After a dominance challenge ended with his parents dead, Mason left Willow Bend and his pack behind, choosing instead to live life on his own terms…as a Lone Wolf. A wanderer, he keeps his life simple and carefree–until an unexpected encounter brings him face to face with his tragic past and the woman he always adored. Determined to get her out of his blood, he teases her into an easy one-night stand…but one taste will never be enough.

Alexis Huston lived on the fringe of pack life, adopted as a young girl. She’s never been strong enough, fast enough, or pretty enough–except to Mason, but then he left her. Allowed her freedom as an adult, with a promise to keep the pack’s secrets, she’s struggled to fit into the ‘human’ world. A chance meeting turns her hard-won life upside down.

She is left with two options. She can tell the only wolf she’s ever loved that she’s carrying their child…or she can protect him, keep the baby a secret, and run.

When Mason Claybourne scented Alexis Huston and knew she was in trouble, he had to help her, protect her.

It had been a long time 10 years since he was forced to go lone wolf. He knew he couldn’t stay with her but he could make sure she was safe and back with the wolves that should be protecting her. The thing was there weren’t any. She was here alone.

One of my favorite passages is after Mason interrupts an attack on Alexis and he brings her back to her apartment.

She seemed to remember breathing and went back to eating her ice cream while he cleaned and dressed her wound. When he was finished, he glanced up to meet her dark eyes.

“Thank you,” she said without a hint of reproach or her earlier antipathy.

“You’re welcome.” He kept her leg captive and continued to watch her eat the ice cream. Then because he couldn’t help himself, he said, “You grew up.”

“It’s been ten years,” she looked at the ice cream, and he found himself envying the sweet treat. It was an altogether unpleasant feeling.

“Why aren’t you in Willow Bend?” Why wasn’t she on pack lands? This far south—she was in one of the few unclaimed cities, though practically on the doorstep of the Crescent Delta pack.

She shrugged, and took another bite of the ice cream. “You don’t have to stay. I’m home. As you can see, I’m safe. You can go back to walking alone or whatever the hell it is you do.”

Trailing a finger down the back of her calf, he studied the way she purposefully ignored him. God, he’d missed her. Her sass, her temper, and the way she knew exactly how to give in just enough to make a dominant back off, but still maintain control of the situation. And damn if she hadn’t gotten better at it. “Alexis?”

Sitting forward, she pulled her legs away from him and handed him the second spoon. “I let you save me. I ran interference with the cops. I allowed you to walk me home and be all alpha male in charge while you checked out where I live and made sure my injury had been tended. I’ll even share my ice cream—but interrogate me? No. You want to do that—the door is there.”

He stared first at the spoon then at her. Her pulse gave away her gambit, but the steadiness of her hand and the clarity in her eyes was just too damn beguiling. The best decision for both of them would be for him to leave.

He was a Lone Wolf.

She was pack.

Her being human was inconsequential—he’d never cared about her race, only that when she smiled his world was brighter.

And he’d been living in the dark for a long time.

Accepting the spoon, he eyed the pint in her hand. She held it out to him and smiled.

There really was no other choice for him.

There is a history between Alexis and Mason, one that requires a lot of fixing. Complicated by Margo one of the enforcers who keeps their eye on lone wolves like Mason, to be sure they follow the rules. If the rules are broken the lone wolf will be punished. And it appears Mason is going to be all about breaking rules now that he has Alexis.

This couple is explosive when they come together. The question is would they be able to. I loved this book and could not put it down.

5 Contented Purrs for Heather!

Heather Long

National bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas in the summertime.

From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories–her characters drive the books.

When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.