5th Book of the Year

Wolf on the Run by N.J. Walters

Spoiler Version

This book focused on Cole, not Gator like I was hoping. However, it was nice to see Cole as more than just the strong silent type. He had actual dialogue in this one! Cherise gets home from work to find her mother murdered. She gets all of the money she can find, takes the new fake ID, and heads to the bus station where she starts criss-crossing the country trying to stay away from her former pack. She and her mom ran when she was a teenager because Cherise got really sick as a child and her wolf died so she can't shift. She falls asleep in a bus station and has a dream about Salvation so she gets a ticket for as close to the town as she can get. Cole is on patrol when he hears movement and scents new wolves. The three members of her pack who killed her mom found her; they plan to rape her before they kill her. Cole is not okay with that and he kills them and takes her back to the house. He realizes almost immediately that she is special to him; real special. She is scared, but the pack is welcoming. She and Cole get cozy, then she tries to sneak out. Gator catches her. She spends more time there, tells them about her issue with her former pack, and makes friends. Then Cole decides to deal with it so he sneaks out when she is asleep and heads to Kentucky. She has the same idea, but Gator catches her at the cars. He realizes Cole's truck is missing and they go to the main house. The entire pack decides they are making the trip because literally nobody listens to the alpha. Jacques had one of the funniest lines of the entire series (so far) in this book. Cole shows up to a pack meeting and boldly announces who he is, what he did, and why he's there. He kills 2 of the 3 family members of the 3 that he already killed. The alpha of the Pike County pack is getting ready to deal with Cole, with words, when Cherise and everyone else show up. Her former alpha tells her that he told her dad to leave, but he was afraid they wouldn't be safe so he challenged for alpha and that's how he died. He didn't send anyone after them. He tells the pack she is banished and that's the end of it. She and Cole head home with the rest of his (now her) pack. Her former alpha has to deal with some challenges but he wins and retains control. We also hear from Jacques's dad; he is going to start causing problems again, probably in the next book. It was nice to have a female main character who already knew about pack dynamics in this one. And to have the previous characters play such a big role in this was good. This is a solid series that I am enjoying.