West is on the run from his werewolf pack, but if he cannot renew his magical defenses, he won’t get far. What he needs is a mage….
Julian is part of a wealthy and ancient family, and one day, his legacy will include his mother’s vast library of spell books—and the knowledge he needs to correct his past mistakes. But his inheritance comes with a stipulation: he has to be married before he can collect. What he needs is a husband….
West and Julian can help each other, and at first they don’t want anything further. But as they dodge meddling cousins, jealous rivals, and an insidious drug, it becomes clear that their lives are entwined in ways they never imagined—and they’re in greater danger than they thought possible.
New to me author Parker Foye just knocked my ginger socks off and knocked them off hard! I love a good marriage of convenience story but adding the paranormal aspect to make it a Mage of Inconvenience made this particular story amazing.
Yup, Red is gonna go on a ramble folks.
We meet West as he is finishing his day of work at the diner and preparing for his walk home. Through West’s thoughts, we know he is a meta wolf or lycan as his pack likes to call themselves and that West has left his pack. On his way home, he comes across a small group of young wolves acting strangely and it’s here that we are told about the magical drug running rapid through wolves called Rabid. It’s a fitting name for what it does to those affected and West does what he needs to do, makes an anonymous call to the Metaschemata Law of Ontario to let them know the drug has infected their territory. Trust me, knowing about Rabid is important, okay? Anyway, once at home in the mage spelled and protected cabin West came upon and is now basically squatting in, someone has breached the spells that are becoming weak and West, he needs a powerful and trustworthy mage to renew the protection spells.
The clause states you’ll only inherit if you’re in a, and I quote, ‘stable relationship or magical bond, as demonstrated to both mundane and magical administration, by the end of the year in which this will is read’ end quote.
Mage Julian Colquhoun comes highly recommend to West from his childhood friend and West sets out to ask the mage for help. But Julian, he has his own agenda when he meets West and it involves finding someone to marry so he can inherit what his late mother has left him. There is one minor problem; Julian needs to find someone who wants to not only be in a fake marriage but stick around for six months and be able to fake a magical bond that will pass an investigation from the Mage Alliance Administration. To quote poet G. K. Chesterton; “I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” And fate has fallen in the laps of Julian and West who once presented the option of helping Julian and getting his protection spells renewed in turn, makes his decision.
I adored West and Julian so damn much. There is instant chemistry between the men though they know nothing about one another. West doesn’t know why the marking he shows Julian affect him so deeply and Julian doesn’t know what form of meta West is. Julian doesn’t know that West has been studying Metaschemata History and West doesn’t know the magic and side jobs that Julian holds and what is in his past. Julian doesn’t know what pack West belonged to and West doesn’t know that his pack name haunts Julian. Yeah, a few secrets between two men who just met but the truth comes out. Eventually.
It was so much fun watching these two get to know one another. What I am finding with the Dreamspun line of late is the stories are taking on the form of true romantic categorical and giving us the slow burn romance to the story and not over sexing it. I know some readers need that on page sex but for me, getting to know the characters and watching them develop intimate attachments gives me more of a swoony feeling than them falling into bed immediately. There is something so romantic about watching two humans find common interest and in this story, not only fall in love but form a magical bond that makes them physically ache… yeah, I’ll take that over magic penises any day.
Now, let me jump off my soapbox and get back to the story.
Was he using West?These two were delicious. They are both so open and yet guarded at the same time wondering what they have gotten themselves into and are they going into this fake marriage for the right reasons. I don’t think it mattered once they started to have feelings for one another, or really after Julian took those gorgeous shots of West on the yacht, but once danger comes their way again, they have to lay everything the table and get the truth out, the story got even better.
He had used West, certainly.
As West had used him.
But going forward, they’d walk side by side.
West, is such an amazing young man and wolf. It took guts to leave his pack the way he did with nothing and try to make a new life for himself. His brother is an ass and addicted to Rabid and trying to create a true traditionalist lycan pack and has skeletons in his closet that shocked me when I found out the story behind the magical drug. But West, he knows that Julian is someone that can be trusted to protect him and his heart and when he realizes he knows Julian in another way, I was so damn happy.
Julian is a fantastic character. I loved learning what he could do as a mage and the power and following his mother had as well. Her clause in her will for Julian to find a magical bond proves that even in death, a mother knows what is best and I still think that in some way, she brought Julian and West together.
But really, the romance between West and Julian made me all swoony and happy that I was invested in them from the beginning. They take some time to accept they are more than just a convenience and good lord that first kiss turned me into goo and goo is so good. The players of Julian’s greedy cousins, and West’s Rabid addicted family adds to the story to make it fun and push these two further into acknowledging their bond but West and Julian… this is a couple driven story and I am so in love with it.
That end… so good. I loved how Julian was so Julian being engrossed in what he’s been given and West still being wide eyed and awed at Julian’s magic.
So good. Just. So good.
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