A powerful Alpha wolf shifter and a strong-willed human overcome traditions ingrained over generations and uncover long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny as true mates.
Regarded as the strongest wolf shifter in generations, Alpha Zev Hassick is surprised and confused by his attraction to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. A male shifter has to mate with a female shifter to keep his humanity, so shifters can't be gay. Yet, everything inside Zev tells him Jonah is his true mate.
Maintaining a relationship with the man he has loved since childhood isn’t easy for Jonah Marvel, but he won’t let distance or Zev’s odd family get in their way. When unexplained ailments begin to plague Jonah, he needs to save his own life and sanity in order to have a future with Zev.
Zev and Jonah know they're destined for each other, but they must overcome traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny.
“I don’t disagree with you, Mother. Clarissa is a very beautiful woman. But I’m not going to date her.”
Zev didn’t bother trying to hide the frustration in his voice. Honestly, how many times would he have to tell his family that he wasn’t interested in their setups? Exhaustion beating at him, he leaned against the back of the leather couch and rubbed his palms over his eyes. Sleep rarely came to him, and when it did, he remained partially alert, terrified of losing his humanity while he was unconscious. He was barely hanging on as it was; this intervention was the last thing he needed.
Grandma Mae’s voice broke into his thoughts. Her frustration with Zev had reached such a high level that she willingly questioned him, her Alpha, a practice unheard of in her generation. Then again, maybe it wasn’t just her frustration; maybe Zev’s attempts to…
Wake Me Up Inside has a great balance of romance, sweetness and angst.
This is a shifter world with a very interesting twist to the Mating of shifters. ... The book follows these guys from birth until they are thirty, so you get to see them at all stages of their life and relationship. I liked that. I also liked that their romance didn't evolve until later than you would expect. Before that they were truly just best friends although they definitely always had that bond. I also really enjoyed the fact that Jonah never knew that Zev and Pup were the same creature. Yes, he has a bond with the wolf too who's been with him throughout his life. It was a good read. I could feel the bond between the two guys and as they began to decline, I really worried for them. I loved the mystery of why Jonah is the way that he is... a bit stronger than he should be as a human and he always has a sense when Zev is around. The twist with Zev being as strong as he was and a great Alpha for his pack made him a great hero. You got to see him strong and dominate with them, but then got to see his soft, mushy side with Jonah. But I truly loved that both guys are really VERY strong. It was an interesting read and I definitely enjoyed it.
I don't read a lot of shifter books. Because reasons. But now, now that I've read this first book in the Mates series, I'm about halfway to being convinced that I've been missing out. Holy hot boysecks, Batman.... The part how they were drawn together, so perfect for each other, from the very beginning recognizing their true mate bond ...I loved the easy banter, the deeply formed relationship....Fully developed characters give this book the extra oomph. Witty dialogue, snarky snark and humorous banter had me laughing out loud on many occasions, and only CC can manage to make me giggle and go 'awwwww' at the same time....Let's not forget, this is a shifter book. A book about shifter mating, and holy cow, that first time for these two - it nearly melted my Nook. I felt like I was intruding on something sacred when Zev and Jonah make love for the first time....this was a wonderful story to convince me of the merits of shifter stories.
This was a very sweet love story – 100% pure Cardeno’s style.