Shifter’s Surrender Read Online Free PDF

Caleb’s closed expression. When he finally answered, the words were barely louder than a whisper. “ My mate.”
    “I’ll be damned,” Caleb said softly, which was not at all what Dean expected. Anger or disavowal perhaps, but not the thoughtful surprise that transformed to understanding and then to questioning concern. “Which, if Kaylie wasn’t interested, would explain the increasing mood swings. But I have it on authority,”— aka Tess Gentry—“that my little sister would be receptive to your attention.” Caleb’s eyes narrowed to pinpoints of disapproval. “So what’s the problem … Alpha?”
    Dean bristled at Caleb’s cool tone, until he realized it wasn’t the fact that Kaylie was Dean’s mate that caused the sheriff to look so formidable, it was that Dean had yet to claim her. A strange tightness caught in his throat, and he had to clear it before he spoke. His words were gruff. “I’m not right for her.”
    Caleb raised one mocking brow. “I’d say nature would disagree with that statement.”
    Feeling the sudden urge to shift on his feet like a kid being scolded, Dean scowled back. “It’s complicated,” he said roughly. Kaylie’s taunt came back to him. When he’d said those same words to her, he’d known it might not be original, but it was true. At least to him. If Kaylie knew about the things he’d done in his past, first to survive and then simply for the brief periods of respite from his terrible childhood memories, she would be horrified. And that was something he figured he could never live with. He would lose her either way, but Dean believed it was better to piss his mate off than to see disgust fill her eyes.
    “Really,” Caleb drawled with clear derision.
    Dean let out a harsh breath and dragged his hands through his hair, dislodging the leather thong. He ripped it out, letting the long, thick, black locks free. “I’ve done things I’m not proud of.”
    Caleb only stared at his Alpha, his expression calm. “Most of us have.”
    Frustrated, Dean knocked his head against the brick building and closed his weary eyes. He was so fucking tired. Mentally and physically. Tired of living a lie, of fighting his wolf and damn exhausted by pretending Kaylie wasn’t his. “You don’t understand.”
    A moment of silence. “About Eros?”
    Dean’s eyes flew open, the green clouding with shock. “You know?”
    Caleb shrugged, but his lips curled into a satisfied smug. “Of course I do. No matter what Brandon said, I wasn’t about to up and move from one pack to another without doing a background check on its Alpha. I am one thorough cop.”
    Dean knew Caleb and Brandon Dermot had been partners in the St. Louis Police Department many years ago. When Brandon had found his human mate, Tia, and followed her back to Woodcliff, he’d convinced his buddy to do the same. After a lengthy visit, during which Dean had been introduced to the highly-intelligent prospective pack member, Caleb had returned to the big city, put in his notice and moved to the quaint town in the mountains. Within a few short months, Caleb had gone from being one of four deputies to the elected position of town sheriff when Jake Holden had decided to retire to Florida. Not only that, but Caleb had earned the position of second in the shifter pack, and was one of the most respected leaders, both in the pack and in the human community.
    And right now, the quietly intense shifter had one brow quirked over his brown eyes in mild amusement even as Dean’s muscles clenched as both man and wolf waited in tense silence for the contempt that would surely come. But it never did.
    “You know what that place was? What I did there?” Dean’s voice came out low and hoarse.
    Caleb’s head tilted, his nostril flaring slightly, no doubt taking in Dean’s wariness. “I have an idea.”
    Dean scowled in confusion. “And you’re not disgusted?”
    Caleb let out a soft chuckle. “How could I be? You lived every man’s