Marked By The Alpha Beast: A Fated Mates Monster Romance

Feral Bonds #1

by S. Alexander

He’s not a man. He’s not a wolf. He’s something feral… and I’m his mate.
When my village offers me as a sacrifice to the beast in the woods, I expect to die.
Instead, I wake up naked in a cave, trapped with a 7-foot-tall alpha whose growl makes my thighs shake.
He says I belong to him. That I’m his “fated scent.”
And when his rut begins, he doesn’t want to hurt me —
he wants to breed me.
Now I can’t run. I can’t hide.
And worse?
I don’t want to.
Marked by the Alpha Beast is a spicy, primal monster short read with fated mates, heat cycles, knotting, and a protective, possessive monster who will ruin you sweetly. HEA guaranteed.

Genres: Monsters, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Smut

42 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2025

Reviews

[V. (book hangover or book slump?)]

[ No Rating ]

As much as I enjoyed reading this, seeing this cover on my kindle at 3 am vs Goodreads the next day ruined my post book bliss 😭

Past me would say that Marked By The Alpha Beast was a vibe!

Though there were some issues at the end where paragraphs were being repeated in what I'm assuming was (and still is) an editing issue...

⚠️ BUT ⚠️

After going down the rabbit hole and looking at other books by S. Alexander... this book and / or author is giving AI 😱

Now before anyone panics or start fighting, I would like to say that:

#1 🚩 The cover of this book does NOT have a credited artist or cover illustrator.

#2 🚩 This author does NOT have a Goodreads bio.

#3 🚩 Other books by this author feature extremely similar covers (please refer to point #1 again).

#4 🚩 This author has an invalid link to their website on their Amazon bio.

#5 🚩 Visiting the provided Facebook group link via Amazon, please refer to points #1 and #3 again.

While I've seen innocent authors and digital artists being accused of using AI—and they rightfully stood up for themselves showing they haven't—I cannot in good conscience continue reading anything by S. Alexander.

Personally ‼️ I hate AI with a burning passion ‼️ and will call everyone that uses it a clanker.

Even though I gave this 4 stars ⭐️ when I finished it, after looking into it, I'm sad to see such an interesting world go to waste because what if those editing issues weren't innocent but a glitch ??? How can you trust someone's work when they use programs to steal from other people ???

~ I'd rather support a book with badly edited stock images rather than AI slop ~

But really... I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't look past the cover of Marked By The Alpha Beast and couldn't find anything to contradict my suspicions 😢

[Danielle Curry · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story uses common paranormal romance elements—human offerings, possession, a dangerous non-human alpha—but they’re handled in a very surface-level way. The romance is basically instant, which made it hard to feel any real emotional connection or tension.

If this premise sounds interesting, I honestly recommend A Soul to Keep (Duskwalker Brides) instead. The core ideas are strikingly similar, but that book delivers a true slow burn, deeper world-building, and a romance that actually develops over time. By comparison, Marked by the Alpha Beast felt like a condensed, less fleshed-out version of a story I’ve already read done better.

This may work for readers who want a quick, spicy paranormal read with minimal buildup, but if you’re looking for substance, atmosphere, and emotional payoff, this one fell short for me

[Kacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story. There’s a bit of a misprint issue in the last chapter where a page repeats itself but then picks back up. Super cute spicy story, I can’t wait to read the rest of the series now.

Human x Monster
Virgin Sacrifice
Magic
Mates

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unmemorable.

[Merrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the very definition of fine. I like the idea of it but the execution was way too rushed.

[Katrina Apgar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fix chapter 6

The book was fine I had a nice flow and then you get to chapter 6 and you're getting into the aftermath and you're reading a long and Bam on page 35 it starts all the way back at the beginning of chapter 6 so then you have to go through all of it to get to the end of what they were talking about when you got cut off that needs to be fixed. That kind of just ruined the flow I was in it and then Jarred out of my reading because of the jump back to the beginning. If that's fixed then it's a great little book I would have given all five stars but that just really throws off your rhythm of reading so be prepared for that.

[Stephanie Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this version of sacrificed villager to a beast in the woods. And it also had some sweet moments in there.

It has good bones (no pun intended) and there was a slight misprint in the book but it didn’t detract from the story to me. I interpreted it as an editing or formatting error and it was easy to pick right back up.

These characters were enjoyable. I’ll check out the rest of the series for sure.

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME

I was told by Amazon that I couldn't post reviews anymore because of the emojis that I put in them, go figure. But I'll try and leave this one. I Loved this story although it seems like all the sexy parts were cut out. I think Amazon goes to far sometimes. I'll read the next book and hope it's better.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacrificed

Lyra is sacrificed to the first beast to protect her village but finds herself drawn to the beast who is more humanoid than she thought and even has a name, Caelan. As their bond intensifies Lyra knows she cannot deny the mating and soon find herself bonded to Caeklan and the forest in this dirty short.

[Alex Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

exactly what it says

This book gives you exactly what it promises. Monsters smut. But he’s a sweet monster at least for her. I wish I saw the reveal to the clan. But I suppose I could think something up. Extremely quick read.

[✮Octjillery✮ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh.

The sixth (final) chapter gets cut off shortly before the end, and then the entirety of that chapter is repeated, followed by the last few lines for the ending. How does no one check these things? I'm so sick of this blatant laziness in books these days.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but Sweet

This was so good. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. It was well written and full of consent. I liked how you got a slight background on why the ritual to understand why it's happening. I'm definitely reading more from this author.

[Una V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and Sweet

Not what I expected at all. I recommend for a short, sweet, hot read. My high praise goes to the fact that most short novellas leave questions, this one does not, it’s a complete picture.

[Jill K. Davis]

Better than I thought it would be... the beast is sweet, despite being, well, a beast.
There is an error in the text in that it repeats the start of chapter 6, but once you find where you left off, it finishes.

[Amy May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

Last chapter is included twice as s well as a fairly basic "lore encyclopedia" no one asked for,as the answers are pretty straightforward in the tale. Cute,but not AMAZING. will pass the time if that's what you are looking to do.

[Alex Silver]

Oh my god stop giving her one last chance to leave. Ughh

[Deja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay quick read

[Amy Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repeat

This read was ok but there were several mistakes. Chapter 6 repeats the entire chapter instead of ending with the right ending.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short & sweet! This is a short and spicy monster romance with rutting, knotting, and a HEA. Don’t run! The monster can’t stop the chase if you do!!!

[Ava · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean it’s kinda sweet and pretty smutty so 2 stars.

[Colette aka Colatte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and fast paced

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent

This was pretty decent up to where the paragraphs repeated, either an error in uploading or someone missed it completely.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a good book about fated mates!

[LastNightInVegas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3

[Milicaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The typo at the end pmo but with cool read

[Kay F. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

This was a good read for a short story, liked the premise of a village that sacrificed annually to what was supposed to be a beast

[RyAnne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty sure this is some AI bs, it was not worth the 20 mins it took to read lol