My job is to save lives. But what if the one that needs saving is the one I was sent to take?At 33 years old, Phoenix Jones once had a stellar military career ahead of him. But when tragedy struck his family, he walked away from the path he’d chosen to be there for the one who needed him most. Except fate is a bitch and when she once again takes Phoenix’s future in the cruelest of ways, he must … cruelest of ways, he must find a new path.
When a former army buddy introduces him to Ronan Grisham, the leader of an underground vigilante group, Phoenix knows he’s found a new family and nothing and no one is going to take that from him again. So when Ronan asks him to shadow a young man who participated in a brutal crime against Ronan’s husband, Seth, when he was a child and appears to be targeting him again, Phoenix doesn’t even hesitate for a second.
Even knowing what he must do if the young man proves to have gone back to his old ways.
Because family is everything…
I can’t come back from what I did. I’m not sure I even want to…
An ugly childhood left Levi Deming with little to do but dream of a day when he’d be free of his tormenters so he could carve out a simple life for himself, preferably somewhere far away from the family who never let him forget he was less than human. But one terrible choice at the tender age of 16 changed everything…
Wracked with guilt for the role he played during a home invasion gone horribly wrong, a now 24-year-old Levi is trying to piece together a life where he can maybe do a little bit of good, even knowing it won’t make up for the lives he helped take and it definitely won’t give back the future he stole from the young man whose agonized screams still haunt him night after night. If it were only about him, he’d walk into the nearest police station and happily tell them to lock him up and throw away the key.
But it isn’t just about him anymore…
I expected to find a hardened criminal. What I found was something else entirely…
With Ronan’s orders to terminate young Levi if he so much as even jaywalks, Phoenix expects an easy job with one clear outcome. But when a violent encounter forces Phoenix to interact with Levi, he quickly realizes the case might not be as black and white as he thought. Instead of finding a criminal with no conscience, Phoenix discovers a young man battling impossible odds and near crippling guilt.
When his feelings of disgust and anger begin to fade and turn into something else, the would-be hitman is forced to make a terrible decision between the family he needs and the young man more intent on seeking judgement than redemption.
Trigger Warning: This book contains multiple triggers which could also be considered spoilers. If you want to see what they are, download the sample or use the “Look Inside” feature and scroll to the page right before the table of contents
Note: This book contains M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences.
This is Book 8 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story – no cliffhangers.
The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in this order, but it is not required:
Book 1 – Absolution (M/M/M)
Book 2 – Salvation (M/M)
Book 3 – Retribution (M/M)
Logan’s Need (Escort Series #3) (M/M)
Redeeming Rafe (Barretti Security Series #2) (M/M)
Saving Ren (Barretti Security Series #3) (M/M/M)
Freeing Zane (Barretti Security Series #4) (M/M)
Book 4 – Forsaken (M/M)
Book 5 – Vengeance (M/M/M)
Book 5.5 – A Protectors Family Christmas
Book 6 – Atonement (M/M)
Book 7 – Revelation (M/M)
Book 8 – Redemption (M/M)
more
**********Contains Spoilers**********
I loved this book. It was one of my favourites, if not my favourite of the Protectors Series that I’ve read so far. I loved Phoenix & Levi and thought they were awesome together. Man, to hear everything that Levi has been through and that his parents did nothing even when he started acting out and his grades were suffering which is usually a sign that somethings wrong and its a cry for help but his mum just left him with his racist ab*sive a*sehole of a father and his psychopath older brother Ricky. She was even scared of her own son Ricky but she didn’t give a sh*t about leaving Levi there. I shed some tears reading about the torment that Levi has been subjected too for years, he has panic attacks due to PTSD from everything he’s suffered in his young life. He thought going to Prison was the better option than staying at his house but that was just another form of h*ll where he was gang r*ped and left bl*ody and broken on the shower floor until he was found by Hank who got him help and when he was better got him transferred into his cell as Hank had power inside. Hank didn’t care that Levi had a sw*stika on his arm he took him under his wing. Levi didn’t want the tattoo but he knew that he’d pay dearly from his brother Ricky if he didn’t, Levi was about 14 years old at the time. Hank’s an African American man but he saw behind the tattoo and became someone that Levi respected and views as part of his family, he even named his nephew Henry which is Hank’s real name to say thanks for everything that Hank did for him. Wow, it was heartbreaking hearing about Phoenix’s family especially his daughter Armani. Levi has so much guilt about his role he played in Seth’s parents d*ath even though he was a scared kid that didn’t have a choice, he even tried to stop what happened and secretly called 911 so Seth could hopefully get help in time, he even got st*bbed by his brother Ricky when he caught him holding the phone. I loved how this book ended and thought it wrapped everything up perfectly. I’m heading back to Dare for the final Finding Series book which I’m looking forward too but think it’s going to be another hard read as Beck just seems a bit broken so he totally deserves his happily ever after. I’d definitely recommend this book, series, universe and author to everyone.
Another 5+ stars!
Another slam dunk! What more can I say…grab the tissues and your vibrator.
Oh Levi made me cry several times during this book. His self-loathing was so sad and completely unwarranted once you heard about his upbringing and subsequent life after the robbery and murder of Seth’s parents. You couldn’t help but Levi taking your heart which is why Phoenix so easily fell in love with him. Phoenix’s backstory was sad as well but hopeful at the same time. He had so much hope that it helped him and Levi when they needed it the most. Another brilliant story in this series.
This book made me cry so much. While Phoenix’s story was tragic, Levi’s life was pure hell. Reading page after page I kept thinking: “It couldn’t get any worse than this…” It did. Poor Levi. After all he has been through, he only seeks peace no matter which way he finds it – be it prison or death, he’ll take it. Ronan sending Phoenix to end Levi’s life unknowingly saves him and gives him hope. I loved Levi’s kindness, his resilience and his strength. He could have turned to be just like his brother after all the horrors he went through. He could have turned bitter and angry, but the goodness in him kept him going.
Phoenix lost his family and suffers still. When the order to kill comes, he knows he will do everything possible to safe his new family from a monster hunting them. But what he finds is a man so hell bent on punishing himself, so downtrodden and hurt that he starts questioning the things he took as truth. He sees Levi like no one else before. Phoenix gives him love, tenderness and shows him what true affection feels like.
But the events conspire against Levi, and Ronan blinded by hate nearly makes a fatal mistake of taking an innocent’s life. It takes Seth and Levi finally coming to terms that both of them were not at fault, that both suffered at the hands of brutal men, to show Ronan and Levi where the blame goes. That was one of the most heart-breaking moments of the story. But the best part was the acceptance this big family full of men from different walks of life had – Levi and Phoenix finally became a part of it too.
I loved how the story ended. Levi finally could be free from his tormentors and look forward to his life ahead. He had Phoenix and their children together safe and happy. One of the best books in this series. I highly recommend it!
I loved this book, great characters will read again. Definitely recommend all her books in this series
Just when I think Sloane’s books can’t get better, she writes a new one to prove me wrong. The skill it has to take to not only write a good read with characters that you grow to love and to have it connect to not just the other books in the series but to another series as well is beyond belief. The research and what has to be meticulous record keeping must be intense. With every book I’m blown away. This is why she’s so well loved. Phoenix and Levi are great together. Both needed each other to begin to heal. Levi impressed me the most. So much pain and misery and yet his first thought is of others. That makes him my favorite character. Phoenix knew how to be there for him long before he got the whole picture. This is why her fans wait for each book. I can’t wait for my next Sloane Kennedy fix.