Britton Townsend was the head of the SPAC (Shifter Protection and Concealment), but an antiquated law in the shifter world has sentenced him to 20 years as a human. Torture for a shifter, but what is worse as he continues as a human cop, he comes face-to-face with his replacement half-shifter Val Calhoun on a daily basis. They are completely antagonistic toward each other ... he really can't help it ... every time he sees her he is physically repulsed by her.

Val thinks that Britton is a playboy and little more than a criminal, though she has no idea what his crime against their kind was ... it is enough that the council believed that he almost had their kind coming out to the humans. When she fails on a special mission the council sends her on she is horrified that they plan to reverse Britton's punishment temporarily and they must work together.

As soon as Britton receives the serum that returns his jaguar to him, they set out to solve the kidnapping. While working together does not start out easily, it slowly becomes evident that somehow the serum was the cause of the hard feelings they shared ... because once he got his ability back the last thing he feels for Val is hostility. They do have a problem though ...when it's all said and done, he still has 16 years of his punishment left ... there is no way he would expect her to wait for him. The high council will shot him with the serum again and there is no way he can live with the fact that she is his and he can't stand to be near her.

THE AWAKENING: BRITTON is a fantastic emotional thrill ride that you will not want to end. Britton and Val are a couple I have waited to read about, having been introduced in earlier Awakening books and author Abby Niles did not disappoint. I liked the barbs that went back and forth, and then when his shifter senses came back I got a kick out of the way both came to the realization that what they thought of each other was totally wrong. The mystery of the kidnapping, the circumstances behind it, the truth behind Britton's crime and how quickly the high council took Britton back into "custody" did make me wish I was the one who had the pleasure of giving them a piece of my mind. Things in their world need to be changed and who better to make those changes than a woman in love. Fantastic book and going into my read again pile.