Wren is staying at a dump of a motel and is looking for work. She is a chemist, and she is kidnapped, and finds herself in a warehouse, with a man, a golem, and some sort of undead. Since she has just gotten out of prison and is in need of work, they figure to test her and her skills in making an illegal drug. We find out that a few weeks earlier, Wren was called into Captain David Holt’s office to be put into the Kyzers drug ring, since they arrested the chemist that worked for them. As an FBI agent, she will go in under cover, but they want to give her a symbiote as her bodyguard. They will link, and he will be there to help her and protect her while undercover. Since the Kyzer’s chemist has been gone for two weeks, the production of Crimson Haze has stopped. Since it is made from basilisk venom and vampire blood, there aren’t many that can make a batch that isn’t useless or lethal. She doesn’t want the bodyguard because she has secrets. I found the information of what a symbiote can do to be fascinating. The story was enthralling, and I couldn’t put the book down. Forced to accept that she needed the symbiote bodyguard or it was a no go for the op, she does it. Zeth Thessian is his name. Zeth is instantly fascinated by Wren. They practice merging and after a few times, they are good to go, just in time.
Wren is upset that while they are merged she is feeling things that she doesn’t understand. Zeth begins to understand why and explains a bit to her. They are uncomfortable with each other at first and then things kind of work out well just in time. She passes the test and shows that her Crimson Haze is actually better than the previous chemist’s. She is pretty much in a lockdown and expected to make vast amounts of product. How Zeth & Wren handle things weren’t what I expected, but was oh so good. I was impressed.
The book is fun, sweet, romantic, steamy, weird, scary, enthralling and I chewed on my nails and cried a few times.
There are a few times where something happens and it is all Wren can do to calm Zeth down from doing something stupid, because he wants to protect her and he is possessive of her. The youngest son of Viktor Kyzer, the kingpin, Roman, is in charge of her. He does something I never thought and it gets crazy and scary from there on out and I needed the AC on high, from freaking out. Wren shows that she can turn Crimson Haze into something even more unique with another ingredient, and that impresses the kingpin. Wren’s circumstances change after that and then things get weirder. But, the majority is all for the good for the FBI. lol. My nerves were shot for this section of the book. We find out more of Zeth’s past and I cried for him. We find out Wren’s true name and Zeth talks to her after their debriefing. I love the ending. I can’t wait to see what happens next in this world.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.