ARC Review: IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES by Paige Tyler

In the Company of Wolves
by Paige Tyler
SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team series, Book #3

ABOUT THE BOOK:

He opened his mouth to order her to drop the MP5 she had aimed at him, but nothing would come out. It was like she’d robbed him of the ability to speak. Shooting her wasn’t an option, though. And the idea of arresting her didn’t make him feel any better.

There's a new gang of criminals in town who are organized and ruthless in the extreme. When Eric Becker, along with the rest of the Dallas SWAT team, ends up in the middle of a shootout, he immediately senses werewolves-a lot of them. Turns out, the new bad guys are a pack of wolf shifters.

In a spray of gunfire, Becker comes face-to-face with the most gorgeous woman he's ever seen. Becker does the logical thing. He hides her and leaves the scene with the rest of his team.

Jayna Winston has no idea why that SWAT guy helped her, but she's glad he did. Ever since she and her pack mates got mixed up with those Eastern European mobsters, everything had pretty much fallen apart.

So what's a street-savvy thief like Jayna going to do with a hot alpha-male wolf who's a police officer?

After a truly fantastic start to the book, this story dropped off a bit for me. I really enjoyed HOW the characters are introduced and I thought there was lots of potential for this story, but it just didn't deliver the punch I expected.

Becker is a member of the Dallas PD's SWAT team - Special Wolf Alpha Team. He is still considered young and a recent addition to the group. Jayna is a runaway who grows up in the streets. All of her life, she thought she was a beta wolf. She joins a pack which turns out to be lead by someone who is not leader-worthy. Jayna gets caught in a warehouse robbery where Becker finds her and strangely helps her hide from the police so that she can make a get away. He takes this risk because he feels something for her upon first sight. One of the central themes of the SWAT books is the notion of "The One" - a mate out there in the universe waiting to be found at which time, the wolf is virtually powerless. Yet, even with The One Myth, it's a little strange to me that Becker loses all sense of his moral compass and will do anything to protect a stranger. Usually, when I read paranormal books, I'm much more forgiving of eye-rolling plot points. It's paranormal...you have to suspend some reality.

However, I just didn't get Becker and Jayna as a couple. I think part of it is how the story unfolds. When Becker goes undercover in order to protect Jayna, the story skips from scene to scene and the story is narrated instead of lived. We only get to see the after effect of some of Becker's activities. I felt a loss of continuity and it failed to give me depth to Becker and Jayna's relationship.

I really like Paige Tyler's books for high entertainment value. She writes fun paranormal stories. Although Jayna is very sympathetic and I like her, I just didn't really respond well to Jayna and Becker as an couple. I didn't feel that they got inside my head and heart.