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The Stars of the Pack #4

Beloved of the Pack

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An omega is essential to his pack.
But an omega is just a man.
And a man needs to be loved.
Can you share your body and not share your heart?

329 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2018

60 people are currently reading
138 people want to read

About the author

N.J. Lysk

93 books273 followers
N.J. Lysk (pronouns: whatever) is a queer one—in almost every sense of the word—for whom stories have always been their one true home. She studied linguistics and literature (which is to say, someone offered him a genuine excuse to read professionally) and ended up teaching, but writing is their one true love.

Addicted to angst, enamoured of mpreg and always ready to try a new kink (in a book, that’s it!) she became hooked into the Omegaverse through fanfic (but he doesn't have the patience to write other people's characters) and has recently expanded from werewolves to hockey players.

Check out my shelves if you want some recommendations, including books that inspired me ;)


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5 stars
73 (31%)
4 stars
72 (31%)
3 stars
56 (24%)
2 stars
21 (9%)
1 star
7 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Jenni Lea.
801 reviews301 followers
January 13, 2018

*Second Edition*

I loved this! If you know me, you are aware that I adore mpreg stories. They are complete brain candy to me; a fluffy bit of escapism that I eagerly devour like a special treat.

This, however... this is not fluffy. It put me through the wringer and I ran the whole gamut of emotions while reading it. My heart broke for Ray and his alphas. Thankfully, they do get their HEA, but man, did the author make them work for it!

There is a surprising amount of depth to this shifter-fluff-with-mpreg-plus-bonus-KNOTTING story. The series has a darker feel to it and I admit to bawling like a baby in a few places. Poor Ray! He went through so much and I just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and rock him in comfort.

If you like your mpreg to have a bit more substance to it, I would highly recommend taking a chance on this series. This cannot be read as a standalone, so start with Omega for the Pack, book one in the series.

PS: this book was really well edited. :)
Profile Image for Niumi.
148 reviews4 followers
March 10, 2019
Dnf 22%
I just had enough. In book 1 Ray is repeatedly raped by the other alphas "because they need it" and by book 2 that plotline is pretty much trown out the window and does not even exist in this book. So what was the point of it in book 1? Makes no sense why it was necessary then but not now since the alphas can go for months without touch.

Speaking of the other alphas, so they all paired off with each other and Ray was just like "cool dudes" after he was traumatized and raped over and over for a year? Like whattttt? I feel like Ray was just a cardboard placeholder that things happened to but he had cero growth or personality or anything since he really didn't care about much and he only wanted to be left alone.

Another thing was that if the whole series waz pushing for Ray to end with Josh it took wayyyy too long and there was wayyy too little interaction between the two of them in the other books for me to really get invested. Josh was the least rapey of them all but that was the extent of his personality.

Overall pretty lackluster ending to a cool concept of a series. The smut was also super awkward since Ray hated it and got depressed during and after it happened while his 'alphas' only cared about their own gratification and wouldn't go out of their way to pleasure Ray. He waz basically a blowup doll as far as they were concern.

Read if you're bored but I do not recommend.
Profile Image for Rafia .
86 reviews83 followers
Read
September 2, 2021
This book in this series just had me so confused? Honestly it was going really good in the start of the series but then all these relationships just gets dropped in the middle. -spoilers- I get it that in the pack a lot of them may be attracted to each other but then all of a sudden, its just Josh and Ray. Everyone else has like backed off even though they all had a kid with Ray. I am okay with Iseu being in a reltionship with Sergi...but doesn't Sergi also like Ray? That is like the whole point of why he even joined the pack. Because he wated to be with Ray. But in this book he just backs off of him…I thought they were supposed to fall in love or something....Wait actually they were all supposed to fall in love...ergh okay...lets continue with the next book and see how it goes.
Profile Image for Coco.V.
50k reviews132 followers
Want to read
September 18, 2018
💝FREE on Amazon today (9/18/18)!💝

Blurb:
An omega is essential to his pack.
But an omega is just a man.
And a man needs to be loved.
Can you share your body and not share your heart?

Ray has been through a lot since forming a pack with his five alphas. But he now has betas of his own to support them with raising their children, a finished house, and he's even started painting again.
But the past doesn't simply disappear, and Ray is dealing with the consequences of horrific trauma. Fortunately, he has his alpha mates by his side every step of the way. Especially his childhood best friend, Josh. But Ray wants something different from Josh than unquestioning support and unparalleled devotion; he wants Josh to love him.
Not like an alpha loves his omega, but like a man loves another man.
For Josh, there's nothing worse than seeing Ray in pain and he's seen it too much and too often to easily forget it, but can he see the boy he loves past the scars left by the world?
If Ray is strong enough to ask for help and Josh can trust in that strength, there is a chance of a bright future for their pack—no matter how alive their ghosts.
This is the conclusion to “The Stars of the Pack” tetralogy and reading the other books is necessary to understand this one.

Profile Image for Amy.
2,063 reviews39 followers
January 1, 2018
4 stars. This starts a bit before the ending of Protectors of the pack, before they tell Ray why the alphas are staying away from him. Great ending, I’m glad Ray found happiness with his mates, specifically Josh. At first i didn’t want the other 4 alphas to pair off, but it worked for all of them.
Profile Image for Emily Seelye.
726 reviews25 followers
January 9, 2018
3.5 stars

This is the book we’ve all been waiting for. We’ve known from the beginning that Josh and Ray are best friends and that’s why Josh was asked to find other alphas to form a pack. It was pretty clear that Josh loved him as well, but Rays feelings were a bit of an unknown, especially after unexpectedly presenting as omega. The second book hinted at Rays feelings, but he still had yet to accept them, and he was perhaps afraid to show favoritism among his alphas.

In this 4th and final installment, Ray finally accepts his fate and realizes he needs to pick a First Alpha for the safety of the pack. He wants it to be Josh, but more than that, he wants his love and for him to accept it for the right reasons.

The boys end up dating and work on repairing their friendship first, which I liked. They also took things slowly, which led to some hot sex and a nice ending.

This is the last book and not a stand alone. I enjoyed it, but the ending was a little unsatisfactory. They agreed about Josh becoming First Alpha, but we didn’t see it happen. With everything that happened in the previous books, I needed something stronger. I am happy that they finally got together and his other alphas found love (with each other), and everybody was happy.

164 reviews2 followers
January 11, 2018
Fabulous Finish!

Note: This book is the end of a series and not a stand alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series even as my heart bled for these characters who, barely out of England's equivalent of high school, were thrust into a set of circumstances they are totally ill prepared for and woefully inept at handling. I loved some, hated others, signs of a good story. The pace throughout the entire series was just enough to keep me leaning forward and turning pages. Each book gives not only a bit of the MCs' history but their POV of the events at hand. I hadn't seen it done quite like that before and it worked very well with this last book coalescing into this satisfying conclusion. To watch these guys grow and mature both individually and collectively as a pack was hard, painful, but the author did it justice.

Five Stars for the entire series. I know this is the conclusion but I'm hoping not the end.
Profile Image for Amber.
1,701 reviews6 followers
January 9, 2018
I loved Beloved of the Pack by N.J. Lysk. This is the fourth book in the Stars of the Pack series, and the series should be read in order. I loved that Ray and Josh were able to work out all of their issues and I was so glad that all of the other alphas have paired up and are happy as well. I loved that Marisa was there to help her brother Ray and that she was able to get her desire to be a mother. I'm a little sad that the series is over, but I can't wait to see what N.J. Lysk writes about next. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
Profile Image for lex ❄.
408 reviews175 followers
December 10, 2024
So... I have some mixed feelings about this book. Overall, the positive outweights everything else, hence my 4 stars rating, but I still wanted to share them.

I have to be honest: part of me wasn't a big fan of the couples within the pack and a good outcome for the alphas after everything they put Ray through (it is the reason I skipped book 3), but the other feels that it was the best possible ending since he wouldn't have been able to handle the same experience from book 1 all over again for the rest of his life.

Regarding my view on the alphas, I didn't feel sympathy for them. Not because of the writting but their actions, I mean that I wanted them to grovel more because they barely even did, except maybe Josh. While it is true that Ray wasn't automatically fine after that horrible situation and their behaviour here was much better, the alphas still got the easiest and happiest outcome, I find it very unfair. I guess it falls within the rules of that universe because it shows how unfair Ray had it in comparison to anyone, but I just wanted much better for him.

Another thing I had some mixed feelings for was the result of what happened in book 2, .

About the main pairing, I have to admit Ray and Josh together do make sense. I am glad their conflict was resolved and ended up in the healthiest possible way under their situation, though it still is too fucked to consider it a romance. Despite that, it was great to see Josh having his repent moments with guilt and his approach of taking things slow/putting what Ray wanted first and before his own desires though. I also think their dynamic had a great exploration about regaining control through sexuality and discussing it with a partner more than once.

On the other hand, this is where I have to give praise where its due and say that one of the good things and the main reason I kept reading the series is that I find Ray an interesting character that was build up in a complicated manner. I got frustrated with him at times (especially when he kept refusing help), but his behaviour was totally understandable due to the amount of trauma he's had bottling up since the events from the first book, since everything that came after had a negative impact on him. I like that he is complex and we got to see his journey to figuring out his own feelings regarding his current circunstances and his future. I do wish the ending could have expanded more on it though, since the last few chapters did felt rushed and so did the discussions he had with other characters during them.

Another one I cannot skip over is the writting. As usual from this author it is very engaging and nice to follow, I absolutely adore it. I don't think I would have been able to go through this series if it wasn't for that. I also think it is great example on how characters should be written because the cast truly feel different from each other, something not all books have.

Anyway, I think this was a good conclusion, definitely less bleak that book 1 or 2 and I am thankful for that. At least this had a HFN and things are looking better for Ray (not classifying it as HEA because I don't think the story itself could ever have a proper oner without having the alphas removed). I needed to read this to have a clousure for his story, and I feel that it was a really heartbreaking journey of recovery.
Profile Image for llv.
2,318 reviews14 followers
dnf
August 21, 2020
Rating: dnf
It took the fourth book in the series for me to finally give up. I’ve had enough. I started reading this book and took a peek at the ending and realized that this book was not going to end like I wanted it to. So I gave up and didn’t read it. I regret even starting this series, it has depressed me to no end.
Profile Image for Elin.
938 reviews8 followers
August 20, 2020
So Ray at this point have been through a lot, and I was looking forward to seeing how things would work themselves out in the end.
Which was a long journey of a lot of stuttering and going back and forth endlessly with the same conversation. I'm sure you can ask a person too much if they are okay, and talk consent to death until it's shoved down the readers throats.

I don't truly understand the change from the first two books where it was Ray and the alphas to now three couples instead. And it went from them having difficulties controlling their instincts to being able to just go mind of instinct.

I understand the whole point of asking permission and following your own path instead of doing as expected and traditions. But I waited the whole book for someone to become first alpha and it didn't happen. And I wish I knew this spoiler before I started the book.

I liked the other books, this one less so. Things for me plot wise would have made more sense if they stayed together as mates, Ray and his alphas. Not Ray and his housemates.
Profile Image for M60601.
122 reviews9 followers
January 13, 2018
While the first book shredded my heart and the second book made me emotionally wrecked, this book dragged me along as it first hurt me some more and finally healed.

So, as far as I am concerned, the third book about Gabriel and Alec is not necessary for this read, and neither is the interlude about the other two alphas. No, this book picks up after the end of Alphas but from Josh's perspective for the first part. Josh, Ray, and all the other alphas are depressed and angry and emotionally distraught. The Alphas (Josh) know Ray is obviously experiencing some PTSD from his kidnapping and rape, and they all just want to keep him safe and to not hurt him anymore.

Josh's chapters were painful to read. I know I cried more than once. But the amount of care and love Josh had for Ray also made it sweet. That continued into Ray's part as Ray starts to heal. He learns to deal with his sexual drive and his desires versus his wolf desires. He deals with his role as an omega and a parent. All sorts of good stuff.

The only problem I have, and it is a pretty big one, is the bad grammar. The author is terrible at subject-pronoun agreements. Often times I could not tell who was being referred to. It was incredibly confusing. Add on to that the fact that many times, when the characters are talking, they don't finish a thought or sentence and cut each other off, leaving many things unsaid to the point of being confusing as well. Many of the conversations between Josh and Ray are weird leaps in assumptions and reactions and I honestly couldn't follow most of them well between not knowing who was speaking and what they were speaking about.

Still, N.J. Lysk is one of my favorite ABO authors and I have enjoyed every single one I've read yet.
Profile Image for caroline wilson.
606 reviews5 followers
March 4, 2018
A well written conclusion to the series.
I was giving this book by the author for an honest opinion.
I've really enjoyed this series and book 4 was the perfect ending to a tumultuous angst ridden series and the characters differently deserved their happy after.
This is the conclusion of Rays journey from being forcefully subjected to a mating with 5 alphas that have come forward to be his alpha's some partial acquaintances and others more well known to him including his best friend Josh. He's heartbroken and angry when he presented as an omega but through the series we've seen him develop with his alphas from stalemate to workable. After a traumatic act of abuse from a bad alpha he's reeling and disconnected from all his alphas and children. Book 4 is the process of working through all the trauma and bearing to fruitation his love for Josh.
Josh is in turmoil, he's been in love with Ray since they were younger but after all that's happened he's lost on how to help Ray come to terms with everything as well as moving his relationship on to being his top alpha.
I loved the characters in this series and that everyone got there happy evers. A good but slightly dark read but well worth a gander at this series. Brilliant
234 reviews7 followers
August 23, 2020
Bittersweetness, anguish, adoration.
Part of a series, and definitely not a standalone, this book concentrates on the fifth alpha, or rather, the first, the First. It runs through the intense feelings two growing up together as best friends, going through changes and perceptions and social expectations together, yet at the same time alone, each fearing the pain of loosing the other, until they're forced into a situation only werewolves in this world must go through. The desperate hope, the devastating sense of having failed in love, the anguish of discovering harm done to the one they love with all their being - harm they've done to each other, unknowingly, unwillingly, because of the choices of others.
Only the wailing howl of an injured wolf could describe the utter depths, and heights, of the gamut feelings this part of the story runs through.
Finally, however, after so much pain, so many wrongs undergone in this series, a ray of HEA. For Ray and all the pack.
14 reviews
January 21, 2018
I loved Beloved of the Pack. The book explains so much about the rest of the series, especially the upheaval to the pack after Ray's kidnapping. Learning how all of the events affected the rest of the pack changed my opinion of the alphas. They all are making the best of a situation they had no control over and learning the true meaning of love. Josh is the key to Ray getting as much of his life back as he can and all the love he deserves. If they can work things out the pack can shine.
The book is easy to read and follow if you pay attention. There are a lot of nuances to pick up on so the book flows smoothly. I'd love to see another book about the pack down the road just a bit so we can find out how it goes.
Profile Image for Joy Pryor .
300 reviews6 followers
August 10, 2020
An emotional read

I absolutely adore Josh and Raymond. Their love story has been a slow burn since their early teens. Through no fault of their own, Ray presented as an Omega, while Josh presented as an Alpha. This was troublesome because Ray had always believed he would be an Alpha. The new change in his life devastated him and his pack Alpha saddled him with five mates to begin a new pack. Ray suffered physically and emotionally with becoming an Omega, birthing 5 pups to his 5 mates, the way his body changed, feeling hopeless and then the effects of his kidnapping. This story is about how Ray and Josh’s relationship transitions from friendship, to wolf mates, to soulmates while learning how to navigate pack life and relationships.
Profile Image for Regina Lopez.
979 reviews5 followers
December 2, 2023
Este libro te golpea fuerte.
Tiene demasiado temas sensibles que te hace llorar o pensar en que tú no tuviste a las personas que matarían por ti.
Incluso, esperaba que el autor le diera el giro que siempre he ansiado, la decisión que sería la más adecuada para una víctima pero a la vez también está decisión fue tomada porque la víctima tenía un ambiente en el que se le permitía obtener esa decisión. Es tan diferente de lo que se ve día a día
Ahora estoy curiosa por saber lo que continúa en los otros libros
811 reviews7 followers
September 20, 2020
I really wanted to like this series, but I just couldn’t do the style of writing. The communication between the mates was difficult to follow. I believe the author was trying to convey the awkwardness of their relationship but it got to the point where you are like WTF I can’t follow what they are trying to say or do.
1 review
September 2, 2021
Il libro è Bellissimo 😍
I also loved the unreleased part of Sergi and Ray.
You gave strength and depth to the characters in a fantastic way. I’ve been in love with Sergi and Josh since the first book and I’m telling you I’m still in love with them!!!
Thank you for writing such a beautiful series of books and especially thank you for allowing me to read it!
2,321 reviews8 followers
January 11, 2018
A good conclusion to the series. I'm glad that Josh and Ray finally get to have the loving relationship they deserve and have always wanted but didn't know how to communicate. Sad to see the series end but it's a good one.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
5,704 reviews39 followers
January 17, 2018
oh this was complete and total perfection.. i loved it so much.. so many things just made me smile and made me happy.. it was amazing.. and the perfect end to this series.. with many twists through the series this just made me happy :) im glad i read it
Profile Image for Tiffany.
558 reviews1 follower
February 13, 2018
Not how I thought it’d end

It still didn’t feel like an HEA. I’m all for angst when it all gets worked out. I had expected for them to all end up being with each other and Ray. We barely got a peek into him having the baby. I also pretty sure we never see Josh become first Alpha.
Profile Image for Jennifer Veer-Boyes.
Author 1 book1 follower
December 10, 2018
Good Finish

Although I was not really happy with how the series started out, I am happy with the ending. It had the HEA I was hoping for. I still wish I felt more of a connection between all the Alphas and Ray, but it is what it is.
Profile Image for Suzanne Irving.
2,720 reviews24 followers
December 29, 2020
Great ending

With a very satisfying good for now ending this book wraps up this terrific set of books. I greatly enjoyed the whole series even if at times it was rather harrowing. I recommend this series to anyone who likes mgpreg.
Profile Image for Lostintime.
550 reviews17 followers
August 15, 2021
What a beautiful conclusion.

A lot of readers are scared by the deep sadness of the MC in the first book but I suggest to go ahead as that feeling is needed, is part of the story and the change is well developed and arrives to a beautiful and balanced conclusion.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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