Lark Jaansen, who is a witch that is a hunter in the Gennessee’s Los Angeles witch clan, is in Seattle to help train the Owen clan about defensive spells and other important things. She’s not a witch who relies strictly on her magick and uses guns when necessary to take the bad guys down. She’s had a bit of an awkward relationship with her sister who is also the head hunter in LA and Lark looked at this time in Seattle as a nice away time to maybe find some focus.

When Lark arrives in Seattle she immediately meets Simon Leviathan who is runs a business with Dominic (from book 1) and is also a Lycian – a type of shifter that comes from across a Veil (an alternate universe/reality). Simon and Lark become fast friends and love spending time together while Lark does a great job of amping up the hunter section of the Owen clan. The witches are still under threat from the mages and turned witches that are kidnapping witches, weres and vampires to suck the magick from them. Nell, who is the head hunter for the Owen clan, needs to star taking it easy because of her pregnancy and Meriel, The Owen, asks Lark to step in temporarily. Lark accepts and right after that they find out that not only do they have to fear the mages but now there is an even greater threat – the Magister. The Magister is something that they were told about as kids – kind of like the boogeyman but never though actually existed. Now they have to find out what it is, how to defeat it and keep the clans across America safe from it.

In all of this Simon realizes that yes he’s friends with Lark but he wants more. She is the perfect woman for him and his human side as well as his beast side have decided that she is the one mate for them. Simon is a bit possessive and bossy but Lark is just the type of person who gives it right back to him. She’s bad-ass and doesn’t take any shit from anyone but she also has an incredibly soft and caring side to her as well that speaks to him on so many levels.

This was a great second installment in the series. I loved seeing all of the characters from book one in this story and adding Lark to the picture just amplified everything. Lark is just an awesome character she is smart and savvy and knows what she’s doing but she’s not opposed to new ideas and being questioned about things. I loved her sense of humor and when Lark and Simon would flirt it just made me smile because it was so adorable.

I was interesting to see a bit more about Simon in this book and of course learn about his family behind the Veil. Though they didn’t get too much into his past and growing up years we knew by the end of the book that his family loved him a great deal and would do anything to help. He was an honorable man and a great hunter.

The part of the story to do with the Magister was intense. Not knowing what the Magister actually was, what it was trying to do, how it would accomplish this goal and how they could defeat it had me on the edge of my seat for most of the book.

There are some surprises in this one – ones I didn’t expect but that just made the story that much better as it made it more realistic. Yes, I know this is paranormal/fantasy but the way the stories are written it could really be happening.

I will definitely be reading more in this series and can’t wait to see what happens next. If you haven’t started the series yet I recommend you do.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5