Forbidden Blood (46 page)

Today was warm for October
, and she was wearing a sweater and fitted jeans, drawing attention to her amazing figure. She had a body that didn’t quit, and it wasn’t the first time he’d reminded himself that he wasn’t there to get in her pants. He was there to protect her. Unfortunately, his dick didn’t care, and Damien was going to have to get used to the permanent hard-on he would carry whenever he was close to Payton. Standing downwind from her and smelling her lavender scent would only make it worse, and he had been both thankful and disappointed when she entered the building.

Adjusting himself to ease the ache in his groin, Damien noted the time and headed for his car. After the conversation with his father, Damien
had talked to the other sentinels. So far, he hadn’t been able to convince them to abandon Dwyer’s plans. Of course, he hadn’t been able to tell them everything, so they still needed a good reason to trust Damien over Dwyer.

He was fortunate to learn that Dwyer
had sent one of his sentinels, Chase, out to scout Vaughn and his female a couple of weeks prior. Chase had been careful, but Vaughn had discovered him and taken off after him. Chase had gotten away, but Damien felt confident that Vaughn could take care of himself. Damien knew Vaughn was a sentinel, and his female was a vampire. While vampires were not as strong as shifters, Damien knew she had more strength than a human. Vaughn and his female together would do a good job of defending themselves.

But Payton was all by herself, and
Damien was only one man. Even though she was a shifter, she was alone and had no partner to help her. She didn’t seem to have a boyfriend, and she would often meet her friends instead of arriving with them to places. His father would have plenty of opportunities to take Payton, which is why Damien had decided she needed him more than her brother did.

Damien had gone through other options
. He’d considered sending the Llewelyns a warning, but they had no reason to trust him. He was a wolf, a potential enemy in their eyes. And would they really trust him to go against his own father? If the situation were reversed, Damien didn’t think he would trust the cats. And an anonymous letter would most likely be dismissed as a hoax.

W
hen the time came for his father to reveal what he had been up to, Damien hoped the sentinels would do the right thing. But as of right now, Damien was a lone wolf, and since he could only be in one place at a time, he would do his best to save Payton.

His
father was planning to kidnap Vaughn and his vampire the same day as Payton, and Damien knew their parents would be devastated. Vance would be caught off guard, giving the mysterious cat-shifter time to make his move. His father had promised to tell Damien when the abduction would go down, but he wouldn’t put it past Dwyer to lie and spring it when Damien wasn’t around, which is why Damien would continue to follow Payton. He was hoping to stop the chain reaction Dwyer had intended to start. Today didn’t seem to be the day, but Damien still intended to be here when Payton was finished with class, so he could make sure she made it safely to her car.

He took a deep breath as he got to his car. When his father did make his move, Damien knew he would do everything in his power to stop
Payton from being abducted. Once he got her away from her captors, he’d deliver her safely to her family. With luck, her family would believe he didn’t have anything to do with it, and then they’d let him go. He hoped they’d listen when he told them one of their own was behind the whole thing.

When the time came, Damien prayed Payton
would understand that he was trying to save her. He knew she wouldn’t want to trust a wolf, but he might be the only thing between her and danger, and he would do anything to keep her safe.

He scrubbed his hand down his face. That was
his plan anyway.

Vaughn stirred. He
’d nodded off for a while with Naya, and now, he awoke to find they were lying on their sides, chest to chest, with her leg over his. Although soft, he was still inside her, and he slowly withdrew and eased her onto her back. She looked peaceful when she slept, and he kissed the top of her head. Before getting out of bed, he placed another kiss on her belly. It still amazed him that his babies were in there.

He went to the dresser to find some old clothes to wear.
After deciding on a T-shirt and sweatpants since he wasn’t going anywhere until Naya woke up for the night, he went back to the bed to make sure Naya was okay.

He
had been a little rough with her earlier, letting his dominance show, but his cat hadn’t wanted his female to smell like anyone but him. He knew he’d pushed her, but he’d also known she could handle it, or his cat never would have accepted her. Also, she might have been unhappy when they’d first come upstairs, but by the time their shower was over, he’d smelled that she was ready for him.

He dropped another kiss on her forehead and went to put her clothes in the dryer. When he got to the laundry room, he discovered someone
had already beaten him to it. Most likely, it had been his mom. She was always on top of things.

Downstairs
, he found his parents in the kitchen. It looked like his mother was preparing a big lunch for everyone. She loved to cook, and even though they had their own kitchen in the bunkhouse, she loved to have everyone come to the main house for a big meal.

“
Vaughn,” his mother said when she saw him, “you’re just in time. We’re eating in about twenty minutes when Payton gets home from class.”

“
Afternoon, son,” his father said.

“
Hey.” Vaughn sat on a stool at the large island in the middle of the kitchen.

There was a stove and sink on the island, and his mom
would do most of the cooking there. His parents had remodeled the kitchen about five years back to include those two things in the island. She liked looking at everyone rather than having her back turned while preparing meals.

“
Smells wonderful, Mom. What are we having?”

“
Roast chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, roast beef, and ham.”

A
houseful of shifters required a lot of food to keep up with their high metabolisms and to fill their bellies.

“Did
Max make it home safely?” Vaughn asked, picking up a hunk of chicken sitting on the counter.

His mom swatted his hand
.

H
is dad said, “His mother came and picked him up. She was very happy. Your female did well.” His father smiled.

“
How’s Naya?” his mother asked.

“
Good. She’s sleeping.”

“
Did she settle in okay? Did she fall asleep right away?”

His father snorted with a smirk on his face. Vaughn shot his dad a dirty look when his mom looked away.

“Uh…not quite, Mom. She showered, and then we…had some things to settle, but she went to sleep soon after.”

“
Good.” His mom looked around. “I’ll be right back. I have to grab the bread.”

When she left the room, his father let out a big laugh.

“Dad, not in front of Mom, will ya?”

“
Oh, son, I’m pretty sure she knows you have sex. You’re making her a grandma after all. And it’s not like she doesn’t know what sex is. She did give birth to you and your sister.”

Vaughn held up his hand.
“Dad, stop,” he said with disgust.

H
is father just laughed harder.

Thankfully
, his mother came back with her arms full of bread from the pantry. “What’s so funny, you two?”

“
Trust me, Mom, you don’t want to know.”

Her smile told him
that she already knew.

“
So, when are we going to have your mating celebration?” she asked. “Don’t you think we should do it sooner rather than later? Those babies are growing as we speak.”

“
I haven’t actually talked about it with Naya yet. I don’t want to push her into anything. Plus, I feel bad that her parents aren’t on board with the whole thing. I don’t think it’s fair for only my parents to be there. I thought we should give them some time to think, and then we’ll try to talk to them again in a couple of weeks.”

“
The poor thing. She’s sweet. She deserves better parents than those two. They are one of the reasons shifters have very little to do with vampires. They are stuck-up and speciesist. I understand they don’t like humans either.”

“
Her grandparents were even worse,” his father added. “Your grandparents weren’t too fond of them.”

“
Huh. I wonder what they would think if they were here now?”

His
grandpa and grandma lived in Florida like a lot of retirees, not having a care in the world.

“
Do they know what’s going on?”

“
Oh, your grandfather still calls about once a month to make sure I’m not messing up his pride or his business, so yes, they know.”

Vaughn just laughed. His grandpa, Vincent, must have some trouble letting go even though it
’d been time to retire.

“
I wouldn’t laugh too much, son. He’ll probably still be calling you after I retire.”

Vaughn
’s laughter died. He really hoped not. His grandpa could be one mean son of a bitch when it came to the Pride and the business. “The good news is they want to come for the ceremony.”

“
Vaughn,” his mother said, “will Naya sleep all day? Does she want to come down and eat with everyone? We can close all the shades and curtains. It would be nice to have her join us.”

“
Sure, I can go ask her. Thanks for putting her clothes in the dryer by the way.”

His mother smiled.
“You’re welcome. I’ll go close the curtains before I forget.”

Vaughn made sure his mother went into the other room before asking,
“Dad, did you find out anything on the wolf I scented last week?”

His father frowned.
“No. Whoever was there hasn’t been back.”

“
I was afraid of that. What the hell are they doing here?”

“
I don’t know, son, but it can’t be good. I just hope we figure it out before it’s too late.”

The back door opened
, and Payton walked in, ending their conversation.

“
Hello, kitten.” Vance stood and kissed her on the forehead.

“
How was class?” their mother asked as she walked back into the room.

“Fine. Same old, same old,” Payton said casually.

It was a little too casually. Vaughn eyed his sister. “Anything exciting happen?” he asked.

“Uh…nope,” she said with an exaggerated smile on her face. “I’d better put my stuff away,” she added before she headed upstairs.

Vaughn watched her go. Something was up with her. She was acting weird. He considered questioning her, but his sister was twenty-three years old, so she was an adult. He supposed she could make her own decisions, and she didn’t appear to be in any distress.

After a minute, he followed up the stairs to wake Naya
up and ask her about lunch. It was nice having her in his parents’ home. He was glad everyone had accepted her and the pregnancy, and he hoped her parents would come around as well. More than anyone, Naya deserved to be happy.