Important to Read Before Moving on to Zero Tolerance!
"Zero Hour" is the 15th installment and 4th short story in the Lost Kings MC series written by author Autumn Jones Lake. It is a refresher of sorts of Z's and Lilly's meeting and budding connection. And unlike Lake's previous novellas, this one is told as five separate, chapter length, story shorts, four taken from previous Lost Kings (LOKI) installments, and one new story.
Unlike the other couples within this series, Z and Lilly pop in and out seemingly at random. They do not have a consistent story like other couples such as Wrath and Trinity have. Which, after reading the other series books, is a perfect example of the brilliant frameworking by Lake to parallel their personalities, and where they are in life, to the pacing of the LOKI world around them. As a result, they have flitted in and out of the previous books at a fairly fast pace, so it was nice to have all of their setup scenarios in one place.
And even though I am still seething at Lilly after the end events of the last book... It was definitely nice to get a reminder of how their relationship came to be. And it offers some enlightening bits that better frame the events leading up to the bombshell revelation contained at the end of "After Glow".
Honestly, the rage I felt toward Lilly at the end of "After Glow" had me contemplating skipping this novella, and instead, diving directly into "Zero Tolerance". However, I'm glad I didn't because reading the five stories together afforded me some time to better understand the head spaces of both characters. It also allowed me to see interactions between them differently, in a context pertaining solely to them. This cooled my anger some at Lilly...not much...BUT, I do feel I have a better sense of the "why" of things that lead to the bombshell ending of "After Glow". And unlike her other novellas, which were intended as fun, lighthearted side trips, this one is important to understanding Z and Lilly's relationship foundation, and neccessary to read before going into their trilogy.
Despite my current hatred for Lilly, this book nicely sets the stage for her's and Z's story in full, contained in Lake's next three Loki books, "Zero Tolerance", "Zero Regret", and "Zero Apologies". It is a necessary introduction and a proper prequel to what I know is a much, much, much bigger story. Kudos once again to Lake for offering up yet another emotionally complex, compelling story. I am firmly addicted to the Lost Kings MC universe, and a life long fan of Autmn Jones Lake. NOW, on to Zero!!