Published: April 2, 2019
This is the book that BDB lovers have been waiting for! We finally got to read about Murhder’s story! And since he had a connection to Xhex and John Matthew (JM) we could rightly expect the second couple in this story to be those two. Which is awesome because we haven’t really seen much of them since Lover Mine. However, this book elicits a lot of feels and I am so glad I got to read it quickly. Also, here is your warning that this post may have spoilers in it. I always write the warning without knowing what I’m going to write to bear with me if it doesn’t have spoilers. I just don’t want to ruin the book for anyone.
Murhder hasn’t been the same since he left the brotherhood. Well, kicked out was more like it. But now he is back and has come to request the help of the very males who despise him and think he is a threat to their King. Alas, all he wants is his torment to end but before that he must make amends to the female that he left in the human facility so long ago. When he finally convinces the Brotherhood that this female needs their help it is too late for her but it isn’t too late for her son. Therefore Murhder goes to get the young and there he meets Dr. Sarah Watkins who is trying to save him herself. He does the only thing he can do and takes her with him. After all it is her face that he has been seeing all of these years. He can’t be with her because she is human but he can and will protect her with his life.
Sarah doesn’t know what type of world she has walked in to. All she knows is that her fiance was murdered and she is just coming to that realization. He wasn’t the man she thought he was and the company she worked for didn’t do that grand things they portrayed to the public. When she realized there was a kid that they were torturing, she had to get him out of there. Little did she know that she would fall into a world of what she thought was make believe. Already protective of the boy she refused to be left behind when he is taken to a medical facility. After she is supposed to have her mind wiped she figures out another way she can be of use to the species. But when her usefulness runs out will they make her leave the boy and Murhder? Probably. Murhder has prepared for that but she is willing to risk it all to stay by his side.
JM has some explaining to do! Out hunting the new threat to the species he is bitten by the zombie-type-thing that a member of the species turns in to after being killed by the weird shadows. Once bitten he knows he is going to die and he realizes how much in his life he has taken for granted. He has wanted to be in the brotherhood for so long that he has lost the ability to just enjoy being around the brothers and fighting by their side. Only now that he needs to say goodbye (which he sucks at) to everyone does he realize the depth of his emotions for them.
The only one who truly sees what he is going through is his shellan, Xhex. However, when Murhder walks back into the picture Xhex’s loyalties are divided between her former lover and the love of her life. She knows that JM is saying goodbye to everyone after she find out how deadly the bite mark he has is. She isn’t ready to let him give up on life and them quite yet though. She knows that she has no life if he is gone and therefore she will do anything to help him and that includes enlisting Murhder’s help and the help of his woman.
There is a lot of “what’s going to happen next?” moments in this novel and the relationship between Murhder and Sarah is so good. But the relationship between Xhex and JM is everything! The them of this book (in my opinion) is sacrifices. Murhder sacrifices parts of himself time and time again throughout the book and I honestly have some hatred for the portion of brothers who were terribly mean to him (I’m looking at you V!). But I also think that these sacrifices showed all of us who the character really is and what lengths he would go to for the woman he loved and the people he considers his family.
—“Okay, fine. The attraction was also probably his body, she decided. He would look amazing laying naked in messy sheets, all those muscles on display and his…sword of love…all erect and —
Sword of love? Had her brain really just spit that one out?” -Sarah, p. 193—
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