Forbidden Seduction

by R. L. Kenderson

  Siya wrinkled her nose and jumped off. “You haven’t washed your sheets yet?”

  Demi laughed. “I only had time to make the bed.” And she didn’t know if she was going to wash them quite yet. She liked the smell of Saxon in her room. There was something very appealing about the cat-shifter.

  Speaking of shifter…

  “I forgot to tell you.”

  “What?” Siya said, inspecting her clothes for sex germs or something.

  “My hands shifted last night. I mean, it was just the tips of my fingers, but it was crazy.”

  “Oh my God, your first shift. Was it amazing?”

  Demi shrugged. “Not really. It was kind of in the middle of sex, and I had to hide it from Saxon. But that was after I clawed his back. Thankfully, he heals fast.”

  Siya’s dark eyes widened, and she frowned. “Didn’t he get blood all over the sheets?”

  Demi waved her hand away. “Nah. We were outside the back of the club.” She turned, went in her bathroom, and pulled out her hairbrush.

  “You had sex outside?”

  Demi laughed as she brushed her hair. “You’re such a prude, Siya.”

  Siya crossed her arms over her chest. “I’d love to see how you turned out if you had grown up with conservative Indian parents. They’d be disappointed if they knew I wasn’t a virgin. And, if I ever got caught having sex outside, they’d be horrified.”

  “But you date. They know that.”

  “Dating is not sex.”

  “Well, they’d be really disappointed to know that you’ve dated quite a few men,” Demi joked.

  “Shh…don’t tell them.”

  “Besides, you forget who my grandmother was,” Demi said, throwing her brush back in her drawer.

  “Your grandma didn’t want anyone to know what you are. She never lectured you on sex.”

  “Okay, this is true. But I feel your pain.”

  “And that’s why we’re friends.”

  Demi laughed. “So true. Now, go wait for me. I’ll be out of the shower as fast as I can.” She shooed Siya away and closed the bathroom door.

  In the shower, she held up her hands and inspected them. They didn’t look any different. Not that she’d expected them to.

  But she wanted to know if she could shift them again.

  Demi focused all her concentration on trying to make claws again, but the reality was, she had no idea what she was doing.

  When she had been little, her grandmother had taken her to the woods and tried to teach her to shift. It had never happened. Not even a partial shift. So, last night had been extraordinary in that aspect. If her grandmother were alive, Demi would’ve called her right away.

  Although, knowing her grandmother, she wouldn’t have been impressed. She’d have wanted Demi to do more.

  Demi refocused her thoughts away from her grandmother and back to her fingers, but no matter what, nothing happened.

  She washed her hair as she replayed last night’s events. So, she’d been in the middle of sex, so maybe if she re-created that feeling, that would trigger her shift.

  Demi thought about Saxon and how sexy he was. Her hands moved over her breasts and down between her legs. But, before she could get herself too worked up, she envisioned her claws coming out as she stabbed herself in the vagina.

  She immediately dropped her arms.

  She might heal faster than humans, but getting injured still hurt like a son of a bitch. And she did not want to go to the farmers market with a freshly clawed vagina.

  She grimaced.

  It was time to call it quits. What was she going to do with a partial shift anyway? Nothing. She led a very normal human life, and she had no need to bring out her animal side.

  Demi finished her shower, got dressed, and met Siya in the living room. They went to the farmers market, and then the rest of the weekend went like any other.

  By the time Demi went to work on Monday morning, she’d pretty much forgotten about her shift and passed it off as a once-in-a-lifetime incident.

  Chapter 5

  Thursday night, Saxon was putting his laundry away when he noticed holes in one of his favorite shirts. He held it up to the light in the window. They were on the back top. There were two sets of five, and they were only about a centimeter thick.

  This was the shirt he’d worn the last time he was with Demi. But he had never seen human fingernails make such small holes. Now, he wished he’d examined his back, but he was pretty much healed.

  He shrugged. It was probably some weird fluke thing. He rolled his shirt into a ball and threw it in his small trash can he kept in the corner of his room.

  Knock, knock.

  Saxon turned as Camden stuck his head into their room. “Hey, are you going over to the main house? Sawyer and Kenzie are supposed to get there soon.”

  Saxon grabbed another article of clothing. “Yeah, as soon as I’m done with this.”

  He wasn’t as thrilled as some of the others to meet Sawyer and Kenzie’s new baby. Call him a jerk, but it was just another kid. First, it was Vaughn, then Phoenix, now Sawyer, and Zane and Isabelle were going to have a baby soon, too. Reid and Tegan were probably next. He didn’t understand what everyone got so excited about.

  But he respected his fellow sentinels, so he would go over there and meet the new baby because that was what friends did.

  Five minutes later, he was on his way. As he entered through the back door, he concluded he was the last to arrive, going by the pile of shoes there.

  Tegan came into the kitchen with a glass in her hand. “You look super happy to be here,” she said sarcastically as she headed to the fridge and filled up her glass with water.

  “Hey, I’m here, aren’t I?”

  Saxon and Tegan walked into the living room where almost everyone was gathered around Sawyer and Kenzie.

  Off to the side of the small crowd, Aidan Llewelyn was playing with a toy truck, but the second he saw Saxon, he threw the toy aside and got to his feet. Aidan ran over to Saxon, and Saxon immediately picked him up.

  “Hey, buddy. Do you understand what all the fuss is about?”

  Aidan shook his head and put his hands on the outside of Saxon’s mouth. He squeezed Saxon’s face together and giggled.

  “Yeah, you’re bored, too, aren’t you, buddy?”

  Aidan squeezed his face again and laughed harder.

  A couple of people turned at the sound of the toddler’s laughter.

  “Hey, Saxon,” Vaughn said. “Why don’t you give me Aidan? You can go look at the new baby.”

  “Uh, that’s okay—”

  Vaughn took his son before Saxon could finish. He knew that Aidan liked him and hoped the kid would throw a fit at being taken away, but he started squeezing his dad’s face instead.

  Someone pushed Saxon closer to the baby, and he stopped fighting it. The sooner he held her, the sooner he’d be able to hand her over to someone else.

  Sawyer turned around with the cheesiest grin on his face, and Saxon almost took a step backward. He’d never seen Sawyer so happy, and Saxon was embarrassed for him.

  “Hey, Saxon. We’d like you to meet Zoey.”

  Saxon carefully took the newborn into his arms and studied her. She wasn’t so bad. She had a unique scent to her, and she was pretty cute. Zoey had some peach fuzz on the top of her head, so it was hard to say what color her hair would turn out to be, except that it was light. Her eyes were closed as she slept, not bothered at all that someone else was holding her.

  “What do you think, Saxon? You ready for one of those?”

  “You shut your mouth, Zane.”

  Zane laughed.

  “Saxon would have to find someone willing to let him father her baby first,” Tegan said.

  “Ain’t that the truth?” Zane agreed.

  “I’ll have you know, any female would be blessed to have me father her children. But it still doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” Saxon said.

  Zoey wiggled in his
arms, and Saxon caught a whiff of her scent again. It reminded him of something or someone.

  He lifted the baby toward his nose and inhaled. Yes, there was something…familiar about it. That was odd since this was the first time he’d met Zoey.

  He handed her back to Kenzie, so someone else could have a turn, and he hung out a little longer.

  He split after about an hour and went back to the bunkhouse where he ran into Ram playing God of War.

  Ram still felt like a new addition to the group sometimes, and other times, it felt like he’d been with them for years. He worked well with others but wasn’t the friendliest of guys. But neither was Saxon, and ironically, Ram was probably closest to him. Ram didn’t like bullshit, just like Saxon didn’t, and the vampire was a good fighter and Guardian. Saxon always enjoyed patrolling with him.

  “You’re not going to go see the baby?” Saxon asked the vampire as he plopped down into the couch.

  Ram shook his head, keeping his eyes on the TV. “Nah. It seems weird, ya know. Sawyer, shifter. Kenzie, human. Me, vampire.”

  “Dante was there along with Naya.”

  Ram hit a few buttons, and then YOU ARE DEAD came across the screen in red letters. “What did you have to say that for? You killed me. And, now, I’d better go over there if Dante’s there.” With a sigh, Ram threw the controller to Saxon, who caught it. “Next game’s yours.”

  “Have fun,” Saxon said.

  Ram gave him the finger as he walked out the door.

  Saxon enjoyed his time alone for a while but headed to his room once everyone started coming back from the main house.

  Saxon used to share a room with Reid, but then Vaughn and Sawyer had moved out. Phoenix had gone to live with the vampires and her mate, Dante. Zane had gone to live with the wolf-shifters and his mate, Isabelle. Tegan had moved into Reid’s room, so that left Ram, Kendall—the wolf-shifter who had taken Zane’s place—Camden, and Saxon. Vance had thought Ram needed his own room since he always slept during the day and was up at night. Since Kendall was the only other female besides Tegan, Saxon now shared a room with Camden.

  Each bedroom fit two queen-size beds in them, so Saxon never understood why the bunkhouse hadn’t been built with twice as many bedrooms. Vance had once said it built camaraderie, or some other BS like that, having them share. But Saxon figured the alpha had done it to save money. Less walls meant less wood and less drywall. But what did Saxon know?

  Someday, he would get his own space. If he could just get Camden mated off to someone.

  Thankfully, Camden knew he didn’t like to be talked to and kept to his side of the room and didn’t say much. And, tonight, Camden was working, so Saxon was blessedly alone.

  Saxon stripped down to his boxers and slipped into his bed.

  As he closed his eyes, baby Zoey floated across his mind, and for some reason, her smell came back to him. It was an odd thing to think about when he was trying to fall asleep, but then another image penetrated his brain.

  He pictured Demi’s face when he made her come and the way her scent filled the room. And then he thought again about the shirt he’d thrown away earlier in the night.

  Saxon sat up in bed.

  “Motherfucker,” he said to his empty room.

  She had completely fooled him.

  Baby Zoey smelled just like Demi. That was why she didn’t smell like any human he’d encountered before, and that was why Zoey smelled familiar.

  Demi was half-shifter.

  Chapter 6

  Friday nights, the library where Demi worked closed at five in the evening, so she and her assistant often went out for drinks after work. This night was much more relaxing than last Friday when she’d gone to Club Seduction, looking for Saxon. Tonight meant a couple of drinks and greasy appetizers.

  Demi had been working with Lena for a few years now, and they tried to go out together on Friday nights once or twice a month.

  Tonight, they had decided on the Red Cow. They had the best burgers in all of the Twin Cities area. With only five locations, it was a great place to grab food.

  The hostess greeted them at the door. “Two?” she asked, grabbing menus.

  “Four,” Demi corrected. She always invited Siya to come with, and Lena always invited her best friend, Iris. She turned to Lena. “Unless someone else is coming.”

  “Nope. Just us four.”

  Soon after they were seated, the other two ladies showed up.

  “I’m starving,” Siya said as she sat down next to Demi. “Give me my fries and turkey burger now.”

  Demi laughed at her friend’s fierce look. “Someday, I’m going to try the turkey burger. But today is not that day. I need my beef, and they have too many good choices.”

  Siya wrinkled up her nose. Raised Indian, she’d grown up a vegetarian. She’d started eating meat when she was in college, but she still didn’t eat beef because of her beliefs.

  Iris showed up two minutes later, and they ordered their food.

  Dinner was delicious, and the company was great.

  “I do not know how you clean the rest of our plates every time we go out,” Lena said to Demi.

  Demi smiled and shrugged. “I have a big appetite.”

  “Yet you’re still a tiny blonde,” Iris said.

  “She has good genetics,” Siya said, and Demi almost choked on her food.

  Good genetics? Or something like that.

  After they paid their bills, they all headed outside. It was dark now, and the summer temperature had gone down a few degrees.

  “Where are you parked?” Demi asked Siya.

  “In the alley.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’m parked down the street,” Iris said, pointing in one direction.

  “Ha. I’m parked the opposite,” Lena said.

  The Red Cow had excellent food but shitty parking at all locations.

  “Well, I guess I’ll see you on Monday,” Demi said to Lena. Demi worked every fourth Saturday, and it wasn’t her weekend to work.

  The rest of them all said their good-byes, and Demi and Siya headed down the alley.

  “Want to do anything else tonight?” Demi asked.

  “Sure. What do you have in mind?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How about you hand over your purses?” a gravelly voice said, coming out from behind the building. A man stepped in front of them, holding a knife.

  Siya squeaked and started shaking. Demi could smell the fear coming off her friend.

  The man in front of them looked and smelled like he hadn’t showered in a long time. His teeth were black. His hair looked like it had once been light but was so full of grease that it was now dark. His eyes were glassy, and he appeared to be strung out.

  “Look, sir, I am more than willing to give you some money, but I’m not giving you my purse.” It would take her days to cancel and get new copies of everything. Plus, she had some personal items in there that were irreplaceable.

  “Demi, I think we should give him what he wants.”

  “Hell no.” Demi took her purse off her shoulder and handed it to Siya. “Hold this.”

  Siya shook her head, so Demi pushed it against her friend’s chest and let go. Siya caught it as Demi stepped forward.

  “Look, lady, I don’t want to hurt you. Just hand over your bags.”

  “So, don’t hurt me. Leave.”

  The would-be mugger shook his head. “I need them.”

  Demi took a step forward. “No, you want them. There’s a difference.” If she could get close enough, she could take the knife away from the guy.

  “Just give them to me,” he almost whined.

  Demi moved another step closer and shook her head. “I can’t do that.”

  “I need the goddamn purses! Give them to me now!”

  The man had suddenly done a complete one-eighty, and Demi knew she wasn’t going to reason with him.

  She yelled, “Siya, run,” as she tackled him.

&nb
sp; For being high, the guy fought her hard. Or maybe it was because of the drugs. But Demi knew she was stronger than this human, and she wasn’t going to let him steal their stuff. She just hoped Siya had made it to her car.

  The guy managed to get on top of Demi and punched her in the face. She saw stars and instinctively responded with the same move. Except she didn’t hear a smack as her fist hit him, and she was suddenly covered in a warm liquid, including her eyes.

  The man’s weight fell on her, and a pain pierced her side.

  Damn, he’s heavy.

  “Oh my God. Demi, are you okay?”

  “Siya?”

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “I told you to run,” Demi said as she pushed the guy off of her and wiped her eyes.

  “Holy shit.”

  Demi sat up. “What?” She looked down at herself. She was covered in blood.

  “Demi, I think you shifted. And I think you killed him.”

  She looked over to see the drug-addict mugger staring at the sky with a blank look in his eyes, and his neck was torn open from what looked like an animal attack.

  Demi scrambled to her feet. “Oh my God.” She held up her hand. She had human fingers. “I don’t know what happened.” She took two steps back and felt light-headed. “I think I’m going to pass out.”

  Her knees gave out, and Siya tried to catch her.

  “Oh my God, Demi. You’ve been stabbed.”

  Demi looked to where Siya had lifted up the side of her shirt. “Oh. That’s not good,” she said with a surprisingly calm voice before she fell on her butt.

  “What the hell are we going to do? There’s a dead body, and you’re covered in blood.” Siya pulled her shirt off over her head and pressed it to Demi’s wound. “I need to get you to a hospital.”

  “Do you still have my purse?”

  Siya furrowed her brow.

  Yeah, she probably sounded crazy, asking for her handbag at a time like this.

  “Yes.”

  “I think…I think you should find my phone and call Saxon.”

  Her eyebrows went up. “Saxon? As in your booty call Saxon?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think the only person who can get us out of this mess is a shifter.” Demi slowly lay on her back on the ground. “I think I’m going to take a nap now.”