Lora Leigh, Coyote's Mate

Coyote's Mate

Lora Leigh

Berkley, Feb 2009, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425226339

She has waited patiently for years for the right moment to rescue her Coyote Breed incarcerated in her father's Russian lab. Now after six anxious years fearing she will be caught for her seditious activity, Del-Rey "the Coyote Ghost" Delgado informs Anya Koran the time to set their final rescue plan in motion has arrived. She asks him one favor; not to kill her dad when they liberate the female specimens; he agrees.

During the raid, Del-Rey shoots and kills Anaya's father; he escorts her and the other Coyote Breed to the Sanctuary compound. While Anya remains irate with him for killing her father, mating heat assaults both of them. However, as his soulmate rejects him though her body betrays her by craving his touch; a traitor within the compound places everyone especially the newcomers in danger.

The latest Lora Leigh's homage to the X-Men (see DAWN'S AWAKENING, MEGAN'S MARK and HARMONY'S WAY, etc.) stars a great lead pairing who appear destined to remain apart in spite of mating heat uniting them. Anya cannot forgive Del-Rey for killing her father though she knows his other choice was a failed mission with many of the rescued dead and the rest imprisoned. Once again the bioengineered breeds seem genuine and the romance between the Alpha and his Coya enjoyable to follow. Although the betrayal seems somewhat similar in tone to MERCURY'S WAR, fans of the saga will enjoy the latest science fiction romantic suspense as the hatred and prejudice the Breed encounter would make Magneto believe humans love him and his mutants.

Harriet Klausner