The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate is the first book in the Five Packs series by Cate C Wells and I am absolutely obsessed! I had originally not been interested in picking up more from this author after not enjoying their other book (Run Posy Run) but was in the mood for a shifter series and decided to give this a try.
And omg, this book had me hooked just in the first chapter and I can’t wait to read more now! This is a werewolf/shifter series with rejected mates, I had no idea this was a trope or a thing but now I really want to read more.
We meet Una, who is unmated, unprotected, has an injured leg, and has never gone into heat…therefore has never shifted. At 27, she’s way behind going into heat but she can feel her wolf inside her waiting. One day she’s around Killian, alpha of the pack, and realizes he’s her mate and shifts when another female is around him and touching him. She is confused why her wolf would pick him as their mate and even more confused when he pushes her away saying he doesn’t feel the mate bond she’s claiming they have. She’s seen as weak and undesirable, so he can’t believe they’d be paired as mates and rejects/embarrasses Una in front of the whole pack. But I loved how instead of pining for him, she ends up going to a sort of wise woman who is able to “pull” the mate bond away and gets back to her daily life of surviving. Soon after, Killian starts feeling super pulled to Una and becoming super protective. He doesn’t understand why since he’s convinced she’s not his mate! And I loved how he becomes the one trying to earn/win her!
I was just so invested in this and really want to binge the rest of the series now! Apparently I’ve been missing shifter/werewolf romances and need to read more. This pack in particular was super interesting. The Quarry Pack is ruled by strength, not blood, and any male can challenge for rank at any time. Besides having the biggest wolf in the five packs, Killian’s a flip-shifter, meaning he can change from skin to fur and back again whenever he wants, without effort, in the blink of an eye.