Title:  Blackwing Beast
Series:  Kane’s Mountains #3
Author:  T. S. Joyce
Published:  October 12, 2016
My Rating:  5+ stars
Source:  Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Beast wants only a few things out of life: to be left alone, to join the Blackwings so he can be left alone, and for everyone to stop expecting anything from him and leave him alone. He was king of the lion shifters once, but his fall from power came at a huge personal cost. Rumors run rampant over what really happened to his pride, but the truth has hardened Beast’s heart to stone. He’s kept the Blackwings at arm’s length, but when a human starts stalking his crew, his inner monster-kitty gets curious. Kiera is gorgeous and mysterious, but she also has strange eyes and a scent that is calling to his animal. No human has ever interested him quite like her. But when he finds out who, and what, she really is, he’ll have to risk his heart again. And for a monster like him, caring for a woman could put everyone around him in danger.

Kiera Pierce has been through hell and back, but she’s still standing and fighting. She’s in big trouble, and is being hunted by one brutal pride of lion shifters. When she seeks sanctuary in Kane’s Mountains, she doesn’t expect a scar-faced behemoth to be her hero. Oh, she’s heard of Beast, and knows the rumors about him, and if they’re true, he’s a ruthless killer in a sexy package. Perhaps that’s the kind of protection she needs. But the more she gets to know the quiet and dangerous Beast, the more she thinks he might be able to save more than her life. He just might be able to save her heart as well.

 Sexy shifters and their feisty mates who aren’t shy about loving each other – so, this is an adult, 18+ reader tale

Titles in this series include:  Blackwing Dragon (Haprer’s Mountains), Blackwing Defender, Blackwing Wolf, Blackwing Beast

It’s going to be really difficult to give up this series, or these people whose lives I’ve followed since the very beginning.  Bittersweet is always my feeling at the closing of any series I’ve enjoyed, this one is a little bit more of that since I’ve traveled this road with them all for so long.

Blackwing Beast is slightly longer than the previous stories in Kane’s Mountains – there’s a bit more story to tell for Beast.

Kiera is searching for Kane.  She knew him back when they both were in Apex, that horrible group of mad scientists who believed they had a way to rip the animal from Shifters.  Thankfully, Apex is now shut down but not before hundreds of Shifters were killed in the process of “cleansing” them of their animal.  Not before the damage was done to Kiera.  She had heard a rumor that it was possible for shifters to get their animals back through a claiming bite – unfortunately, that isn’t the only ingredient needed but she didn’t know that detail when one nasty piece of work agreed to give her the bite in exchange for sex.  Actually, the jerk lion shifter had plans for Kiera.

Now she’s here in Kane’s Mountains.  She’s been stalking him and that ragtag crew of misfits of his.  What a bunch of losers were her thoughts when knowing the D Team only from what was public record and viewed from a distance.  She had a decision to make and soon.  Were Kane and his mate, Rowen the right choice for her needs with these dangerous Shifters surrounding them.

Beast has been driven to utter madness from the deaths of his pride.  Rumors swirl around him like a whirlwind, but nothing comes close to what the reality is… and he has never denied or acknowledged those rumors.  Beast is close to the edge of his control.  He has one last thing to accomplish, then he can ask Kane to put him down.  Until the lioness showed up, stalking his crew and showing signs of sickness.  He might be unstable, but he knew how to protect those he considered his – the D  Team, Kane and Rowen.

I’m hoping that there are more stories.  I’m hoping that since there were more than the D  Team trying for a home in Kane’s Mountains.  (Damon’s Mountains had several crews)

Yet, if this truly is the end of this series – it could not have ended any better than it did with Beast and Kiera’s story.  Two people who had suffered so much, had so much stolen from them until the point where they were broken almost beyond repair.  In each other they found a reason to live.  Blackwing Beast brought me to tears of sadness and of joy.  If this is indeed the end – I can be content to leave my friends safe and secure in their new home.

What an amazing ride this has been.  To say that I highly recommend these connecting series is simply not enough.  If you allow them, they will touch a part of your reading heart and never let go.

I read this story through my Kindle Unlimited subscription. For ten dollars a month you get access to thousands of really great stories across all genre, and the authors get paid for you reading the story through to the 100% mark. It’s a win-win. Probably the best 10 bucks I spend a month.

Available for the Kindle