solve.
No, stop thinking like that. The bite didn’t mean anything with no emotion.

But Lyssie needed so much more and it scared the hell out of me.

So far, I’d failed her miserably. I didn’t approach her right away, trying to transition from the Dallas with no future to the guy who wanted one. Lyssie was the breath of fresh air I desperately needed to forget the throbbing on my neck. The antidote. Ember didn’t claim me with a bite. Wolves mated for love.

I got lost in watching Lyssie’s hips sway, imagining her moving like that between my sheets.

“We like them thick, too.” A voice I’d quickly learned to hate shattered my daydream. One of the Montana wolves, wasn’t sure which one in human form. “But she doesn’t belong to you. You’d be a traitor to choose a human over Ember. She’ll help you claim the forest. This girl will cost you everything.”

It took everything I had not to clock this guy. A traitor would betray their pack. I’d never do that. The Montana Wolves had us on the ropes already, taking the Lowes out of commission. Thanks to them, X would stay a wolf at least until the next full moon. Our weakness fed their power. But the only way they’d lay a finger on Lyssie was after they pried my cold, dead hands away from her.

Lyssie caught my eye, a shy smile spreading across her face. She’d run if she had any idea what was going on.

“I’ll choose the better woman. And I’ll never send her to fight my battles for me like a coward,” I growled, slamming my empty beer bottle on the table. I’d shown way too much of my hand. There’s no way they wouldn’t smell one of their own on me, or the half-circle of blood welling on my neck.

I didn’t give that asshole a second look as I approached the girls. Trina and Kiera kept dancing, reaching for each other over Lyssie’s head and spinning away, giving me the opening I needed.

“I didn’t know you liked to dance.” I slipped my hands around her waist, taking advantage of her shock.

“Me neither.” Lyssie bit her lip, tensing at my touch.
Fuck.
She looked down at my arm, then flicked her gaze back to me. “You wore the sweater I gave you.”

“Of course I did. It’s the only thing I have as soft as you,” I said. She’d given it to me for Christmas, and her scent was all over it. That’s how those Montana fuckers knew Lyssie was mine. Or the closest thing to it. I should’ve never worn it tonight, but I was glad I did. I caught her chin in my hand so she couldn’t look away. I should’ve done this a long time ago. “We have ten minutes ‘til midnight and I’m done wasting time. Dance with me, Lyssie.”

Lyssie swallowed hard and I thought she’d refuse. “I don’t want to waste time anymore, either,” she said.

We moved to the beat; the tension, everything forgotten as her hips moved in that hypnotizing sway, her fingers curling in my sweater. Taking her by the hips, I pulled her closer, imagining how her skin would feel moving against mine just like this, in a tangle of ruined sheets as the sun rose. A growl slipped from my lips against her cheek. Her head fell back in laughter, exposing the long line of her neck. The sigh that escaped from her lips when I kissed her was enough to bring me to my knees.

It should’ve been like this all along. But I couldn’t be mad at her for running. I’d had my doubts, too.

“It’s the countdown!” Trina burst in, breaking the spell, forcing plastic champagne flutes at us. Startled, we took them from her, staring at each other like we had no idea what just happened.

Shit.

The room chanted in unison. “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven....”

I grabbed her drink with my teeth, gulping it down, then lifted my flute to her lips. The cups fell to the floor as the room erupted in cheers. I crashed against her in a kiss before she had a chance to protest, pressing her against me. I wasn’t wasting time, her lips were open, and I let myself in. Tonight she tasted like champagne and promises of new beginnings. She didn’t fight me. Her lips moved with mine in a much more intimate dance than our bodies had shared.

We were starting over, effective immediately.

It wasn’t our first kiss, but I was beginning to understand what Lyssie needed. Something that came from deep within me that made us fit together like lock and key.

Marked or not, no one in this room could argue that Lyssie was mine.

There was some old business from last year that had to be taken care of. “Why are you afraid of me?” I whispered in her ear, then pulled away, giving her a chance to answer.

Her blue eyes widened. They stole the show tonight, the same color as her shirt that dipped dangerously low, giving a delicious hint of cleavage. I’d laid in this woman’s bed but I’d never seen more of her than I did right now.

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of me,” she said, adding to the riddle.

“Sometimes I’m afraid of you, too.” She’d brought so many feelings I was unfamiliar with to the surface, and the wolf in me had been too wild to commit to her. The idea of mating with humans was risky, and the ladies of Forever Home had been hurt enough. Lyssie saved my life; I couldn’t ruin hers by being selfish, especially now with this throbbing wound Ember inflicted on me as a reminder of exactly what was at stake. “But I think I like it.”

It was the easiest way to explain what the hell was going through my head. Lyssie hesitated, but finally offered a wobbly smile. I had to make the feeling of losing her go away.

“Kiera got me here tonight by reminding me what we do at midnight on New Year’s is what we’ll do all year long. Does that mean we can keep doing this?” she asked, her cheeks pink with the suggestion.

“Excuse me,” Ember interrupted, putting her hand on Lyssie’s shoulder and shooting me the most feral smile I’d ever seen on any creature’s face. She turned back to Lyssie. “I thought you might want to know I can still taste him, sweetheart. He belongs to me now. Happy New Year!” She pulled the neck of my sweater down and glared at Lyssie before walking away from the carnage she created.

L
yssie

“I can explain!” Dallas chased me out to the parking lot.

“Like hell you can.” I didn’t turn around, but he was so close his body heat radiated against my skin. I hadn’t thought to grab my jacket. Dallas had me trapped here. I didn’t drive. No need to, I never went anywhere alone. I was totally reliant on other people. I trusted too easily because I had to, and I always got burned.

It’d been a long time since I’d been humiliated in public. The raw feeling of the whole world laughing ripped me open in the same place, right over my heart. We were starting the New Year off with a bang. And according to my best friend, who got me into this mess in the first place, I could look forward to three hundred and sixty-four more days of this crap. Awesome.

“She tricked me.” Dallas attempted the explanation thing. “And if you hadn’t walked away from me on Christmas...this wouldn’t be happening right now. We wouldn’t be here. But I figured out something about you tonight. You—“

Oh, no he didn’t.
I whipped around, facing him, and wishing I didn’t. Those blue eyes shone like diamonds in the light of the waning moon. “You figured out something about
me
tonight? What about the girl sucking your blood like a vampire? Did you have a revelation about her, too? And let me tell you something about Christmas. I made you that sweater.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

“Yeah. I wanted to give you something no one else could. And when I was a kid, my Gram wouldn’t—Oh, never mind, you already have me all figured out.” I stomped off, toward Baron’s truck. Problem was, Dallas knew he had me where he wanted me.

Dallas leaned on the truck. He was close enough that it felt like we were touching, but we weren’t. I was discouraged and relieved at the same time. It summed up our relationship, if you could call it that. Opposing forces that drew us together. “You do give me something no one else can. Why don’t you see that? There’s so much I don’t know about you, and it frustrates the hell out of me. You spent all that time making something for me, which blows me away. No one’s done anything like that for me before. But after I shifted on Christmas, you rejected me. Why? I needed you so bad that night.”

“I told you,” I said softly. “I’m afraid of me.” Because I drove people away and I didn’t know how to make it stop.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I like it when you’re feisty. There’s no mistaking what you want. And I told you I don’t want to waste any more time. We’ve been stuck in this place too long, both of us wanting more and being too fucking afraid to do anything about it.” He turned, straddling me, putting one hand on either side of my body but still not touching.
Ugh!
“Tell me all the things that scare you so I can make them go away. This fire that burns between us... It’s dangerous. But it’s got a power that can’t be denied.”

And it was about to explode. I grabbed him and pulled him into me for a long, hot kiss. I didn’t want to be the girl that others thought they could intimidate, and I certainly didn’t want anyone else to think they could have Dallas. He was raw power, an animal rippled beneath the surface of his skin, primal and unpredictable. It scared the shit out of me, so far violence had been the only guarantee. Violence that often held hands with loss. Dallas was so much more than his wild side. He was caring, loyal, and the way he looked at me turned my entire body pink. That’s what made me want him.

I didn’t know what that bite on his neck meant, but I wasn’t about to let some bitch from Montana claim what was mine.

“Want a ride home?” he asked.

I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. “No. The girls will be coming out soon. We’re working tomorrow.”

They’ll leave you here,
my brain screamed at me.

I shivered, wrapping my arms against myself to try to contain it. “On second thought, would you?”

“Of course.” Dallas offered me his hand. I didn’t know if it was the champagne, that she-wolf, or what, but this night was making me feel crazy. He squeezed my hand as we walked over to his truck.

The air was thick between us on the short ride. Kiera responded with a screen full of smiley faces when I texted her to let her know I left.

“You can just drop me off,” I said when he parked behind the hardware store we lived above. The town was so still, you’d never know that just minutes ago we’d welcomed in a new year. It had already lost its luster and Granger Falls had gone back to sleep.

“I’ll come in and wait with you until Kiera comes back.” The streetlight hit Dallas in the face, making him glow like the fallen angel he was. He meant well, but he had a way of fucking things up. I needed to go easier on him, because I did the same exact thing.

“That’s it, though.” I jumped out of the truck before he had a chance to reply.

“I know that, Lyssie,” he called to me, still at the truck.

“Shh,” I hissed at him when he caught up to me. “You’ll wake the neighbors.”

“They’ll get over it.” That heat seared me again. “One of these nights, you’ll be the one waking the neighbors, and I’m not going to tell you to be quiet.”

“Charming.” I flipped the Twilight Zone on and tossed the remote on the couch before settling in. “Is that how you got that girl to bite you?”

Dallas groaned. Settling on the opposite end of the couch, he picked up the remote and shut the TV off.

I glared at him. “Hey! I was watching that.”

“You’ve seen them a million times.” Dallas’ gaze locked with mine. “Do you remember the first night I came here?”

“I’ll never forget it,” I said. Dallas had been sent here after someone attacked Trina. Shadow feared that either Kiera or I would be the next target. Dallas stayed with me that night, telling me silly stories, and stroking my hair until I fell asleep. Now that threat was gone; ripped to shreds, and buried in the cold, hard ground. That feeling, the fear mixed with the longing, had settled deep in my bones. It wasn’t the winter air that made me shiver when Dallas was around.

“Me neither.” His words softened. “Can I tell you another story?”

I turned toward him, and goosebumps broke out over my skin. I’d been with him for the last couple hours, but it didn’t matter. He still had that effect on me, catching me off guard. No, he wasn’t human—he was so much more than that. His dark hair shined and those eyes—bright blue, flecked with gold. If they were gemstones, they’d be considered flawed and maybe they were. But it didn’t make them any less beautiful.

“Please.” Maybe it would clean the slate, clear all the weird energy between us, and we could start fresh.

“All the she-wolves disappeared from the forest just in time for the guys to notice. You know that already, but it happened at the worst possible time. When the play turned to something more heated and we knew we needed mates, they were gone. Not all of them went quietly, and it caused an uproar. After that, they took the little girls away sooner, before anyone missed them, except their parents. But we knew they were gone.”