3.5-4 stars
This was a pretty good story. I liked Katia and Mikhail and the story was interesting. This is the first book I've read by this author. Based on this I'd try more of her work in the future.
Katia is a college student and is apparently around 24 yrs old. Her father just died recently and when she went home for his funeral, she ended up giving herself to the man she's been in love with since the age of 14 (also her father's employer), Mikhail. She's crushed when he throws her love back in her face rather cruelly and goes back to school to try to recover.
Mikhail is a Kindred (A combination of a werewolf that only takes the wolfman form and a vampire because they drink blood, I'm not positive but the blood drinking may just be with bondmates as it isn't mentioned outside that context). He's also the Cadre (leader) of his clan, running it with the help of his 2 brothers, Sebastian and Andrei. He's loved Katia since he first saw her at the age of 14 and realized she's his destined bondmate. For her safety though, he lies to her, making her run from him and his dangerous life.
Mikhail and Katia have a rocky start, beginning with his lies to drive her away so she'd be protected from the danger she'd be in as his mate. After their first time together he longed for her and had a hard time staying away. When he does ask her to come home. she refuses because of the cruel things he said. It takes Sebastian going to get her, saying that Mikhail is dying to get her to go see him. When she shows up, Mikhail is in a fog of pain without her. He doesn't know what he's doing when he cements the mating bond between them. He isn't happy with his brother when he comes to his senses and, Katia, hearing his remarks about not wanting her to have been brought back, leaves again. At this point, the mating has progressed to the point where it's dangerous for her and she is very weak. Fortunately, a kind Kindred (named Garret) happens to find her and takes her back to Mikhail. Through an interesting series of events, Garret ends up being appointed as Katia's new bodyguard since she's now the Dame (aka Queen) of their clan. When Katia recovers enough, Mikhail has to admit the truth to her, about his feelings for her and the fact that he lied to her to protect her. And on top of all that, he has to tell her about the Kindred and that he is one. When she doesn't believe him, he changes form to prove the Kidred part to her and there's some drama about whether Katia can accept him or not. I liked that in the end, her main concern was being able to trust Mikhail after his lies, not being afraid of him because of his being Kindred.
After Mikhail & Katia work things out between them and she proves to him that she accepts all of him (warning, there are a few sex scenes with sex in shifted form in this book). Now that Katia and Mikhail are together, Katia had hoped for some time to adjust but that was impossible because the quarterly Cadre meeting is taking place within days of her becoming Mikhail's Dame. Katia has to learn many rules and codes of conduct for the meeting as it would be seen as weak if Mikhail didn't have Katia at his side. During the meeting, Katia is attacked by a couple different Cadre and kills them both (to be honest, I wonder how she all the sudden can fight but you kind of have to go with it). This throws everyone, including the Kindred Elders in to a tizzy because she's female and a human. There's more action as she's challenged again and then there's a rogue Kindred attack on the meeting. Things get dicey but Katia, Mikhail and their people manage to take care of the attackers and Katia inadvertently ends up proving herself to the Elders. Katia and Mikhail arrange things so that they rule the clans together as co-Cadres and they start their HEA together.
This was a pretty good story. I liked the characters in the story. The plot wasn't perfect and there were a couple of things that required you to suspend disbelief and just go with it, but overall it was an enjoyable ride and I'm glad I read it. I'd recommend this book. :D