| Serena works on a private wilderness preserve with wolves. One full moon night her boss, Dr. Kearnan Gray, tells her he needs to see her about a new breeding program before she leaves for the weekend. She's going into her werewolf cycle, and into heat, and needs to be away from Dr. Gray. When she goes into heat, she needs to mate with a werewolf or a wolf, or she needs to hunt down prey and kill it. As she goes into heat, she begins thinking of Kearnan sexually but knows that he'd consider her a freak if he knew what she was. She doesn't realize Dr. Gray is a werewolf, but he knows that she is one. Before she can leave, he gives her drugged tea. He knows she's his mate after three years of being around her and refuses to give her the chance to run from him as she'd run from a werewolf lover years ago.
When she wakes from the drug, she finds herself in a werewolf-proofed room. Kearnan is determined to give her what her other lovers never did, complete satisfaction. He wants to make her want to stay with him, so he needs to show her she can trust him in bed and out of bed. The author manages to keep Serena's mating with wolves during two previous heat cycles from being bestiality by portraying the wolves as intelligent, thinking creatures, rather than just animals. The only problem I had with this book was the contradiction in Serena's character; she's very aggressive towards Kearnan when she wakes up from the drug, yet she allowed a previous lover to manhandle her without protest. Other than that, I liked In the Heat of the Night. It was funny and hot, and the ending had some very good twists. Serena was a great heroine, tough and perfectly aware of what she wanted. Kearnan was a pretty good hero, too. He could be both considerate and dominate without crossing the line into being a jerk, as some romance heroes sometimes do. I especially liked the way Serena got revenge on Kearnan; it was hilarious!
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Tara Black |