Description~
Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed...and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.
Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life--the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows...
Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past...or lose everything that ever mattered.
Yet ANOTHER wonderful book by NS!
In our fourth Psy/Changeling book we get Talin and Clay’s story. Talin and clay were childhood friends. Clay tried to protect Talin from everything bad that came her way but one day when things got to rough with her foster dad Clay went over the edge. Ripping and roaring into the man, Clay painted the walls (and Talin) with blood. After Clays arrest Talin basically went comatose. Fearing her best friend was a first for her and she decided to do the unthinkable…fake her death. Years later Clay is still haunted by the ‘ghost’ of his Tally. When things get to be too much Tally decides to re-enter Clays life…but will it have been too long to forgive? And will Tally ever be able to get over her fear of the only man that has ever stuck by her side?
If NS wrote the phone book I’d read it…this woman seriously rocks and in this book she doesn’t disappoint. Like I said Clay and Tally have a huge background that left both parties in shambles. So when they first meet again things are a bit awkward. It’s been about 20 some odd years since Tally seen Clay rip into her father and she still hold the fear deep inside her soul. I think the beauty of this story was a rekindling of lost love. Tally had to overcome her fear…she thought her fear came from his beast, but when she looked deep into herself she realized it was the fear of him leaving again that made her stay away all these years. For Clay…him AND his beast always put Tally above everything. He knew he’d never love again so when he had her back into his life he knew he’d never let her go again.
This posses a few problems…well Tally mentors foster kids for a company called Shine. Lately the kids have been coming up murdered and now the murderer is after Tally! With Clay at her side she knows things will get taken care of BUT what about her even deeper problem…Tally is dying! There are even SOME things a man can’t solve and Clay is beginning to see this. Which death will come first…Tallys stalker/killer or her disease?
Besides the banter between long lost love/friends I think the side characters were a biggy for me! You get to see Tally interact with the other women in the pack. She always seemed to be on guard with the Psy women but once her intentions where seen things got cleared up. It was warming to see her fitting (for once) into a family that accepted her for who/what she was. The other side character I fell for was her special foster boy that was kidnapped. It was a race for time trying to find the boy but when she did it was as if he was one of her own. Their relationship was a beautiful that mirrored what tally sought as a child. Love and respect. I really hope to hear more about him b/c I know he talked about moving up within the pack etc…so that would be cool!
Snippet~
Talin's hands clamped down on the steering wheel with white-knuckled force. She could feel blood rising to flood her cheeks as her heart thudded in remembered fear. Parts of Orrin, soft and wet things that should have never been exposed to the air, flecking her as she cowered in the corner while Clay--
No! She couldn't think about that, couldn't go there. It was enough that the nightmare images--full of the thick, cloying smell of raw meat gone bad--haunted her sleep night after night. She would not surrender her daytime hours, too.
Sweat trickled down her spine at the sight of the cop cars. Her brain had learned young to associate their presence with violence. Then the door banged open again and she forgot everything and everyone but the man framed by the light inside the bar. He had one boy slung over his shoulder and was dragging another in the same way the blond had.
"Clay."
It was a whisper that came out on a dark rush of need, anger, and fear. He'd grown taller, was close to six four. And his body--he had more than fulfilled the promise of raw power that had always been in him. Over that muscular frame, his skin shone a rich, luscious brown with an undertone of gold. His every move screamed tough male confidence. He didn't even seem to feel the weight of the two boys as he threw them into the pile already in the back of the truck. She imagined the flex of muscle, of power, and shivered...in absolute, unquenchable fear.
…
Dumping Cory and Jason into the cab, Clay was about to turn to say something to Dorian when he caught an almost-sound on the breeze. His beast went hunting-still, then pounced out with the incredibly fine senses of a leopard, while the man scanned the area with his eyes. He knew that sound, that female voice. It was that of a dead woman. He didn't care. He had accepted his madness a long time ago.
So now he looked, looked and searched.
For Tally.
His beast kept growling that she was his and, right this second, he wasn't feeling civilized enough to argue. That would come later, after he had discovered the truth about this ghost. Until then, he would drown in the rush of wild sexuality, in the familiar-yet-not scent of her.
Even her hair was that same unusual shade as Talin's--a deep, tawny gold streaked with chocolate brown. A mane, he'd always called it. Akin to the incredible variations of color in a leopard's fur, something that outsiders often missed. To a fellow leopard, however, those variations were as obvious as spotlights. As was this woman's hair. Beautiful. Thick. Unique.
"Talin," he said softly, surrendering completely to the madness.
Her spine stiffened, but at last, she turned.
And the entire world stopped breathing.
Overall this book was amazing! NS always seems to give me what I need at that particular moment! I am soon picking up the 5th book b/c I just cant wait any longer! Lol happy reading gals!
I give this book a total of...
Description~
