Product Description

As a werewolf and an enforcer for the Committee for Supernatural Behavioral Enforcement, Mick Matranga has seen his share of lowlifes, but Kevin Sutter, pack alpha, is one of the lowest. He has forcibly turned and taken prisoner a young human. Mick has been assigned to affect a rescue and bring Sutter to justice.

Dispatching the bad guy turns out to be the easy part of his assignment. Sutter's prisoner, Rio Hardin, turns out to be a smart-mouthed, sassy brat with the face of an angel who takes Mick's heart by storm. He's also a runaway turned hustler who has suffered numerous abuses in the course of his tumultuous life.

Bound by his code of honor and determined that Rio be protected at all costs, Mick makes it his personal duty to see to it that no one hurts Rio again. If that includes ignoring the instinctual knowledge that Rio is his mate and Rio's own desire to be with him, so be it.

There's only one flaw in his plan. Rio is about to go through his first shift, a very painful process which can only be made tolerable by applying a certain amount of distraction--sexual distraction. Mick has two choices. He can leave Rio in the hands of his very capable brother or he can give in to the mutual heat and need between them and indoctrinate his young charge into the ways of the werewolf.

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable:Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices, sex for money, sex while in shifted animal form, violence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164443 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Customer Reviews

Enjoyably paranormal romance
I really enjoyed Steel's novel Male of the Species, so I was excited when I saw she had another gay werewolf romance out. This story was a bit darker though, and consequently more reserved. In "Species", the alpha male protagonist starts forming his own pack and the hot sex gets going almost immediately and never really stops. "Altered Hearts" opens with a sex scene, but it is far from romantic and ends with terror - Rio is a hustler who picks up the wrong man one night. A sadistic alpha werewolf viciously turns him. There is no other sex until near the end when the romance is consummated. However, I found the waiting enhanced the romance.

Steel walked a fine line with this story. It would have been very easy for the sadness and depression to overwhelm the romance. The story opens with the attack and then (thankfully) jumps immediately to the rescue. So, readers are spared too many details of Rio's torment. And while Rio was badly abused, he wasn't broken. After Mick saves him, Rio flatly refuses to go with him! In addition to revealing Rio's resilience, this also sets the stage for the angst that keeps the couple at odds. Mick sees Rio as a victim that should not be taken advantage of, and Rio sees Mick as the mate he truly is. The scene with Mick's brother, where Mick finally understands this, is particularly touching. The sex between Mick and Rio wasn't as frequent as other romances, but it was very well done. Rio has been abused, and he must work through repressed fears with Mick. The subplot with Rio's father and running away was excellent, and really added a lot to the novel.

I did enjoy this novel a great deal and would have given it five stars, but for one thing. The world-building was lacking somewhat. When Rio transforms before his father, he's shocked but not in a "OMG that's not real" way. The scene led me to believe that werewolves are "out" in the world, but Steele never really says for certain. Also, Mick is part of a paranormal law enforcement-type agency but we never learn anything more. If this were clearly the first in a series, then this would not be a problem. But, there is no indication there will be a sequel, though I would certainly buy it and hope there will be. However, I will add that Steele hasn't simply written a normal romance and thrown some paranormal in it to ride the craze. Though the world-building could be richer, the werewolf aspect is developed. Shapeshifting is integral to the plot, and presents additional issues for Rio and Mick to resolve.

Overall, this was a very good romance and well worth reading - especially if you enjoy paranormal romance/werewolves. Highly recommended.

A Bite
Steele, Kate. "Altered Heart", Loose Id, LLC, 2009.

A Bite

Amos Lassen


Kate Steele gives us quite a story about an Alpha werewolf and an Omega puppy. Mick Matranga is a werewolf and an enforcer for the Committee for Supernatural Behavioral Enforcement. He has met many lowlife people and Kevin Sutter is one of the lowest. Mick receives the assignment to rescue a young hustler who Kevin has taken prisoner and then bring Sutter to justice.
Rio Hardin is the hustler and he is a smart-mouthed brat who manages to get Mick's heart with his angelic appearance and Mick makes it a personal duty to see that Rio does not get hurt. When Rio is about to begin his first shift which can only become less intolerable by sexual distraction, Mick has two choices--he can let Rio rest in the hands of his brother or he can use the mutual attraction between the two and indoctrinate him first and then bring him into the fold of the werewolf.
Mick is an honorable person but he does not want to push Rio so he uses sex to make Rio's first changeover less painful and bring them closer together. It is not easy to deal with a new werewolf and Rio is young, only 18 while Mick is 47. Also Rio has not had a good life so far and trust is something he knows little about. Rio has been traumatized by the entire business so Mick must use tenderness. It is the relationship between the two that this book is about.
The sex is hot and erotic but the book is very funny and easy to read. Steele is an excellent writer and she knows how to write about werewolves.

Altered Heart by Kate Steele
Kate Steele is specialized in Alpha male werewolves dealing with Omega puppy. In this new book Mick is a special agent of the Werewolf interstate security agency; he is asked to intervene in a very delicate situation, an Alpha male pack leader who has gone over the legal limit: he killed a newly made werewolf, a barely seventeen guy, and now he has another boy in his clutches. Rio was a runaway boy and an hustler; eighteen years old, small and cute he is totally unable to oppose to the big werewolf and there is also another problem: he was turned, but the psycho Alpha male interrupted his first changing, causing him a lot of pain and to fear his new wolf side.

Remove from the story the pervert is not a big deal for Mick, but dealing with the newborn werewolf is not so simple. There are a lot of issue that are against an involvement with Rio: first Mick is way older than the kid, 47 years to 18 years, and second the kid is passed through a lot of very bad experience, always connected to sexuality, and so Mick is not so sure that it's a good thing for Rio to be mated with an Alpha male werewolf. "Imposing" a sexual relationship to a traumatized boy is the last thing Mick desires. But let the boy go and find a more suitable companion is not an option for the wolf inside Mick.

The story deals mostly with Mick and Rio's relationship, and even if starts with a quite angst prologue (a underage gay hustler), it's not angst at all. True Rio has a bit of problem regarding sex and his sexuality, but he manages them pretty well and they are soon overcome. Also the age issue is not so emphasized, since both Mick than Rio, as werewolves, have another concept of aging: Mick at 47 years old is not a man in his middle age, but it's still a quite young wolf. Actually he is older than Rio's father, who is 39 years old, but this fact is not at all highlighted, and James, Rio's father, in comparison to Mick, has the role of the "old man", save an unpredictable turn of event at the end of the story (I really would like for Kate Steele to write also James' story).

There is a lot of sex, but it's easy and funny, like often is in Kate Steele's works. This is a pretty "classic" werewolf story, with the strong Alpha and the cute Omega, and there aren't switch on the classical path: never once Rio doubts what is his role in the relationship, and never once Mick falters in his firm belief that he need to dominate but also to direct Rio on the right path.