Moon's Fury
by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp

Published by Tom Doherty Associates
384 pages
October 2007
Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780765356642

Texas has never been hotter since the Minnesota Timber wolves came to town. Cara is a Texan. Cara is chief of police, sworn to protect and serve her community. Cara is a sister and a doting aunt to her family. Cara is a Sazi – one of the magical race of shape-changers who live secretly among us, hiding their powers from us and each other until they are needed.

Adam is a cop from the mean streets of Minneapolis , don't cha know. He is a tall, dark, handsome, sexy Sazi. When his pack of timber wolves is forced to split and move into Cara's territory, he knows the two packs must merge, or die trying.

Adam and Cara, alpha-wolves of the two packs, clash and struggle for dominance to protect their respective packs. They fight their fate. They fight each other. And like the best of all mergers, there is an exciting synergy when the fighting is finally over. When the two people, and the two packs, get together, they magically complete each other both individually and collectively.

But the road to oneness is tough, as it ought to be in a great Romance. The Minnesotans are shell shocked refugees, and don't blend well with the smaller, faster Texan red wolves. Adam is their leader and will not allow harm to come to them. He is a wonderful man, determined to leave everyone better off than he found them.

Cara has also sworn to protect her pack, her family. The Minnesotans have different customs, and different attitudes. The rugged individualism and Tejano customs of Cara's family stand out in stark contrast to the united Midwestern community which comes to their town. Cara wants them to blend in more, until a mystery develops which only the Minnesotans can help her solve.

After a traumatic battle, the packs realize the Minnesotans have only one choice – a pack without an alpha dies. But will Cara or Adam end up being the leader? And how do they stop the threat on the Texan pack's doorstep?

This story is as solidly and confidently told as a John Wayne western. The vistas of Texas and the claustrophobic closeness of small town life contrast beautifully with the larger secret life of the Sazi and their government across the country and the continents. Family secrets and magical secrets and the secrets of the Sazi government agencies are all woven into the rich fabric of pack and family politics. But the thrust of the story is always Adam and Cara and the Romance. There are many threats and mysteries, but the scariest and most complicated is Adam and Cara's relationship. Both must risk everything to gain the only thing worth fighting for, and come back from the hero's journey stronger, more secure, and much more satisfied.

A fantastic world told in beautiful detail, with a cast off characters which can carry many more stories in the series, this story is most highly recommended.

by CJ Curmudgeon
web only