Hot, Heavy, and Hotter Again
Ezra, Shadow Agent and dragon shifter, has been undercover working for the bad guys for a long time, and doing it well, until his empathy for prisoners Mae, Brad and Alice, gets his caught, drugged and stowed in a container on a ship, off to god knows where.
With the drugs they’ve administered, he’s left half transformation with a Dragon’s mouth and eyes, talons, and a naked bruised and bartered human form.
Starving and in pain, he thinks back to the little girl he saved twenty years ago; the girl surrounded by fire! Who didn’t burn.
The girl called a ‘demon’ by a father who pierced gasoline on her and tried to kill her.
Also, he remembers Holland, the woman on her twenty first birthday who he beds, and nearly claims, almost losing his control of his dragon form.
His vampire friend, helps him to hunt for the woman after he runs from her, but to no avail.
We have Elements of Stephen King’s Firestarter here; shady government figures and mercs trying to kill or capture powerful supernaturals, like Holland with her fire-related abilities. Also, the shady villains part has been seen throughout the narrative thread in this PSI Ops linked series.
This book however, brings us to the Middle East and a whole bunch of new characters.
As an investigative journalist, Holland is a wanted target. I particularly liked her Irish guard Donnie, as well as Echo the very large dog, who I suspect is something more.
Switching POV between Ezra and Holland, it’s clear they’ve spent their recent years searching for each other.
As well as the integral fights, and expected level of violence, we have the ongoing supernatural traffickers storyline and the whole ‘mates’ romance and erotica thread.
As always though, the sense of humour with Mandy Roth is great.
Caged and hungry, Ezra reflects on the maggot riddled food before him, and the gnarly vampire hood Felix Who has him prisoner.
“Last time he’d eaten a vampire it had taken him a month to stop burping up the taste of twice-baked dead guy.”
It’s a sardonic, ironic wit, and there are frequently laugh out loud moments.
I especially loved Holland as a child, calling her lizard-man ‘Newt’ and telling him off for littering, in the middle of their escape.
Amidst it all of course, we have aspects of PTSD and past trauma. Thankfully, as with many Romances, it affects both genders, not just a ‘damsel in distress’.
In fact, I love that a lot of the female characters can kick arse.
As for the writing, Roth’s skills appear to be growing and this book is much stronger than early incarnations.
Really enjoyed this one.