What do you think?
Rate this book
Steele Pack #2
Fugitive
Ryan is stubborn, he always has been. Patience has never been Thomas’s best trait. It’s been nine lonely years. Ryan thought Thomas was dead. Some secrets can’t be told. There are rules and laws that can’t be broken and often unreasonable Gods enforcing them. It’s going to be an uphill climb to fight for Ryan’s forgiveness. All Thomas wants is to spend the rest of his life with his soulmate (even if he is a fugitive), for them to have the picture-perfect life they always dreamed of together. They’ve finally got their chance to have it all, but…
The Bellum Pack is coming, and that can only mean one thing.
Thomas doesn’t have time to plan a war, win back his soulmate, and worry about his best friend, Penn, and whatever he’s got going on with the worst Pillar of all. How does the sweetest guy fall for their most feared God?
Thomas has to figure out how to keep Ryan safe and protect his entire pack from the encroaching war-hungry Wolves. As if that weren’t enough, having Tristan Steele, a human, as his Alpha might be what pushes Thomas over the edge, not to mention keeping Penn’s heart from getting broken. And somehow, he has to manage it all without burning down their world.
The Bellum Pack is coming, and that can only mean one thing.
Thomas doesn’t have time to plan a war, win back his soulmate, and worry about his best friend, Penn, and whatever he’s got going on with the worst Pillar of all. How does the sweetest guy fall for their most feared God?
Thomas has to figure out how to keep Ryan safe and protect his entire pack from the encroaching war-hungry Wolves. As if that weren’t enough, having Tristan Steele, a human, as his Alpha might be what pushes Thomas over the edge, not to mention keeping Penn’s heart from getting broken. And somehow, he has to manage it all without burning down their world.
ebook
Published October 24, 2023
4 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Read
December 14, 2023Before I even opened Prisoner, book one of this series, I read the reviews for both Prisoner and book two, Fugitive. Generally I don’t like starting a series if I have a good sense that the series goes off the rails eventually but despite the fact that the reviews for Fugitive so far are really mixed, I decided to take a chance and dive into the series anyway.
Based on the reviews, including the spoilers, I tempered my expectations for Fugitive and knew going in that the MC couples would completely switch focus from Ryan and Thomas to an entirely new couple halfway through Fugitive. This change of focus understandably felt jarring to readers, so much so that one reviewer mentioned that the second half hardly felt like it belonged in the same series, let alone in the same book. I have to say, I agree. Not only did the focus switch couples, the tone of the story felt completely different. Being forewarned helped ease the transition and I actually wasn’t too disturbed or bothered by the couple focal switch but the tone switch was really disorienting. The story goes from heavy themes with two young men who’ve experienced intense childhood/teen trauma and war to almost sugary sweet, insta-love between a wolf shifter that we’d only met briefly in the first half and wolf shifter god who had never been introduced before and wasn’t even part of Thomas’ pack.
As incongruous as the couple and tone shifts were, the story still could have worked. Unfortunately, something plot related really killed it for me.
Major spoiler under tag.
4.25 stars for the first half where Ryan and Thomas are the focus.
???? stars for the second half. I cannot wrap my brain around what DeGraham was thinking. Like if she sugar coated this God, Iver, in enough sweetness with Penn, I would overlook his intent to punish/execute the entire Mitchum pack for the ‘sins’ of a few?
At this point, I’m invested in what comes next. I’m still invested in Ryan and Thomas. I’m still invested in Tristan and Luke, especially because Tristan comes across as ace! But I doubt I’ll continue. Iver and the other Pillars feel like despots to me. I’d love to hear my GR friends thoughts on the whole Iver Judge, Jury and Executioner thing. Turn me around. Open my eyes. Give me fresh, new perspective. I’d love to continue the series if I could see Iver in a less damning light.
Based on the reviews, including the spoilers, I tempered my expectations for Fugitive and knew going in that the MC couples would completely switch focus from Ryan and Thomas to an entirely new couple halfway through Fugitive. This change of focus understandably felt jarring to readers, so much so that one reviewer mentioned that the second half hardly felt like it belonged in the same series, let alone in the same book. I have to say, I agree. Not only did the focus switch couples, the tone of the story felt completely different. Being forewarned helped ease the transition and I actually wasn’t too disturbed or bothered by the couple focal switch but the tone switch was really disorienting. The story goes from heavy themes with two young men who’ve experienced intense childhood/teen trauma and war to almost sugary sweet, insta-love between a wolf shifter that we’d only met briefly in the first half and wolf shifter god who had never been introduced before and wasn’t even part of Thomas’ pack.
As incongruous as the couple and tone shifts were, the story still could have worked. Unfortunately, something plot related really killed it for me.
Major spoiler under tag.
4.25 stars for the first half where Ryan and Thomas are the focus.
???? stars for the second half. I cannot wrap my brain around what DeGraham was thinking. Like if she sugar coated this God, Iver, in enough sweetness with Penn, I would overlook his intent to punish/execute the entire Mitchum pack for the ‘sins’ of a few?
At this point, I’m invested in what comes next. I’m still invested in Ryan and Thomas. I’m still invested in Tristan and Luke, especially because Tristan comes across as ace! But I doubt I’ll continue. Iver and the other Pillars feel like despots to me. I’d love to hear my GR friends thoughts on the whole Iver Judge, Jury and Executioner thing. Turn me around. Open my eyes. Give me fresh, new perspective. I’d love to continue the series if I could see Iver in a less damning light.
October 31, 2023
Edit: So, this review must have been reported for spoilers, as the entire review had been marked as such (which I’ve reformatted), but not by me. And that’s fair, but maybe the blurb should have mentioned this was a two part story, that halfway through it changes to focus on two other characters and not Thomas & Ryan. The book is titled “Fugitive” after all, so why would I think I’m going to spend half the book not reading about the fugitive? If there was any mention of the book veering off into the direction it did for the second part, it would have saved me from having to write a review, since I wouldn’t have read it.
_____
So, this was quite disappointing.
I loved Prisoner. It was such an interesting story and that cliffhanger has me eagerly awaiting this book. So, when this one started off from Thomas’ POV and back 9 years versus where Prisoner left off, I was a little bummed, but I rolled with it. And it worked, mostly.
The pacing for this was definitely an issue. Part One could have been the entire book, and it would have a) solved the pacing issues and b) not been such a disastrous second half.
I wanted more grovelling from Thomas. The romance was effortless, and yeah, they both had rough enough pasts that I was mostly willing to overlook the ease in which they found each other again.
But I can’t really forgive rushing that so that we could have the nonsense that followed.
I was ready for domestic bliss and some lingerie, maybe a few scares from the law, and maybe having to pick up and go on the lam.
I wasn’t ready for an epic wolf war (that was a few pages long), an Interim with a new POV - Iver, Part Two briefly being told from Thomas’ POV, only to largely shift to Penn’s POV (but with one scene from Iver’s POV), but then jumping back to Thomas’ POV at the end. But wait, Iver isn’t just a wounded Battle Wolf, and blah blah blah wolf lore info dumps and blah blah Tribunal.
So, Mitchum and Steele packs broke a bunch of Wolf laws and while they are waiting to hear about the spanking they are going to receive, we have an effortless courtship and romance for Penn that makes Ryan & Thomas’ romance from the first half seem like the hardest romance ever.
And then the Tribunal happens and everything needs to be repeated 5 times over because we are all idiots and apparently can’t retain any information about a 2 second war. And then no one really gets in trouble and everyone makes amends and sticks for a year.
But wait, don’t forget about the
So, yeah. The first book was amazing, the first half of this book was mostly great, the second half was nonsense. The second half hardly felt like it belonged in the same series, let alone in the same book. I don’t think I’m going to continue with the series.
Also, why do MCs keep referring to their balls as their “twins”? 🤨
_____
So, this was quite disappointing.
I loved Prisoner. It was such an interesting story and that cliffhanger has me eagerly awaiting this book. So, when this one started off from Thomas’ POV and back 9 years versus where Prisoner left off, I was a little bummed, but I rolled with it. And it worked, mostly.
The pacing for this was definitely an issue. Part One could have been the entire book, and it would have a) solved the pacing issues and b) not been such a disastrous second half.
I wanted more grovelling from Thomas. The romance was effortless, and yeah, they both had rough enough pasts that I was mostly willing to overlook the ease in which they found each other again.
But I can’t really forgive rushing that so that we could have the nonsense that followed.
I was ready for domestic bliss and some lingerie, maybe a few scares from the law, and maybe having to pick up and go on the lam.
I wasn’t ready for an epic wolf war (that was a few pages long), an Interim with a new POV - Iver, Part Two briefly being told from Thomas’ POV, only to largely shift to Penn’s POV (but with one scene from Iver’s POV), but then jumping back to Thomas’ POV at the end. But wait, Iver isn’t just a wounded Battle Wolf, and blah blah blah wolf lore info dumps and blah blah Tribunal.
So, Mitchum and Steele packs broke a bunch of Wolf laws and while they are waiting to hear about the spanking they are going to receive, we have an effortless courtship and romance for Penn that makes Ryan & Thomas’ romance from the first half seem like the hardest romance ever.
And then the Tribunal happens and everything needs to be repeated 5 times over because we are all idiots and apparently can’t retain any information about a 2 second war. And then no one really gets in trouble and everyone makes amends and sticks for a year.
But wait, don’t forget about the
So, yeah. The first book was amazing, the first half of this book was mostly great, the second half was nonsense. The second half hardly felt like it belonged in the same series, let alone in the same book. I don’t think I’m going to continue with the series.
Also, why do MCs keep referring to their balls as their “twins”? 🤨
December 2, 2023
While I loved being back with Ryan and Thomas, I wish there was a little more focus on present day and a slower/harder burn for coming back together.
I think there was more telling and less showing in this book, and it hurt the more intense scenes.
I did love Ryan's acceptance of all parts of Thomas... it was lovely.
I didn't really see the Part Two coming, and while I actually really liked the couple and the new layer to the story, I think maybe a bit more of the lore should have been in the first part so it wasn't so jarring... I also think it probably should have been it's own book, not on the other side of Thomas and Ryan.
I also would have liked to see more of Penn in the first part of the book, and more of his friendship with Thomas. Unfortunately without that, I felt like I still didn't really know HIM in his story, and I would really like to!
All in all, it didn't hit the same as the first one, but I'm hopeful for the next!
I think there was more telling and less showing in this book, and it hurt the more intense scenes.
I did love Ryan's acceptance of all parts of Thomas... it was lovely.
I didn't really see the Part Two coming, and while I actually really liked the couple and the new layer to the story, I think maybe a bit more of the lore should have been in the first part so it wasn't so jarring... I also think it probably should have been it's own book, not on the other side of Thomas and Ryan.
I also would have liked to see more of Penn in the first part of the book, and more of his friendship with Thomas. Unfortunately without that, I felt like I still didn't really know HIM in his story, and I would really like to!
All in all, it didn't hit the same as the first one, but I'm hopeful for the next!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2024
This book contains two novella's, the ending of Thomas and Ryan's story, and a story about another couple meeting. Again, it felt very original and I speeded to the end. What niggled while reading about Ryan, was how the cabin in the middle of nowhere in a few months got a coffee maker, dvd player, two live stock dwellings, solar panels and so on. How Tristan kept shoveling over money and transporting goods, felt weird.
November 24, 2023
Well, that went off the rails.
This is all the more disappointing because the first book was so darned good. There is just too much of everything here - too many POV shifts, too many plotlines, too much exposition. Combine that with pacing that was sometimes overly-rushed, sometimes glacially slow, it's just a mess. And the sudden introduction of just threw off the tone completely for the entire series.
This could be at least two books, if not three. At least that would have allowed the reader to be slowly acclimated to some of the shifts in tone, as opposed to getting smacked upside the head with them.
I recommend Prisoner - it's a terrific book! - but I really can't recommend this one.
This is all the more disappointing because the first book was so darned good. There is just too much of everything here - too many POV shifts, too many plotlines, too much exposition. Combine that with pacing that was sometimes overly-rushed, sometimes glacially slow, it's just a mess. And the sudden introduction of just threw off the tone completely for the entire series.
This could be at least two books, if not three. At least that would have allowed the reader to be slowly acclimated to some of the shifts in tone, as opposed to getting smacked upside the head with them.
I recommend Prisoner - it's a terrific book! - but I really can't recommend this one.
December 19, 2023
So I read the other reviews and still decided to give it a try because I wanted to see Ryan and Thomas happy and to be honest that ist exactly what I got.
I enjoyed the first book immensely, but I was equally glad that the second one did not press more on the pain and suffering this two already had. I felt like they earned a happy together and that is what they got for me.
It also definitly goes more into the fantasy direction as before.
It helps to know that this book has two couples in it. I was prepared and so did not mind, especially because 230 pages are just Thomas and Ryan. I do agree though, that splitting into two books would have been better and more cohesive.
I enjoyed the first book immensely, but I was equally glad that the second one did not press more on the pain and suffering this two already had. I felt like they earned a happy together and that is what they got for me.
It also definitly goes more into the fantasy direction as before.
It helps to know that this book has two couples in it. I was prepared and so did not mind, especially because 230 pages are just Thomas and Ryan. I do agree though, that splitting into two books would have been better and more cohesive.
November 13, 2023
I didn't have it in me to write a proper review earlier about this book. Even though I try to write them as soon as I finish to not forget anything, I just couldn't. I tried to sort through my feelings about this book, but there is just too much to just rate it properly. First of all, it was not what I expected it would be. It went from being heartbreaking heavy story of unjustice, survival, grief and true love in the first book, to the short shallow story of reunion in the second. In addition to this, there is the second strory about different characters. I'm not saying they're all bad, but these two books (1 and 2) like from different univerves. The reunion was really sweet and healing, but it was kind of anticlimatic after all those feelings in the first book.
What I expected from the second book? I expected it to hurt as much as the first one, but in some other ways. I expected for them to fight for their love. What I didn't expect is another couple steeling a spotlight from my babies. The story transioned to the completely other genre of standalone novels set in the same universe. I will read the next one for sure, but I feel sad about the original story and the potential it had. Maybe the author was persuaded by the publisher to bend her story this way, but it could be great series instead of just nice.
I rate it 4 stars because the author who managed to write something as beautiful as Prisoner deserves to be famous and have a chance to write something else.
What I expected from the second book? I expected it to hurt as much as the first one, but in some other ways. I expected for them to fight for their love. What I didn't expect is another couple steeling a spotlight from my babies. The story transioned to the completely other genre of standalone novels set in the same universe. I will read the next one for sure, but I feel sad about the original story and the potential it had. Maybe the author was persuaded by the publisher to bend her story this way, but it could be great series instead of just nice.
I rate it 4 stars because the author who managed to write something as beautiful as Prisoner deserves to be famous and have a chance to write something else.
January 5, 2025
Okay so ADHD already makes it really hard for me to sit still and read a book. That’s why I turn to audiobooks because it lets me do multiple things at once and I pay more attention to the story. Having said that, I enjoyed this book a lot but I couldn’t binge it. It was hard for me to get through with the constant info dump from Thomas and the pacing. Ik Ryan gave Thomas a hard time before forgiving him but I think it should’ve been drawn out more, give them more time know each other as who they are now and not the ghosts of their past. Additionally, I was totally caught off guard by the second love story. I’m not a fan of insta love (was it insta love?). Just felt fast and easy. I couldn’t feel like the stakes were high in this book, not like I did in the first one.
STILL
I love Penn and I’m happy for him. The writing is still pretty good so I commend Gigi for that. I will be reading the third book when it comes out because Tristan is one of my favorite characters and I wanna know what becomes of him.
STILL
I love Penn and I’m happy for him. The writing is still pretty good so I commend Gigi for that. I will be reading the third book when it comes out because Tristan is one of my favorite characters and I wanna know what becomes of him.
October 21, 2023
Thomas finds his love Ryan. He watches from afar as Ryan mourns him. I loved the narrative of Thomas/Wolf, watching Ryan, leaving him gifts, and preparing to take care of his mate in any way he could. Wolf helping Thomas understand that Ryan was taking care of him too. Their pain finally becoming mitigated as they become true mates. Their love story is a mix of tragedy, hope, and beauty. The book started with Thomas and Ryan but evolved into so much more.
Fascinating and imaginative world building. Many flawed characters seeking vengeance, redemption, and ultimately acceptance of their fates.
I loved the mix of human, wolf, and gods. This story had the same impact for me that the first book did. Please read Prisoner first as it is integral to the appreciation for this one.
“It is certain”
Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.
Fascinating and imaginative world building. Many flawed characters seeking vengeance, redemption, and ultimately acceptance of their fates.
I loved the mix of human, wolf, and gods. This story had the same impact for me that the first book did. Please read Prisoner first as it is integral to the appreciation for this one.
“It is certain”
Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.
October 25, 2023
A Joyfully Jay review.
4.75 stars
NOTE: This is the second book in the Steele Pack series. The beginning of this review contains major spoilers for two heart-stopping, game-changing reveals at the very end of book 1, Prisoner. That means this review will have major spoilers for the first story. If you are interested in the series, but have not yet read book 1, please take a moment to read my review of that book.
Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.
4.75 stars
NOTE: This is the second book in the Steele Pack series. The beginning of this review contains major spoilers for two heart-stopping, game-changing reveals at the very end of book 1, Prisoner. That means this review will have major spoilers for the first story. If you are interested in the series, but have not yet read book 1, please take a moment to read my review of that book.
Read Camille’s review in its entirety here.
October 26, 2023
I didn't like this for many reasons.
1. the pacing was too fast. Too rushed.
2. the kink came out of nowhere. I skipped the whole bit.
3. POVs changed abruptly toward the end. First it was thomas, then penn and then iver. I didn't understand why the author couldn't just save penn and iver for their own book.
4. The backstory was too convoluted. With the mythology, the war between the two groups, all the rules, tribunals, etc. All of it was too much.
1. the pacing was too fast. Too rushed.
2. the kink came out of nowhere. I skipped the whole bit.
3. POVs changed abruptly toward the end. First it was thomas, then penn and then iver. I didn't understand why the author couldn't just save penn and iver for their own book.
4. The backstory was too convoluted. With the mythology, the war between the two groups, all the rules, tribunals, etc. All of it was too much.
January 1, 2024
I am just blown away with this storyline. In book one we spent time escaping prison and learning how to live as a fugitive. I absolutely loved book one. But in book two we have learned so much about the MCs, the world/ omega verse where it all takes place. The character development was huge, the writing was beautiful and again I was left wanting and needing more. I cannot wait for the next book in the series. I'm hooked!
Read
June 17, 2025The switch of couples in the middle of the story was quite strange. But it worked.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews