Tropes: Alpha / omega, forced proximity, hurt/comfort
Feels: 3/5
Steam*: 2/5
Kinks: sex toys, knotting, marathon sex, biting, non-con, dubcon
Angst: low
HEA: HEA
Pairing: MM
Triggers/potential icks/content warnings/representation: sex trafficking, medical experimentation, sexual assaults, murder, violence
Cheating between MCs: No
Any cheating: No
Other person drama: neither were interested in anyone else after they met.
4 stars
Fenrir lost the grandparents raising him at 14, and he landed on the street working as a grunt, and then he was taken in by Michelle who runs the Wardrobe, a place that does medical experimentation for the sake of profit, they sex traffick people. He was an alpha, but because of the experimentation, he was turned into an Omega. He's been sexually assaulted over the years as part of them trying to groom him into a role. Now, it's been about 10 years, and he is being put up for auction for his heat for the first time. He has been Michelle's favorite whipping Boy and pet, and he's been tasked with a mission to seduce and bug someone from the White Frost mafia. He longs to belong to someone, and he thinks by doing this he could earn his place with Michelle as pack as opposed to the product.
Oberon is high level White Frost mafia. He wasn't intended to be Fenrir's target, but the Omega caught his eye. He wins him in the auction, he's enamored, and he quickly decides to keep him. He claims him as his mate. But things aren't simple because Michelle wants Fenrir back, the Wardrobe and the White Frost are at odds, and Fenrir has a new dangerous mission... To take down Michelle and takeover the Wardrobe so that it's victims can either go free or choose to become employees and have protections in place.
I enjoyed this book. I liked that Fenrir was so powerful and snarky. He definitely didn't let Oberon walk over him. They had a steamy connection, they were both smart and witty, Oberon was obsessed and at times Fenrir walked him like a dog. Well done story. The author won her battle against typos in this book, I only noticed one.
Two small things I didn't enjoy. I thought the preoccupation with this weird Omega virginity (having had lots of sex, but just not being knotted) was icky and weird. And I didn't love how Fenrir always referred to people as product. It would have made more sense for him to think of them as people first.
Some notable moments:
"Ownership? Up until now, ownership had only felt like suffering, loneliness, and pain. This current sensation, while edged in the latter, was so far from suffering it was insane. There was nothing lonely about this feeling. About being locked on the alpha’s knot. Trapped in his lap. This couldn’t be ownership, because that had never felt like belonging before, and Fenrir knew better than to trust in the careless words of an alpha getting off."
"“Have you been lying here, wondering when and how I would dispose of you? Precious.” Soothing pheromones exploded into the room, practically choking Fen with their potency. “I’m your alpha. I would never. Your life is safe with me. Now your ass…well, I can’t make any promises about that, but—”"
"“You have someone vacuum a cave?” Ridiculous. “Also, if someone comes to throw out bad food, surely they could have returned the multi-slate you took.” “It slipped my mind?” “Fantastic.” “It’s no big deal.” “That I’m mated to a moron? Kind of is.”"
*FYI about steam: I rate steam based on a combination of quality & quantity. I note kink separate from steam because I don't want to underrate steamy reads that don't have much kink.
**Note about spoilers: I like to comment on the plot of a book in reviews, so I almost always mark my reviews as containing spoilers. But I try to avoid spoiling the big dramatic moments! As a reader, I personally like to know what I'm getting into before I read a book so I know more about the content and if it's to my taste/mood, so I try to give that information in my reviews for myself when I'm considering rereading and also for other readers.