Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon is her first full length Were-Hunter novel (as opposed to Dark-Hunter).

This is the story of Vane Kattalakis who readers will recall from Night Embrace protected Sunshine for Talon and the other Dark-Hunters.

Now he is paying the price for that loyalty.

His sister is dead and he and his brother Fang are blamed for her death.  Even worse their father has decided to use this as an excuse to kill them once and for all.

Left hanging in the swamp the fates of Vane and Fang are not left to chance and a group of Daimons sent by their father arrive to finish the job.

But they do not count on Vane and Fang escaping and running from the rest of the wolf pack.  Fang is badly injured and is in a comatose state when Vane seeks help from the Peltier bears at Sanctuary.

It is in the midst of all these problems that Vane comes across Bride McTierney who is in the middle of her own crisis when her boyfriend has broken up with her after using her to further his career.  She does not expect Vane to walk through the door of her shop and buy the most expensive necklace in the store for her.  But that is precisely what he does.

However it is after their passions get the best of them that the problems really start and Vane realises that Bride is his mate.  He has three weeks to convince her to have him or he will be sterile and impotent for the rest of her lifetime.  But with his life at stake he is more than a little reluctant to drag Bride into his problems.

But he cannot turn away from her until after his mark has disappeared from her or else she will be in as much danger as he already is.

So Vane alternates between staying at her side in the form of a wolf and trying his hand at dating, a new experience for the Were-Hunter who is used to pack relationships which are a whole different kettle of fish.

Seeking advice from Ash and the other Dark-Hunters seemed like a good idea at the time but Vane soon finds that it is Amanda and Grace (wives of Julian and Kyrian) who are far more helpful.  I would say here that this book is worth the cover price for the dating advice scene alone.  Truly amusing.

But this book does not just tell us about the relationship between Vane and Bride, it also gives us a much more detailed insight into the Katagaria and Arcadian sides of the Were-Hunters.  Vane we discover is almost unique amongst his own kind and in the dangerous war between those whose base form is an animal and those who are essentially human, Vane has the rare opportunity to see things from both sides and is one of the few who can determine which of the two races are the animals and which are those who still retain their humanity.  Though I am sure that all readers will know that things are never as cut and dried as they appear.

We also meet more of the Were-Hunters including Fury who also has his own story still to come and a great many of the inhabitants of Sanctuary.

An excellent story that opens up the world of the Were-Hunters and blends with ease into the world of the Dark-Hunters.  I was worried that after the Dark-Hunters I would not enjoy the Were-Hunter story as much because of the lack of familiar faces.  I am glad to say that I was very wrong about this and the Dark-Hunters and their Squires make just as many cameo appearances in this novel too.

RATING : 
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Also by Sherrilyn Kenyon: Link to the Complete Dark-Hunter series List. (at least to date)

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