Cat’s Lair by Christine Feehan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Title: Cat’s Lair
Author: Christine Feehan
Series: Leopard People, #7
Pages: 448
Publisher: Jove
Date: May 5, 2015
Summary:
Cat Benoit has finally escaped the past—and the man who was the source of her nightmares. She’s off the grid, underground but watchful, and creating a new life for herself in Texas, far from the torrid dangers of her native New Orleans. She’s safe. He’ll never find her this time. Cat has to believe that. It’s the only thing keeping her sane.
Yet she can’t escape the attention of Ridley Cromer, the instructor at the martial arts dojo where Cat takes lessons. She arouses the animal in Ridley—and something feral comes to life when their body heat rises. Cat is in no position to let her guard down with anyone, especially someone who could be endangered by her past. But Ridley has secrets of his own—secrets only Cat would understand. If she dares to trust him.
Review:
First off, I never, ever read series books out of order. Even if I am told individual books can stand alone, I always read them in order. Well, this time I ran out of time . . . and they were right. This book works perfectly well as a standalone.
Anyway, Cat is on the run. She has learned to stay unobtrusive in order to survive. Unfortunately, the man she is running from is an abusive, murderous crime lord named Rafe . . . who also happens to be a leopard shifter.
Cat is a shifter too, but she has yet to shift. Females do not shift until they are older and she is terrified of her leopard. She is afraid it will be a killer too because that is all she has ever known.
Enter Ridley Cromer – (view spoiler)
Ridley is an undercover DEA agent and they want Cat to testify against Rafe. She knows she will not live long enough to testify. Rafe will find her and either kill her or kidnap her again.
Ridley, whose real name is Eli, kidnaps her himself in order to protect her. The fact that he is a shifter as well and wants Cat as his mate is simply a side benefit. Yeah, right.
I loved the relationship between Eli and Cat. Given her childhood, you would expect Cat to be a terrified mouse. She is anything but. She is frightened, of course, but she is strong and determined to live her own life.
Eli is a dominant, which is to be expected with any of Feehan’s books. The males are always alphas. Eli takes it to an entirely different level. He is a dominant in the manner of BDSM. Fortunately, Cat discovers she loves his dominance and even though she is a strong woman, she is also submissive.
Eli is dominant and aggressive and hard headed and he loves Cat more than his own life. He is not afraid to admit it either. Cat can’t understand it, but he never lets her think she is not loved.
I love that Eli is open with his feelings about Cat. I also love that he is determined she learns to defend herself. He is not so stupid to think he will always be able to protect her. She has to be able to protect herself. And she does . . . up to a point.
The bad guy shows up and he is not alone. Bad things happen and Eli is not able to protect her. And, . . .
Read the book. Read the entire series. I’m going to.
This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review. (hide spoiler)]
Elaine Reads . . . constantly! 