Hour of the Lion by Cherise Sinclair

Hour of the Lion by Cherise Sinclair

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Genre: Paranormal romance  (threesome)

As a dedicated covert ops agent, Victoria Morgan follows two rules: accomplish the mission and protect the innocent. When bitten by a werecat—yeah, that was a sucky day—she must investigate beings that shouldn't exist and are hard as hell to identify. Just how can she tell if a person is human--or an animal-shifter who enjoys Bambi-sized snacks?

During her investigation, she finds a real home and friends for the first time. Sweet, right? But there's a flip-side: the bad guys are waiting for her to turn into something four-legged with a tail, the shifters suspect her of spying, and she has fallen in love with a pair of Thumper-eating werecougar brothers.

Her duty is to expose their existence. Or she could follow her heart and protect them with all of her deadly skills

 Jen's Review

Loved this book!

The books tarts off with Vicki waking up. She remembered trying to help an old lady out while she was being kidnapped. Vicki has been on medical leave from the CIA for a couple of weeks. She doesn't think she's hurt, too badly, but obviously she was since she got caught.

Pretending she was still knocked out she heard her kidnappers walk in the room. She peeked through her lashes and noticed the naked guy locked in a cage. He was just a kid! He looked like he was starving to death. He was bloody and bruised. That pissed her off! The kidnapper started to torture him again through the cage with a cattle prod of all things! The guy screamed.. then all of a sudden he Blurred. Then a Huge Cougar stood where he had been. Vicious snarls ripping through the room... What the hell? Kid one moment, a mountain lion the next?

She didn't believe in things like this .. then another man entered the room.

It seems that these guys had learned about this strange kid turning into a cat, the they wanted to know how to change humans into the same kind of cat? They had picked up a few homeless people and locked them in the cage with him. Once he bit the person, they took him out.. and after a few days, the homeless person died. So they didn't know what else to do.

The guy picked up Vicki and put her in the cage with the kid. She was healthy and strong so hopefully she'd survive the bite.
Once inside they locked the cage door, and hit the cat with the cattle prod once again getting it to fight. It grabbed Vicki and slashed it's claws in her shoulder and bit her shoulder. Then it calmed down...

The men left her in the cage. She was scared. The cougar watched her. "Nice, kitty... We're stuck here together so let's just be mellow about it, ok?"
Seemed like it worked because a few seconds later, a young man lay sprawled across the wire floor. "What are you?" "Some people call us Daonain or Shifters. Me, I prefer werecats."
Wow - ok - "I told them biting wouldn't turn people into werecats, we're born this way."

Using her mad CIA skills, she picked the lock on the cage and got both her and the kid out.

The kid is in bad shape. He can't find the strength to stand up, let alone walk. So Vici throws him over her should. Bad knee or not, she wasn't going to leave him there. They rush up the stairs and out into the night. Vicki wants to call the police, but Lachlan begs her not to. A Shifter can't end up in a hospital. Then Lachlan passes out.
So she goes to the closest house she find and pound on the door.
She convinces the guy to call 911 - when he leaves to make the call, she lays the kid on the couch. He looks up at her. "We got out, we're safe here."
"A Human? Vicki - promise me you wont tell him - tell ANYONE about me, or about shifters. EVER"
"Ok fine, I promise. No one would believe me anyways."
"Thanks. that's good. I really wanted to die free-not in a cage."
"I'd rather you lived"
"I wish. My body pretty much shut down yesterday. it's a shifter thing. Metal's bad for us, and that cage... But it's ok. I knew it was gonna happen. My grandfather-he'll be all alone now. He doesn’t' have anybody but me."
"live for him!"
"Not an option.  Go to my grandpa in Cold Creek. Tell him what happened to me. Promise... now how does it go..." He rubbed the scrapes on his shoulder. His fingers came away blood-streaked. "Fire in blood"

He started doing some weird things. Must be getting delusional.
"And finally my spirit-that's the gift. I remembered it." He lifted his arm for a hug. She leaned forward. "Tell Grandpa I gifted you. And you're my gift."

Oh such an emotional beginning to a story! And that only gets you to 4% on the kindle :)

When the police arrive, Vicki sees the man Swane, and the other man in the suit that kidnapped them. She left the boy on the couch and snuck out the back door.

She found herself in Cold Creek the next day. Still in pain from the scratches and bite. and her knee was still killing her. She had talked to a realtor about renting a home for a little while. Who knew how long it would take to find a shifter's grandfather. She had promised not to tell anyone about shifters. and she didn't know if she could tell a shifter from a human. So she was planning on staking out the town. It was a perfect town for shifters. Right up against the forest.

As she was waiting for the realtor, she had to pee .. figures. and she was late. She noticed a window slightly opened and she started to climb in.
That's where Alec saw her. Alec, the town's sheriff. Just Vicki's luck..

Ok this is a long book - when I first got it on Amazon. I thought it'd be one of those short PNR stories.. but after a couple of hours reading I was only at 20% and really into this story! I was so happy to realize it was a full length novel. Because this was a GREAT STORY!

She had so many questions, and yet she couldn’t ask anyone anything. She got to know the town folks.

She didn't realize that the people that kidnapped her were still looking for her though. They didn't know if she'd survived the bite.. and they were determined to find out how the werecats were created....

Can't say this enough. GREAT Story! It was non-stop action up until the last page!  I really loved it. It's now in my favorites folder and I will be re-reading it again :)