HUNTER'S HEART – J. D. Tyler
An Alpha Pack Novel , Book 4
Signet Eclipse
ISBN-13:  978-0-451-41722-0
September 2013
Paranormal Romance

Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming – Present Day

Daria Bradford is a wildlife biologist, studying the most fascinating creatures on the planet, wolves.  She is by herself in the Shoshone Forest when she is awoken from her sleep by a terrible nightmare of a group of men being attacked by pale humanlike creatures with fangs.  One beautiful man gets her attention, his throat almost torn out and a knife buried in his side.  As she hovers above him, he sees her and reaches out his hand for help, and then she comes out of the dream.  Daria has been plagued with visions of terrible scenes since she was a child, but has never been able to help.  She also has the gift of astral projection, where she can go into a dreamlike state and visit places in spirit form.  The next morning she purposely puts herself in a trance, and just as she's about to find the man from her dream, she hears a loud shriek as if from a monster.  When she goes looking, she comes upon a mangled body torn to pieces, unable to tell if it is male or female.  Daria doesn't know where to go for help now as the creature chases her and she is knocked over a ravine into a crevice by a white wolf.  Her life is in the balance if something, or someone, doesn't help her.

Ryon Hunter is almost killed by a vampire while in New York on a mission; as he's losing blood he sees a woman who reaches out for him and then he loses her.  Ryon is hounded by the spirits of dead people; it's one of his “gifts” along with being a telepath. Ryon and his team used to be normal until they were all changed into shifters, and they live together in a compound.  Despite his injuries, Ryon can tell where Daria is on the side of the cliff, and goes with his team to rescue her.  Once they raise her up, they find that her life is slowly ebbing away, and there is only one way to save her.  She has to drink his blood, and then he will bite her and change her, and when he bites her she will be his mate forever.  Ryon saves Daria, but knows he's in for trouble when she finds out what he had to do to save her, and boy is he right!

As you would imagine, Daria isn't pleased to become a shape shifter, and then find herself mated to Ryon.  As she is trying to wrap her mind around this group and their compound, she learns they must find out about these monsters that are human and yet can change; and wouldn't you know it involves someone in her life.  Between getting to know Ryon and trying to find the clues to the evil drugs and what their purpose is, Daria has a hard time coming to terms with the changes in her life.

J. D. Tyler has created the Alpha Pack of former Navy SEALS who were attacked in Afghanistan and turned into wolf shifters, and then started the Alpha Pack under Team Leader Nick Westfall.  Each member of the Alpha Pack has different Psy and shifting abilities and has to come to terms with how they were changed and their fellow members who were killed.  Daria and Ryon tell their stories from their points of view; Daria needs all her focus on what happened to her.  Ryon knows what he did to save Daria was a last resort, but because he can tell she is his mate, there is nothing he won't do for her.  Helping her adjust to life as a shifter is something he would give everything to undo, if only there had been another way.

The Alpha Pack has many members who all have different abilities and have had to come to grips with their changed lives.  But they have been on many missions that other groups just could not have been successful at.  Nick is their leader and can see into the future, and there are other members who all come together to find out who is behind creating this creature that can turn from a man into a monster with superhuman abilities.

HUNTER'S HEART and the Alpha Pack are totally captivating and powerful men, yet each carries the trauma of being changed.  Could it be that they were created by someone high up in government?  This follows PRIMAL LAW, BLACK MAGIC (a novella), SAVAGE AWAKENING, and BLACK MOON.  I have not read any of the other stories, but HUNTER'S HEART can be read as a standalone, and as always one wonders about the stories of some of the other members of the Pack.  (Beware, that white wolf has her eyes on Nick Westfall!)  If shape shifting, SEALS and the paranormal enthrall you, HUNTER'S HEART is just the story for you this month!

Carolyn Crisher