Doctor Madeline Ruszel continues to plague her Commander Dtimun - in more ways than one. As the pair struggle with their forbidden desires, political intrigue and galactic war rage.

I really, really, really wanted to shake the main characters - or possibly the author. Someone needed to go through this book and edit out about half of the emotive descriptions so that the heroine was not bouncing excitedly only a sentence before she's glancing aside miserably, only to be cheery faced and bubbly seconds later. Ditto with the hero. Of equal annoyance, the number of times the main characters inform someone or someone else informs them that their romance is forbidden, doomed, and hopeless, only to have the same character hinting that all will be well in the next breath. Not to mention how naive, uneducated and slow to draw conclusions Madeline seems for someone who we're told is a medical professional, an special forces expert, and a sniper since she was eight.

If this story was a person it would have great bones, but horrible taste in clothing, a bad haircut, and a poor retention span. ( )

It's been about three years since the Morcai Battalion was formed. The Humans and Centuarians onboard have fully integrated and become a formidable fighting force. Doctor Madeline Ruszel and Commander Dtimun have gotten to know each other very well and Madeline is starting to experience feelings for Dtimun. What she does not realize is that Dtimun is also beginning to have feelings for her and because of his enhanced biology his feelings cause dangerous complications to everyone around them. Meanwhile, their Rojok enemies have not been idle and when Madeline is caught up in another plot the choices she and Dtimun make will have far reaching consequences.

This was a solid sequel. SK still continues to repeat several points as if afraid we might have forgotten about the laws banning interspecies marriage, or the mental neutering human military members go through, but I was able to get past that and enjoy the story. Beware the story is a cliffhanger. I was glad to see more interaction between Madeline and Dtimun. It fleshed out their characters a little more. And we finally get some more of Dtimun's background. I have suspicions about several points and it will be fun to see if I'm on the right track. Komak was still around and we got to see his charming personality as well as learn some interesting points, but Stern and Hahnson pretty much disappear. And Lyceria is only mentioned, though there are some interesting developments for her and Chacon. ( )