Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault

This book does what so many stories in various forms of media fail to do: explore the aftermath of trauma for a sexual assault or rape victim. If anyone needs directions on how to do that, here is your example directors and writers! This book heavily focused on exploring Mercy’s trauma and what her boundaries of consent were after the assault. She has friends and people around her that try to help her through her panic attacks and anxiety throughout the book. Adam especially, proved to be an excellent romantic partner in general (not that we didn’t know that, but he was especially respectful and a sweetheart to Mercy after the assault). At the very beginning of this book Mercy wants to have sex with him, and Adam wants to as well, but he also understands that that decision may not be the healthiest one for his partner. Therefore, he declines and waits until she is in a healthier mental state. It shows responsibility on Adam’s part and also is an indirect indicator that they have a very healthy relationship. Adam shows how he is very much a 1950s gentlemen with wolf powers. On Mercy’s part, we are given a realistic depiction of recovery from trauma. Mercy has reasonably consistent panic attacks and does not react well to being touched. There are other triggers to her anxiety that are shown throughout the story. Adam and his pack adapt adequately to make Mercy as comfortable as possible. They don’t leave her alone for long periods of time to make sure she feels safe and Adam only touches her if she initiates physical affection. Despite her going through all of this, Adam still trust her to fend for herself. It is a breath of fresh air to see a character that is gradually going through the motions of recovering from trauma and how important having a support system is for a person going through that.

For this installment in the series we are back to being with the vampires. If there are any supernatural creatures that are super morally grey in this world, it’s the vampires. We get to know Stefan a bit better and he became an even more likeable character to me.



**MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD**



He hates the fact that he is a vampire and understands that he is a monster even if Mercy does not see him as such. He has a menagerie of humans he feeds on, but for vampiric standards, he treats them very well and tries his best to not abuse them and keep them healthy. Due to his understanding of what he is, it makes him that much more humane towards mortal humans, I think. He killed people in order to save Mercy and the fact that he is still so likeable despite that puts him in a very moral grey area that a lot of the vampires we see fall into. The insight that a lot of the werewolves believe that all vampires are evil at their core helps to reinforce this idea.

By the end of the book Marsilia reveals to Mercy that the reason Stefan refuses to forgive her is solely because she placed Mercy in danger. It comes to show how much Stefan is capable of caring for other people and poses the question of whether or not he is truly evil like many of the characters in the book believe vampires to be, or if there is enough good in him to consider him trustworthy the way Mercy does. In addition, it tells us how much he cherishes Mercy. Marsilia ends up being painted as our in house anti hero who does love Stefan, but is willing to hurt him if it necessary to fulfill her plans.



**SPOILERS END HERE**



I loved that we were able to learn more about the other members of the pack such as Darryl and how he has suffered prejudice for being an educated black man and Warren who has suffered prejudice from the pack for his sexual orientation. How pack dynamics let them know exactly who doesn’t like them is an interesting extra layer to how they interact with those members within the pack. It’s incredible that they are able to move past it because of the loyalty that is inherent to the pack. Ben is rude and I think it’s really funny how Mercy has come to tolerate him and Ben has begun to really like her but doesn’t know how to deal with it. It shows that relationships can evolve with time and with what we find out about a person. Due to both Ben and Mercy having a history of sexual assault and Ben and Mercy having a comparable level of snark to how they talk to people, I’m really looking forward to how their friendship develops.

One of my favorite parts of the book is how Adam and Samuel, despite both having to consistently deal with their werewolf instinct to assert dominance over the other, they don’t fall into an unhealthy pattern of toxic masculinity because of it. The fact that at some point in this book there is a scene where Samuel and Adam both snap at each other and are able to apologize to each other when Mercy calls them out on their behavior is amazing and an example to be followed, honestly. I really wish I saw more of that in fiction (and real life). Last thing I really want to mention is that Warren has solidified his position as one of my favorite characters in this series. He’s super funny and charming in a “Southern Texas hospitality” kind of way. He had some great moments with Mercy in this book that I’m looking forward to seeing more of. Can’t wait to get to the next one.