Hostage to Pleasure (Psy/Changeling, #5)

by Nalini Singh

[Rowena]

Book 5 of the Psy-Changeling series is the story of Dorian Christensen and Ashaya Aleine.

Dorian Christensen is the changeling cat that can’t shift and Ashaya Aleine is the M-Psy who was leading the studies on bringing Protocol I into play for the Psy Council. Protocol I would create a hive mind that the Council will rule over and take away the individuality of each Psy. They would be a one mind kind of people and it’s not anything that would bring any good to the Psy race.

Dorian hates the Psy race as a whole, with the exception of Faith NightStar and Sascha Duncan. Both Faith and Sascha are mated to Dorian’s friend and alpha and have proven worthy to be a part of the pack but Ashaya Aleine hasn’t. He’s a sniper who helped his friend Clay rescue some human children that were taken for experimentation by the Psy Council. It was Ashaya who helped them escape the testing being conducted and when she defects and escapes the Psy Council as well, Dorian doesn’t trust her.

But Dorian has Ashaya’s son and though she refuses to see him, Dorian can’t help but wonder why. As DarkRiver tries to get answers for why Ashaya defected from the Psy and why she seems hellbent on putting a target on her back, Dorian is intrigued by her at the same time that he’s pissed off about being attracted to a Psy woman. He hasn’t forgotten that the Psy are responsible for killing his younger sister and the more he finds out about Ashaya, the more she seems no better than the Psy he hates. And still, he wants her.

I really enjoyed this book. A lot more than Mine to Possess. I enjoyed both Dorian and Ashaya’s characters as well as their background.

I loved Dorian in the previous books so I knew that I was going to love him in this book and I wasn’t disappointed. Dorian was a great hero and I really love the love that he came to have for both Ashaya and her son. I loved seeing him struggle with his feelings for Ashaya and then when he finally wised up and admitted to himself how he really felt, I loved how he wouldn’t let Ashaya dismiss what was going on between them.

I really loved when he said:

“No.” He shook his head, shoving wet strands of hair off his face. “We made choices, you and I. But the time for choices is over.”

*swoon*

I seriously loved me some Dorian.

Then there was Ashaya.

I wasn’t expecting to like her nearly as much as I did. I thought she was pretty fantastic and is probably my favorite Psy woman in the Dark River pack. Her reasons for everything she did, her loyalty to her family and the lengths she went to protect them was pretty damn admirable. I liked seeing her fall in love with Dorian. Watching her go from not knowing what to do with Dorian, trying to keep her distance from Keenan to keep him safe, seeing her try to take on the Psy Council to protect her loved ones was all just freaking great. It was interesting and I found that I couldn’t read this book fast enough.
Nalini Singh seems to be my author of the year because I’m reading a lot of fantastic things from her this year. I’m still kicking myself because it’s taken me far too long to fall in with this series. This series is fantastic and this book was another great addition to an already fabulous series. I’m so thirsty for more!