Not my favorite, for the dubcon MM content. I've read the other books in Coveted Prey + I have enjoyed them for what they were. So I knew mostly of what type of Omegaverse characters that could happen in Liv's books. This book however is the first of the books that dips into that MM content.
Plot wise and setup though this had the most interesting premise to me out of all the books + even the excerpt. However once the main plot ends (half wayish through the book) - then it's onto the relationships part which..............yeah did not go with me well. That's when my rankings went from a four and down.
Basically the other arc of the book is Dede now exposing as an Omega, but the thing is that Grady basically locks her into a room (not knowing she is) until she gets her period. The thing that's a bit twisted to me is that he takes her out when he realizes she is an Omega, and then apologies while then putting her in her room which he has been staying in. (Remember this is her room that Killian would rut other girls in too lol............whatever I guess, even if she is a princess. Past books from Liv have had the random girls whom people have done still nearby so I guess why should this phase me.)
Declan is letting this go since he knows it needs to get out of Grady's system, and Bryan is locked up while this whole debacle is happening. Which on Declan's part...uh. okay sure just let Dede whom you know is an Omega go on like that. Well to be fair Declan has said he loves BOTH. /shrugs/
Even if Dede was NOT an omega, that's just messed up that Grady was doing that to her - but the moment he realizes she is an Omega? He's sorry. Well it's not the end, since then when he realizes he basically hides her in this room and ruts her alone for days. Everyone knows this is cruel so it's no surprise when he leaves her - Dede seduces and gets into Declan who is already in love with her. In my opinion the hottest scenes in the book was Dede x Declan if I had to rank.
The first MM scene (no rut) is hot where Dede is doing head to both Declan and Bryan. HOWEVER right after that is when it falls for me. Up to this scene, there's been no prep for Bryan getting some MM content - or feelings...but he's the character who gets that dubcon.
After Declan rut Bryan...I was really close to DNF for once with Liv's book. Declan is doing this as a also authority as an alpha - plus his own lust + Dede wants a hot show...it was just too fast, too forced and totally dubcon. Basically it's the Alpha authority, but the difference is that Declan does that by fucking Bryan (and eventually Grady) since it's what they "need" as he puts it.
Bryan got into the mindset of what sometimes happens with characters after dubcon sex - dick in, brain out. After the rutting he loves Declan...???? It at this point felt a bit comical since Bryan is sort of really innocent/sweet, but where did this come from? It basically just pointed to he was that good in bed to Bryan lol............
Declan was interesting and honestly pretty well out compared in tier for Alphas that Liv has written...but it did feel like the MM portion for him (who is also the driving portion). I could see why he loved Dede but kept it in the backburner, but honestly Dede's feelings to me in the end for him...really just went to lust. In the epilogue she does say it to him, but it didn't flow right. Also Grady's MM feelings were just a write in to me, since he tells Declan he's not into that or that way (but way later in the book Declan mentions how when Grady was younger...he did? (I guess experimenting?) idk.
Dede at this point has extreme Omega/preheat brain, so honestly she just went into the background to me and is getting all the sexytime and show she needs.
In terms of "sweetness" it would be Bryan, Declan, and then Grady dead last.
In terms of being smart... Declan, Bryan, and then Grady last.
In terms of alphahole(ish) category it would be Grady, Declan, and hm...Bryan doesn't fit in here.
Basically Grady and Bryan are mostly polar opposites and Declan is the balance to them both.
In the end, it felt that this book was trying to check off too many kink checklists - that it didn't all cohesively fall together. Out of all the books in this series, it had one of the most interesting plots - but to me ranks the lowest out of them all sadly :(
OH! But wait bonus thing, I am so glad that after Declan ruts the guy's ass - at least it's mentioned that he cleans himself up before having sex with Dede. (You never know when those things can get gross lol in dark books)
Honestly just because the MM felt so forced I couldn't fully enjoy it - if you are just reading only the steam scenes and don't care about the cohesive feelings, it's alright...but the dubcons. That and I mean it does feel like the scenes are lacking in some way compared to the way Liv wrote scenes in previous books. Because there's just so many things trying to be checked off could be why it doesn't work for me. It would've been better if this book either took most of the MM or spanned it into two books to make it more cohesive.