Between Bloode and Wolf (Between the Shadows 4) by Marie Harte-a review

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What do a missing artifact, a lycan war, a sexy vampire in hot pursuit, and a sorcerer casting illegal death magic have in common?Just another day at the office for lycan berserker Riley Foster.

Berserker Riley Foster rescued her cousin from vampires chasing after her pack’s stolen artifact. Not long after, she’s forced to work alongside the powerful vamps to find said artifact—for their goddess?

Vampires don’t worship anything but themselves, but Kraft of the Night Bloode has been sent to recover a weird little wolf statue for his patron—the goddess, Hecate. Unfortunately, the lycans are playing games.

Kraft demands to work with their powerful berserker, who intrigues him to no end. She’s strong, beautiful, and lets no one push her around. Except her pack, who insists she mate before her hundredth birthday in just a few more weeks.

She’s on a deadline she doesn’t want to meet.

He’s falling for a “lesser being” who shouldn’t be anywhere on his radar.

When it comes to their common enemy, they’ve got even more problems. A rogue sorcerer is bent on creating something horrible with the artifact, and it’s up to Kraft and Riley to stop him before he brings forth monsters that even vampires and lycans dread. Riley will have to make a choice, between her future with her pack and her future with Kraft, a vampire who isn’t long for this world if she doesn’t make the right decision. Fast.

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REVIEW:BETWEEN BLOODE AND WOLF is the fourth instalment in Marie Harte’s contemporary, adult BETWEEN THE SHADOWS paranormal, fantasy romance series. This is 100 years old Lycan/Beserker Riley Foster, and ninety-two year old Nachzehrer/wolf shifter vampire Kraft’s story line. BETWEEN BLOODE AND WOLF can be read as a stand alone but for back story and cohesion, I recommend reading the series in order as there is an ongoing premise throughout.

SOME BACKGROUND: There are ten tribes of vampires each made up of individual clans, all male, and each tribe of vampire has a different gift. Tribes hate other tribes, and clans hate other clans, even within the same tribe. Six Bloode Stones, thought to be the tears of the Primus Ambrogio, the ancestor of the vampires, are missing, and the meeting of all six stones, will ‘cause’ peace to fall upon the vampire race, the Blood Empire will unite and rule the worlds by destroying and consuming every living beast including the human race. The goddess Hecate has gathered six of the most powerful vampires from six tribes, creating the Night Bloode family, a family that must battle to save the world.

Told from third person perspective BETWEEN BLOODE AND WOLF follows Nachzehrer vampire Kraft as he is tasked to retrieve an ancient artifact, an artificat stolen by a former Lycan prisoner. Thought to contain one of the mythical Bloode Stones, the artifact is now in the possession of a Lycan /direwolf Pack, a pack where Kraft is about to meet his fated mate. Enter lycan/beserker Riley Foster, and the woman with whom Kraft will fall in love. As Riley and Kraft begin their search for the missing artifact, which is now in the possession of someone else, our couple will have to face off against reanimated vampires, witches, magirs, several lycan packs hoping to destroy both Kraft and Riley, and a powerful warlock who practices the dark arts and sacrifice but the artifact isn’t the only thing target for possession and its’ power, as Riley and Kraft find themselves in a battle for the lives, a battle where not everyone will survive.

The relationship between Riley and Kraft is one of immediate attraction but neither Kraft or Riley is looking for a mate. Riley is expected to mate with one of her own kind but time spent together would reveal that Riley and Kraft are fated by love and DNA. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and frenetic secondary and supporting characters including all of the members of the Night Bloode clan, as well as the goddess Hecate, Mormo, vampires Khent and Rolf, Orion’s kitten Shadow aka Paz, and the dark elf Onvyr. We are introduced to several members of Riley’s Crimson Claw pack including cousin Max and their alpha Jack, as well as several members of competing packs of wolves. The requisite evil has many faces -warlock Sebastian Castle, and alpha in waiting of the Wildridge Pack Julian Wildridge.

BETWEEN BLOODE AND WOLF is a fast paced, action packed story of family, relationships, power and control, death and destruction, mayhem and magic. The premise is edgy and tragic; the characters are animated and powerful; the romance is fated and spirited.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Between Bloode and Stone
Between Bloode and Craft
Between Bloode and Water

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy