Heart of the Wolf: Terry Spear

As a young pup, when Bella’s pack burned to death, Devlyn was the one to save her. No knight in shining armor, but a mere juvenile wolf, he risked his life to save hers and bound them inextricably together in the process … dragging Bella from the fiery inferno that was her family’s home and ultimately into Devlyn’s own adopted home with the local grey lupus garou pack.

All goes well for a while and the sole survivor of the red lupus garou pack slowly but surely integrates into her adopted home. But when the current alpha male of the grey pack, Argos, chooses to step down due to his advanced age (and survival chances as such if challenged), Volan takes over the pack as the alpha male.

Then the fragments of Bella’s world that she’s managed to piece together since the first major tragedy in her life begin to shatter all over again as Volan sets his heart (and loins) on the underage girl, and declares his intent to have her – willing or no – as his mate. Volan subjects young Bella to both mental and emotional torture as he threatens the life of her childhood rescuer and teen crush, murders a young human she attempts to seduce in a misguided attempt to escape, and subjects Bella to repeated rape attempts.

Confronted with the certain knowledge that if the true extent of Volan’s deeds were known, her beloved beta wolf would fight for her and die, Bella chooses to flee her adopted grey pack at age sixteen and lives as a lone wolf for the next one hundred and fifty years, moving as needed to conceal her lack of aging and to hide her existence from the beast that stalks her …

For years, Devlyn thought that Bella was dead – for to have heard nothing, to have seen nothing of her for this long … something must have happened.

Then a big news story hits about a Portland zoo’s new addition: a large female red wolf, and Devlyn knows at once it’s her. When Volan sends Devlyn and his cousins out to rescue ‘Rosa’, as Bella’s been dubbed by the media, Devlyn realizes that what he previously believed to be only fantasy is reality – Bella is Devlyn’s destined mate … now, he just needs to get her to admit that, to create the bond that will bind them forever.

But Bella resists, for to win her, Devlyn must fight to the death …

Quite a bit of research went into this novel, from what I can tell. The lupus garou share several qualities with the canis lupus … or to translate, within the bounds of this novel, werewolves share several qualities with normal wolves. For instance, battles don’t have to be to the death, but may be and the majority of deaths within the population occur by the population. And scent marking (yes, it’s a pissing contest), as demonstrated when another werewolf, Alfred, urinated at the zoo to mark Bella in her guise as ‘Rosa’ as his territory.

Much attention to detail was given to how the lupus garou would react (and in each form, no less) in any given situation, most especially when involved in a physical confrontation. The fight scenes at the end of the novel illustrate the interplay of inner-pack politics, hierarchy fight etiquette, instincts, physical triggers, battle strategies, and body language displayed by each participant.

All in all, a good read – wolf body language was even brought into the bedroom, and there was even good-natured discussion between the two main characters as to who should be growling or whining at whom, and debate over what noises should be made in what form. I found it interesting that the lupus garou could heal some wounds (some as serious as bullet wounds to the chest at short range) with great speed, yet take fatal damage from others.

I’m curious about two things though. Firstly, the debate about silver bullets was never really solved, as one of the werewolves was shot, but the content of the bullets was found to be doubtful later. And secondly … will Bella eventually give birth to a litter of pups in bitch form, or birth a passel of babes in human form? Wonder which would hurt less?

A lively read that keeps the reader on their feet, and an excellent addition to the serious wolf-lover's library. When it comes to authenticity, this novel truly embodies the 'heart of the wolf'.
-----------------------
ISBN 10: 1-4022-1157-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-4022-1157-7
Publication date April 2008, through Sourcebooks Casablanca