Captive Mate

by Ivy Barrett

Lauren’s reward for challenging the pirate commander is a bright red bottom and humiliating arousal. Now the huge alpha shifter intends to claim her as his mate and share her with his beta.

It will take three days to reach their planet, and she must submit to their every desire. If she still wants to leave when they arrive the alpha has agreed to let her go. But with each shattering orgasm and dark pleasure they share, Lauren finds herself craving more of her captors’ touch.

Trigger Captive Mate includes spankings and rough, intense sexual scenes. If you are offended by such material, please choose a different book.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal Romance

276 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2025

Reviews

[kymagirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lauren (h) thought she was signing up for a routine transport mission. Instead, her ship is seized by the Baytorians, a dominant race of wolf shifters facing extinction. She's forced to choose between joining their rigid society as a laborer or becoming the claimed mate of a powerful alpha and his bonded beta. Pulled into the world of Prime Alpha Torax (H) and his beta Raul (H), Lauren finds herself navigating a society ruled by hierarchy, instinct, and control. Resistance and adaptation clash as she fights to maintain her autonomy while confronting survival, trust, and desire. ‍As tension builds, things heat up and a psychic bond forms between Lauren, Torax, and Raul, and what starts as a relationship built on forced proximity transforms into something deeper. Emotional vulnerability, dominance, and loyalty intertwine in a connection that challenges everything Lauren thought she knew about love and choice. With the Baytorian race nearing extinction, rebels arming for war, and political unrest threatening everyone, Lauren must decide whether to cling to her old life or embrace a future she never imagined in a world that was never supposed to be hers. A strong blend of sci-fi tension, emotional heat, and erotic romance. Intense sexual encounters, disciplinary scenes, and deep emotional bonds push the relationship forward while exploring themes of dominance, resistance, surrender, agency, consent, survival, instinct, healing, transformation, and adapting to a new culture.

[Elizgangsta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher (Bookbuzz.net) for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

MFM, forced proximity, shapeshifters


Lauren works on a transport ship that delivers women to other planets as arranged brides for men they've never met. As the sole provider for her large family—sisters, nieces, nephews, her father, and ailing mother—this job is crucial. During one such delivery, their ship is captured by beings from another planet who intend for the women onboard to become mates for their alpha males.

Lauren's stubbornness and courage draw the attention of Torax, the prime alpha, and Raul, his beta. They hail from a planet of shapeshifters embroiled in a civil war. Facing a declining population, the alpha males have resorted to abducting brides from space shuttles to ensure the survival of their species. Torax and Raul are determined to win Lauren as their mate.

My review:

I wanted to love this book, but the execution unfortunately fell short for me. The writing felt uneven, with jarring time skips. I also struggled with the portrayal of the romantic relationship, as the lack of explicit consent and disregard for the word 'no' made me uneasy.

The story also felt overstuffed, with frequent perspective shifts that disrupted the flow. While I see the potential for a rich world, this book felt underdeveloped, and the abrupt ending, knowing the next book follows different characters, left me feeling unsatisfied.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren and Zoe Reyes, Commander of the Lazino were on a routine mission. When their ship is sabotaged, they are taken by the Baytorian. They have two options: be claimed as a mate to an alpha or join the beta workforce. Lauren isn’t about to be bullied into being someone’s anything. She wants the reason why their ship was targeted. Commander Torax Jelzar and his beta Raul both knew from the moment they saw Lauren that she was their mate. She had spirit and was a fighter. But they would have to tame that to make her their mate. There is more to the reason for the ships taking. An alien bride company, Forever, Inc. is at the bottom of this. I do like Lauren’s spirit. She doesn’t back down even when she is getting her butt spanked. And the aliens are just that, they are also wolf shifters. The story does move at a slow pace. Of course there has to be a “villain” in this. Vibeth Rylon is a beta and is making deals with Cizoni. And incident happened that I honestly thought was something totally different. I couldn’t believe it. Abby worked for Forever, Inc and is next to find her alpha. Will this match be shocking as Lauren’s.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[tinynightingales]

This book includes:
- Shifters
- Fated Mates
- Forced Proximity
- Omegaverse
- Group Love


This is a classic Mars Needs Women trope in action. Lauren is cargo spaceship officer whose ship is overtaken by pirates. These pirates aren't looking for gold or riches, no instead they are looking for human women to help them rebuild their dying race.

This book is spicy in theory, but an unnecessarily convoluted plot and boring side character POVs took this book from 3.5 to a 2 in my book. The concept was fun, but I don't know that the author had the necessary writing skills to produce an actual plot. They should have just stuck with a spicy romp.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalle and Ivy Barrett for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6... and it will be posted to my bookstagram account https://www.instagram.com/tinynightin... and booktok https://www.tiktok.com/@tinynightinga...

[Ari Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captive Mate is a fun, fast-paced short novella—perfect for reading in a single sitting! It’s packed with all the elements I love:
💍 Marriage of Convenience
🚀 Sci-Fi
🔥 Delicious Hot Men, Alphas & Betas
🧬 Fated Mates
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Seriously Hot Spice
🌌 Rebellion, Different Planets & Intergalactic Drama
Shape Shifter 🐺
Forced Proximity 🥵

But the CRITICAL part of me thinks : The writing was okay—not something particularly memorable—but I did enjoy few characters ( even though they did need some development ) and the plot ( could have handle well ). The attraction and connection felt two sided, the third one was lacking the emotion. At the beginning it felt little confusing but as the story progresses the world building becomes understandable. Ending was very abrupt, it could have been expanded a little more. I’ll definitely be continuing the series. IT HAS POTENTIAL MATERIAL.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 stars)

Thank you NetGalley and Bookbuzz.net for this eARC.

[Kamala Bocanegra · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Not a big fan of this book. I like sci-fi, I love wolf shifters, and I love banter in books. This plot seemed very interesting but I don't think the plot was executed well. I feel like so much could have been done with the plot but it feels like the smut was thought of first and she came up with a plot afterwards. The smut wasn't even good, to me. I did not feel the connection between them at all. I don't understand why the guys are trying so hard to be with her when you don't actually learn anything about her. All you know is she has this job to pay for her family and that she loves to be a navigator. That's all you know. These never actually communicate about themselves so they don't truly know each other.

[bookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

i really enjoyed this book! i’m normally not a fan of too much smut and this book had plenty but i still devoured it.

the romance, world building and plot were all superb but i will say i think the stuff about Dynar was unnecessary especially since nothing ever came out of it.

Torax: 3.5 stars
Raul: 3.5 stars
Lauren: 4 stars

themes + trigger warnings:

- kidnapping
- non con
- spanking
- two men x one woman
- possessiveness 🥵

definitely buying the paperback of this and investing in the next book in the series!!

i received this arc via net galley in exchange for my honest opinion. thank you to both them and the author for this opportunity 🫶

[Sandra Sanches · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lauren and her crew are captured by the Bantorians and given two choices,to be claimed by a alpha and his beta or to be whored.
The Bantorians are rough and harsh, in desperate need of females but want complete submission.
Add to that rebels and other race plotting behind and hints to an overarching plot happening in the following books of the series.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kristen Kull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Story was interesting and sizzling hot.
FMC was captured and brought on the attention of an alpha wolf shifter. An alien. Each alpha male has a male beta. Both MMC's have different personalities. The alpha is strict and dominating. The beta is less strict, caring but still a bit dominant.
MMC's recognize their mate in the FMC. It just takes her a while to realize their both her mates.
Lots of hot and spicy scenes.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so this book? WILD. Imagine getting abducted by hot space shifters and basically being too turned on to be mad about it. That’s Captive Mate in a nutshell, and I am HERE for it. The alpha? Deliciously dominant. The beta? Just as bad in the best way. I couldn’t stop flipping pages—I needed to know if Lauren would cave (spoiler: it’s spicy). If you're cool with kink and love a little alien action, grab this book and thank me later. 🔥🚀

[Rosetintedglasses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was ok. Found it a bit hard to get into. Lauren was kidnapped by Alpha and beta and given the choice to bond with them or be put into the workforce & treated poorly. Throw in some rebels, arguments between couples and a new alien world and you have an easy read for the day.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Priscila Vera Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sci-fi? Count me in.
Werewolves? Although the MMCs would kill me for calling them like that. I'm in.
Strong FMC that has to adjust to live on another planet with a different culture in the middle of a rebellion? I need this book!
Yes, there is a lot of smut, but there is also an outstanding story behind it.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried getting into this one.
The blurb sounded promising, but I stopped reading this one after chapter 3. I couldn’t connect with the characters so this story didn’t capture my attention like I had hoped it would.
DNF

[Andi Downs · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable sci fi with plenty of heat, banter and three characters that have three days to come together in their relationship dynamic. A little intense but worthy in the end.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review

[Ladnamal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story had quite a bit of excitement and political intrigue. It also does have some potentially triggering content and one of Lauren's mates was overbearing at first but it got somewhat better at the end.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Abigail L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captive Mate delivers an intense blend of sci-fi adventure and unapologetic heat. The story follows Lauren as she’s captured by a dominant alien alpha and his beta, and what begins as resistance turns into a provocative exploration of power, pleasure, and desire. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you're into steamy shifter romances with high stakes and high heat, this one doesn’t hold back. I was surprised by how deeply I got pulled into Lauren’s emotional journey—beyond the sizzling scenes, there’s something intriguing about her choices and how her desires evolve.