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emmalita 's review for:
The Wild Wolf's Rejected Mate
by Cate C. Wells
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have been a somewhat ambivalent reader of Cate C. Wells’ Five Packs series. I don’t generally enjoy omegaverse or fated mates, I particularly don’t love rejected mates. But, I always enjoy Wells’ writing and I have appreciated the way she moves the Five Packs world from dismissive/abusive towards women to somewhat more equitable. It’s still a society with built in inequality and the pack members rights are only as strong as the alpha is willing to grant and enforce. There is quite a bit of social commentary along with some deeply emotional romances. This is why I love Wells’ books, the romance and the social commentary are the same story. I adore The Wild Wolf’s Rejected Mate. This book takes the previous four books and whacks them on the snout with a rolled up newspaper.
When Annie was a child she witnessed the men in the pack commit an act of sexual violence against the women in the pack, sanctioned by the alpha, resulting in one death. Annie has carried that trauma and the attendant anxiety since. Men aren’t safe, and men from the Last Pack are even more dangerous because they steal women away from the more civilized packs. So things don’t go well when Annie, at 18, finds out that Justus, from Last pack is her fated mate. Her trauma is triggered and Justus is too immature and inexperienced to understand that her fear is not weakness. He speaks unkind words that stick in Annie’s mind. When he approaches her again years later, he carries her off to his pack.
Finally, he lifts his chin to look her in the eyes, and he says, “Annie, I would give anything for you not to be afraid of me. Your fear is the greatest shame of my life.” He straightens, collecting a breath. “But we can’t stay here if you won’t shift. I’m sorry.”
He rises to his feet and scoops her up, too quickly for her to do anything but stiffen into a plank. He tucks her to his chest, his forearm supporting her belly, her rump in the crook of his elbow. She presses her nose to his damp skin. “I won’t hurt you, sweetling,” he says, his voice bitter and tired.
My wolf nuzzles him with her snout and inhales. All four of her limbs relax and dangle, swinging as he takes off toward the river.
He’s going to drown us. Bite him! Fight!
The voice is fighting her corner alone. My wolf begins to whack Justus’s bicep with her wagging tail as if she can’t even hear it. Maybe she can’t. The elders say the wolf and the man are one, but I can’t imagine ever letting a male carry me like a football.
This is where The Wild Wolf’s Rejected Mate gets really good. Justus has done a lot of growing up and has become a thoughtful mate and leader. Justus rejects the alpha structure of the “civilized” packs, pointing out that it’s based on observations of wolves in captivity, not wolves in the wild. Justus is sweet, thoughtful, and playful. He learns how to support Annie as she works through her anxiety and trauma. Annie talks about having a voice in her head. She calls it her “pecking voice” because it pecks at her about everything that can go wrong. I have something like that, but it’s more like a hyper vigilant part of my brain sends me a constant stream of memes. Sadly, I can’t shift into a wolf and be carried off by a mate who is willing to fight my devils (which would either be barking at the news, or disabling a whole bunch of cars).
I’ve read too many of Wells’ books to still be gobsmacked by how she gets me to read subgenres I don’t like. At this point, if she writes it, I’ll read it. There’s a yearning for community and belonging in her books that resonates with me. I don’t know if she’s trying to point us somewhere, or working through ideas in her own head. Either way, many of her books have become part of my emotional support library.
You can read The Wild Wolf’s Rejected Mate as a standalone, but it will make more sense in the context of the series.