Read my reviews of previous books in the Rebel Kings MC series:
Devil’s Dance (#1) | Saint’s Song (#2)
Though Cam, Saint, and Alexei are the characters we followed in the first books of this series, every officer of the Rebel Kings MC played a role in events that drastically affected them all. In this book, while I loved seeing those three men start to enjoy a happily ever after together, I also enjoyed exploring two brand-new characters. Leigh does an excellent job bringing her secondary characters to life, but there’s no substitute for getting inside their head and learning their secrets. And Mateo and Embry are both keeping a lot of secrets.
I quickly became invested in the slow-burn nonsense that flared hot and cold between them. To be fair, the secrets both men keep had a lot to do with how they try to protect both themselves and each other from the burdens of their past. However, while Embry and Mateo try to get their acts together, the external plot rolls on. Crime abhors a vacuum, so the aftermath of the previous books is almost as much of a mess as the events themselves were. Leigh doesn’t go with a plot twist here so much as pull off a stunning reveal that ties all the threads of this book together with how Mateo’s past is also very much influencing all of their presents. This amps up the danger for everyone and blows up all the work our two heroes have done in stumbling toward each other.
Angst gets a bad rap, but sometimes it is absolutely necessary for emotional storytelling. Leigh gives us the perfect amount for how the drama of the relationship and external plot weave together here and genuinely made me fear for the bonds between all of these men, not just Embry and Mateo. However, we do get the happily ever after assured by romance genre expectations, along with a delightful promise that there is still more to come for this fascinating cast of morally gray heroes.