It's Christmas time and the Danvers/Michaels family is heading to a cabin to celebrate the holiday, just the four of them. The twins, Kate and Logan, are now 4 years old and it's obvious that they're leaps and bounds ahead of where they should be, in pretty much all aspects of their lives. They have advanced senses, reasoning, even reading skills as Logan is now enjoying the first book in the Harry Potter series. While Clay and Elena have kept from them the fact that both their parents shift into werewolves, and that not only do they belong to a family but also a Pack, it's still unknown if the kids will shift themselves. It's most likely that Logan will, but both kids are showing strong signs that changing may be in their future and Elena struggles with when the right time to tell them the truth about what she, Clay, Jeremy and the rest of the family can do.
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Clay leaned over to his ear and whispered. "Listen. Do you hear that?"
Logan cocked his head. His eyes widened. "Wolves?"
Clay nodded.
Logan stared out at the sky, listening so intently, with this wistful look on his face, and I could tell myself I was imagining it, but I knew I wasn't. He might not understand what he felt, but when he listened to those wolves, he felt something.
Everyone said Kate was so obviously her father's daughter. Our friends teased Jeremy that it must be like having Clay all over again. Jeremy would smile and nod, but he'd told me that Clay had been more like Logan, serious and quiet, even when he was cutting up the classroom guinea pig and tying Nick to trees. The boisterous energy came later, but there was still that quiet side of him, and I could see it now, as he rested his chin on his son's head, looking out into the night, listening to the wolves.
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No trip can be completely uneventful as Elena and Clay end up investigating a brutal murder that has evidence of an attack by animal(s), and the signs point toward one of two mutts living in the woods where they're vacationing. Nick, Reece and Noah are called in to help with the kids while Elena and Clay try to figure out what's going on, and the truth hits really close to home when Kate becomes the target.
The murder/who-done-it storyline takes a backseat to the family dynamic in this one. It's really the first time we've seen a lot of interaction between Elena, Clay, Kate and Logan and I loved seeing this side to Clay and Elena. We've had them together as a couple who first loved, then hated each other, and then found love for good. Now we get them as parents and trying to stay a step ahead of kids who are too smart for their own good brought a smile to face as I was reading.
It was nice to get small updates on both Reece and Noah. Noah is slowly starting to settle in with Nick as his guardian, but even though he's still wary, he's happy. He's able to think about his future and what he might want to do with his life and that wasn't an option for him prior to being taken in by the pack and especially Nick. Nick is in and out of the story in small bits, he's mainly there to watch the kids while the investigation is going on, but any amount of Nick is good. He's sweet with the kids, he's still a sounding board for Elena, especially when it comes to issues of her past that are brought back up when the danger to Kate hits close to home for her and all that she suffered in her past foster homes.
The ending is just so well done with a wonderful full circle moment for Clay and Elena with a callback to their first Christmas spent together (BEGINNINGS) twenty years ago. The issue of whether or not the kids should be told about what Clay and Elena can shift into is resolved in the end and it's an emotional scene that's so full of happiness, especially for the kids. If Clay and Elena's story truly ends with this book, then I'd be a completely satisfied reader. While I hope we continue to get updates on the family, this story leaves me loving the family and I closed the book with a huge, happy sigh.
Blog rating: 5/5
