RED WOLF – Jennifer Ashley
Shifters Unbound Series , Book 10
Berkley Sensation
ISBN-13:  978-0-425-28137-6
May 2017
Paranormal Romance

South Texas – Present Day

Dimitri is a rare red wolf and currently in the ring at fight club, something shifters do for fun.  Dimitri does have an advantage; his alpha has fake Collars for his group.  Other shifters have Collars around their neck that spark electricity when they get mad, fight, or act aggressively.  However, having no collar doesn't help him when his opponent shoots him with a tranquilizer and he goes down.  Jaycee, a leopard shifter and a fellow bodyguard and tracker, jumps into the fray to help him.  They are fellow trackers for Kendrick, alpha of their group, and have worked together for twenty years.  A while back, Dimitri called out his mate claim for Jaycee in public and verbally.  Jaycee still hasn't accepted, but despite being friends for years, Dimitri knows they are mates, not merely friends.

After the fight, Kendrick sends them to find out who is kidnapping or coercing other shifters into leaving and who knows where they are going.  They find Brice at a nearby club; he seems to be some kind of guru that attracts a lot of shifters to his group.  A bouncer at the club, Angus, gives out a vibe that he doesn't like Brice either, and when Brice invites Dimitri and Jaycee to meet his boss out of town, Angus goes with them.

Brice finds a direct line to the land of the fae, the people who enslaved the shifters years ago and made them their private army.  The fae also invented the shock Collars that the humans make all shifters wear to avoid their fighting and maybe trying to take over the country.  Many other fellow shifters of Jaycee and Dimitri must find their way into fae before Brice and their leader force them into their group by any means available.  It is a fight to the death as Dimitri tries to save himself and protect Jaycee.

Jennifer Ashley has written another story of the Austin shifters and their quest to save other shifters from the fae.  Told from Dimitri's and Jaycee's points of view, Jaycee is strong and smart, and her feline skills make her almost as good a fighter as Dimitri.  Dimitri fights against his stutter and tries to wait patiently for Jaycee to accept his mate claim.  Jaycee knows she relies on Dimitri for friendship, but slowly realizes her life wouldn't be complete without him in it.

There are many shifters we have met before that appear in RED WOLF.  There's the alpha, Kendrick, and Angus, Brice, Tiger, and many others.  There are also many fae in the realm of faerie, a place the shifters have never been to before.

RED WOLF shows Dimitri and Jaycee going to fae and trying to keep the fae from making other shifters their slaves again.  Along the way, Jaycee must gradually make up her mind whether she can live without Dimitri in her life, or if she has the guts to accept his mate claim.  Dimitri trying to tell her what to do is her secret fear.  Can she overcome her worst case scenario and accept Dimitri for her perfect mate?  Enjoy the Austin shifters again this month and reacquaint yourself with some old friends.

Carolyn Crisher