When he agreed to help test a drug that could help supernaturals with control issues, he never thought it would have the opposite effect on him. So when he finds himself fighting the urge to lay claim to a human woman, he’s far from prepared for what happens next.

Winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Egypt felt like a dream come true for Brooke Larner. Everything in her life is lining up perfectly-even the handsome new man she’s found herself attracted to. Before long she’s handing over more than just her heart, thinking it just might be for keeps. When it doesn’t go as planned, Brooke finds herself running right into the hands of madmen bent on creating super soldiers. And she soon realizes that creatures from stories and nightmares are altogether too real.

After five years of searching for Brooke, Malik has finally reached his breaking point. Already the obsession to find her left him shifting into a lion in a very public place before being forced on mandatory leave. Still, he can’t get her out of his mind. The suppression drugs have been out of his system for years. The burning desire for Brooke should have gone with them.

It didn’t.

So when chance leaves their paths crossing once more, he realizes destiny is at play. The only problem is, she doesn’t trust him and she has a secret she’s willing to die to protect.

As demons from their past resurface, they find themselves in a battle to save everything they hold dear.

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Titles in the PSI Ops (Paranormal Security & Intelligence) series include – Act of Mercy – Act of Surrender – Act of Submission – Act of Command – Act of Passion – Act of Brotherhood – Act of Surveillance – Act of Freedom –

This series is part of an entire world that consists of several relating series.  There is a suggested reading list on our Cross-Over Series page.  I’d highly recommend reading them in that order, if possible because they all do blend together – a lot.

Series that connect: Immortal Ops — PSI Ops (Paranormal Security & Intelligence) — Crimson Ops — Shadow Agents — Immortal Outcasts

Title:  Act of Passion
Series:  PSI Ops #5 (part of the Immortal Ops World)
Author:  Mandy M. Roth
Published:  February 15, 2018
My Rating:  4.5 stars

For me, Act of Passion, the fifth title in the PSI Ops series, was the most difficult – emotionally – story to read in these series so far.  Since we often run across characters from all these series in different stories as secondary characters, Malik ‘Tut’ has become a familiar face.  There has always been a cloud of sadness surrounding him, spoken of by others, and felt as well.  Now, we have a better idea of what has haunted him for so many years… and it’s heartbreaking in so many ways.

For these men, finding their mate is the ultimate lifelong challenge, the desire perhaps underlying and not really acknowledged yet we’ve seen even the most stubbornly content bachelor change his tune upon meeting his mate… so it’s there that ingrained need to find their mate, should they exist.  For Malik to believe he’d found his mate in Brooke only to question his reaction because of the drug he was testing and the lack of a sense of the supernatural around Brooke was hard to watch happening.  It had to be for the emotional impact on the reader.  But, yeah, it was hard.  Without thinking by pure instinct Malik made a choice that would haunt him – and when Brooke disappeared without a trace he was left with the aftermath of their time together, perhaps now free of the drugs, with a better idea of what might have happened… but still Brooke was human, so he continued to question himself.  Until a chance encounter, not at all what his team-mate expected when trying to distract Malik from something far different yet related, would change his life once again.

I have to say this, even though it pains me greatly considering how much I’ve enjoyed Malik’s part in this series and in his story… I could not like Brooke.  I simply could not.  I’ve used every rational thinking trick – she wasn’t raised as a supernatural so she had no idea, she made the choice to walk out which set events in motion, she was lied to yet believed a madman’s claims… and Malik did search for her.  Still.  While I adored Bethany, a precocious wee girl, I could not like Brooke nor see her as “worthy” of Malik.  I’m hoping that she’ll appear in future books (I have a pretty good idea whose book that might be) as a secondary character where I might get the chance to change my mind… but no, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Act of Passion is intense, emotionally, and action-wise. It’s a story that will linger in your mind.  We get to see so many different sides of several of the Ops men and their interactions with Bethany gave me more than a few smiles.  I think this is going to be one of those stories where I loved the hero and if he loved his lady that was good enough for me… and let it go.  Anther of my favorites in these series, I’m certain I’ll be re-reading Malik and Brooke’s story often.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.  Yet in November of 2020, these series will be coming out of KU and will be available on other vendors as well.

Available in audio or for your favorite e-reader.