Lion’s Heat
Breeds, Book #15
Feline Breeds, Book #13
By Lora Leigh
ISBN# 9780425233801
Author’s Website: https://loraleigh.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
He is Alpha One, the feared bogeyman of the Breed race. But those familiar with the series know him as the Director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs, Jonas Wyatt. Jonas is thought to be emotionless, calculating, and always playing games with others’ lives. He has manipulated Breeds and humans alike for his own ends. Putting mates into each other’s paths for desired results even. But what happens when the tables are turned on him?
Merinus Lyons has done just that! She has forced him to take a pregnant Rachel Broen as his new assistant. Rachel is one of Merinus’s friends and she will not allow her to be treated badly by Jonas.
“She was a fairy, he thought. A whimsical creature that no man dared touch for fear of inviting the wrath of some unknown dark force charged with her protection. That dark force being Merinus Lyons, the wicked ogre of his life, as far as he was concerned.”
From the moment Rachel walked into his office, he knew she’d be his undoing. He knew she was his mate. He didn’t like the thought that another man had touched her, but beast and man alike claimed her unborn child as theirs as well. Of course, Jonas kept his claims of both mother and daughter a secret until he had no other choice.
When baby Amber was held hostage by the enemy, Phillip Brandenmore, who wants nothing more than to make the baby his own lab rat, Jonas must take action. He rushes in and saves her, but was he too late? Brandenmore had already injected her with an unknown substance and Jonas races her off to Sanctuary to discover what has been done. It appears to have just been a sedative, but when Jonas notices her scent changing, he’s not so sure.
Jonas keeps Rachel and Amber in the safety of his cabin at Sanctuary and under his personal protection. The need to claim his mate is riding him hard, but he refuses to take the choice away from Rachel. He wants her to mate for love, not a hormonal reaction.
“Imagine the love you feel for your child, and then multiply that by a thousand. Imagine what you felt the first time you gazed upon her, and knew that God had given you the most perfect gift to complete your life, and multiply that again. That is what you are to me. That is what I felt the first moment I saw you. Unlike humans, Breeds live for the small gifts, the little kindnesses fate would hand to us. We search for them. We cherish them. The moment I saw you, the animal inside me roared in triumph, the man melted in the face of the woman who stared back at him.
“That was love, Rachel. It was acceptance, the knowledge that what I feared the most, what I ached for the most, was now standing before me, and reaching out for it, claiming it, could destroy everything I am.”
She shook her head desperately. “Love doesn’t happen like that. It takes time. It builds.”
He nodded slowly. “It can happen like that. It can build slowly. It can come like a gentle rainfall, or it can slam into you like a tsunami. You are my tsunami, love.”
However, Jonas was created to be a breeder in the labs, his offspring were supposed to be the most lethal perfect weapons the world has ever known. The attempts to create those children in the labs failed though as the females were not his mate. How can he expect Rachel to want to mate him, when any children they have will be feared by human and Breed alike?
I really enjoyed this story. I’ve always liked Jonas anyway, and it was nice to not only see things from his perspective, but to also see a softer side of him as well. Everybody sees Jonas as a cold bastard, but who can blame him? Even his own parents don’t claim him as theirs. He may seem tough, but he does everything for the good of his race. I loved seeing his fatherly side! The scenes with Amber and him melted my heart and my ovaries! I mean he actually PURRS for her to get her to go to sleep!
“Turning, she strode to the doorway, and for the second time, came to a stop. In front of the fire, on the large, soft rug before it, Jonas lay with Amber.
He’d changed clothes. Dressed in loose sweatpants, bare feet and a bare chest, he lay next to the baby as the fire flickered in front of them.
Amber was watching the flames with the drowsy wonder that only a baby could show. Her lashes lay low, sleep edging her expression as Jonas softly hummed a lullaby.”
And, the sex scenes with Jonas and Rachel were scorching!
Rachel fought the mating longer than I was expecting her to. I also thought some of the things they did that they were told wouldn’t cause the spread of the mating heat, actually caused it in previous books so I do feel there is a little inconsistency there. But it wasn’t enough to take away from the enjoyment of the story.
I loved watching Jonas protect his family. He is a total badass with an army or two of men at his disposal. And reading this book, I knew he would need them! You knew the bad guys weren’t going to give up that easily. And, when Amber’s biological father was mentioned, it was a for-gone conclusion that he would be a problem. His whole family was pretty messed up! At least Amber gets a real father out of all of this. And, I honestly can’t wait to see Jonas and Rachel to give her some siblings! I really hope we get to see more of that fleshed out throughout the rest of the series.
“She lifted her head, her eyes still wet, her lips trembling.
“I love you,” she whispered. “So much.”
His head lowered and, amid blood and death, touched hers as light as a feather and whispered, “I live for you.”
This was another great read in this series and I can’t get enough!
