WILD INVITATION - Nalini Singh
A Psy-Changeling Series Collection
Berkley Sensation
ISBN: 978-0-425-25513-1
February 2013
Paranormal Romance Anthology

Beat of Temptation
DarkRiver Pack, near San Francisco, California - 2061

Tamsyn Mahaire has always considered herself lucky that she found her mate at fifteen.  Yet, four years later, Nathan Ryder has yet to claim her officially, and the mating heat is driving her crazy.  Tamsyn has always been mature for her age, and taking over the role of Healer for the DarkRiver leopards at seventeen meant growing up even faster.  She'd gone to a teaching hospital in New York for a while, but now that she's back, Tamsyn is ready for Nathan to claim her—she just has to convince him that she knows what she wants.

Beat of Temptation is in turns touching and heartbreaking.  Tamsyn has always been secure in the knowledge that she has a mate, but the more Nathan insists on waiting, the more she wonders if he truly has feelings for her, or if it's just the compulsion of the mating heat.  She's a woman who yearns not just for sex and intimacy, but also hearth and home, yet Nathan—who is ten years older than Tamsyn—wants to wait until she's older. 

Stroke of Enticement
2081

When Zach Quinn first meets his nephew's teacher, Annie Kildaire, something in him stands up and takes notice, and by the time the meeting ends, he knows he's met his mate.  Annie is serious, shy, and human, so Zach knows he'll have to go slow in order to get her to trust him.  Annie has no intention of getting involved with someone and taking the chance that he will someday leave her.  Yet Zach's flirting and playfulness charm her, and it doesn't take her long to realize that he could have her heart—if she's brave enough to risk it.

Though human, Annie isn't unfamiliar with changelings, especially those of the DarkRiver pack.  In Stroke of Enticement, she gets to see what it is like to be on the receiving end of the closeness between not just a couple, but members of the pack. 

Declaration of Courtship
SnowDancer Den, San Gabriel Mountains

It's been six months since Grace moved into the Den, and Cooper decides that it's been long enough for her to get acclimated to the pack—it's time to make his move.  The fact that he's a lieutenant and one of the most dominant wolves in the pack while Grace is probably one of the most submissive wolves makes things a little tricky.  Cooper wants to be sure that when Grace makes the choice to be with him, it's not her wolf offering instinctive submission.  Though the mating dance has begun, Cooper begins a gentle, seductive courtship, and he'll wait however long he needs to in order to have Grace as his.

Declaration of Courtship will bring together two people from opposite ends of the hierarchy spectrum, in this romantic tale.  Grace has been interested in Cooper, but he's too dominant a wolf for her to think he'd ever return her interest.  Of course, she's wrong, and Cooper has just been waiting for her to make friends and get accustomed to her new den.  Now all bets are off, and he fully intends to claim his mate.

Texture of Intimacy

In the aftermath of the battle between the Psy and the Changelings, SnowDancer healer Lara revels in her newly mated state.  Walker Lauren helped his family to escape the PsyNet a few years earlier, but it is only recently that he has opened up enough to make his mating with Lara possible.  For a man who lived for years hiding the fact that his Silence wasn't complete, showing emotion, even to a mate, is not going to be easy.

The lull after the battle gives Lara and Walker a chance to enjoy their mating, as well as their new family in Texture of Intimacy .  In spite of the Silence, Walker loved his siblings, nephew and niece and daughter, and defected to the SnowDancer Pack to save them.  Touch and emotion are new to him, and he craves both from Lara. 

While the first two novellas in this collection are re-releases, the latter two are brand new stories in the Psy-Changeling series.  The world Nalini Singh has created with this series is a complex one, so it may be a good idea to have read the previous books before taking on WILD INVITATION.  Pack life, the changelings, the Psy and their Silence are all things that are an integral part of the series, yet each story is focused on the romance and courtship between the couples involved in the novella.  The other thing these tales have in common is that they are both emotional and fun, making WILD INVITATION a book that should not be missed.

Jennifer Bishop