The Ikati are a secret race of panther shifters. They have lived in isolation for hundreds of years, but have recently been discovered. A psychopathic Ikati named Caesar has decided that the Ikati should rule the earth, and is out to decimate and dominate humankind. Humans are fighting back, and many have decided the Ikati must be wiped out. There's a fanatical religious group of assassins whose purpose is to wipe out the Ikati, a greedy corporation that wants to capture the Ikati, and a multigovernmental group called the Elimination Campaign who wants to burn all Shifters at the stake. There were 4 compounds of Ikati living peacefully around the world, but 3 have been discovered, and many of the Ikati have retreated to the one remaining undiscovered compound in the middle of the jungle in Brazil.

Jacqueline (Jack) Dolan is a war correspondent. She has written a Pulitzer-nominated op ed piece entitled The Enemy Among Us that swayed human opinion against the Ikati greatly, and has been quoted extensively by politicians to support their agenda to exterminate the Ikati. She is credited with almost single-handedly rallying the American public behind her campaign of bigotry, intolerance, and hatred.

"Hawk" Luna is the illegitimate son of the prior Alpha who is sent by his hated half-brother to obtain blackmail material on Jack to discredit her. Jack thinks that Hawk is a gigolo sent by her best friend as a 30th birthday present, and she and Hawk burn up the sheets in a night of explosive sex in Brazil. Jack gets an email that contains blackmail photos of her sexual exploits with Hawk and a video showing Hawk's transformation into a panther. Jack is forced to present herself to Jack who she believes will kill her. The Ikati's plan, though, is to show Jack that they aren't the violent killers she believes them to be, and Hawk kidnaps her to bring her to their colony to live in close contact with them. The Ikati hope she will agree to write a piece supporting them and refuting her earlier arguments for their destruction.

Despite Hawk's earlier betrayal of her, Jack and Hawk slowly fall in love while she is trapped in the compound. The sexual tension is delicious, as Hawk and Jack verbally fence and try to stay away from each other, given the distrust that lies between them after Jack's kidnapping. Hawk learns that Jack is not the bigoted bitch he once thought her to be, and Jack realizes that the Ikati are not all deranged killers. There is the building excitement of the fight between Ceasar and his followers and the rest of the Ikati that serves as a wonderful foil for the action taking place between Jack and Hawk.

DARKNESS BOUND is one of my favorite of the series. It can be read as a standalone, but readers will get a greater appreciation of the action having read the previous books. I'm very sad that the next book will wrap up the series, as I've been loving it so much I'm not ready to see it end.

Book Summary

Tough, smart, and seriously ambitious, reporter Jacqueline "Jack" Dolan despises the secretive clan of shape-shifters known as the Ikati—and has become determined to destroy them. After she writes an editorial arguing for their extermination and turns public opinion against them, the Ikati vow to fight back. They plot to send one of their own to seduce the reporter, then blackmail her into writing a retraction.

Women practically fall at the feet of hulking, handsome Hawk Luna, and Hawk relishes the idea of conquering and destroying the fiery redhead who's caused so much trouble for his kind. The last thing he expects is to develop real feelings for her, but their liaison awakens a hunger in him that he cannot deny. He kidnaps Jack and brings her to his Amazon jungle colony, but the two lovers are soon embroiled in deadly colony politics and threatened by a looming global species war.

As the danger around them grows closer, Jack and Hawk's forbidden passion may build a bridge between two ancient enemies—or cost them both their lives.

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