Werewolf Eveny Moore is coming into her first heat at the age of twenty-five. Bucking tradition, she chooses to go through her first heat alone instead of choosing an unmated male from her pack. There is only one male that she wants in her bed and her life: her best friend, Luke Elrich. But Luke is human and doesn’t understand the consequences of her heat-cycle, so she hides out in a safe-house, planning to ride out the cycle alone and then ask Luke to be her mate. 

Luke has loved Eveny forever, but something is going on between them. He’s afraid he’s losing her forever, until she promises to talk to him after her heat-cycle is over. He overhears her brother, the pack alpha, ask another wolf to go to Eveny and take her through the heat-cycle. What her brother doesn’t know is that the male plans to invite some of his friends along. And Eveny is alone in a remote cabin, unprotected. Luke will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means going up against four wolves. 

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

Titles in the Wilde Creek series include:  Mate of Her Heart – The Alpha’s Heart – The Protector’s Heart – The Omega’s Heart – The Scarred Heart – Dancer’s Heart – The Hunter’s Heart –

Title:  Mate of Her Heart
Series:  Wilde Creek #1
Author:  R. E. Butler
Published:  December 9, 2013
My Rating:  4 stars

I almost picked up the seventh story in this series today before I realized I need to follow my own advice and go back to start at the beginning.  Now, as usual, I’m glad that I did for there is background in Mate of Her Heart that helps to understand the pack dynamics.  Also, right now Mate of Her Heart and The Alpha’s Heart are both in the same e-book, the rest of the earlier stories are also double booked.  Even so, I’ve reviewed them as individual stories with the original covers in case you’ve read them before.

Mate of Her Heart certainly gets this series off to a hot and heavy start.  There is another bit of shifter lore to add to the legends, unique to this series   Eveny is coming into her first heat and should she have unprotected sex and become pregnant that male will become her mate… no other choice, it’s simply what happens.  Eveny has been in love with her best friend since their childhood – her human best friend, Luke.  Now she must get out of town, avoid any males and survive this first heat, then she and Luke can work on their future together.  Her pack has an intense dislike for humans and she will be shunned when she chooses Luke, but she can put it off for another year… if she can get through the next week.

I have an intense dislike of my own, for ass-hat alphas that impose their rules on everyone even when they make no sense whatsoever.  Eveny’s brother is also her alpha and what he did is unspeakable.  It angered me so much that I’m tempted to skip the next story which is his… this action is not the action of a loving brother or alpha – this was “it’s my pack, my rules and I get what I want” childishness.  I’ll let you decide for yourself how you feel about this alpha… for me, he’s not much better than those males who tried to rape his sister.

Luke and Eveny’s romance is certainly sexy, filled with danger to them both and sets the stage for things to come in this series.  I enjoyed this short look into the Wilde Creek pack.  I’ll be following the series, even if I don’t like, at this moment, one main character.  Time to see if one alpha can redeem himself.  I would recommend this story to any Paranormal Romance or Shifter Romance reader.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Available for the Kindle (yes book 1 and book 2 are combined in this e book)