4.25stars reallySibling shifters Connor and Maya Anderson are on their annual rainforest vacation when Connor see's a military mission going awry and into the hands of the local drug cartel. Held captive by the drug lords is undercover army recruit Kat MacKnight. Connor is enchanted by Kat but does what he can to help her escape before he hears her back-up team coming to her rescue. Though Connor and Kat spend a bit of the next year (off page) remembering each other they are both aware that chances of seeing each other again or deepening their relationship are slim at best. Circumstances have them in practically the same situation a year later except this time the pull is so much stronger. After meeting her, Maya has decided that Kat would make a wonderful mate for her brother and a great sister for herself and sets about making that happen. However, the drug lord is determined to have vengeance on Kat and decrees she will suffer for the humiliation and infiltration of his organization with her life. The character roster for this outing was rather small but present were distinctly written and contributed a great deal to laying the foundation of this origin story and furthering the plot of a fairly well written thriller. Connor and Kat were both good as independent characters and I liked that she was a very smart, capable and independent woman. Connor was secure in his alpha-ness and while the protective gene was strong and he came close a couple of time to freeing his inner caveman, he kept a rein on it by showing the softer side of alpha males. They were a wonderful couple and team. The third member of their trio, Maya, was so bubby and well developed that she seemed familiar and comfortable right away. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the mysterious Wade Patterson in future installments and I liked how over the top the villain was in his desire that he wouldn't b bested by a mere woman. The story moved at a wonderfully rapid pace, laying a firm foundation as the rules for this world were strewn throughout the story. The action scenes and final exorcism for Kat's demons were both very well played. I loved the previous shifter series by this author and am hopeful that this one will turn out to be just as addictive for me. I liked tnis book at first but the repetition of citrus smell and primitiveness and the nature if the jaguar bugged me. Also there were a couple of places were Kat's name (heroine) was switched with Maya's (hero's sister). That's just a gross mix up for this reader. I can handle bad writing because what is really important to me is an engaging plot. But the name thing really took me out of the story.
