Mating Kendra Read online

  Mating Kendra

  Shifters of Wolf Lake

  Tianna Xander

  Published by Tianna Xander, 2021.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Mating Kendra (Shifters of Wolf Lake)

  Mating Kendra

  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

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Tianna’s books:

  The Golden Dragon sneak peek

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  With her biological clock ticking away, Kendra longs for a family of her own. But when she’s snatched by a mad scientist from her students’ baseball game, the teacher quickly realizes that she has suddenly become the pupil.

  Galen usually follows orders without question. But the gorgeous redhead the alpha sent him to protect, tempts him to break all the rules. However, the curvy beauty is more than just another damsel in distress, she’s the mate he’s waited decades to find.

  Kendra is used to being the instructor, and Galen is used to being in charge. But after circumstances throw the two forceful personalities together, will they face each other with anger and mistrust, or will a twist of fate ignite the passions they both keep buried deep in their hearts?

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  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 events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Mating Kendra: Shifters of Wolf Lake Book 4

  Copyright © 2013 & 2021 Tianna Xander

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-761-6

  Cover art by Misty Melody Kitzul

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author and publisher.

  Published by Tianna Xander

  Look for Tianna at www.tiannaxander.com

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  Dedication:

  TO CHRISTEL: THANKS for everything you do.

  TO MY READERS, AS ALWAYS, I wouldn’t keep writing if it weren’t for you.

  Mating Kendra

  By

  Tianna Xander

  Chapter One

  KENDRA SAT ON THE UNCOMFORTABLE bench overlooking the baseball field and watched as the band played their seventh inning stretch show—something new that the band teacher had come up with to stay relevant she supposed.

  At this precise moment, she wanted nothing more than to sit right where she was and watch her neighbor’s daughter march across the field, slamming her cymbals together. Goodness knew she’d heard it enough over the last few weeks to last a lifetime. However, she hadn’t heard it the way she should have—with the rest of the musicians.

  The sound of the two brass platters crashing together didn’t seem so annoying when accompanied by the other performers. The band brought its final number to a close and Kendra stood, ready to leave. She hadn’t minded the first six-and-a-half innings of the game. After all, it had been a means to an end. However, she hated baseball enough that she definitely wasn’t hanging around for the rest of it. She didn’t give a damn who won.

  “Excuse me,” she said as she bumped against someone’s legs. She hadn’t realized someone had gotten so close to her while she’d sat watching the game and band performance. “I’m so sorry,” she said to the anonymous feet as she shuffled past.

  “Certainly, miss. Please excuse my large feet. Unfortunately, they’re always getting in someone’s way.”

  Turning, she glanced at the owner of the sexy, but cultured, English voice. She’d half-expected to see a hot European type sitting there, not a passing middle-age balding man with a potbelly, comb-over hairdo, and a leering grin. The voice definitely didn’t match its owner.

  Yech! It’s so not happening, gramps.

  The stranger’s oily grin gave her the creeps, but Kendra managed to give him an insincere smile before putting distance between them as quickly as she could. Whatever disgusting fantasy the man had on his mind was something she’d rather not think about.

  With a slight shudder, and an odd prickling at the back of her neck, Kendra quickly made her way through the milling crowd. It was a home game, so the bleachers were packed with nearby residents, and local vendors hawked their food and drinks from boxes strung around their necks.

  The odd, prickly sensation at the back of her neck had her turning around, looking for whatever caused her to feel so unsafe.

  After a moment, she decided it was probably a residual response to the strange man in the bleachers. He’d given her the creeps, and she was probably just having a hard time shaking off the fight or flight response. Still, she couldn’t shake the sense that someone was watching her, perhaps even stalking her.

  As she headed for the exit, Kendra glanced back at the cheering crowd, amazed at the number of people who had come out for the game. Though it probably shouldn’t have surprised her. There wasn’t much to do in a small town, and home games were something different.

  With the size of the crowd, it was probably a good thing she was leaving early. Otherwise, it might have taken her forever to get out of the packed parking lot after the game ended.

  When she finally navigated her way through the gathering to the exit, she sighed when she reached her little car. Four large SUVs had blocked it in from every side. They hadn’t even given her enough room to open the driver’s door and get in.

  Biting her lip, she peered back toward the stadium. A loud cheer went up from the home side and she smiled. At least it appeared as though they might win. Good. Kendra had decided she wanted them to win. She’d hate to have the local kids being disappointed at losing another home game.

  The vehicles blocking her in were all the same make, model and by the looks of it, year. They were all black, too. If Skylar weren’t such a small town, it might have worried her. As small towns went, Skylar was the most boring of the bunch.

  “What am I supposed to do now?” She’d probably have to go back and watch the rest of the game, dammit.

  “Is there a problem, miss?”

  Goosebumps rose on her arms when she heard that misplaced sexy voice. She glanced around. The parking lot was almost totally devoid of people and suddenly, Kendra had never felt s
o alone in her life.

  She suppressed another shudder when her skin crawled as she remembered the leer the older man had given her. Had he followed her, or was it merely a coincidence that they were both in the same place at the same time with half of the game still left to be played?

  “I’m blocked in.” Just state the obvious, Kendra. She stared at her car helplessly, wishing she could hop inside and lock the doors. The old man filled her with revulsion and this entire situation felt off.

  “What a shame.” The man didn’t sound at all regretful. The way she saw it, he wasn’t even attempting to sound anything but smug.

  That was when she realized the strange man wasn’t alone. He had friends, four of them, and they all surrounded her. To make the situation even more bizarre, they all wore black suits and dark sunglasses, like government men.

  Three of them were of a normal size. She figured she could take them individually, given her martial arts training. She’d gone up against men their size in class when she’d gotten her brown belt. However, the biggest one gave her pause.

  The hair on the back of her neck prickled again. The fourth man was enormous. He was bodybuilder huge, and he looked mean with that scar running from the corner of his right eye down his jaw to just below his ear. His suit jacket bulged on the left side where she could only assume he wore a shoulder holster under his arm. He appeared to be ex-military, or maybe he was just a mercenary. Whatever he was, his eyes were empty as though he felt nothing for anyone, not even himself.

  One thing was a given. If he carried a gun under that jacket, her brown belt in karate was totally useless.

  Looking around, Kendra noticed there was still no one in the parking lot other than herself and the five men who surrounded her.

  Well, hell. Here we go.

  Slowly, she looked each of the three up and down, taking stock of them, wondering if she had a ghost of a chance against them all. After three and a half years of martial arts classes, she should at least be able to do some damage and buy herself some time—she hoped.

  “Kendra Mortensen,” the Englishman said. “We have come to give you a gift.”

  “A gift?” She turned her head slowly, trying to get a feel for everyone’s position. “If you wanted to give me something, you could have just given it to me in the stadium. I’m not in the habit of accepting gifts from strangers in a deserted parking lot.”

  How does this creep know my name?

  “It’s not that kind of gift, dear girl.” He chuckled, softly.

  The sound of his ominous laugh sent a shiver down her spine. Somehow it would have made her feel better had the man thrown his head back and tried to sound maniacal. Instead, the low chuckle made him sound just that much more sinister.

  “This is a magical gift. It will give you the ability to shift your shape into that of a wolf. I think you’ll like that. Don’t you?”

  Okay. This guy is a few nuts short of a party mix. However, knowing that didn’t make her feel any better.

  “Someone’s been watching way too much TV. There’s no such thing as werewolves or any kind of shapeshifter for that matter.” Slowly, she flexed her knees and shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet. She let her arms hang loosely at her sides. There was no sense in alerting them to the fact that she planned to defend herself. “You’re stuck in some sort of fantasy world if you believe that.”

  “You are mistaken, my dear.” The man pulled a small, oblong black case from his pocket. It was long and thin and almost looked like a jeweler’s bracelet box. “This is all too real, as you will soon discover.”

  The man took his time opening the long box. Like watching a train wreck, Kendra could do nothing but stand and stare as the lid on the thin box opened to reveal what was inside.

  Why didn’t the sensei tell me that when some lunatic accosted me in a deserted parking lot that I’d most likely stand gawking at them with some kind of stunned incredulity?

  Kendra wanted to do nothing more than run, but her legs just wouldn’t obey the commands her brain sent to them. It was as though she had some vague desire to see what it was Mr. Comb-over planned to do. Why couldn’t she run?

  When he opened the lid and revealed a syringe, Kendra gasped. She wasn’t stupid. She’d read about men drugging and raping women. And there was always the fear of being kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. That sort of thing was all over the national news lately.

  Sparing the others a quick glance, she figured it was for the latter that they had targeted her. Though it wasn’t unheard of, rapists rarely ran in packs, but traffickers did.

  Bringing her arms up, she waited for them to attack. Her instructor had always taught her defense, not offense, so she waited for them to make the first move. It didn’t take long. Two of them moved at the same time. Each of them grabbing for an arm. First, she struck out with her feet. She knocked out the third man while the other two struggled to maintain their grip on her upper arms. The lunatic with the needle and his huge henchman just looked on with barely concealed boredom as she fought for her life.

  The crowd cheered in the stadium, drowning out her screams as the balding man suddenly stepped forward. “Just a little sting.” Madness shone bright in his eyes as he reached out and stuck her with the long needle and depressed the plunger.

  “Just a little sting? What the hell was in that thing?” Kendra screamed as white-hot pain sliced through her arm. Whatever was in the syringe entered her body and she screamed again. It burned like hell. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that the lunatic had set fire to her arm. She stared down at it, wondering what the hell he’d just injected her with was that it could burn so damned much. She continued to scream as the fire flowed through her veins, burning like molten lava beneath her skin.

  It was probably a good thing the others still held her arms. Had they released her, she might have dug the flesh off her bones trying to rid herself of the pain.

  No one heard her screams. How could they when the crowd at the baseball game cheered and encouraged their team? With all of her fight gone, Kendra sobbed as the men dragged her into one of the SUVs. They pushed her into a back seat and secured a seatbelt around her waist.

  Whatever the madman had injected into her arm was keeping her immobile and powerless. For years she had studied the art of self-defense, only to have her hard-won knowledge and hours of practice fail her the moment she had needed it the most.

  Chapter Two

  Galen glanced up as one of the men assigned to his detail approached his window. They’d stopped at a restaurant to await further instructions. Two of their team were inside getting everyone something to eat while the rest of them waited in their vehicles. There was no point in alerting their enemies to how many of them were on the go—if they were even watching.

  Pressing the switch, he rolled his window down. The mist of the light rain hit his face, cooling his skin. It had grown warm in the vehicle with the windows up. Maybe he should have kept the motor running and the air on. Being from Michigan, none of them were used to these warmer temperatures so early in the season.

  “We have new intel on Doctor Thornton, sir.” Jace Jackson said as he leaned down to speak so his voice wouldn’t carry far past the vehicle. He was young to be a team member specialist. Weres didn’t usually reach their prime until their mid-nineties, staying adolescents for over forty years. But the boy was smart, smarter than almost everyone Galen knew.

  The young genius was in his early twenties and a bit of a nerd with his mousy brown hair and glasses that kept sliding down his skinny, youthful nose. It made little sense that the boy even wore the damned things. He was a werewolf. Werewolves didn’t need glasses. It was absurd—almost as absurd as their Alpha, Jake Blackstone, insisting that Galen bring along the MacDonald twin brothers on this mission as well.

  The MacDonald twins had been human until a few months ago, for God’s sake. Who gave a shit that they had once been Army Special Forces? They still thought like
humans. In his opinion, being a former human was just as hindering as still being one. To his mind, it was a condition synonymous with weak. The last thing he wanted to worry about was the two men dying on his watch. Since the twins were the brothers-in-law of the pack healer’s right-hand man, Dimitri, he’d never live it down, damn it. Charity was Dimitri’s human mate and the twin’s sister. It wouldn’t do to cause her any pain or stress. Her mate was a force to be reckoned with.

  Galen shook his head, scrubbed his face with his hands and sighed as he thought of his unlikely team of shifters and former humans alike.

  “What’s the news?” He sat back in the driver’s seat, folded his arms, and leaned back against the headrest.

  Jackson pushed his glasses up with his finger and leaned closer. Galen stared through the windshield. He couldn’t look at the idiot with those water spattered glasses he didn’t need dripping inside as the shifter leaned in through the open window. Instead, he stared out through the windshield as rain dotted the glass. The wipers, set to intermittent, swiped across his line of vision, clearing the light rain, before coming to a rest just above the cowl.

  “Dimitri found another of that crazy doctor’s labs. He must have someone powerful watching his back. The number of his labs is growing almost faster than we can keep up.”

  Bastien, their healer and Jake’s cousin, had been in charge since their Alpha had set out on his honeymoon trip nearly three months before with his new mate, beta and numerous guards in tow. It was only expected that his second in command, Dimitri, would take over the search for Thornton’s secret hiding spots.

  Their Alpha, Jake, had combined his honeymoon trip with a diplomatic mission to enlist the assistance of some of the European shifter clans to search out the overseas secret labs where Dr. Richard Thornton experimented on humans and shifters alike.