This fifth book in the series deals with a somewhat more subtly embedded preconception about "the werewolf world" as portrayed in most stories I have read. Usually, the alpha (or dominant werewolf shifter) claims his mate, come hell or high water – i.e., whether the mate agrees and is ready or not. The rest of the story is usually about dealing with the fallout, the mate's resistance and slow winning over. Not so in this book, and I have to say I found that quite refreshing.

Charlie, an omega, has been abused and mistreated his entire life. He trusts absolutely nobody, and that attitude has served him well. So even though Lucas says he is Charlie's mate, Charlie runs. He needs time to deal with things, mainly to consider whether he can trust Lucas and the man's pack. And the amazing thing is, Lucas doesn’t come after him to drag him back. The mate bond and Charlie's desperate need to be with Lucas win out in the end though, and after a torturous ten days (for both of them) Charlie comes back and begins the slow process of building trust.

Lucas is all alpha. The hardest thing he's ever done is to let Charlie go, on the advice of his pack alpha, Roarke, who is developing more and more into a true leader with each book. Lucas is going crazy though, and when Charlie finally does return, he is as impatient to claim his mate as Charlie is to be claimed. That much they agree on. That isn’t the end of the story though, and it takes patience, a crisis of life-threatening proportions, and, of course, an epic challenge and physical fight for Lucas to get the message to Charlie that the man is now safe, accepted, and even loved.

This time the bad guys are the remaining alphas, idiots one and all, from Bud's pack who keep trying to steal omegas to make them their personal slaves. Charlie does a great job at learning how to conduct himself in a pack so that they can be dealt with and everyone is safe. The way he learns to work with Lucas is wonderful to watch. If you're looking for another shifter story that doesn’t necessarily follow the "traditions" of the paranormal genre, if you enjoy reading about mates who have to learn to work together, and if you like books with lots and lots of reaffirming shifter-on-shifter action, then you will probably like this novella.



NOTE: This book was provided by Siren Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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Fantastic. These alphas are so good to their omegas. I love that the newest edition are brothers. I hope to read Derek's story soon. ( )