Review of :

                 Ruthless Moon - author Jen L. Grey

 Tom may be dead but there was still a traitor among them. As they drove up to meet with Tom’s cohort it was only partially a surprise to find the traitor in their midst waiting to meet them was someone they knew, Erin. It was fortuitous that they had brought Torak with them to meet the contact since he wasn’t known to the witch.  It wasn’t much of a shock to realize Erin had been working with Tom against them. But why, what would she gain?  For now, Torak must drive past the meeting spot. He stopped to let the others out of the car just beyond Erin’s sight, where she stood by her car. Even waiting in a Duncan Donut shop proved not to be safe for them now. After ordering coffee and donuts, Jewel and Killian quickly realized that one of the shops staff had recognized Killian and had headed in the back to contact the police.

 And so, it begins again, the struggle to find the captive packs, save them, while still having as little contact as possible with humans. But something was amiss. Tom was dead. Why was Erin helping humans capture shifters? Who might be next? At first it seemed like an act of revenge, but Erin had no interest there. Yes, Tom had targeted her mother’s old pack but now the pack that had been taken had nothing to do with that revenge. The kidnappings seemed to center around a territory. Another puzzle to solve.

 

Barely, escaping Erin’s questioning notice when they returned to Shadow City, after the meeting, the night before, the next morning they awoke to another demon attack upon humans. As Killian and Jewel headed into town to offer help to locate the human who had been dragged away by demons, field questions from the media and to calm down the raucous crowds, two more demons came flying down, directly in front of Jewel. Killian been walking towards her when he saw a knife appear in midair. As he had seen the knife so had others. He rushed forward with the media and town’s people close on his heels. Jewel was trying to deflect the knife when the demons in front her suddenly decided to quickly exist.  As Killian and Jewel rushed towards to their truck to get away, Killian still had to try to answer questions being thrown at him by the media. Finally, managing to reach to truck they spun away from the crowds, the media cameras and a town full of angry, scarred humans.

 

As they sped away from town trying to lose a couple media vans behind them, Sierra called to let them know the others were heading to Rockwood, the location where the humans had taken to recently captured pack for experimentation. Killian, Jewel, Torak, Sierra, Roxy, Alex and the others gathered at the rental cabin close to where the pack was being held. Their first move was to scout out the government location. However, even before they could reach the building, they ran into human hunters looking for deer. Then Roxy fell into a trap set by the human captors outside the building. But the worst news was this building wasn’t going to be easy to break into, the shifters had been divided, held in cages, in different parts of the building, with guards surrounding it. Worse yet, they had already started experimening on the wolf shifters.

 

Their time was short if they wanted to save Torak’s pack mates, but tensions were running high even among the allies.

Sierra, Jewel was certain was was the alpha’s mate, but they were spatting and arguing so loudly and so often she feared

all of them would be caught before they could save anyone. Killian was not happy with the thought that Sierra might be mated to Torak and was making sure his feelings were known. Jewel was quick to realize the pressure Killian was under, the guilt that continued to crop up when some human recognized him as the spoke’s person for the supernaturals, his fear that Sierra would cling to Torak and eventually leave to pack to be with him. Then Killian would lose the last link to his lost family.

Tensions ride high in this last tale, fights among those within the packs, fear they have lost the ability to shift or even communicate with pack members. There is still the puzzle as to how and why the packs are being targeted.  The suspense rides right up there in the midst of danger that surrounds them on all sides. While the villains appear to have no scruples about life as long as they consider that life to be less then human.

 

Jewel has grown in each book, taken on responsibilities, learned to handle her guilt for not being with her father at the battle that cost his life or even being at the camp when her PawPaw’s pack was taken. Most of all she learned to accept and love her mate, a man that she first saw as the cause for the humans being made aware of the existence of them as supernatural beings. And therefore, the cause of the government searching for, capturing and torturing shifters. Now she was becoming part of the solution, often stepping up as a mediator in times of stress, standing by Killian and supporting him with her strengths, knowledge and common sense. Killian’s love grounds her, protects her, when she lets him, and has learned to let her take the led sometimes, in spite of his role as alpha, together they make a powerful team. Many of the characters from the first two books are back and we see a bit more of their personalities. All uniquely talented, sometimes volatile, always strong and full of snappy attitudes, with emotions running high, but always willing to pull together for their place in the world and peace for all.

 

Readers will find the imperfect good, the slightly twisted antiheroes, and a few true villains both human and supernatural, romantic encounters and love even for those who are different. There are battles, worries for those being held and tortured, shame for the actions of humans towards supernatural beings, love for the mates and how they look after their own.  There is a story here that swallows up the hours, takes the breath away as you run forward to see how they may free their friends, enjoy the quips between friends and allies, delight in the romantic interludes between the main characters, wait for the villains to get their just desserts and if your favorites will reach the end. So I recommend that you grab a comfortable spot, crack open the tale and enjoy the journey all the way to the end.