Wolf Mate by Jen L. Grey

All of us are different, each in our own way, we are unique. Within the world of supernatural beings, wolf shifters, vampires, and witches they believe there are only humans outside their realm. But they are wrong. There is Skylar…

She’d always known she was adopted, that her parents loved her in their own way, but were slightly uncomfortable with the weird things that happened around her when her emotions started amped up.  By Kindergarten even someone she believed was a true friend turned from her labeling her strange. Her only comfort came as she escaped to the woods. As she reached into the ground it seemed to calm the blood that jolted within her. The ground would stop shaking and the wind around her calmed. Even as the animals gathered closer to her, she felt a sense of peace. It was why she wanted to become a vet. Her empathy for animals and their affinity for her.

After completing two years at a local college, Skylar was offered a full scholarship at an elite college that could put her on the fast track to veterinary school. Her parents were so delighted they practically shoved her out the door. She’d even emailed her designated roommate, Lucy, a few times and she sounded so friendly.  At twenty-two Skylar began to hope she might make a friend and things would be different at EEU.

 However, Lucy took one look at her and ran to try to change rooms with someone else. Rafe Wright, the hero of the football team, singles her in front of others for his special form of sarcasm. Then does an about face when he catches her alone. He gives her his number with instructions to contact him if she gets in trouble. Like cold and hot wind blowing over her making life on campus even worse. Controlling her rioting emotions after a particularly embarrassing encounter with Rafe stirs her blood, her desk begins to shake, lights to blow and even the ground to shake. Her only thought is to escape. There are woods behind the dorms, a haven with animals and nature that draw off the magic that zips through her. But the woods here aren’t a saft environment. Skylar soon learns there are creatures here she believed to only exist in mythology.
Skylar never learned to control the magic within her or the plethora of incidents that happen around her, but help may be closer than she knows. Someone on campus knows exactly what she is and is even willing to train her in ways to harness her power. It is a roller coaster ride of a tale with Rafe appearing to care, coming to her aid one minute only to turn on her in front of others making her look like a fool. Slade is a witch who has his own motives for helping her but shares the truth behind EEU’s unique mix of supernaturals and humans who attend. There is animosity even between the different species of supernaturals but their greatest fear and unbreakable rule is “humans must never learn of them.”  Some see Skylar as a threat that should be eliminated, while others see her as a tool to be used for their own ends.

This book took a different route from other books with supernatural beings in the worlds of Jen L Grey I have read. This time she brings us a magical being whose abilities I have never seen and appear to be evolving. While slowly learning more about Skylar, there is also a forbidden romance building between her and Rafe. Things are constantly moving and changing clear up to its cliffhanger ending. The characters had me second guessing myself with their secrets and swiftly changes responses to Skylar from one time to the next, storylines that veer off in several directions, forbidden romance, villains, and power struggles that had me reading, while enjoying the audio version, with Marnye Young narrate the tale, far into the night. I got the sense of a storyteller sharing a story with me not simply reading it. Emotions, high and low, vibrated as Marnye voiced the characters in all their moods. She is easy to follow along with as she spoke and the tale flowed through her words. Both the book and the audio are available. I am looking forward to see where this story will take me.