Beta by S.M. Reine [Review]

Beta (War of the Alphas #2) by S.M. Reine
Format: ebook
Source: provided for review
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: May 17, 2015

War of the Alphas
1. Omega
2. Beta - Paperback | Kindle
3. Alpha
4. Pas

S.M. Reine
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Synopsis (Goodreads):

Deirdre Tombs has lived most her life as the weakest of shapeshifters—an Omega who can’t turn into any animal. Now the terrorist known as Everton Stark has made her his Beta. He wants her by his side when he defeats the Office of Preternatural Affairs, kills Rylie Gresham, and becomes Alpha of all shifters.

The faeries from the Winter Court have an offer to make Stark’s domination easier. They know where to find a cursed sword that can kill anything, and they’ll give it to him…for a price.

Deirdre’s the only one who can keep Stark from getting this powerful weapon—if she wants to. But as brutal as Stark may be, he’s also the only one who can give Deirdre what she wants.

Vengeance.

And Deirdre doesn’t know where her loyalties lie anymore.

Thoughts on Beta: I gave myself a day between reading this book and writing the review and I'm totally, totally, TOTALLY still all tangled up about it. I mean, I'm in NO WAY a Stark fangirl, but I kinda get why he's doing what he's doing. I don't agree with his methods, but he has his reasons and I kinda hate S.M. Reine for making me feel sympathy for this guy who exhibits classic signs of an abuser AND is more than a little psychotic to boot.

*side eyes S.M. Reine for a moment*

Soooo. Deirdre is still caught in a rough place. She's mourning. She's angry. She waffles between hating Stark and appreciating that he's taking steps to give all shifters a chance. She's iffy on his methods and she challenges him repeatedly because of it, which gives him a reason to beat her to within an inch of her life. CONSTANTLY. Seriously, Deirdre is not in a good place.

Or maybe she's exactly where she needs to be.

As an aside, I can't say I like the mistakes Rylie's made in her years as the Alpha, but I can see why all the responsibility that was suddenly thrust on her shoulders after Genesis might have been overwhelming. I can see how easy it would have been to take the route that she did. She went from being the Alpha to a handful of wolves to being expected to make decisions for the good of an entire population.

So, yeah, I can see how Rylie stumbled in some of her choices. And now those decisions she made that didn't protect children like Deirdre have put her in a dangerous situation.

Big things were revealed in this book that are going to make book 3 VERY interesting. Deirdre, Stark, Rylie... everything's tunneling toward a showdown and I'm all crazy eyed because of it.