Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Kirk Anderson likes living alone in his mountain cabin, or so he tells himself. He’s a monster, after all. How would he ever find a man who can deal with his other self—the wolf?

When a reckless young hiker named Leo gets his leg caught in an old bear trap, Kirk rescues him, tracking him down by scent alone. While Kirk takes care of his injuries, Leo’s bright, sunny presence slowly wears down all Kirk’s defences.

But as the full moon rises, Kirk struggles between the urge to protect Leo and the demands of the wolf, who wants only one thing: to claim his mate…

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2013

292 people are currently reading
503 people want to read

About the author

Isabel Dare

45 books70 followers
Isabel Dare has always loved sexy, steamy and perversely romantic tales, and now she's writing her own!

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
217 (24%)
4 stars
227 (25%)
3 stars
335 (37%)
2 stars
93 (10%)
1 star
26 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
Profile Image for annob [on hiatus].
574 reviews72 followers
May 21, 2020
Short but yummy! Simplistic writing style, but nice and growly werewolf shifter story. I wouldn't mind reading more books in the series.
Profile Image for Sheri.
1,418 reviews196 followers
February 22, 2015
Leo is lost and badly injured and....his hero appears out of thin air.
Packaged in a tall, burly, melt-your-panties gruff....he thinks he's hallucinating from the pain.
When he awakens in a strange cabin, he realized his walking wet-dream was indeed real.
During his recovery, he quickly falls for the reserved mountain man.
*insta-love alert*
When his poorly times 'moon-time' coincides with an unwelcomed pack of strangers...Kirk vows he will protect his mate at all costs.
*cliffy alert*
Love the peek into the wolfs mind.
Love the scary wolf-man and his brave artist.
gotta dash...need book 2...now!
Profile Image for Moraa (vacation hiatus).
924 reviews9 followers
November 25, 2025
4.5 stars

EXCELLENT BUILD UP! The pay off could've been better (the writing wasn’t as crisp and some scenes seemed a little drawn out) but it was still satisfying.

This is one of those books that feels half as short as it is because I was flying through it. I’m curious about the next instalment and the prospect of more world building (who were those biker guys encroaching into Kirk's territory? hmmmmm…..)

Expect
- Shifters
- Mates
- Possessive MC
- Age gap
- Remote location
- Size difference, strict top/bottom, shifters

Kindle freebie: 23.7.25
Profile Image for Sunny.
1,012 reviews126 followers
February 25, 2015
I realy liked Kirk and Leo, and the story kept my interest, but it lost a star because this not only ends on a cliffhanger, but things are brought up but not fully explained. It's too dependent on future books. The MCs win, though, and I'll be reading the next story so I get more of them.
Author 78 books1,682 followers
January 1, 2014
Really? That ending. Really? Yeah, no.
Profile Image for Mere Rain.
Author 31 books34 followers
Read
November 17, 2020
This was very cozy feeling for werewolf instalove! Cozy cabin, cooking, small town. Although the werewolf MC hates his changed nature and is afraid he may hurt his guest, it's obvious to the reader that he won't. Leo clearly feels safe even when he is worried about his reception. The sex scene was adequately hot. Cozy/sexy is what I was in the mood for, so I haven't decided whether I will read the next installment, which seems like to involve more fear and violence. Be aware of the cliff.
Profile Image for Vero.
1,613 reviews9 followers
March 17, 2015
Felt like a bad try at a "winter wolf" rip-off with a lot of cliches. And it didn't really feel like a m/m story.
 
The young, pretty twink who likes to cook felt way too much like a girl. Not sure what exactly it was. He just didn't feel like a guy to me. Maybe it was the being rescued and carried home thing. If he would at least have been the top, but no...the obligatory "mating" happend with him firmly at the bottom...
 
The whole novel felt very insubstantial. There was simply nothing to it.
Two people. One is a werewolf. No world-building, just insta-attraction. Not very hot, not very entertaining. Just there.
Profile Image for Alexis Woods.
Author 52 books84 followers
February 25, 2015
Should have gotten a five star rating, but when I say cliffhanger, I mean cliffhanger. Grrr... sending up my own wolf howl of outrage.

Free read, so I can't be too upset. It will be worth it as a complete story. Easy and quick read. Deliciously X-rated.
Profile Image for Vicki.
2,722 reviews114 followers
March 7, 2022
This one was just okay for me. Kirk is a gay werewolf who lives in the mountains alone. One day a guy named Leo gets caught in a bear trap and of course Kirk is the one who finds and helps him. I guess it makes sense that if he is a werewolf that his scent would inform him that Leo was fated to be his mate but...eh, it didn't work for me. At least it was a quick read, but I doubt I'll continue the series. It does end in a cliffhanger though, so who knows? Maybe I'll feel like finding out what happens just out of curiosity and sometimes a subsequent book is better.



Profile Image for Coco.V.
50k reviews129 followers
Want to read
July 30, 2020
🎁 FREE on Amazon today (7/30/2020)! 🎁
Profile Image for Hugo #freepalestine .
514 reviews51 followers
March 10, 2022
I fuckin hate cliffhanger still I wouldn't denied the fact that this was a sweet romance story
Profile Image for Chappy.
2,219 reviews113 followers
April 26, 2016
3.5 stars

I got this book for free and had no idea what I was going to get.

I was actually pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this short read. Kirk just seems so lonely to me.

When he finds Leo trapped and hurt in the woods, his instincts kick in and Kirk knows right away that Leo is very special. Leo is his mate...

Sure there's insta-love and a real abrupt ending but I still liked it.
701 reviews6 followers
January 27, 2014
2.75 stars

Two of my biggest pet peeves occurred in this novella. One, it ends on a cliffhanger, and two, the end seemingly is the means to sell the second book in this "series." The follow-up could have easily been folded into this book to make a very enjoyable novel, but it just cuts off and then the author's note about buying the next installment. I'll pass.
2,922 reviews15 followers
November 25, 2014
Ends in cliffhanger - that's a guarantee that I'll never buy anything else written by this author.
Profile Image for Melissa.
573 reviews12 followers
November 27, 2018
This was a cute enough start to what I didn't realize was a 6 book series. I'm not rating this as a "book", because it isn't one. It's the introduction to a story, and as such I enjoyed it.

The writing was good and the characters were decent. Leo was funny and Kirk was rugged and animalistic, which was great. I read a lot of shifter stories and one thing I noticed in a lot of them is the were-whatevers don't really have animal characteristics to them (outside of, you know, turning into animals, if they even do that). If they didn't call themselves alphas, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from regular humans. So that was interesting.

Unlike a lot of other reviewers, I didn't have a problem with the cliff hanger at the end. What I did have a problem with though, was finding out I'd have to pay $4 each for the next 5 stories. I'm not going to do that. Not when each installment is between 100 and 200 pages long. I think the last three are not even 100 pages long. That just screams money grab to me. Throw all of them together as one book, charge $8 or $9 for it, and I have no problem with that. But I can't justify spending $20 for novella length stories. So I won't be continuing on with the series.

3.5 stars.
Profile Image for ShelfLife.
557 reviews
February 26, 2025
Interesting format. It’s a novella, but doesn’t have chapters. So maybe like a serial? It’s written fairly well with the exception of comma issues that make for a bumpy read at times.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. It came up as free and looked interesting. I didn’t look ahead to see what the other books would be like, but after reading the blurb for book two, I won’t be continuing. I hate the public-claiming trope, whether forced or based on tradition/ritual. Plus, this series isn’t in KU.

Other than being disappointed that I won’t be seeing this couple get their HEA, I’m okay with the HFN ending here. The characters are sweet and interesting. I feel like their development will continue as their story progresses. As it is, there’s not too much here, especially with Kirk. But we do get more on who Leo is and how he came to be where Kirk is. I think this author is a good storyteller based on this novella. The tension is good. The spice is low until the very end, then it explodes. I thought their first time together was hot and passionate.
Profile Image for Derreck.
294 reviews12 followers
May 2, 2018
This was a quick read. It had just about everything I expected. But I won't lie and say I was completely blown away by this... until the sex happened. Oh there is most certainly chemistry going on between Kirk and Leo. There is no denying that.

I just kinda wished that maybe, more could've been included in this book. Gonna be a little brutally honest here, $4 for a 30,000 word book is kind of a lot to me. But that's just my opinion. Though this was free, so there's a good chance I will read the next the book in future. I'm just not entirely sure I'll read the entire trilogy.

Overall, this is not a bad read. It was easy for me to keep up with the character switches.

I suggest everyone to at least give it a shot :)
Profile Image for Michelle.
835 reviews4 followers
March 31, 2019
Not a bad little book. Kirk is a gay werewolf, former military, recluse mountain man. Leo is a gay wanna be painter, who gets stuck in a bear trap while out hiking. I don't think it was ever addressed why he was out hiking, but we do know he found it about as fun as a business trip. Kirk saves him from the bear trap, and "Wolf Scent" tells him that Leo is his mate. Awkward attraction ensues. No mention of "fated" mates in this one, though the scent does ensure a "Love at First Smell" attraction for Kirk who, luckily Leo finds hella attractive. This first book doesn't go very deep into the Mythos or circumstances/history of the characters beyond the most superficial, and the last third of the book is dedicated to the one sex scene, which is unprotected. With a werewolf.
Profile Image for Candra Kylar.
Author 4 books9 followers
January 13, 2021
In this introductory novel to the Mountain Wolves series, Isabel Dare takes a refreshingly logical look at werewolf mateships. Kirk is a stoic alpha wolf who is used to living alone but all of that changes when the spirited Leo needs his help. It's a fast read that has wonderfully endearing moments and very steamy erotic scenes. My only issue with the whole thing is the serious cliffhanger that it ends with. Where a lot of books elude to a sequel, this one stops dead center in one so it feels like part of one book instead of its own installment. Either way, this author delivers on the intense gay romance and has a way with words.
Profile Image for Lorna.
85 reviews
February 14, 2021
Very romantic werewolf story

In this book everything was so romantic from their first encounter to the end of the book. Even the steamy scenes were so romantic. The whole situation of the two of them in a cabin on the top fo a mountain is so romantic. Leo was so brave to go out alone in the night with a wounded leg to find Kirk. I love the chemistry between them. This book has just two characters but that make it absolutely perfect.
Profile Image for Kat Moreid.
437 reviews
April 4, 2022
I enjoyed it. It was an easy read, interesting shifter read where he feels like a shameful lonely freak.
Insta-love, mates, werewolves, opposites attract. It's a good mix. Grumpy wolf and his sunny mate. As many other reviews said, it ends on a cliffhanger and abruptly. I am not a fan of cliffhangers and it seemed to come out of nowhere. Leaves a bitter taste to the end of the book. Cliffhangers are evil.
Profile Image for Meep.
2,171 reviews229 followers
November 19, 2022
Kindle-Sort-ReRead

A mixed opinion of this freebie. Didn't realise it's the first of a serial fic - a concept I'm completely against.

The start is a nice sense about it, being other, sights, sounds, smells.
The meeting is light but ok, then love is mentioned? Bit quick that! Then porn.

I liked it for a short story, taking a star off for the cliffhanger style ending. Read the blurb for next part and it's a big no way.
2 reviews1 follower
June 25, 2020
Picked this up because it was free and I was looking for a quick, light read. This was that. It's not a bad story, just very simplistic with likable, if somewhat cliche characters. I wasn't as bothered by the ending as others seem to have been. Having said that, I wasn't enticed enough by this book to bother paying for the following books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.