The help comes in the form of Devan a strong Healer who made it his life task to "Do no harm. Give life not death". Sounds pretty noble, and it is, but it's not easy when everything and everyone around him is fighting for their lives. Coming from a peaceful place, being thrust into this conflict and even more than that to a pack who isn't sure wants him there (being a different species, even if still a shifter) isn't easy as well. That's without mentioning Zio, the guy he spent maybe 5 minutes - too long - in a club just before arriving on the pack's grounds.
Zio can't explain what came over him when he sensed/smelled Devan. He HAD to have him NOW and that he did, but once he realized he isn't human and isn't a wolf shifter he was disgusted with himself and left. Realizing the guy is the "replacement" to his best friend and roommate Emma makes him even grumpier and restless than he usually is. Rooming together makes it even worse. Because while the attraction is INSANE, there is also something else there, a calm when Devan is around. He doesn't like him! Doesn't want him there! But as time goes by and the calm composed Devan starts becoming one of them it's getting harder to convince himself he doesn't want him around anymore. Devan is more than and asset to them, he is now a friend, a brother.
Devan is surprised in himself how at home he feels with the Northern pack. While they weren't that welcoming at first, little by little he won them over and they in turn won HIM over as well. While fighting and conflict aren't his "thing", their fight now feels his own. While Luca and Dash (his alphas) have always been father figures to him, this feeling of a family is something he didn't have before. The connection to Zio is something he figured out right from the start, but he thought with his strong will he could withstand the "Bond". But as they spend more time together, as roommates, brothers in arms and friends - it became harder and harder to resist the boundaries and when Zio's life is put on the line Devan can't take it any longer and acts to protect his mate.
There are extreme consequences to his act. An act that not only affects the both of them, but mostly the fragile connections between the supernaturals around the world. A Shadow Bound openly assisting the Northern pack in battle means much more than a guy defending his mate.. So now their relationship is being bound by rules they have nothing to do but obey even if it more than just hurts to be apart.
I feel like I wrote WAY too much, but actually there is so much more to the story, especially Zio and Devan and how beautifully they grew into a couple without even realizing it. Yeah there was the Bond always there in the background, but though it was a pull they were almost unable to stop, they still managed to build a solid ground of friendship and care before it was truly triggered, making this, unlike many of these kind of books - NOT an insta-love story, but one where there's a real buildup to the connection even if it WAS influenced by feelings neither of them cared for when they first met.
I could keep rambling about this book even more, the connection, friendship and comradery between the guys in the pack, the way they lived their lives because of their life circumstances. As well as the strange relations the humans has towards the shifters which is still something I guess will be explored more in the next books, as well as more of the Shadow Bound and their special abilities. Yet there is something else I still want to mention and it's the affect Devan had on Zio. At times it felt Devan was FAR more dominant than Zio, making him submit to his will, yet looking closer it wasn't about submission really, it was Devan being a calming and reasoning voice for Zio. Something he NEEDED desperately, even if he never realized it himself. Loved that.
I'll stop here. If it wasn't obvious this book is a MUST READ. Grab it NOW!
Note - Dash's name sounds familiar? that's because there's a short free prequel to this story of him and Luca (there's clickable link at the end of this ebook). It's not a must to understanding this story but it was pretty great especially for how short it was.
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Rating:
★★★★★ |
E-Book
Edition |
256
pages
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Read on:
20 September 2019
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