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…
I absolutely loved this story and Zev and Jonah have joined my list of favorite couples. Their love story was, on the one hand, amazingly sweet having begun as babies essentially, and on the other hand, hotter than hot as they waited through all those years to be together. I can't recommend this book enough. If you love shifters, then this is the story for you.
Wake Me Up Inside is the first book in the Mate series from Cardeno C and I can't wait for more. Cardeno C has a straightforward narrative that delivers the story in a manner that makes it easy for the reader to follow the timeline of Jonah and Zev's relationship as it grows from childhood to adult. ... Take a good long look at that marvelous cover and it gives you an accurate picture of a scene in the book. Boy and wolf pup and Jonah and Zev, always together no matter the form Zev is in. How does that idea not draw you in? It is the characterizations that make or break a story for me and in Zev and Jonah we get two characters to connect with immediately.
Stylistically unique and deeply emotional ... It was more than a book, it was a sweeping emotional journey through time and across two very different cultures and I thoroughly enjoyed it. ... With touches of gut-clenching angst, gentle humor, and searing passion, the path of Zev and Jonah's romance is fraught with a myriad conflicts and hazards both internal and external that were woven together into a very powerful read.
It is really a nice slow build for their relationship. I liked the pacing of the story. The slow burn and desire that becomes all-consuming and almost debilitating as the years pass. It makes the union that much sweeter when it finally happens. Cardeno C just has a way of weaving a story that pulls the reader in and washes them in love and warmth. Zev and Jonah are hot as hell between the sheets and sweet as honey out of them.