Sci-Fi Fantasy/Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 09 Jun 20
The broken Arrow with the beautiful voice was different; damaged, as he stated in his cool, emotionless voice. Selenka’s wolf craves skin privileges – hot, sweaty skin privileges. They’ve barely met and boom! The mating bond snaps into place, and suddenly he’s in her soul bristling with static. Mating at first sight? Selenka and Ethan definitely shot that long-held myth to smithereens. What a fun and exciting start to a new story full of suspense, sweetness, action, and enough fangs and claws to make a reader happy.
From the symposium where they met and mated, Selenka and Ethan have miles to go before they can consummate the hunger that is consuming Selenka. A few stolen kisses are a band-aid to hold off the clawing need until they can find their privacy, which, given subsequent events, will be a while coming. Ethan is an Arrow, a stranger to touch and pleasure, and yet he’s a quick study, using all his resources, including the Wild Woman column and the Arrow’s Guide to Pleasure to score an A grade when it comes to courting his mate.
The black static seems to get in the way of identifying Ethan’s level of dominance, and yet he has no trouble making friends with the cubs, holding his own with her lieutenants, and standing head to head with his extremely dominant mate. He’s damaged with a cold, dark place in his psyche that his emotional response to Selenka is blowing apart. Will he survive? There’s hope for him in the words of a cardinal empath who says, “You’re lost, don’t fade. Don’t throw away the broken shards. You just need glue.”
Changelings, as we know, are passionate and emotional and thrive on touch. Selenka’s passion and emotion manifests itself in a love so ferocious that she will stand between danger and those she loves. This translates to her mate in the Psynet where she surrounds him with her claws and emits a threat that discourages anyone to even look at Ethan when he is flamed out and helpless. Danger surrounds them, between the target on her pack and the troubles in the Psynet, and they can barely scrape together time for themselves.
A quick catch-up with some favorite characters from the series, and a cliff hanger of an ending leaves us on the cusp of yet another dramatic change. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next and which lucky couple will take center stage.
Grade: A
Summary:
Alpha wolf Selenka Durev’s devotion to her pack is equaled only by her anger at anyone who would harm those under her care. That currently includes the empaths who’ve flowed into her city for a symposium that is a security nightmare, a powder keg just waiting for a match.
Ethan Night is an Arrow who isn’t an Arrow. Numb and disengaged from the world, he’s loyal only to himself. Assigned as part of the security force at a world-first symposium, he carries a dark agenda tied to the power-hungry and murderous Consortium. Then violence erupts and Ethan finds himself crashing into the heart and soul of an alpha wolf.
Mating at first sight is a myth, a fairytale. Yet Selenka’s wolf is resolute: Ethan Night, broken Arrow and a man capable of obsessive devotion, is the mate it has chosen. Even if the mating bond is full of static and not quite as it should be. Because Selenka’s new mate has a terrible secret, his mind surging with a power that is a creature of madness and death…
Other books in this series:
