DemonessTenebrae

Dark, straightforward and steamy...

Almost perfect. At least for me. I kind of dislike werewolves sou you will forgive me for not giving it a 5 star rating. I did like Runa as a person but that werewolf side of her really gnawed at me. Personal preference and yes, I know it is not nice to judge a person by their species but I just can not help myself.

Shade, a brother with a curse gets himself in quite a predicament when his allegedly-dead-brother locks him in a cell with his ex-girlfriend that is now ex-human and now-werewolf. Runa was his female human lover that ran out of his apartment when she caught him with two whores in his bed and he hasn't heard from her since until he saw her in this dungeon, in this very cell. She was caught while spying on his apartment. His brother, Roag, was the ghoul behind the scene that operated on the black market with procuring and selling demon organs and body parts. Now that Shade knew that everything became clear, all the strange happenings, murders, disappearances and organ-harvesting.

Shade and Runa had managed to brake free but not before Roag made them bond through sex and blood knowing full well that this will trigger Shade's curse and torture him for eternity. Roug didn't took into consideration that they will escape and kill his lover in the process. Escaping was the easy part because there was full moon approaching and with Runa being a werewolf he needed to take her somewhere safe. As Shade struggled with his bond and falling head over heels for Runa and doing his best not to admit it, she struggled with his restrained behavior and cold shoulder he always gave her when things became too intense.

Dealing with Shade's curse, Runa's shifting, Roug trying to find and kill Runa and Wraith, Roug infiltrating the hospital and Wraith coming close to the Change, this book offers action, suspension, mystery, deep family ties and steamy mate relationship with abundance of characters that make sure you never get bored or too tired of one couple.


Wraith has caught my interest from the very beginning (or am I just a sucker for vampires? pun intended). He is not levelheaded, all-knowing, cool and let's-think-this-through kind of guy. He is shoot first and ask questions later kind of a vampire. Well, half-vampire since he still has a pulse. The way he struggles with his inner demons, how scarred his past is and how much he cares for his brothers makes him the most interesting character to me.
And he has that ironic, sarcastic and smart-ass usage of language that makes me laugh out loud and it makes it similar to mine so it feels familiar.

      Well, duh. Look at her."
      Wraith waggled his brows. "I do."
      "That's not a screaming endorsement. If it breathes, you look at it."
      "As E likes to point out, breathing is optional."


As for the Runa, she is a strong female not afraid to speak her mind or take what's hers. I like that in a heroine. Strong, confident, smart and sassy female to stand up to anyone or anything that threatens her way of existence. But she is a werewolf so that's a bit turn-off for me. As well as her mating with Shade on a full moon in their werewolf forms. I guess it is steamy but not doing it for me. I'll take the vamp on any given day. Shade could have been a little more forthcoming with a few details but I guess that would shorten the book and suspend the mystery.

All in all, good plot, nice merging of the previous story, great development of other characters that we will see in other books and awesome electric buzz feeling in the atmosphere between the hero and the heroine of the story. And my compliments on the torture/pleasure chamber and all the toys/tools within it, it made my day.