Stephine's Reviews > Never Cry Wolf

Sarah King has a bounty on her head and no where to hide. She has come to LA in hopes that the werewolf alpha, known for being ruthless, lives up to his reputation of protecting the weak. Lucas Simone knows that Sarah is keeping secrets from him but he can't fight the attraction or the urge to claim her. When their enemy strikes, Sarah and Lucas will need to trust each other or suffer the deadly consciences.

Sarah has learned of a plot to kill Lucas and take over his pack by a rival alpha. She hopes revealing this information will win protection from Lucas because now that werewolf is out for her. Though Sarah wants Lucas' protection, she doesn't trust him. She has scars from the last time she trusted a wolf and she doesn't plan on making that same painful mistake again. Sarah may have been a victim of brutality but she isn't letting that keep her down. She is looking to Lucas and his pack for help but she still wants to fight the shifters coming after her. She is resilient, intelligent and determined and I admired all that about her. What I didn't care for were all the secrets she kept from Lucas. I felt as if she expected him to risk his life and those of his pack but she was hesitant on giving him all the facts. This turned me off her character a bit.

Lucas witnessed his father's murder at an early age. Since then he's taken control of the most dangerous pack in LA and has earned his brutal reputation yet he still has a soft spot for the defenseless. Not that he considers Sarah as being weak but a woman in need of help. A woman his wolf wants to claim as his mate. Lucas isn't physically the most handsome man but his intense loyalty to his people, willingness to offer protection to those in need and rough edges made him a really good and unexpected hero. The relationship between these two isn't easy, which I think a large part is due to Sarah's habit of withholding information, but its what you'd expect in a shifter relationship: hot sex, dominate alpha, an initial denial of feelings, and a deadly ordeal the couple must get through in order to be together.

Another alpha fueled by revenge is out for Lucas' head and pack as well as Sarah for running to Lucas. What Lucas thought would be a simple removal of a challenger turns into a bloody battle and a betrayal he never saw coming. This part of the story was most interesting to me but things tended to get confusing and unnecessary when demons, different shifters and other paranormal creatures were introduced into the story. With each new character there was a back story to go with them and then it had to be explained how they were connected to Lucas or his pack. They often felt randomly placed and took away from the main story.

Despite its faults, Never Cry Wolf is a good paranormal romance read. Not my favorite work from Cynthia Eden but it managed to hold my interest with a lot of bloody action and a hero who had a grittiness to him I couldn't get enough of. The story was good but it could have been more enjoyable if all the nonessential characters would've been taken out as well as the plots twists that felt put in just to have have something unexpected happen.
-Stephanie