I was somewhat disappointed with this entry in the breed novel series. The writing felt rushed, the plot contrived. I didn't find Del Rey's miscalculation of how is coya (Anya) would be mistreated by his soldiers after his rejection very believable. He's the alpha, after all, and should have been aware of many of the consequences of that rejection. I think it would have made for a better story if someone close to Del Rey convinced him that these consequences wouldn't of happened and then turned out to be the traitor. That, I would have believed.

I also felt some of the erotica missed the mark. Lora Leigh is gifted when it comes to graphic sex scenes but these came off as stock sexual encounters. "I've seen these before" kept ringing through my head as I read them, although it was interesting to see a little BDSM introduced at the end to freshen things up a little. ( )

The ups and downs in this book are almost dizzying, in a good way. You're kept held captivated as a reader and just rooting for the couple to realize what they mean to each other and verbalize it. The drama is intense and again the breeds are betrayed by one of their own. I love seeing how the female mates of the breeds interact with each other. I love how it's a whole community of women helping each other through and understanding their mates. ( )

Lots of steamy sex and a storyline too! Del Rey makes a lot of mistakes with Anya one almost costing her life and their baby's. Wish the library would get Soul Mate in! Looking forward to the next Breed book - Bengal Heat. ( )

Why do I keep picking up Lora Leigh books? I've never given one of her stories a rating over a 2 and yet, at least once a year, I'll breakdown and buy one of her novels. This is mostly because her futuristic world featuring genetically altered humans (aka Breeds) is fascinating. I always go into her books hoping that this will be the one that I absolutely love, but that never happens. Mostly because the relationships featured in the series are pretty disturbing. I hate how little control the heroine has over her life and body the minute she comes into contact with the hero. But my biggest problem is how the line between consensual and forced sex are extremely blurred due to the "enzyme" the Breeds release that sends both parties into a sexual frenzy. Typically, neither the heroine nor hero want to have sex, but are compelled to due to the "enzyme", which leads to some pretty disturbing sex scenes. My other problem is that every single one of these books, that I've read, relies on the captive heroine trope. So, the stories come off as extremely formulaic.

In this one, Anya has been working with Del-Ray for years planning to bring down a company that's been experimenting on coyote breeds. When Anya first approached Del-Ray she only requested one thing from him, that her family (who works at the lab) not be harmed during the take-down. Del-Ray not only breaks this promise to her, but also kidnaps her and unintentionally claims her as his mate. What proceeds is a really disturbing first sex scene, followed by Del-Ray being a rather spectacular ass for the rest of the story.

I have to give Anya credit for showing some backbone. Once she's within the Breeds compound she takes Del-Ray to court for his actions and verbally wipes the floor with him. The court eventually rules in her favor, which wins Anya a reprieve from Del-Rey for half a year. However, the points Anya earned for that stunt quickly deteriorated once Del-Ray reappears in the story after his half-year mission/exile.

Del-Ray returns from his exile to find Anya has been running his compound extremely well and has gained the respect of almost everyone who works for her. After seeing everything Anya's done, Del-Ray is committed to undermining all her work. He demeans Anya, keeps her in the dark, and essentially just shits all over her. But its supposed to be okay because he's doing it for "her protection" which was such a flimsy and ridiculous excuse for him being a bastard that I got tired of reading about their shenanigans pretty quick. It didn't help that Anya constantly forgave Del-Ray at the drop of a dime and turned into a big ole martyr half-way through the story. All this led to Del-Ray never having to atone for his actions and my wishing that Anya would just take her friends' advice to hightail it on out of that toxic relationship.

Hopefully, I will not find myself being lured into picking up another book in this series. ( )

I have been waiting for this book as well!! Anya and Del are a super hot couple!!! Really liked the story arc and all the wonderful steamy scenes!! I can not wait for more coyote breed books!! They are the bad boys of the breeds world and what girl can resist trying to reform a bad boy!! ( )