Elena & Clay... Elena is still my favorite...

Jeremy finally tells her (and Clay) that she will be the next pack Alpha... and on their trip to Alaska, to resolve a growing number of issues, Elena & Clay must work out what that means...

1st, they are chasing after Reese - an Australian immigrant who got in with 2 bad mutts, and whose life is now threatened by those mutts - though he doesn't know it yet, and he won't sit still long enough for Elena to warn him.. she joins up with Clay and they follow him to Alaska...

Reese has been attacked by two other werewolves, who cut out part of 2 fingers before he got away from them... he agrees to go to Jeremy until the problem is resolved.

They find that there have been 3 male deaths, and 3 young women missing... can it be attributed to the werewolves? They also find that these werewolves are Russian based... gun runners... looking for new territory to operate from. (this from their russian alpha contact).

Clay has the expectation of meeting up with Dennis & Joey - pack members 30 years ago that left rather than be involved with the alpha choice between Jeremy & his bad assed father... They find Dennis, dead & tortured in his cabin - and the hint of another relative... Joey's son Noah, who was unknown to them until this last year as the Change was coming upon him & Dennis accidently came across him in a mall, smelling & recognizing the relationship. The russian werewolves killed Dennis, and took Noah as hostage... Joey sells them out in an effort to rescue his son... and disappears when he is ineffectual... Noah does what he can to help Elena, and asks (at the end) to join their pack - something Dennis (his grandfather) had been encouraging him to do.

Elena is facing how being alpha might change her relationship with Clay (who by the way is good with it)... there is a fun scene when Clay playfully responds to her concerns saying he would accept her as alpha in public, but he gets to rule when they are in private... and their love making & foreplay is fun - even though they destroy a good portion of the furniture in their hotel room. She is also assessing her weaknesses as potential alpha... she has buried the pain, anger & humiliation of the abuse she suffered at the hands of foster dads & brothers... and one of the russian werewolves, true to his nature and smelling weakness exploits it with attempts to bind & rape her... but she learns to rely on her own strength and resourcefulness, and ultimately kills him (Clay knowing she had to be the one to do so..)

They also meet up with a werewolf, Morgan, in his early 20s, that is spending a year as a wolf... he comes to their aid as a wolf & with the pack of wolves that he's joined (he bribed them with food to accept him)... he's coming to Stonehaven once his year of wolfiness is up...

and they meet up with Shifters - Inuit half man/half wolf... the man side looking more neandethal & perhaps a precurser to the werewolf... They are forbidden to kill werewolves... they live more in the wilderness and hunt... they are intelligent... and they need Elena to take care of the russian werewolves...

The story ends as the pack join Elena & Clay in Alaska to finish things up... and once done, even the twins are there... they stage a football game, and pack and potential pack join together... with Elena & Jeremy watching over them.