Another really good instalment in this dark, gritty and very sexy series. It was really nice to get to know Kougar a little more. Up until now he's been a bit of a mystery- the silent but deadly one. We did know he was the oldest of the group, but not by how much. The other Ferals guessed at around 1000 since Lyon is 700 and we know Kougar was around before him. Well, we get to find out and, whew! Seriously impressive!

As you'll recall from the last book, Tighe and Hawke have become trapped in a demon spirit trap. The same trap that chewed up and spat out The Seventeen all those centuries ago. From that experience they know they have no more than 11 days to find a way to get Hawke and Tighe out before their animal spirits are ripped from them and their (dead) bodies are released back to the world.

You may also recall that Kougar, at the end of the last book, had a visit from Mellisande- an Ilina mist warrior and his so-called "mate's" second in command- who reconnected his defunct mate bond and made him feel for the first time in a millennia.

The Ilina's are a breed of female immortals, thought to be extinct until 21 years ago. A revelation that has Kougar filled with unbelievable rage and bitterness over the incredible deception from the one who was meant to be his other half. There is a lot more to this story, but after a thousand years of feeling numb and grieving for the mate he believed murdered, will Kougar be in any mood to listen to the explanation?

His mate, Ariana, I actually really liked. I wasn't sure what I would make of these only partly corporeal women as mate potential, but it actually comes in very handy! They can be flesh as much of the time as they wish, but during a fight when someone makes a grab for them they can turn instantly to mist, making them an almost unbeatable foe. They can also travel across huge distances, and even into different realms, in the blink of an eye, and can take along one passenger. This would be a very handy alliance for the Feral warriors in upcoming books as they continue the war against the Mage and Daemons.

The overall plot was very well thought out. There were two distinct problems they had to solve if they were to have any chance of freeing the two Ferals and it was a race against the clock throughout. This created a nice amount of tension and I was furiously turning the pages towards the end. The romance that developed along the way felt quite authentic even after such a long separation and the sex scenes were schmokin' as usual.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, Ecstasy Untamed, which I'm reading next.