Hard Mated by Jennifer Ashley [Review]

Hard Mated (Shifters Unbound #3.5) by Jennifer Ashley
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 20, 2017

Shifters Unbound
0.5. Shifters Made
1. Pride Mates
2. Primal Bonds
2.5. Bodyguard
3. Wild Cat
3.5. Hard Mated - Paperback | Kindle
4. Mate Claimed
4.5. Perfect Mate
4.6. Lone Wolf
5. Tiger Magic
5.5. Feral Heat
6. Wild Wolf
6.5. Bear Attraction
7. Mate Bond
7.25. Lion Eyes
7.5. Bad Wolf
7.75. Wild Things
8. White Tiger
9. Guardian's Mate
10. Red Wolf
11. Midnight Wolf
11.5. Tiger Striped
11.75. A Shifter Christmas Carol

Jennifer Ashley
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Synopsis (Goodreads):

A short novel of the Shifters Unbound series. Spike, a wildcat Shifter and the champion fighter of Shiftertown, is stunned when Myka, the best friend of a dying human woman, announces that Spike has fathered a cub. What's more, the mother is giving the boy to Spike to protect and raise.

Myka, who'd been raised by an abusive stepfather, is not sure that a wild fighter named Spike is the best man to bring up the cute little jaguar cub. She goes to Shiftertown to check out Spike, and finds that the man behind the name is a lonely Shifter who's lost most of his family and is a fierce caretaker to those he has left.

Spike is torn between the cub and his duties as tracker to the Shiftertown leader, and begs Myka, the only person who understands, to help him. He starts to like the sassy Myka, a horse trainer who's not afraid of working with animals, even if they're wildcats who turn into humans.

When Spike's job puts his cub and Myka in danger, Spike is forced to choose between those to whom he's pledged his loyalty and his need to protect the woman and cub he's come to love.

Thoughts on Hard Mated: MAN, those shapeshifters have some complicated dominance issues they dance around. Complicated in a fun way. And then there's the whole mating thing, which is hot hot hot.

I don't know. Something about a stronger than average shifter willing to devote his EVERYTHING to the one lady who calls to him on a visceral level works for me. MOAR MATE CLAIMS, PLEASE!

Frankly, Spike is not your average tracker. He's smart, but he hides it. He's pledged himself to the Morrisseys, but his new cub and Myka shift something in him that he can't turn away from. Under all the tattoos and willingness to fight lies the heart of a terribly sweet, lonely man. I liked the dude. A lot.

Meanwhile, Myka is torn between her loyalty in carrying out her friend's dying wish and... well, there's the attraction. And her worries about Jordan. And the things she's dealing with in her human life. She has a lot on her plate. Spike is a complication before things turn dangerous. But Myka knows how to deal with dominant animals and she doesn't back down when things get dicey.

Shifters, man. They do it for me.