Hidden Wolf is a continuation of the first book in the Sapphire Ranch Wolves series where we were introduced to the underlying plot--bad men doing bad things to innocent shifters--and the characters in the series. The first book featured Cal and Joe but introduced us to both of the characters for this book, Milo and Eli.
Sue's mythos surrounding her wolves is outlined pretty well and fairly standard for the paranormal genre. I didn't find anything really 'new' about her wolves, but I did like the special benefits of their bond with a mate. We know that Milo and Eli are mates from the first book, so that wasn't a surprise, but their actual bonding scene in The Hidden Wolf is super hot.
For the most part, the plot follows all that Milo is wrestling with during the tumultuous events the wolves, and the men helping them, face against the Hunters. I liked that his struggles were all about being a strong man and wolf and doing his duty to the people he'd sworn to protect as Sherriff. Of course, the fact that they're in Texas and he's gay means he's hiding more than being a wolf from his fellow men-of-the-law as well as the people of his town.
What was shared in this story, I really enjoyed. I like all the different plot elements woven into the tale, but for me, there's a real lack of resolution to this story that irritated me when I got to the end. *Spoiler alert*
For me, it just feels like with all these elements introduced into the story, not a single one was resolved, other than Milo learning he needs to let his wolf out and be who he really is, and Eli and Milo becoming mates... which happened in the toward the beginning of the story. While I really like the storyline underpinning the series, I have a hard time with any novella in a continuation series like this that doesn't give me some sort of resolution beyond the couple's romance.
Title: The Hidden Wolf
Series: Sapphire Ranch Wolves – Book Two
Author: Sue Brown
Publisher: Love Lane Books
Cover Artist: Meredith Russell
Length: 32,700 words
Release Date: 22nd May, 2015
Blurb: Sheriff Milo Clarke has met
his mate, Eli Watkins, and now they're conducting a long distance relationship
while Eli runs Cavalry, the security firm protecting Joe and Cal at the
Sapphire Ranch from the hunters.
The long distance loving is hard on all three of them,
Eli, Clarke and Clarke's wolf, who is becoming more restless as Clarke refuses
to shift. When Clarke going to give into the other side of him and how will
Clarke and Eli resolve the distance between their lives?
Sheriff Milo Clarke leaned against the kitchen
cabinets as he watched Eli Watkins and his team, the Calvary, remove the
remains of Randy Streerson from the kitchen of Sapphire Ranch. He’d offered to
help and been told firmly to stay the hell out of their way as they committed a
felony.
Staying to one side was a damned sensible move.
What used to be Randy Streerson, the head of a group of hunters that pursued
and killed shifters, now covered the kitchen walls, floor, and dripped from the
ceiling after young shifter Callum Pope shot him with one of the hunter’s
bullets.
Cal was a distant shifter relative of Milo’s. His
father had been related to Milo’s mother. Cal’s father and two elder brothers
had been killed by a band of hunters led by the Streerson family. The pack had
splintered in an effort to survive, and Cal had turned up on Sapphire Ranch
after running hundreds of miles to get away from the hunters, only to discover
the owner of the ranch was his mate. A lot had happened in a few days. Eli’s
men took away what remained of the body and now they scrubbed the kitchen,
surprisingly efficient. Milo didn’t have to be a cop to know this wasn’t the
first time the Cavalry had cleaned away evidence that a murder had taken place.
He was stuck between duty and likely survival. On
one hand he’d witnessed the struggle between Cal and Streerson for control of
the gun before Cal had pulled the trigger. On the other…
How the hell would he explain to his deputies
what had just taken place? They would want to know where he’d been hiding for
the past few days, why he’d been lying to them, who the victim—who was no
fucking victim—was, and what the hell was a shifter?
He was a shifter. At least a half-shifter. His
mother had been a werewolf and Milo could change, he just chose not to. Instead
he lived among the humans as a sheriff and hadn’t given in to that side of him
for over five years except for one glorious moment a few days ago. Milo tried
not to think about it even as his wolf grumbled inside.
Milo watched the team—at least he watched Eli.
His whole attention was focused on the dark-haired man. Just watching him made
his mouth dry and his dick hard. From the second Milo had shifted to prove the
existence of werewolves to Eli and his assistant Ross, he’d realized that Eli
was his mate.
Unable to resist, he’d trotted up to Eli and laid
his head on his lap. Tentatively Eli had stroked his head, and Milo leaned into
the caress, wanting Eli to touch him more. Eli filled his wolf senses. He
smelled woodsy with a touch of citrus. He smelled good.
“Good doggy,” Eli had murmured.
Doggy? Milo gave a low growl at the insult,
grinning in wolfy satisfaction as Eli snatched his hand back. He wouldn’t have
hurt him—much.
And Eli had seemed equally drawn to him, finding
it hard to take his eyes off Milo, even as they’d talked strategy with Joe,
Cal’s mate and the owner of Sapphire Ranch.
But they hadn’t gone near each other, hadn’t
touched each other at all beyond that one brief contact. Milo had been relieved
because they had needed to focus their minds, not their dicks, to defeat the
hunters. Relieved—and frustrated beyond belief to have his mate so close and
not be able to touch him.
There was another issue. They hadn’t connected
telepathically.
Milo had thought that happened immediately. But
he was only a half-shifter, with limited shifter abilities in his human form,
and Eli was a human. What would happen if they didn’t connect? Could they walk
away from each other? It would make life so much simpler.
Milo caught Eli frowning at him, and he looked
away, feeling guilty. Eli didn’t need to know. They hadn’t connected. He need
never know. Milo’s wolf howled inside him at the thought of walking away from
his mate, and for once Milo didn’t try to hush him. The thought hurt his human
side just as much. But Milo had spent his whole life hiding his true nature,
and now, through no fault of his own, everything he’d worked to hide was liable
to be exposed. Among humans he hid the fact he was half-shifter. Around
shifters he tried hard to fit in, even though his human side affected his wolf
senses. And with both communities he hid the fact he was gay.
Milo had spent his whole life in hiding and with one
phone call Joe had exposed him to humans—both as shifter and as gay. He wasn’t
fucking ready for it. And didn’t that suck?
Love Lane Books: https://www.lovelanebooks.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=83&zenid=ae17b9c4db224b1081ceedcd2dbffcb7
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y0NKLAC/
All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thehiddenwolf-1813555-153.html
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y0NKLAC/
All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thehiddenwolf-1813555-153.html
Sue Brown is owned by her dog and two
children. When she isn't following their orders, she can be found plotting at
her laptop. In fact she hides so she can plot and has gotten expert at ignoring
the orders.
Sue discovered M/M erotica at the
time she woke up to find two men kissing on her favorite television series. The
series was boring; the kissing was not. She may be late to the party, but she's
made up for it since, writing fan fiction until she was brave enough to venture
out into the world of original fiction.
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Email ID: suebrown.stories@gmail.com 
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June
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