Part of Shifters Unbound
First published 2015
Bowman O'Donnell runs a North Carolina Shiftertown alongside Kenzie, his mate in practice if not in the deepest sense. They came together for political reasons, a pairing designed to consolidate pack leadership, and it worked. The community respects them. The wolves fall in line. Bowman and Kenzie have built something real, something warm, even if the mate bond, that almost mystical fusing of two shifters into true partners, has never snapped into place between them. Then a creature starts tearing through the countryside near Shiftertown. Shifters go missing or worse. Fear spreads through the pack, and with fear comes doubt. Some wolves start asking whether a pair without a true mate bond can actually hold the community together when it matters most. Bowman refuses to let the pack fall apart. He would put himself between Kenzie and any threat without a second thought. But wanting to protect someone and being spiritually bound to them are not the same thing. As the danger closes in, Bowman and Kenzie have to decide whether the trust they have built over years is enough, or whether they have been holding back the one thing that could make them whole.
Genres: romance, fantasy, supernatural, contemporary, adult, paranormal-romance
Vibes: dark, emotional, intense, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: fated-mates, forced-proximity, pack-politics, protective-hero
Setting: North Carolina, Shiftertown
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
320 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Berkley
Content warnings: violence