Trial by Fire, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Raised by Wolves #2)

If you haven't read my review of Raised by Wolves, click here.

Trial by Fire finds human Bryn settling into her role as alpha of a pack mostly made up of little girls. She sees the actions of other alphas and is determined to treat her pack well, but she is forced to make an uncomfortable decision when a wolf from a rival pack shows up on dying on her doorstep. Lucas tells Bryn that he was tortured by his alpha, Shay, and that he wants to join Bryn's pack. Bryn has to uncover the truth about Lucas's origins before Shay comes to claim him and takes some of Bryn's girls or an even more dangerous unknown enemy gets to her first.

For someone involved in such a cutthroat world, Bryn is way too nice. When she had the choice to give Lucas back or potentially start a war which would end with all her girls taken captive, I thought that a good leader would send Lucas back to save her pack. I know it sounds horrible to say something like that, but Bryn had never met Lucas before and for all she knew, the torture he experienced could have been punishment from his alpha for a crime which Bryn herself wouldn't have forgiven. It was incredibly naive and shortsighted of her to accept Lucas right away and I think it only proved even more so how inexperienced and unfit she was to lead her pack.

On a brighter note, this book did have a really fascinating ending, and is definitely a good read for younger readers. And as far as sequels go, this one is pretty good.

4.6 stars

There can only be one alpha.

Bryn is finally settling into her position as alpha of the Cedar Ridge Pack—or at least, her own version of what it means to be alpha when you’re a human leading a band of werewolves. Then she finds a teenage boy bleeding on her front porch. Before collapsing, he tells her his name is Lucas, he’s a Were, and Bryn’s protection is his only hope.

But Lucas isn’t part of Bryn’s pack, and she has no right to claim another alpha’s Were.  With threats—old and new—looming, and danger closing in from all sides, Bryn will have to accept what her guardian Callum knew all along. To be alpha, she will have to give in to her own animal instincts and become less human. And, she’s going to have to do it alone.

Bryn faces both the costs, and the rewards, of love and loyalty, in this thrilling sequel to Raised by Wolves.