Jacquelyn Frank is a true master of characters and DRINK OF ME was no exception. Diving into the land of the Sange, from page one I found myself swept away to a land of mountain fortresses, marshlands, and grassy flatlands where danger awaits around every knoll. The land of the Sange is filled with danger, both from other peoples and that of the creatures that lie within it. As Prime, leader of the Sange, Reule's responsibility is to ensure the safety of his people and those traveling within his lands. When a member of his elite Pack goes missing on a hunting trip an ordinary extractions turns into far more than Reule would ever have imagined. Reule is the most powerful telepathically gifted all the Sange. Able to find his Pack members anywhere, any distance, and from any emotion. However, the emotions that he feels emanating from the house are not that of his Pack member. The emotions pounding at him are the most pure, most powerful feelings of sorrow that Reule has ever felt. As Reule tracks the emotions to the rotted floor to the tormented battered soul he knows that the girl he has found will change his world irreversibly.
Waking up in the arms of a man her mind doesn't know, she feels her hearts call has been answered. Waking up in a world that she only recalls pieces of, with no past to hold her, only tragic straggling memories of a horrible world she fled. Mystique, as he has named her, can only find safety in the arms of a king. Reule has become her beginning, middle, and end. Is she strong enough to face the memories that haunt her dreams? Can a nameless and homeless waif win the heart of a hero?
The characters that Jacquelyn Frank created in DRINK OF ME truly have me longing for a series. I found myself disappointed that this would be a stand alone book as I felt their stories were not yet all told. Frank has the uncanny ability to make the characters come to life and leap off the pages into my head and into my heart.
In a world where emotion can be a deadly weapon, one
slight, battered runaway holds the key to a dark and twisted
enigma..."Drink Of Me", she whispers, her silver eyes
trusting, pleading. What female dares speak such words to
one of the Sange? His people are scorned by every race for
their fierce sensuality, their fearful rituals. And as
Prime, Reule is the most telepathically gifted of them all.
But nothing has prepared him for the intensity of emotion
radiating from the outlander rescued by his Pack. Terrified,
tormented, but beautiful beyond measure, Mystique shatters
his legendary control. As she reaches for him in the steamy
heat of the healing baths, he knows this blind need can have
but one end...