Protect Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #3)
Read Protect Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #3) Online
Authors: Kristen Strassel
Protect Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #3)
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This is a work of fiction. Likenesses to any people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do so through your retailer’s “lend” function. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected]
Protect Me, (Sawtooth Shifters, #3) Copyright 2015, Kristen Strassel, Cover Design by Sotia Lazu
A scarred soldier. A submissive shifter. It's not what you think.
Baron Channing is tired of fighting.
As second in command, he's built to take orders. The Channing pack has protected Sawtooth Forest for generations, and now they're guarding the women who saved the family from the dog fighting ring. The Channings must fight for respect, but Baron doesn't believe violence is the answer. He needs to take a stand for what he believes in if he wants to keep the incredible woman he's been assigned to protect.
Kiera is a soldier.
She grew up in a man's world, and she's got the scars to prove it. Sent to Forever Home for rehabilitation for PTSD, Kiera didn't believe she could learn anything from a bunch of homeless animals. But when a rescued werewolf sees her in a way no one else ever has, she realizes how wrong she was.
Together Kiera and Baron learn that the bravest thing is being true to yourself.
Note from Kristen:
Thanks for reading Protect Me! Kiera and Baron’s story is the third in the Sawtooth Shifters series. Book one, Forever Home, is available for
free
, so make sure to grab that if you haven’t already. Make sure to keep up with all news and releases, sign up for my
newsletter
! Enjoy Protect Me!
B
aron
“Tell me a story.” A slow smile spread across Kiera’s face. The kind of smile that promised I’d be rewarded handsomely for accommodating her request. “Dallas did it for Lyssie last night, I’d hate to get left out.”
Don’t get me wrong, I was totally on board with that possibility. Kiera was an amazing woman who deserved a worthy mate, and I was interested in applying for that position. She didn’t need a babysitter, but tonight, that’s what I was.
“Our fairy tales aren’t the ones you grew up with.” More like dark and gritty cautionary tales meant as lessons to smarten us up, make us think on all four feet. Kiera beckoned me from a doorway that I assumed led to her bedroom. I wasn’t exactly the big bad wolf, but I couldn’t be trusted to keep my hands to myself in there. “They don’t always have a happy ending.”
“That’s okay. I want to hear them.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me with her into the unknown. “Don’t spare me the gory details. I can take it. Tell me what it’s like to be a wolf.”
I’d never explained this to a human before. As far as humans in Granger Falls were concerned, werewolves existed in legends only, stories old people would bore their grandkids with about karma. We took care of things human law couldn’t.
And that’s exactly why I was here with Kiera tonight.
Kiera climbed on her bed and curled up under the blankets. Gorgeous as always. She never wore makeup, and her brown hair was disheveled, an open invite to run my fingers through it that I always had to turn down. Her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks in the low light. My wolf rumbled inside me. I was starving for this woman’s touch, but the hunger strike had to continue. A little while longer, anyway. She patted the edge of the bed, and her eyes flicked up, bracing herself for rejection.
Get over yourself. She’s going to think you don’t want her.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Her bed was too soft as I sat on the very edge. It smelled like a woman—shampoo and fruity body lotion. I swear I could feel her heart beat, a soft little thump against my soul. My mouth watered. Times like this, my animal twisted around any human desires and made them impossible to ignore.
“This all used to be wolf land,” I started, clearing my throat. “Before the town started to expand, the wolves thrived for centuries. Running, playing, hunting. We were the kings of Sawtooth. Faster than the bears, and more ferocious than the elk and the bison. When the villages popped up, we could protect the residents. They kept our secrets, and we could still stay in the shadows. For some wolves, that was their job—to take care of problems. Others, like my family, kept the peace. We held everyone accountable. The balance worked for centuries. Every wolf had a mate, but unlike some species, we weren’t promised to each other at birth or fated to be together. We actually fell in love with our partners. Once we found our mate, the bond lasted forever.”
Kiera hugged a pillow to her stomach, hanging on every word like I read to her from a thick book of fairy tales. It was pretty close to that now. That way of life didn’t exist in Sawtooth National Forest anymore.
“Do you have a mate?” she asked.
“No.”
She narrowed her eyes in confusion. “None of you have mates?” It was more of an accusation than a question. “Major’s too bitter to possibly be getting laid on the regular, but you and your brothers...”
Kiera had Major nailed already.
“All male wolves in Sawtooth under the age of forty are single unless their families had enough money to purchase them a mate. All the she-wolves were claimed before they could walk. At least they didn’t get our hopes up, then snatch them away later.” I smiled sadly. “I grew up in a family of four boys with a single mom. My dad passed away when I was ten. I’m sure you don’t need to do the math.”
“If women everywhere knew there was a forest full of eligible bachelors in Idaho, they’d be flocking here by the busload.” Keira’s eyes lit up. We’d like that too, but we’d never claim them. No wolf in the pack had ever taken a human as a mate. “How is this even possible?” she asked.
“It’s not wolf land anymore.” I lay on my side at foot of the bed, finally letting myself relax. “The town took the land, thinking it belonged to no one. Our prey perished, and we were forced to be more human than animal. Members of the pack died without anyone to replace them. Our system fell apart, and the packs shrank. By some fluke or maybe karma, no one knows, very few she-wolves have been born in the last forty years. The packs started fighting over them, but the wolves who’d been able to transition to human life with the most ease offered their families money for the right to have their sons mate with their daughters.”
“Wow.” Kiera blinked in disbelief. “It’s like Narnia. A whole world in the forest and we’re like clueless on the other side of the wardrobe.” She laughed, scooting closer to me. “Are the females treated like princesses or slaves?”
If Kiera was my mate, there’s no question she’d be my goddess. That’s why she had me on edge. “Somewhere in between. We knew growing up that we wouldn’t have a mate, so women were always forbidden fruit.” Kiera bit her lip and heat rolled off her body. I sat up, stopping myself from having a taste of her. She’d taste like peaches and vanilla. My favorite. “We always wanted what we couldn’t have.”
“You’ve been with a woman, right?”
More than she’d ever want to hear about. We played with human women, but we put our toys away when we were done with them. “Of course.”
She laughed. “Thank God. I’m totally not judging you. But...never mind. Back to the story. Everything you told me sounded like it happened a long time ago. What about now?”
It hadn’t. So much had changed in our lifetimes. Now the little girl wolves were completely segregated. They were all born to wealthy families now, leaving the working class wolves a bunch of lonely, frustrated men. “I can’t tell you that.”
How did she get so close to me?
Kiera’s arm brushed against my thigh, big brown eyes unblinking, waiting for me to continue. There was nothing more to say. “Why not?” she asked.
“Because everything’s changing.” That was the whole reason I was here. “And it will never be that way again.”
K
iera
When I was a little girl, I wrote a book. It was similar to the movies I watched a million times with princesses kissing princes and fairy godmothers who waved magic wands, granting them their happily ever after. Because most of the books I read at the time had pictures, I took great care in illustrating it. Colored everything inside the lines. My brothers found it and had a fucking field day. I was the only girl, the youngest of five, so the ridicule was endless. Having nobody to play with but a bunch of boys toughened my ass up in no time, and soon I dreamed of adventures they didn’t laugh at. Anything that would get me as far away from the Kansas farm and the endless flat land we called home had my name written all over it.
I never stopped dreaming of my prince. I didn’t tell anyone about it anymore—I’d learned my lesson. Especially now that I was twenty-nine and my imaginary boyfriend’s GPS didn’t seem to work in Idaho. It was a bitch getting a signal out here.
After the things I had seen, now I was pretty sure happily ever after only existed in fairy tales.
Prince Charming or not, I’d never been satisfied with mediocrity. Baron Channing was the closest thing to my nine-year-old rendition of a fairy tale prince I’d ever seen. I’d originally drawn him in crayon, but I’d nailed the long, shiny black hair and tan skin. I even got the blue eyes right, but I hadn’t dared to imagine they’d be flecked with an impossible amount of gold, like sun streaks on a cloudless day.
Had I met Baron as a man first, I don’t think I would’ve been surprised to learn he was a wolf. Everything about him was sleek and powerful. I was dying to see what his body looked like under his clothes. I got hints of muscle straining against his shirt, but it was just a tease. I hugged my pillow to keep my hands off of him.
I should’ve never let my brothers talk me out of writing romance and becoming a fairy princess. Instead I let them lead me to war.
Concentrate on this gorgeous man sitting on your bed. Don’t let those images creep back in.
If they did and I was lucky, blood would splatter over my vision and I’d only see red. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t my thing and the blood always washed away, showing me what it left in its wake.
The gorgeous man who looks like he’d do anything to get out of here
. My confidence shrank by the second. Men didn’t go out of their way to flirt with girls like me. I didn’t have much in common with those princesses from my childhood. They were dainty, pink, and sparkly. I was thick, powerful, and the only pink on me marked my damage. Growing up on a farm with four older brothers left no room for delicate. I didn’t go out of my way to make myself something I wasn’t. All the things that didn’t make ideal girlfriend material had made me an excellent soldier.
“What about you?” I asked, desperate to have a piece of him I could keep with me for later on when I drifted off to the land of make believe. “I thought you’d make yourself the hero of this story.” He’d definitely been co-starring with me in my fantasies lately. Why should those princess bitches have all the fun?
Baron scoffed. “I’m no hero.”
“Then make yourself one.” Oh shit, that came out all wrong. Baron’s shoulders slumped.
This is why you’re single, dumbass.
“Come on, I want to hear about you.”
Baron bristled. “I am telling you about me.”
I knew this mentality, all for one, being part of something larger than yourself. They were admirable qualities to have, especially when Baron was fighting someone else’s cause. But none of that was worth it if he didn’t want anything for himself. “No you’re not. You’re telling me what you think I want to hear. You’re more than the pack.” Maybe he had lost himself. He was only weeks out from being held captive. “What’s it like when you turn into a werewolf?”
“I wish I could always be the wolf.” His eyes lit up, the gold flecks glowing. “Everything’s so much better that way. I can get away from all the bullshit. I go up to Baldy and I run until I’m so high up on the mountain I can barely breathe.”
Maybe it wasn’t me making Baron uncomfortable. He was a guy who’d rather not be human. He’d come to the right place. After four years in the army, I wanted to forget I was human sometimes, too. “Do you ever go hiking?”
“All the time.” He smiled. I was on the right track. “Are you into it?”