Time Jump

 Wolf in His Heart by N.J. Walters 

With this book we have a 10 year time jump. Sage is now 27 and despite not being able to shift he is happy and contributing to the pack. Reese is living in Chicago but their twin telepathy is still strong. Sage is camping in Tennessee when he comes across a woman lost in the woods. He identifies her immediately as a wolf, tells her who and what he is, and helps her. Her name is Irena and she is running from human hunters, one of whom saw her shift. They have been chasing her since they forced her to leave work to go with them; she left work, but she ran instead. Sage convinces her to trust him, at least enough for him to give her a ride. She thinks he's taking to to a bus station, but he told her he was taking her somewhere safe, and then she slept the whole ride so he took her to pack land. He did call Jacques who told him to bring her. She is very nervous and just about the only person who pays Jacques the respect he is due as alpha, but he still doesn't mind that his pack makes decisions without him. Anyway, Rina is super into Sage but she's not sure if it's because he hot or because of the circumstances. Sage knows she's his mate and really wants to bite her, but doesn't because she is so unsure of him. They get down to business, frequently. Finally, she calls her much older brother and it turns out he has been looking for her since she was banished by their former pack for refusing the mating. Sage gives him directions then tells Jacques. He shows up and is ready to take Rina away, but Sage and Jacques won't let him. Then he meets Miss Elise and doesn't want to leave. Rina tells Sue that she thinks Sage is only into her because she's the first full blooded werewolf he's ever met. He hears and walks away so he doesn't say something he doesn't mean. She sees him walk away and runs off. Then the hunter shows up. She refuses to leave with him and she shoots her. Sage, Mikhail, Jacques and the others show up. Sage takes her home. Gator removes the bullet and sews her up. Jacques takes pictures of everything and calls the police. The hunter gets arrested and eventually sent to be evaluated to see if he's sane. Rina heals. Reese has shown up by this point. Rina realizes that she loves Sage and wants to mate with him. He is able to grow fangs for the first time in his life and bites her. Turns out, Reese funneled his power into Sage so he could do the bite. Reese goes home to Chicago. Rina and Mikhail stay; Rina permanently, Mikhail temporarily or so we are led to believe. It was nice to see the kids grown up and to get an idea of how the pack has grown; there are now 3 children between the couples, plus Billy who is 15. This was not as strong as the previous book which was my favorite, but it was a solid addition to the series.