Forbidden Heat Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title

  Books by R.L. Kenderson

  Copyright

  Blurb

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Forbidden Series Chart

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Epilogue

  What’s Next?

  About the Author

  BY R.L. KENDERSON

  NOVELS IN THE FORBIDDEN SERIES

  Forbidden Blood

  Forbidden Heat

  Forbidden Temptation

  (Coming in 2015)

  Forbidden

  Heat

  A Forbidden Series Novel

  by

  R.L. Kenderson

  PUBLISHED BY:

  R.L. Kenderson

  (Renae Anderson Au & Lara Kennedy)

  Forbidden Heat

  Copyright © 2014 by Renae Au and Lara Kennedy

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9904144-3-8

  Cover Designer: Viola Estrella, Estrella Cover Art, www.estrellacoverart.com

  Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Payton Llewelyn, daughter to the cat-shifter alpha, wakes up with a throbbing head and a bullet wound to the hip. Recalling the events that led her there, the scent of a shifter permeates her senses—not that of a cat though, but of a wolf.

  Damien Lowell, future pack leader of the wolf-shifters, has found himself in an impossible situation. Cat-shifters and wolf-shifters aren’t friends, and what Payton doesn’t know is that his father is behind her attack. He only meant to prevent her from being kidnapped, and he now has the wounded princess of the cat-shifters in his custody.

  But when the heat becomes too much to handle, Damien and Payton must choose whether to follow their instincts or question the forbidden.

  DEDICATION

  For our moms.

  Thank you both for being so supportive and for telling everyone you know that we wrote a book even though a part of you both might be horrified by the “love scenes” your daughters wrote.

  I love you, Mom!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  We would like to thank our editor, Jovana Shirley, for all her hard work, and our book cover designer, Viola Estrella, for her stunning cover design.

  We would like to thank our beta readers—Heidi Morris, Tera Larsen, and Laura Au. The book wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have all your wonderful thoughts and input.

  To all the reviewers and bloggers—we couldn’t have done it without you. You all are amazing!

  Also, we would like to thank our families. We couldn’t have done all this without your love and support. You are wonderful.

  THIS WAS IT. She was about to lose the fight to stay conscious.

  Payton Llewelyn knew she was wounded. Her hip burned, her head throbbed, her ears rang, and all she wanted to do was sleep for the next five days.

  What happened?

  Even thinking hurt.

  The last thing she remembered was leaving the restaurant after having dinner and drinks with friends. Concentrating hard, she willed her brain to recall what had followed. She’d been on the phone as she walked to her car when—

  Shit.

  Out of nowhere, three human men had emerged from the darkness and tried to grab her. Just behind them, a fourth man had appeared, but he’d left her in a state of shock and confusion. She’d been stunned because rather than going after her, he had attacked the first three men. Confusion had set in because her nose told her he wasn’t of the Homo sapiens variety.

  She’d fought the man who’d grabbed her while her rescuer wrestled the other two. Her bulky winter coat had hindered her movements, but she’d still thought she might win the struggle with her captor until she heard a loud noise and then felt a sudden piercing sting in her side. She had been unprepared for the sharp pain, and it had knocked her off balance, causing her to crack her skull on the pavement. That was why she had lost consciousness in the middle of the parking lot.

  So, now, she lay motionless, using all her strength to will her eyes open and her body to move. Fainting again wasn’t an option. She needed to get out of there and find help. She didn’t know what had happened to the humans, and she knew the fourth man was a shifter, but he hadn’t smelled like—

  Before she could finish her thought and attempt to force herself up, someone lifted her from the ground and carried her. It was the shifter.

  Have I been saved? Or am I in more danger?

  She tried to get a better read on who held her, but she was in a fireman’s hold, moving fast. All the bouncing made the pain in her side and head sharper, and she had to concentrate on not passing out.

  They stopped, and she heard a vehicle door open, stuff being moved around, and then something hit the ground. She was laid down on the seat. The upholstery carried the aroma of the male shifter, and her alertness increased. At that moment, she knew why his scent was off.

  He wasn’t a cat-shifter like her.

  He was a wolf-shifter.

  Cat-shifters and wolf-shifters weren’t friends—not in Minnesota, not anymore. The Minnesota Pride hadn’t been on good terms with the Minnesota Pack for almost ten years.

  Shit.

  She should really try to leave. If only she wasn’t hurt and so damn tired…

  She heard one door close before the opposite side opened, and then she was pulled until her head was placed in the wolf-shifter’s lap. Her left hip ached, and she rolled over to ease some of the pain, curling into the stranger.

  He gently stroked his hand over her hair, moving it out of her face as he spoke, but the buzzing in her ears prevented her from making out the words.

  Is he my rescuer or my captor?

  Despite the unknown situation, his actions soothed her. Her adrenaline crashed, and as her fatigue settled over her like a heavy blanket, she wasn’t sure if she even cared anymore.

  She
should have been wary, but she was so tired. Instead, she felt surprisingly safe and protected, not afraid at all. Maybe tomorrow she’d feel differently, but she could worry about that tomorrow.

  She buried her nose in his waist—breathing in the scent of wolf, rich cedar, and pure male—before she relaxed and let the blackness consume her.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Damien Lowell slammed his fist against the steering wheel. What the hell had he been thinking? He was either a dumbass or crazy—or a crazy dumbass. He looked down at his lap. Only a fool would take an injured she-cat to his property, his wolf-shifter property. Oh, and he couldn’t forget, she needed medical attention.

  But what else could he have done? He’d needed to get her out of there, and he didn’t know how to contact her family. Maybe that was just an excuse. He had people he could call to figure out how to get a hold of her parents.

  No.

  He didn’t want anybody else taking care of her, nor would he trust anyone else to keep her safe until he found her family. The smart thing was protect her himself. He snorted. If he thought that was the only reason, he was fooling himself. Thankfully, he had bigger problems than his need to have her close to him.

  Damien glanced down again. Payton was passed out with her face buried in his crotch. His only intent had been to cushion her injured head. He hadn’t realized she would burrow herself in his lap. Now, he had to tell his dick that this was not the time or the place to make itself noticed. She’d been shot, for Christ’s sake, her lavender scent almost completely covered by the smell of blood. Not to mention, he should be worrying about his own injuries—after he took care of Payton.

  He blindly reached behind the truck’s seat, searching for the extra clothes he kept back there, to find something to press against her wound. Something brushed against his fingertips, but he couldn’t quite reach it, so he carefully raised himself to grab it. Just as he snagged the sweatshirt, he felt Payton’s fingernails dig into his back, causing him to drop it as he swerved into the lane next to him. He quickly straightened the truck because the last thing they needed was to be picked up by the cops.

  This time, prepared for her reaction and expecting the pain from her nails, he snagged the garment and lowered them both back onto the seat. Payton immediately relaxed her hold on him, and he pressed the cloth over her hip to help stop the bleeding. Putting pressure on her wound brought awareness of his own. His shoulder ached from the gunshot wound as he used his muscles to stanch her blood flow. The movement also pulled on his back muscles where one of Payton’s potential kidnappers had cut him from neck to waist. He was better off than her but not by much.

  Instead of focusing on his injuries, he told himself to be grateful he’d been at the restaurant to save her. They both might be wounded, but she was safe, and he’d get her patched up soon. Then, he’d move on to his next problem. What was he going to do with her after she was stable?

  He’d been born and raised in Minneapolis—until about ten years ago. Before then, the shifters—both wolf and cat—had lived in harmony on the Minneapolis side of the Twin Cities area. The two subspecies of shifters had always gotten along. They’d each had their identifiable parts of the cities they called their own, respecting each other’s territories yet often commingling.

  Before Damien was even born, his grand-pap and Payton’s grandfather had started a business together—L & L Construction. Things had gone well for years until his paternal grandfather passed away and his father, Dwyer, inherited the role of alpha and half the construction business. His father, until recently, had had good intentions, but he was somewhat of a screw-up, and everyone knew what the road to hell was paved with.

  Ten years ago, when Damien was twenty, the Minnesota Pride had kicked the Minnesota Pack out of the Twin Cities, forcing them to scatter around the rest of the state. Damien had been working on his college degree at the time, and he hadn’t noticed what his father was doing to the pack and L & L Construction, not that he could have done anything to stop his father. He was the second son, and no one had wanted his opinion, but he could have tried.

  The biggest blow had been losing their half of the business and a major source of income. They had survived, and life had been acceptable for the last ten years until about twenty months ago when Damien’s older brother, Donovan, died. Dwyer had blamed Vance Llewelyn, Payton’s father, for everything.

  Things had gotten worse since then, and now, Dwyer wanted revenge. His father had discovered a secret ally—a mysterious cat-shifter who had contacted his father, asking for help. In exchange for Dwyer’s and the pack’s help, the cat-shifter had promised his father that he could reclaim his half of the business, and they could come back to the area. Of course, his father had jumped at the chance, but Damien thought it was too good to be true.

  His father hadn’t listened when Damien confronted him, and with the cat-shifter’s identity a secret, he hadn’t had many options. He was lucky his father had even told him of the plan to get rid of the Llewelyns, which included kidnapping Vance’s children.

  Vaughn, two years older than Damien, was one of Vance sentinels, ensuring Vaughn could take care of himself. Plus, his new mate was a vampire with her own exceptional strength. But Payton was small, alone, and without a mate to help protect her. Damien had known he had to do everything he could to prevent her from being kidnapped.

  Damien understood what drove his father. Damien wanted, more than anything, to return home, to his place of birth, to the place he grew up. But he also knew this was not the way.

  He vowed to himself they would return someday when he was an alpha—and he would be alpha. His father and he both knew that Damien was stronger and smarter. Damien knew his father’s plans would only end in failure even if his father was too blind to see it.

  Until then, he planned to do everything he could, in an honest and trustworthy way, to salvage what was left of the pack’s chances to make their way back to the place where they belonged.

  He looked at his lap and sighed. He only hoped he was doing the right thing.

  The cat-shifter sat back in his favorite chair, put his feet up, and sipped his drink.

  Tonight was the night, the night his whole life was about to change.

  The famous proclamation, The King is dead! Long live the King!, rang through his head

  Technically, his king was an alpha, but that was just semantics. And he wasn’t exactly dead yet, but he would be soon.

  The cat-shifter glanced at his watch. By now, the first step in his plan—getting rid of the alpha’s children—was already taking place. He laughed out loud to the empty room. He had manipulated that stupid Dwyer Lowell into helping him. When he’d found out that Dwyer’s oldest son and successor had died, he’d known Dwyer would be vulnerable, and he was right.

  He’d told Dwyer if he helped execute the Minnesota Pride’s alpha and helped him replace Vance, he would let Dwyer and the Minnesota Pack come back to Minneapolis. Stupid wolf. He had Dwyer right where he wanted him.

  He’d paid Dwyer to kidnap and kill Vance’s son, Vaughn, his new daughter-in-law, and his daughter, Payton. Vance’s heirs had to be out of the way before he stood any chance of becoming the next alpha of the cat-shifters. He was smart, and he’d made sure the money trail led straight to Dwyer. The wolf wouldn’t know what had hit him.

  He’d handled Dwyer pretty easily, and the only part they’d argued on was killing Vance. They both wanted the privilege. Dwyer held a strong grudge because of his pack’s exile, but the cat-shifter held a stronger grudge. His went way back before any feuding between the Pride and the Pack, and the right to take out Vance belonged to him. Dwyer could go fuck himself.

  He took a sip of his drink and smiled. Once Vance found out about his children, the alpha would be vulnerable. That was when he would strike. Not only would he be rid of Vance, but Vance’s mate, Lilith, would also be his—as she should have been from the beginning. It was just another reason for him to send Vance to hell.
>
  The cat-shifter went over all the steps in his head. After Vance was gone, his sentinels would have to go, too. They were too loyal to Vance. Yes, there would be a lot of changes in the Pride before long. Soon, he would be alpha with Lilith at his side, and her belly would be full with his child. No one would dare question his authority.

  The cat-shifter finished his drink with a gulp, glanced one last time at his phone, and relaxed. Yes, life is going to be good.

  “AN ATTEMPT HAS been made to kidnap my son and daughter-in-law, and my daughter is missing.”

  When alpha of the Minnesota Pride, Vance Llewelyn, called the emergency meeting at ten o’clock at night, Saxon Einar never thought it would concern something so serious.

  “Also, we are one sentinel down because whoever is behind these attacks mistook Sawyer for Vaughn.”

  Vance explained how someone had broken into Vaughn and Naya’s new home while they were gone, but Sawyer, one of his fellow sentinels, and Naya’s friend Kenzie had been getting it ready for the new couple to move in. The intruders had mistaken Sawyer and Kenzie for Vaughn and Naya.

  Also, Payton had been on the phone with her mother when she was taken. Their distraught alphena had heard her daughter’s abduction through the phone.

  The news was sudden and shocking. They had lived in relative peace for many years, and the last thing Saxon had expected was to hear of attempts on the lives of the alpha’s family.

  “Correction,” Vance continued, his blue eyes filled with many emotions, “we are down two. Until we know what is going on, Vaughn has taken Naya to stay with the Guardians, and she refuses to stay there without him.” Vance looked at his mate. “Honestly, it is probably for the best,” he said to Lilith more than anyone else.

  He turned back to the group. “Because someone has decided to come after my family, we will go to an undisclosed location. We can’t be sure that Lilith and I won’t be next. However, I am still your alpha, and I am still in charge. Just because you can’t see me doesn’t me I’m not running the show.