Man and wolf. Sworn enemies in the battle for Askara. Can hate and betrayal ever lead to love?Caleb Harken has spent six years wrongfully imprisoned for his father’s treachery. Tortured and reviled by the very wolf pack he should have been leading as Alpha, he is not surprised to learn he’s finally to meet his death at the hands of the human rebel leader, Taegan Callan.Taegan gave up his dreams … his dreams of a life-mate and a family after seeing too many humans butchered at the hands of the wolves—even if Caleb doesn’t seem to be the bloodthirsty savage he expects, and even if he starts to long for a different kind of future with the wolf.
Can Caleb become the Alpha he was always meant to be and lead his pack, or will he finally realize that winning his freedom means nothing when he has already lost his heart?
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Can love overcome hatred & unite two enemies? Fate says Yes!
I am amazed by this series. The first book had me wrapped around it’s finger. The second is just as amazing. While it isn’t a seamless continuation of the first book, the story of change is just as compelling. The blurb will go into details. I will say this: Caleb is strong, poignant, loving, and loyal. Taegan is stubborn, fiercely protective, confused. Wolf & human… enemies. As they uncover the truth about kidnappings, dark magic, and alpha power, their bonding grows stronger, and they realize they have the same goals. Yes. The Alpha King puts in a surprise appearance. This is the second HEA. But the story doesn’t end here; it confines in book three. I can’t wait to read it. You are gonna love this book! Please read book one. Time well spent.
This book contains adult themes and language, mm sex and is intended for mature readers only.
Author Victoria Sue tears my heart into a dozen pieces and rebuilds it one piece at a time with ‘The Alpha Heir, Kingdom of Askara Book 2’. In it, readers will encounter the saddest, sorriest werewolf imaginable! Caleb Harken had been wrongfully imprisoned, woefully neglected, and horribly tortured when he finds himself facing the sweet release of death at the hand of human rebel leader Teagan Callan. Caleb has never shifted so Teagan is unaware that he will face a wolf with far less strength than he possesses but fate intervenes in what would be a fight that would end in Caleb’s death. Other rebels bust in on his pack’s festivities where his death at the hands of a human was to serve as principal entertainment and the heir apparent is killed. Teagan takes him along to use as bargaining leverage not quite realizing that Caleb was an unwanted prisoner in his own pack.
It is fairly easy for Teagan’s mother to discern the gentle nature and nurturing quality Caleb possesses as she cares for the injuries he suffered during his six years of imprisonment. When it is clear Caleb is incapable of those things innate to werewolves, Teagan relaxes his role as a prison warden and grows close to him. With more time spent with Caleb, Teagan begins to question an existence filled with rebelling against werewolves and considers a different life for his mother and himself with Caleb by his side. But Teagan discovers that Caleb’s uncle, who is currently running the pack, is desperate to regain custody of Caleb. Evidence points to the uncle’s wife using black magic in hopes of transferring the Alpha power from Caleb in a ritual sacrifice, but they have misunderstood historical records.
Ancient Askaran documents suggest that current werewolves were a direct result of human experimentation with wolves in an effort to create a superbeing who had extraordinary strength, an ability to heal from injury, and a capacity to mentally control others all while possessing the ingenuity and intellect of a man. Being double-minded about the results, the populace split with ‘the scientists’ leaving to start lives in another location and ‘the purests’ remaining to continue with their current society relatively free from their reliance on technology or magic. When the aunt and uncle are killed before they are successful with the ritual sacrifice, Caleb regains his rightful position as the pack’s alpha though he had no intention of mate-bonding with an omega. As an alpha heir, his gift of giving comfort and encouraging others manifested without such a union.
The writer contributes greatly to the world-building for the Kingdom of Askara by adding to its history in the narrative. Readers are treated to a rationale for the existence of werewolves and the reason for the hostilities between humans and werewolves. In addition to outstanding world-building, the character development for this book is amazing! We have a rebel who grows to love a werewolf, a werewolf who grows in courage, and some positive changes that occur among several secondary players! With extraordinary pacing and outstanding balance, Victoria Sue makes this novel another page-turning addition to the series.
*Audible purchase, Jan 2020*
This is book two in the series, and you don’t NEED to have read/listened to book one, The Alpha King, but personally I would recommend you do. It will give you a better picture of this world, how things currently work, and how things begin to change.
Caleb has been kept away from everything and everyone but humans and his tormentors for 6 years. Faced with his death at the hands of the leader of the human rebels seems a fitting end to his miserable exsistence. Taegan, however, when realising WHO Caleb is to the current Alpha, doesn’t kill him, but takes him captive as a ransom for the missing children. There follows a huge learning curve for both Caleb and Taegan, and when they realise what the children were taken for, Caleb knows he must give himself up to save them. Taegan isn’t too keen on that idea, especially since Caleb has stolen his heart.
While The Alpha King was a stunning 5 star listen, I think THIS one is my favourite of the two. But then again, I have The Alpha Prince on my list to be listened to, so I might change my mind again!
Caleb and Taegan’s relationship grows, at a steady rate through the book, and I loved how that sort of developed for both of them. There wasn’t really that *MINE* moment you get with wolves, and I loved that. Well CALEB (being the wolf) doesn’t get it, but Taegan has a dawning realisation early on that there may be something between them, but being human he can’t voice it. It takes another, much older wolf, to explain to Taegan what is happening and what it means. I loved that part that Silas (Cyrus? maybe, sorry, I listened and I wasn’t quite sure!) played in the whole book, and they way things played out for Taegan and him.
While there is some talk of the new Alpha King, Luca only pops up right near the end, and so does his best friend, Sam. But it’s really a brief visit, just enough for Caleb to thoroughly and amusingly embarass himself! It will be interesting to see who pops up in the next book.
Joel Leslie continues to narrate and apart from Silas/Cyrus thing, I LOVED the narration again. It’s my only comment, really, and that’s not really Leslie’s fault, it’s just my shitty hearing!
The voices for each character are SPOT on though! When you start the listen to the descriptions of the characters, as they start to tell their story, you build a picture, and then Leslie puts a voice to them, and it blows your picture out the window, because Leslie’s voices for Caleb and Taegan fit so much better than the ones I originally heard!
I had no trouble with the emotions these men gave out, and no trouble with the multi person conversations. I loved that Leslie is able to allow me to enjoy listening to books, even as my hearing gets worse. There are few who can, to be honest, keep my fully, totally and utterly engaged. Of course, Leslie reading the words of Victoria Sue help a great deal!
I look forward to listening to book 3, The Alpha Prince, which is next up on my list.
5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**