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Review

4.5 stars!

I love this series! Suzanne Wright writes the most fantastic paranormal romance – great action, romantic, super-smutty and laugh-out-loud funny. Her books are great fun to read, and I absolutely loved this one!

Makenna is a lone wolf shifter. She doesn’t belong to a pack, and after the death of her mother she was raised in a shelter specifically for loners. Her experience has shaped her life, and she is passionate about helping others in her situation, volunteering at the very shelter that saved her, focussing on re-homing lone wolves into new packs. One of her latest cases is teenager, Zac. He is left on her doorstep, and Makenna’s research into a possible family link for him leads him to the Phoenix Pack, and enforcer, Ryan.

Ryan is the quiet, serious, seemingly cold and unfeeling member of the Phoenix Pack. He has been through hell in his life and it has made him strong but withdrawn, but he remains driven by his loyalty to his pack. When he learns about Zac he is immediately suspicious of the woman claiming to help him, as lone wolves are generally untrustworthy and dangerous, but he wants to be there to help the boy she says is the offspring of his cousin, and so they arrange to meet.

And from the moment they meet, there is a spark. Makenna is everything that Ryan is not. Oh, she’s a strong heroine – intelligent, sensible, brave and stubborn, and she cares a lot of others and has a huge heart. But she’s also free-spirited and superstitious, highly sarcastic and delightfully quirky, and the contrast between her and Ryan is lots of fun.

“You know,” said Makenna, breaking into his thoughts, “I think I’d have a decent shot of surviving a zombie apocalypse. What about you guys?”
And just like that, the tension melted away.
“She does that a lot.” Zac chuckled. “Ask weird questions, I mean.” He twisted slightly in his seat to reply, “Um…yeah, I think I could.” Then he looked at Ryan. “You?”
Ryan opened and closed his mouth three times. “I don’t know how to involve myself in this conversation.”

Zac is such a great conduit between the two of them. He is understandably nervous about re-entering a pack, so he insists on Makenna being with him every time he sees Ryan and the rest of the pack members, eventually acting as matchmaker between the two of them, and it creates a great set up for them to spend time together. And the interactions between them, and the wider pack, are fantastic!

Dante’s brow creased. “Everything okay here?”
Ryan grunted, urging her inside with a hand on her lower back.
“He thinks you should mind your own business,” Makenna told the Beta, translating the grunt.
Dominic cocked his head. “You understand his grunts?”
“You don’t?”
“You got ‘Mind your own business’…from that one sound?”
She lifted her chin. “I thought it was crystal clear.”
Dominic turned to Ryan. “Marry her.”
Ryan grunted again before heading for the door.
“What did he say?” Dominic asked her.
“Fuck off,” she translated.

The connection between them grows stronger every day as they get to know each other and with the meaningful looks, lusty thoughts and banter flying thick and fast, Ryan quickly recognises Makenna as his mate. And in no uncertain terms, he lets her know that he intends to claim her.

“No one but me will touch you.” His tone was even but implacable.
She cocked an impervious brow at him. “Oh? And why, pray tell, is that?”
“For the same reason I asked you to be safe for me. You’re my mate, Makenna”
… “Since day one, all I’ve thought about is being balls deep in you. Your scent drives me insane. My wolf hates being apart from you. You’re an outsider, a loner, but I’d fucking kill to protect you. And I’d kill to possess you.”

The problem is that Makenna doesn’t feel the mating bond back. But secrets and trust issues can jam the bond, so Ryan is determined to smash all of her walls down, getting her to open up to him so that she recognises who they are together.

“You’re mine, Makenna. You can fight it all you want, but you belong to me.”

I freaking love these two together! Their differences make for a great dynamic, and I love that even though Makenna has issues that she needs to deal with, she is such a strong heroine who is nothing but honest with Ryan and the two of them are so functional as they began to let each other in and find something special together.

“You’re important to me … I don’t like being away from you. And sometimes…you make me want to smile.”

And, of course, they are hot as hell together and there is lots and lots of sexy time.

But there is a rival pack alpha who has his sights set on the shelter. He wants to claim the land and take the loners into his pack. But his motivations are nefarious, and as the Phoenix Pack become involved in the unfolding drama, Ryan’s protectiveness and possessiveness over his (unclaimed) mate make things even more intense.

Like the others in this series, this book is great fun. I was hooked from the very start and enjoyed the ride as Ryan and Makenna battled it out, and the Phoenix and Mercury packs joined in the drama in their own unique and badass way. I love catching up with the rest of the characters from the series and loved how involved they were in the overall story. There’s a great set up there for Tao’s story, and I’m really looking forward to that, but honestly I’ll be thrilled to read the next book no matter whoever it’s about.

I loved it – 4.5 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.