Renegade Passion (Zodius 2.5) by Lisa Renee Jones

RENEGADE PASSION (Zodius Series 2.5) by Lisa Renee Jones

RENEGADE PASSION is a short story (May 2012 e-novella) in Lisa Renee Jones Zodius Series. GTECHS are a group of scientifically manipulated super soldiers fighting a war between themselves. Similar to Christine Feehan’s Ghostwalker series, there are two factions both hoping to find the one woman made especially for each other. Each woman is naturally gifted with some psychic ability and the DNA manipulation has further enhanced each of the special-ops soldiers who were used in an experiment without their permission. Trying to prevent the kidnapping and DNA manipulation are the Renegades. A group of super soldiers whose abilities include memory erasing, wind walking and control, and memory retrieval. The Zodius are the rival faction, kidnapping all of the potential women capable of mate-bonding with the soldiers and holding them imprisoned. The life of a potential mate-bond female is risked when, she is abused by the Zodius team hoping to find their match.

Kel is a super soldier. Changed without permission, Kel regrets having to fake his own death to ensure that the woman he loves will not be pulled into war between the Renegades and the Zodius warriors. But finding Sonia on a video making a call to the police, warning of a potential kidnapping will bring Kel full circle and the only woman he has ever loved back into his life-if only for a short time.

Sonia has always suffered unbearable dreams. Her nightmares are so realistic that since the death three years earlier of her fiance Kel she has come to realize that they are premonitions-she is able to see into the future. And when her fellow employee Carrie is targeted as the next victim, Sonia knows that she must place a call and possibly expose herself as crazy to the police. But finding herself awakening from a drug-induced sleep with Kel at her side, she knows that she must still be dreaming.

Kel knows that he will always love Sonia, but keeping her protected feels like imprisoning her against her will. His only solution will be to tell her the truth, about the GTECH super soldier project and the enemy Zodius team willing to risk everything including the lives of the women who could be mate-bonded through DNA. But having to explain why he faked his death will probably be the most difficult assignment-knowing he could lose her again-because of his lies. And to complicate matters, she may not be his mate-bond. But for Kel, there is only one sure way to find out, and if in the end the mate-bond mark does not appear, he knows that he will lose Sonia forever.

RENEGADE PASSION is a short story (book 2.5) in the Zodius series. Lisa includes much of the background information from the previous storylines allowing for the reader to be aware of the premise at all times. I admire those authors that recount the details of the series premise with each storyline, allowing for new readers to keep up to date and not lose themselves with missing information. The premise is familiar to the fans of CF but different in that the death of a mate means death to the other, when the blood bond has been exchanged.

Reviewed by Sandy