Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Destined Prey
SERIES: Wild Ones #1
AUTHOR: Bailey Bradford
PUBLISHER: Rainbow Ninja Press
LENGTH: 143 pages
BLURB:
All Jack Tucker wanted was to come home for a little while and try to figure out where his life had gone wrong. Moving from Wyoming to New York hadn’t turned out the way he’d thought it would, and a bad breakup leaves him bruised in more than just the emotional sense.
He doesn’t expect to be glad he’s back on the Double T Ranch with his brother, Rhett, and he sure doesn’t expect to find the place crawling with coywolves, wolves, and coyotes. There seems to be some kind of animal-warfare going on, and he and Rhett are caught in the middle of it.
Coywolves—the hybrid of wolves and coyotes, hated by both, and more predatory than either. Add in the fact that all the battling species are shifters, and there’s bound to be trouble.
Ben Akers is part of his brother’s pack. The only coywolf shifters in existence, they find themselves under constant attack from wolf and coyote packs determined to make the Akers pack extinct. But coywolves don’t die out so easy, and when Ben’s life takes a surprising turn in the form of one sexy human named Jack Tucker, they’re both in for surprises, danger, and, if Destiny rules, an abiding love that most people—and shifters—only dream of.
REVIEW:
Jack Tucker couldn’t wait to get away from the ranch in Wyoming where he grew up but when a relationship takes a bad turn, it’s the one place he rushes back to. He just wanted a little time to figure his life out and make sure his head was back on straight, he never expected to find himself in the middle of an all out war. Ben’s life is all about survival and protecting his family…at least until he catches a glimpse of Jack Tucker. Now the human male is all he can think about and that could prove fatal as it isn’t only his life on the line. The connection between them will not be denied, however, and it may take a force much stronger than them both to give them the chance to be together.
I’m fairly addicted to shifter stories and I’m particularly fond of this author so I wasn’t surprised that I picked this one up and barely put it down. Jack may have left home, and then come back, with only the barest idea of what he wanted but I liked how he began re-evaluating his priorities when it came to his brother and their home. I’m not totally sure I believed the connection between him and Ben, however. The chemistry was there and there was sure a hell of a lot of lust but I think they need more time together for me to really feel them. The explanation for why Ben and his family were being hunted was unexpected but interesting though I’m still on the fence about the one that delivered that choice bit of information; I expect to see more of him in future books and that’ll probably be an interesting read. I liked how each of the characters were really shown as individuals and I’m left wondering who will get their own focus in the future so that’s definitely something to look forward to. The two characters that really stole the show for me, however, were Rhett and Ben’s brother, Casey. I’m sure these will be the main characters of the next book because the interactions between them so far have been explosive and I’m sure the sex between them will be even more so. Overall I enjoyed the uniqueness of the story and the character building; the story was decent but I think I’m probably going to end up liking the next book better. This was still a good introduction into a new series, however, and worth the read if you like shifter stories.
RATING: 
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