A Lioness in Peril. 
Three years ago, Mara watched helplessly as hunters killed her brother. The men promised not to harm others if she complied with their evil demands. Now, she’s serving time in a cell beneath Bearden, trying to atone for the crimes they forced her to commit. 

Mara’s penance brings her face to face with a fierce and rugged and heavily tatted bear shifter, Hudson Vaughn. 

He stirs all sorts of feelings inside her. Desire. Yearning. Need. But now is not the time for that foolishness. The hunters have returned. Their demands are even more sinister. They want shifter children, and they want her too. 

Mara intends to confront the hunters. Alone. But Hudson has a different plan… 

Together they’ll attend a shifter auction, posing as a handler and leashed pet. It’s all just a fake act. A ploy. And her yanking his leash and taunting him is part of the act too. It’s working fine. Right up until the end of the night when all pretense falls away, the lights dim and the growly bear-shifter crowds her into a corner and makes a promise… 

I don’t need my bear to make you submit, kitty… 

Hudson Vaughn has a plan to set his mate free. First, he must convince Mara they’re fated to be together. Then, he needs to convince her he’ll protect her from every threat. Even the shifter-traffickers that murdered her brother. 

What starts as a plan to infiltrate the hunters’ auction, becomes something so much more. Mara poses as his handler, but she seems to enjoy her role a little too much. The entire evening, she delights in snapping his leash and full-on flirting with him. None of that was part of the plan. 

Little tease. 

His mate has a wild side. A naughty side he never imagined, but one he likes very much. His bear snarls and snaps, hungering to make Mara his. 

Hudson must destroy the evil forces that stalk Mara, so he can finally claim his sassy, curvy fated mate...

“Untamed Mate” is the sixth story in the Shifters of Bear’s Den series, which is part of the Shifting Destinies world.  All of the titles in these series which make up their own world can be found on the Cecilia Lane page.

This is an adult, 18+ story with language and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Untamed Mate
Series:  Shifters of Bear’s Den #6 (Shifting Destinies World)
Author:  Cecilia Lane
Published:  September 5, 2018
My Rating:  4.5 stars

“Untamed Mate” is Mara and Hudson’s story and as we seem to be wrapping up the Shifters of Bear’s Den series to move on to the Black Claw Ranch series we get some answers directly from a character who has been present in each story since her introduction in Becca’s and Nolan’s story… yet hidden away in her cell beneath Bearden’s Town Hall serving out her sentence.  I’ll be frank and say that Mara is not a character that I like, from the moment of her introduction she gave me a bad vibe feeling and I’ve not lost that reaction to her, even now after finishing up her story.  I wish I could pinpoint why, after all, others in this series have done stupid, dumb and even harmful things and they’ve been brought into the fold with no trouble or bad reactions from me… so I don’t know why, I only know how I react to her.  Yet, I’ll also be frank in saying that my reaction to her didn’t stop my enjoyment of her romance and adventures with Hudson.

Their story is fast paced, action filled, steamy and tender all wrapped up in one amazing story of redemption, justice, forgiveness, and mates finally accepting each other with whole hearts.  I won’t say much for you should experience the heart-pounding enjoyment of “Untamed Mate” for yourself.  But it is a story that will keep you glued to the pages as you race toward the ending.  Shifters of Bear’s Den is really a series that needs to be read in order… it grows, adds more information, draws you deeper into this world with each story.  I don’t feel that you would get the full impact or understanding of complex relationships by jumping around out of order on this one, in my opinion.  I would definitely recommend this story and this series to any Paranormal Romance or Shifter Romance reader who enjoys a complicated world, likable (for the most part) characters, vile villains to loathe and a sense of a tight-knit community being built.  This is the building block of a world that will continue in the next series, and I’m definitely onboard with following along on this adventure.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Available for the Kindle