I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this novella, Doranna Durgin’s shortest installment in her Sentinels paranormal romance series. The description of the story makes it sound like it’s erotica, since the main character, Tayla Garrett, must be initiated by another Sentinel before she can gain full command of her abilities. And by “initiated”, I mean “she needs to have sex with another Sentinel”.

In this case, that other Sentinel is Mark Burton, after whom she’s been pining for ages. Burton is pretty much ordered point-blank to initiate Tayla by none other than Nick Carter, the male lead from Wolf Hunt. Cue the obligatory “wait you’re only having sex with me because you were ordered to” angst on Tayla’s part.

However, the story is more than just that, happily. Yes, these bits are there–but as is the case with all of Durgin’s writing, it’s nicely low-key. And there’s a larger plot in play as well, one which relies upon Tayla’s specific abilities as well as on the fact that Mark is a rare Sentinel who does not in fact change shape. (Something I liked about him, in fact; he was described a lot with leonine imagery, despite the fact that he’s not a shifter at all.)

Plus, the short length of the story, a mere four chapters, meant that what angst there is here just doesn’t have time to get too drawn out and therefore overbearing. Instead, it blows over very quickly, letting the story get on with it. Very much appreciated, that. Three stars.