Mine to Possess - Psy-Changelings #4 - Nalini Singh
Sum up (Goodreads):
Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed...and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.
Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life--the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows...
Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past...or lose everything that ever mattered.
Some scenes contain sexual and violent contents that may offend sensibilities of readers.
Plot:
Clay is one of the most respected Sentinel of the Darkriver pack but he is also one of the fiercest, the most uncontrollable and the darkest Sentinel.
Clay was working at a bar when he faces a ghost from his past, a woman who had been declared dead a few years ago and that left him completely destroyed. Talin. Just a name full of harsh memories from his childhood. Talin is human but she is Clay's human. She was his to protect but he failed.
When she was 8, Clay found out that she had been abused by her foster father for a few years. It was not in his nature to let it go. He lost control of his leopard and slaughtered Tally's father. He is sent in juvie and Tally, traumatized, had been placed in a foster family. When he left juvie, Clay had been told that Talin had died in a car accident. He never got over it. She was his to protect but now, she is dead. He spent his life feeling guilty.
Now Tally is 28 years old and she needs the only kind of help she can find at Darkriver even if it means she has to face the only man she ever cared about but who also scares her. She is working as a social worker and two of "her children" have disappeared.
Even though Clay struggles to forgive Talin for what she did, he also wants to help her and reunites with his childhood best friend. But both of them have been marked by time...
Opinion:
The first three books were mainly centered around the whole Psy-Changelings plot. Now the story is centered around the relationships between humans and changelings. In the previous books, humans were only humans. This book brings a new story about the Forgotten: humans who have Psy genes at a very small percentage but it still has a great impact on their lives.
If possible, I loved this book much more than the previous ones (and trust me, they already topped it in my readings). This love story was raw, heartbreaking and beautiful. Both characters had had quite a rough beginning in life: Talin was abused and Clay's mother wanted him to suppress his leopard part. Clay killed for Talin. This childhood forged their intense and possessive characters. They may have grown up together but this book focuses on second chances and building a whole new relationship on the foundation of a former relationship.
“How can I be angry with the other half of my soul?" he asked, his tone so tender it tore little pieces out of her heart. "I have a temper, baby, and I know I fucking brood. But even if I act pissed, even if I snarl, it doesn't mean I love you any less. Your soul shines, Tally, and I'm so damn glad it shines for me.”
Even though, I mainly understood Talin and Clay's feelings, I happened to struggle with them from time to time. Talin blames Clay for things he had no control over and Clay blames Talin for living her life. It did not always make sense to me but it did not bother me.
I like that every book brings new characters but we still see more of the previous couples. Readers can see them settle down and more in love than ever.
Excerpts:
“You fucking made me attend tea parties.”She remembered his threat before the first one: “Tell anyone and I’ll eat you and use your bones as toothpicks.”
“I love you,” she whispered.He stroked his hand down her back. “Yep, you do.”
“You’re supposed to say it back,” she said, pretending to be offended because the silliness kept the fear/hope at bay.
“Oh, Clay darling, if you had told me you were feeling irritated because of your...problems, I wouldn't have made a fuss." She knew very well the changelings around her could hear every whispered word.
"Tally." It was a warning growl.
"I mean it must be embarrassing for you...being that you're such a big man." her tone implied all sorts of things. "Last night was an aberration, I'm sure. And if not, there are always the pills.”
“These predators loved with wild fury, but they were also darkly possessive, crossing the boundary into what humans might term obsession.”
