Title: Devi
Author: Leia Stone
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Magic, Fiction
What It's About: Aurora has been initiated into Sylvia's coven and they do a coven meeting to figure out Aurora's affinities--turns out that she has two--sight and healing, which makes her a Devi. According to the witches, a Devi dies once their purpose is completed. In the meantime, Kai is making plans to marry Aurora but he will not tell her what he is planning in order to take out Layla so that they do not have to worry about Vampire babies. All he tells Aurora is that he has joined the council.
They visit Safe Haven, the non-profit organization that Aurora has founded and she knows something is wrong. They shift and then they find that Vampires had mauled one of the women at the school to death in order to send a message. Two officers arrive and one of them turns out to be a witch friendly to them as he knows Sylvia. He puts his partner to sleep and then tells them to cover it up with a rabid wolf story, and Kai shifts into a wolf, running away in order to give more credence to the story. The officer alters the human's memories so that they can confirm the story.
After this, Kai makes an announcement at the pack BBQ that they will be going back into their primary roles of protecting humans. They had spent far too long being concerned about population and land, and now it's time to go back to their original purpose. The pack begins to train in order to fulfill that role, and Aurora tells Kai that two months is the time line for them to get married. During their pack run, they encounter a rogue wolf named Kaden, who was initially an Alpha of a pack but felt off so he went on his own. Kaden wants to find his mate and Aurora does get a vision--Kaden is gay, and he does have a mate, but there is a problem: the mate, Chase is a submissive wolf, who has gone rogue and killed humans, which means that he will be eradicated by the Council.
Kai calls his father on the council to ask that they look at the case again, but Raj tells him that Chase is slated for extermination. Kai explains the situation, and Raj says that he will see what he can do. The small group including Aurora, Kaden and Kai arrive at the location where Chase and call off the team sent to kill Chase. Kai forces Chase to rejoin the pack, and the mates are united for the first time. The council give Chase a second chance with explicit orders that he is to stay part of a pack, which Kaden agrees to abide by for his mate's safety.
Upon their return, Aurora gets a message from Dr. Tavern, and she goes with Kai to meet her. Dr. Tavern appears to be roughed up and asks them to call her Alexa going forward. She reveals to them that she has left RAIDOS as things have changed and they are now scared of the vampires, having gotten word of Aurora's upcoming nuptials. She tells them that there was a Vampire attack on a club downtown that was played off as a gang fight, but the humans were drained of blood. She warns them to not trust RAIDOS and adds that she is hiding at a friend's house. Alexa rejects Kai's offer to move onto pack land, because the drowns are still flying above the pack, and she doesn't think she will be safe.
Diya reveals that she is pregnant to both Aurora and Kai, which excites them both. Aurora visits Sylvia and overhears a conversation about testing her for Devi presence. Apparently, Devis are spirits that attach themselves to the souls of good people and give them additional abilities. Aurora gets a kitten from Gretchen, the healing affinity witch, which she finds cute but the cat is unhappy with Kai, sensing him to be a predatory when they get home. Upon her return from Sylvia's house, she finds Kai and some other men around a helicopter that turns out to be a drone catcher. Kai tells her that he plans to remove the RAIDOS drones once and for all.
Kai has another pack meeting and tells everyone that they will start protecting humans as soon as possible, which everyone agrees with. It is to send a message to the vampires that they will no longer let them get away with killing humans. Aurora, Max and Kai go to Pearl, the club that Dr. Tavern had told them about and after getting into the VIP section, they find out that it's full of vampires. Aurora thinks quickly, and uses vodka and fire to set certain vampires on fire because there's too many of them for the three wolves to fight.
The next day, Kai and Aurora talk about the wedding, and she tells him that she needs to talk to Nahuel to figure out his availability for the wedding as well as speak to him about whether or not she is a Devi. She calls Nahuel and they walk deeper into the woods when Nahuel agrees to officiate her wedding. He asks her if she would be able to clear a few days of time to go alone with him to a place that Kai cannot come as it is a path that only she can walk. He tells her to tell Kai he will pick her up later that afternoon, and they'll go to Canada. Aurora tells Kay everything about the Devi and that by going to Canada with Nahuel, she'll find out her life's purpose. Kai tells her that in Indian mythology, Devi is a Goddess incarnate who comes to earth to do one of three things: create, preserve or destroy, though he does ultimately agree to let Aurora to go to find out her purpose.
Aurora checks on Emma and Diya is there making sure that the pregnancy is progressing well. She doesn't tell them the gender of the baby, but Aurora at first thinks it's a boy on the monitor until Diya tells her that she's seeing the umbilical cord. The girls chat for a couple of hours, and then Emma says that something is wrong--she can feel it through her mate bond with Devon. Aurora runs over to her house and finds Tara. Kai is mad because of Aurora's vision that Tara is Max's mate, when in reality Max already had a mate, which the wolves mate for life. Tara reveals that she went rogue and forced the bond because Raj would not let her leave, and he had held her against her will. Aurora asks Kai what it means to force a bond, which he explains is a very painful break from the pack, more so than what she felt when he let go of Sadie. Tara wants to join Kai's pack, but Aurora realizes that Max will recognize her as his mate on their first shift together, and will be confused. Kai tells Max to leave, who was more than happy to have Tara join, and then Kai tells her that he cannot do it, to which Tara responds that she'll find another pack. Kai tells her to wait and he calls Shamus to ask him to take her in and explains the situation. Tara confides that she has been hurting knowing that Max is her mate while at the same time not being able to do anything about it.
Aurora leaves on her trip with Nahuel, and they spend a night in Canada sweating out in a teepee. During the third round of seating out and cleansing themselves, Aurora begins to get visions--the first one is of Alek Crone, a vampire who is married to his human wife and who occasionally takes her blood until he can get to a blood bank where he gets more. She also sees visions of Vampires who horrify people and suck them dry. On the fifth round of sweating and cleansing, Aurora begins to think about Kai and her relationship with him. She comes to the conclusion that he is her mate; the one person in her life she can trust and that she needs to fully live her life because she is strong, worthy and deserving of him. She finds the ball of energy that Kai had taught her to bury, and digs it out. Her wolf version nudges it and it moves around her before settling in her chest. And suddenly she feels so much love as well as all of Kai's feelings, but also a rightness in her soul. Before she falls asleep, she messages him and tells him that she wants to have the wedding ASAP, the following week if possible.
The next day, Aurora wakes and thinks that Alma, the shaman that has been working with her and Nahuel is under attack, so she rushes out in her wolf form to protect, only to find out that there are six Native American men there to protect Aurora during her vision quest. It starts by her drinking tea and then she hikes up the mountain with Nahuel, and the six men. She learns that reincarnation is real; that Tara is actually Max's first wife reincarnated, and that they will also have the same child. The Devi shows herself to Aurora and tells her that she volunteered to do this; that her soul had agreed to do this in order to help restore the balance, and that things will happen as they should. Aurora receives a lot of information and knows that the Devi is telling her the truth, and she is okay with that but asks the Devi to try to preserve her body when she leaves so that Aurora, as a human, can live and experience life. Aurora also finds out that in her past life, Nahuel was her brother. He confirms that when he calls her little sister, it's because she was his sister once upon a time.
Aurora returns home, thanking Nahuel, and Kai tells her that she is different. They end up making love and Kai tells her afterwards that his mom is flying to Mt. Hood in two days and they are getting married the day after, which makes Aurora happy.
Shortly thereafter, Aurora takes Kai to the address of the vampire she saw in her vision, and Alec is surprised that they found him. They end up talking and Alec tells them that he was born of the Vampire queen herself, but that he got clean from the drugs and the blood because of his human wife, Miriam. A small portion of the vampire population feed on humans to tide them over, but mostly this group go to a particular blood bank organization with branches all over the U.S to get their fix. Alec tells them that the Vampire Queen, Layla, and her coven actually smuggle drugs into the U.S, get teenagers hooked on them and then feed on them in order to feel the effects of becoming high because otherwise the drugs do not have any effect on vampires. He agrees to help in anyway he can as he doesn't want other humans to suffer the same fate as he did. When they leave, Kai is shocked because he was not expecting this and had the idea that all vampires were bad. He takes Aurora to a local hot springs and they enjoy some time together relaxing.
The next morning, Aurora wakes up and finds Kai and Sylvia talking. Sylvia reveals that there are two billion vampires globally but about 100 million in the US. Kai tells Aurora that they are going to cripple the Vampire's drugs supply. Seattle's pack sent twenty of their best wolves, and Aurora and Kai take another 20 to Tucson, Arizona, which is closer to Nogales, Mexican. They meet up with the pack there run by Katerina aka "Kat", and her second, Donny "D." They appear to be a biker gang, and Kat wonders about her mate, but Aurora isn't able to give her any information. Kat tells them that since Kai had called her about the drugs, she had her pack keep an eye on the border, and they found out that many of the border workers are vampires. They put together a plan and that night, they take out a van and two buses full of vampires and drugs. One of the vampires on the buss tells his companion to not harm Aurora because the Queen wants her, but they are both killed before they can take any other actions to capture Aurora.
The next morning, Aurora wakes up to Kai screaming and it turns out that he caught a drone on the mountain. Aurora gets dressed and tells Kai that she's sad that she won't be able to have her mom at the wedding, Kai tells her that he'll figure something out and Alexa messages her to tell her that RAIDOS knows about their wedding and to expect drama. Kai tells Aurora that the India and Seattle packs are coming and that this will be one of the most heavily guarded weddings of all time. As Diya and Emma had taken care of everything regarding the wedding planning, Aurora, Diya and Emma go to get their nail done. Alexa suddenly shows up and slips Aurora three vials, as well as a note, which Alexa reads in the restroom of the nail salon. In it, Alexa tells her that she signed up for RAIDOS to minimize the threat of supernatural races, but Kai and Aurora are good people and and she cannot bear to hurt good people. Alexa writes that RAIDOS has a lot of silver items and their contingency plan is to kill Aurora and Kai because they don't want the vampire queen to bear children. But Alexa believes that they deserve their marriage and enclosed three vials of a serum that protects werewolves from silver, giving them a permanent silver immunity. Aurora shares the information with Kai, and he tells her that Alexa is pack, so he wants to bring her into the pack as a human and protect her. He refuses the vials and tells her to give them to Diya, Emma and Isabelle.
Kai then surprises her by taking Aurora to court and getting them married in front of the Justice of Peace with her mom there to witness it. Afterwards, he takes them to dinner, but two men come in that Kai quickly puts together are RAIDOS agents. Aurora leaves with her mom, and comes back for Kai, dragging him out of the diner, before he can reveal them and their race to humans.
When they return home, they see that the Seattle pack has arrived and that Tara and Max gravitate towards each other. Aurora tells Kai that reincarnation is real and that Tara is Max's real mate--the same one that he had married before. They head into the house, but get interrupted by May and Raj, who tells them that he has brought 100 of his finest wolves. Suddenly, there is some growling from outside, and they run out to see that some of the Seattle pack and others from there pack had shifted for a pack run. Amongst those are Tara and Max, who see that they indeed are mates. Max cannot believe it, thinking that this is a trick because Aurora is a witch, and then he breaks pack bonds before running off. Tara also runs off, and Shamus goes to search for her while Kai looks for Max. It's Aurora that finds Max, using her witch powers once Kai and Shamus tell her that they cannot find the pair.
Max is in the cemetery and Aurora talks to him. He confides in her that Tara smells like his wife, which prompts Aurora to ask him to help find Tara as she has a unique ability--to change and become a chameleon in the woods. He agrees, and when they return to the house, Aurora finds that Raj has tied up Alexa, who is hurt, having just barely gotten away from RAIDOS with her life. Unfortunately, they cannot turn her because it is not severe enough to save her life, so Alexa slices her throat, and Aurora has to learn how to change her on the spot with Raj's help. Max does end up finding Tara.
The next day, Aurora wakes up and they start getting ready for the wedding. First, Aurora checks on Alexa and helps her shift as well as teaches her how to hide her thoughts. They also discover that Alexa can make electric things start and stop. Aurora then gets Henna done and Tara tells her that she's going on a date with Max. Suddenly, Aurora has a vision that Tara and Max get married and Kai is Max's best man, but Aurora does not see herself there. Kai comes to the henna party to tell Aurora that RAIDOS had come on foot intending to stop the wedding, but that the vampires had killed them Later, as Aurora is getting dressed for the wedding, Raj comes and offers to walk her down the aisle, which she accepts. They are interrupted with someone bursts in and tells Raj that RAIDOS has brought helicopters, so Raj moves into action. It turns out that they had a contingency plan in place--Tristian and Isabelle wanted to renew their vows, so they will do it all at the original place that Emma had planned out and surprise the RAIDOS agents. Raj drives the group of girls with Aurora to a different place--a home that Raj tells Aurora is for her mom, near pack territory. Nahuel officiates the Ceremony, and Aurora feels a shock to her system, like a zap. They go to their reception, and after staying a while, Aurora and Kai go to Max's house for the night. Aurora still cannot believe that Kai's plan, which he revealed earlier to her, is to show their kind to the world.
Sure enough, the following day, Kai reveals the wolves to the world and Max tells them the truth. People start seeing werewolves everywhere and sharing their sighting to social media. Kai tells Aurora that the Devi visited him and showed him two futures, and the one he wants is one where he unites werewolves and humans against the vampires. After all, the humans will fight back, taking away the Vampire's food source. Devon and Alex burst through the door and Alexa tells them that RAIDOS want to experiment on them all now.
A fight ensues, in which Kai is captured and he transfers his alpha powers to Aurora. In the fight, Devon gets killed by the RAIDOS while protecting Aurora from being kidnapped. She is now able to feel everyone through the alpha link and she checks in on Emma at her home. When Aurora returns from the house, Raj says that Kai did a very stupid thing telling the humans about their kind. Trent replies that maybe it's not stupid, and behind him, they see armed humans. Earl introduces himself as the leader of the human group, stating that he is the leader of the Northwest Militia group, and that they are nearly 700 people strong, which surprises Raj. Aurora and Earl talk in private and Earl agrees to become partners with them.
Alexa comes over and tells them that there is mass panic which has resulted in some wolves being killed by humans, but there is also footage of militias banding together with the wolves and taking out the vampires. She also tells Aurora that they will need to sneak out soon as there will be more eyes on the mountain. Aurora grabs Sadie, Brett, Alexa and calls Nahuel, to head out to the base where Alexa suspects Kai may be held. Along the way, Aurora passes out as she felt Kai's pain, and gave him all of her silver immunity. They get into the RAIDOS base with Alexa and Aurora being wolves led by Sadie and Nahuel. The guards tell them that Aurora needs to be taken to the cages for experimentation, while Alexa should go to the incinerator. They figure out that Alexa's power to create electromagnetic pulses will be more useful for her to go to the incinerator.
Aurora saves Kai and all of the other wolves there, and they meet up with Nahuel after which Aurora passes out. When she comes to, they are in the car and she tells Kai that she wants him to take the pack back--it is too much for her. He does that and once they are back on pack lands, he meets Earl as well. Kai makes a speech, to which Aurora adds, that they are going to fight in teams with the humans, and that the werewolves will be leading the teams. Kai asks Aurora to stay behind with Emma and Diya as the vampires have a lot to gain from finding her.
Aurora is at Emma's when there is a crash and she finds Layla and Prudence in Emma's room. Layla is pinning Emma down, and then she catches Aurora, after which she starts drinking Aurora's blood, but the Devi inside Aurora helps her fight back, almost killing Layla with Aurora's wolf when the wolf slices Layla's stomach while the Devi uses magic. Suddenly, Emma seems to cry out and Aurora goes after her to protect her, only to find out it's a trick.
Kai and Aurora try to track Layla, and Prudence starts stealing Aurora's power, but Aurora fights back before she gets put to sleep. She is awoken by a militia man and is afraid of having given Layla fertility. Sylvia and her coven come, and they tell Aurora that they can make her infertile, except that it will be permanent and they won't be able to have children. Kai and Aurora want kids and settle on two before making her infertile.
Alexa runs in and announces that the Vampires have retreated by RAIDOS is coming in hot. Before Alexa can do anything to protect them from the RAIDOS using her own EMP magic, the President of the United States calls Kai to tell him that he's withdrawn support to the RAIDOS and that they are rogue. When Kai tells the President that he's not the enemy of the humans of the US but an enemy of the vampires and any humans that come after his pack, the President sends F-22s to fend off the RAIDOS.
The pack buries Devon, and Emma returns home, where Aurora sits with her until she falls asleep. Then, she finds Kai in their own backyard and notices that the fingers that RAIDOS had chopped off during their 'experimentation' were growing back. Kai informs her that Alec had given them Layla's address, but that by the time the pack had arrive at the home, it had been burnt. Sylvia also cannot find her as it seems that the Dark witch is helping her stay hidden. The pack has to regroup and the President wants Kai to join a conference to settle human's fears about the werewolves. They now have nine months to find and Kill Layla, once and for all--and they will end it together.
My Thoughts: Holy cannoli was this a load of odd twists and turns that seem to come a bit out of nowhere. For example, the US President suddenly calls up Kai (how did he get his phone number?) and then sends the F-22s to run the RAIDOS off when Kai gives him an answer about whether or not the werewolves are a threat to humans...this seems very random and out of the blue--it is almost a bit too fast paced and doesn't seem connected in any way to the story beyond moving the plot and saving the pack. Overall, the story is okay but it is disjointed in many parts, almost as if the author was jumping from one topic to the next one without really thinking through how that moment impacts the rest of the story. I'm still going to read the third book in the series because I like finishing out the series, but I do not have faith that this is a good, well written series.
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