Gabriel had seen his mate die in his arms, so to save her that fate, he made sure never to meet her, never get close, even leaving his pack, hoping to change fate. Well, fate has a way of coming back and biting you and this GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS is about to meet his match.

Vega is the daughter of Finn, a werewolf Alpha and Lyra, a vampire, whose father found out about her as a teen and is overprotective of her. Vega isn't a child any longer and has been secretly training to join the paranormal branch of special ops and Gabriel just might ruin her first mission. Forced to work with the man who had secretly, and not so secretly, been an object of her sexiest dreams, Vega soon learns more about fate and destiny than she expected. As they rush to stop a traitor from destroying all they know, they must also face what might be a very short future for her.

GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS is a phenomenal read. It has everything a paranormal fan and romance fan would want in an intriguing set up. Gabriel had a dream in which a woman dies and when he meets Vega he realizes she is that woman, so to screw with fate he avoids her. Nice idea but his protective gene just will not go away and he ends up joining her in her first operation in her special ops branch to stop the traitor. I felt so bad for Gabriel and for Vega who took the brunt of his coolness toward her, not understanding he thought to save her.

The pace of this book is fast, moving smoothly from scene to scene, action to action and the conversations were so well written that you felt the characters were actually doing and saying what you were reading. There are a number of surprises for author Katie Reus' "Darkness" fans, which I will not mention as I feel they might be spoilers. Just know that this author comes up with new situations you will never expect. I loved reading the unsent letters they wrote to each other, meeting new characters that included, Vega's very interesting boss, August, so polite and so deadly; a couple of dragon shifter sisters, then add in Judoc, the alpha of the local pack, and his wolves and you have only a part of this fantasy read. Gabriel and Vega's story is central and is amazing.

If you want a romance that is sweet and steamy, a roller coaster ride of emotion and action, characters that will have you engulfed in a read that you will not want to end, then get your hands on GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS.