By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.
Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.
Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity.
True Mates were connected at the soul, but shifters said vampires were soulless.
This is the fourth book in the Mates series and while past characters from previous books do show up, you don’t have to read them in order to enjoy Yoram and Salvatore’s story. It does help to know who everyone is or in my case to satisfy my OCD, but the author does a great job of giving you enough detail about everyone the story flows yet intrigues you go to back and learn more.
Okay. Let’s do this.
Told in Dual POV’s, we meet a 7 year old Yoram Smith as he is waiting for his Uncle's Ethan & Miguel. When Yoram feels a pull to a human stranger, he walks right up and talks to him avoiding any stranger danger. Of course, Yoram instantly recognizes the stranger as “his friend” and proceeds to ask questions and tell his Uncles about all about him. Both Ethan and Miguel know who the human is and what he wants and while they decline, Miguel tells the human to see his doctor.
We turn the page and meet the human aka Salvatore Rossi, a 37 year old successful business man in finance who took Miguel’s advice to see his doctor and has learned he has leukemia and that it’s terminal. After trying numerous treatments that money can buy, Salvatore is curious why Miguel knew he needed to see a doctor and his hell bent on getting answers so he heads back to the town of Kfarkattan.
I love, love, love how this fated mates story is told. Yoram is young and Salvatore is dying and yet no one messes with the fact that these souls are fated for one another. In fact, they all know how rare it is to find your true mate and refuse to allow Yoram to be without his. I dug how strong and stubborn Yoram is at this point because he is going to be one hell of an alpha. I shamelessly giggled through Yoram’s father, uncle, Ethan and Miguel discussing how and when they would turn Salvatore to cure him when he was standing there amongst the swirling paranormal shifter chaos wondering WTF is going on! Seriously, it was fun and getting a mini Yoram declaring the adult male as his was adorable. So freaking fluffy.
The time frame and progression of this book is great. I am usually one who has to read books in order but I couldn’t stop myself from opening this and diving in. Having only read the first in the series, it was still fun to get Ethan and Miguel as well as a 14yr old Yorry being a cousin and BFF with Toby (who’s love of Barry Manilow is EPIC!) who hadn’t married Lori yet. Then the deal with Korban and Samuel… the author moves through the years with Yoram and Salvatore which moves through the first three books in the series. Pretty cool, eh?
Anyway.
Though Salvatore takes the “cure” from Miguel, he doesn’t buy that he is Yoram’s true mate nor does he want anything do with him. He really doesn’t understand who he is to Yoram, who Yoram is as the Alpha to his pack and really, all Sal wanted to do was not die. He could care less about the side effects of becoming a vampire. It was heartbreaking how cruel Sal could be when Yoram followed his wolf’s pull to see his mate as young teen, breaking your true mate’s heart requires some major sucking up… ya know?
Their road together had been long, winding, and occasionally disheartening…
What I love about these books is yes the men are true mates but we do get time with them apart as separate beings, whatever that might be. It provides the reader with angst and frustration but it also leads to an amazing reunion when the mates are together. It took some time for Yorry and Sal to find their way to one another, for Sal to realize what he completely has in Yoram and OMG, was it ever worth the wait.
I loved both men. Yoram is strong and compassionate as an Alpha, as all good Alpha’s should be. The scene with Davey was beautiful and showed so much of Yoram as Alpha and then of course what followed was hot and goo worthy. Sal is pretty cold and arrogant but the man has been without his true mate for so long, he didn’t know if he should scratch his watch or wind his butt. He was looking for contentment in all the wrong places when everything he needed was just Yoram. Sigh. These two, when they finally figure it all out there is nothing holding them back and I am so thankful for that.
This paranormal world was exciting to read. I liked how Ethan and Miguel lay it all out for Salvatore to understand, why he felt the way he did when he was apart from Yorry and what it was physically doing to him. It would seem odd that Sal would go from being so standoffish to Yorry to claiming his mate in a matter of days, but for that justification I give you two words; true mates.
Okay. I need to stop rambling before I start to draw hearts all over this review for how much I loved it.
To Touch You was a sweet and sexy paranormal read about true mates that shouldn’t be. A wolf needs humanity to tie (*ahem* KNOT) with and how can he tie with a soulless creature? How can a vampire survive with a shifter whose blood is supposed to be poisonous to him? How? They are fated and true mates, folks. Nothing can keep them apart. Nothing. 
Don't miss the Mates (#1-3) giveaway HERE!
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