GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS (Darkness #7) by Katie Reus-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo /

About the book: Release Date March 20, 2018

He saw her die in a vision…

Before five years ago, Gabriel had never met Vega, but he knows how she’s going to die. He knows he’ll be involved… unless he can make sure they never meet, never cross paths, so that his vision will never come true. So he left his pack behind, joined the Stavros pack and was determined to never let that future play out. To never meet her at all. Fate had other plans—and she walked right into his life when he least expected it. For the last five years he’s avoided Vega whenever possible even while trying to keep an eye on her. But when she gets cagey with her pack and disappears, he has no choice but to follow her. Now, circumstances are forcing them to work together and he’s determined to protect her against any threat. If that means dying for her, he’s more than willing to. But she doesn’t want his protection. If anything, she’s determined to prove she’s stronger than everyone thinks.

She’s writing her own future…

Vega isn’t the same moody teenager who came to live with the Stavros pack all those years ago. With college behind her, she’s been recruited by a division of the government’s supernatural Black Ops. Trained and more than ready for her first mission, she doesn’t expect Gabriel to crash her assignment. To save her cover, they pretend to be a couple. But soon lines are blurred and neither can deny the incendiary attraction between them. As they race to stop a man who wants to sell out their people to the highest bidder, they find themselves fighting for a future together. With time running out, she has no choice but to rely on the irresistible male who’s turned her world upside down. Unfortunately, in order to save the woman he loves, Gabriel has to give her up.

•••••••••••

REVIEW:  GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS is the seventh full-length instalment in Katie Reus’ contemporary, adult DARKNESS paranormal, fantasy romance series. This is wolf shifter and Stavros Pack guardian Gabriel, and vampire/wolf hybrid Vega Stavros’ story line. GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary although I recommend reading the series in order for backstory and cohesion.

Told from several third person points of view including Gabriel and Vega, using present day and ‘letters’ from the past, GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS follows the hunt for a traitor, a shifter willing to sell secrets of the paranormal to the highest bidder. Vega Stravros is the newest member of the government’s supernatural Black Ops team, a position she has trained for the past few years. When her father’s Guardian, the man that calls to her heart but a man that refuses to acknowledge their attraction, walks in on Vega’s latest assignment, our heroine must come to terms that not everything is as it seems. Enter Gabriel, her one-time bodyguard, and the man with whom Vega is still in love. What ensues is the ‘pretend’ lovers relationship between Vega and Gabriel as the couple must go undercover in an effort to ferret out the traitor hiding in a place Gabriel knows only too well.

Gabriel walked away from Vega two years earlier when a seer showed our hero the future-a future wherein Vega would die in Gabriel’s arms. Gabriel intends to keep his distance believing he can change the future, a future he knows will break his heart. Vega Stavros has no idea why the man that she loved walked away without a backward glance. Intending to move forward without the man she believed was her intended mate, Vega will come to learn the truth about the past, the present and their future.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters, most are familiar but with the re-introduction of the Black Ops Team including August McGuire, Neema and Eli, and Gabriel’s cousin Judoc McGrath and his Pack, there is the potential for many more story lines especially with the discovery of a long, lost ancient.

GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS is a sexy thrill ride with sassy characters and an intriguing plot. The premise is entertaining and engaging; the characters are familiar and intense; the romance is fated and seductive.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Darkness Awakened
Taste of Darkness
Beyond the Darkness
Hunted by Darkness
Into The Darkness
Saved by Darkness

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy