Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: The Reluctant Alpha

SERIES: West Coast Wolves #1

AUTHOR: Susi Hawke

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 204 pages

RELEASE DATE: August 30, 2020

BLURB:

“As much as I felt bad for this Elisha person—God, my heart was breaking for the young man and all he’d been through—I was also angry. I’d left that pack in my rearview ten years ago for a good reason.”

Matthias Longclaw is happy living his life on the back of his beloved Harley with his five best friends and brothers-in-arms at his side. The West Coast Wolves are a rare pack of alphas, made up of unwanted orphans and second-born sons. The packs they were born to may not have wanted them, but they’ve built a solid family of their own. They help where they can, doing random acts of kindness and expecting nothing in return, just helping to build a world they want to live in.

Then Matt gets a call from an old childhood buddy. He’s being called back—begged to return—to reclaim his birthright and save a life in the process. The problem is… to do it, he will have to take a mate. And if he refuses? The omega will die.

Torn between his duty to help others and his resentment of his old pack, Matt never expects for Elisha Whitetail to tilt his world and change everything. Can Matt and Elisha rebuild a broken pack while tending to a new love and a growing family while dealing with outside threats from neighboring packs?

They’re wolves. Strong, proud, and willing to do what it takes when their community needs them… whatever it takes.

This is the first in a new mpreg series about finding joy in a hard world, building family, and discovering that life can surprise a person when they least expect it. Although this world has harsher themes than my previous books, it still has the same heart you’d expect. Plus a dose of my irreverent humor and all the naughty, knotty heat that comes with true mates. It wouldn’t be a Susi Hawke book without it. Be sure to read the author’s note at the beginning for possible trigger warnings.

REVIEW:

Please be aware of the warning in the blurb. This story deals with physical abuse, rape, the selling of omegas and so much more.

This was a good start to this series. And while I loved these guys and the small pack they formed as alphas and family, I’m actually curious about Lucien. You’ll see what I mean. But this story is about Matt and Elisha. 

Matt, being the true heir of the pack he left, wanted nothing to do with it ever again. Having to deal with the physical abuse at the hands of his father day in and out, when he hit 18, it was time to go. He happily ran with his pack now, the West Coast Wolves. Five alphas who had family issues of their own. All he knew is this was his family, his friends and he’d gladly do anything for them as they would him. And he’s about to need them. When he gets a call from the beta of his old pack, Matt realizes he’s missed a lot while being gone. Not only does he need to help the pack in it’s precarious situation, he needs to help an omega who is about to die and is with child. What Matt didn’t plan on was when he caught a whiff of this omega, it was his true mate, and even more changed. Once Elisha was safe and not dying, he filled Matt in on things that were truly going on as well as the rest of the pack committee. Matt knows he’s going to need help in fixing this and with the help of his 4 brothers, they do all they can to start making things right. The first being, Matt has to challenge and kill the alpha that’s now in charge. But Elisha knows the alpha, as it’s his father, and he’s scared. He doesn’t want to lose his mate as he’s just found him. It’s going to take all the dirty tricks they can come up with and a few prayers and hope that things are finally going to change.

I love Matt and his brothers. They are exactly what alphas should be. Not domineering or trying to take charge of everyone. They should be compassionate and rule and lead in a proper manner. And all of them believe in everyone’s opinion being taken in consideration and that omegas or their true mates, have equal rights in the relationship. Which is how it should be. But because of the domineering way other alphas have been, it’s going to take a lot to get others to trust that this is a real thing. And it breaks my heart. It broke me too, to see this punk alphas and how they treat omegas, and what they were willing to do to get their hands on some, no matter the age. It’s disgusting. So for me, yeah, Matt and his crew were perfect. Because they are real men, real beings. Refusing to be anything but good to those who deserve it, especially women, children and omegas. Heck, they’d even take in more alphas if they needed to. Their goal was to protect and care for those who needed it. Period. And I love it. It didn’t make life easy, but the trust they earned from those under them, was the most precious gift they could have ever gotten because of it. Because they earned it. They didn’t force it. They earned it. And that made all the difference.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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