Veiled Target by Robin Bielman (Veilers #1)
Released: July 22, 2014
Paranormal Romance
Samhain

Reviewed by Mandi

Tess Damon is a Veiler, a person who tracks down dangerous paranormal creatures and eliminates them. She works for a top-secret agency called P.I.E. (Private Investigations and Elimination). She is the company’s top elminator, even though her past few cases haven’t quite gone as planned. Her new target is a wolfen named Hugh Langston. Hugh is called a Night Runner, able to half shift into wolf form and feel emotions from humans. Her job is to secretly follow and then infiltrate Hugh, quietly investigate him and see if he is truly guilty as the client that asked for the hit has accused. But before Tess can get into that messy job, her friends set her up on a blind date with a man named Trey. Tess’s boyfriend was murdered five years ago and it’s been hard for her to move on. She is also continuing to search for the wolfen that murdered him.

Hugh is the leader of his wolf pack and he is also a search and rescue pilot. One of Hugh’s wolves has gone missing and he is desperate to find him. The wolf gone missing is Trey, the person that was supposed to go on a blind date with Tess. Wondering if this Tess person would have any information on Trey, Hugh goes in his place and pretends to be Trey. As the date and night progresses (Hugh and Tess are both very hot for the other) Tess realizes Hugh isn’t who he says he is and Hugh gets a lead on where Trey might be. This all leads to Hugh and Tess working together and falling for each other – except for that pesky little fact that Tess is supposed to eliminate Hugh and if she doesn’t her boss will kill her.

This one had a little bit of a rocky start for me but once it settles down I enjoyed it. At first I was a little confused by details of the world and just who and what everyone was. Tess also put me off. She is very pushy and in people’s faces and I wanted to have her take a chill pill. She rubbed me the wrong way – there is also a part in the beginning where she leaves her purse in her car with all her weapons and goes into the woods where all of this danger is. Girlfriend, don’t you do the TSTL (too stupid to live) routine with me. But it  ends up that she is pretty tough without her weapons and I did grow to like her. She is still pushy but it fit her overall personality.

Once Hugh realizes who Tess really is (an eliminator) he kidnaps her and finally gets the upper hand. From here very amusing scenes follow as Tess is none too pleased that she is Hugh’s captive. Their banter made me laugh more than once. They both don’t take shit from the other, and their annoyance with one another soon turns more into a lusty flirting, which is really hot.

Hugh’s pulse didn’t race. Ever. Yet the second she walked into the kitchen everything in his body revved up. She’d looked amazing in that blue dress, but seeing her just out of bed with casual clothes that hugged every curve of her body and noticing that she was comfortable by the confident way she moved, upped her sex appeal tenfold.

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop any lusty sounds from escaping his mouth. The animal in him wanted to strike. Down boy.

“You know,” she said, her voice upbeat. “you’re getting yourself into big trouble by doing all the cooking, Dinner last night. Breakfast this morning. One more meal and I’m going to inform you the duty is all yours.”

She blessed him with a bona fide look of appreciation and sat down at the table.

“I figure if I do all the cooking you can’t poison me.”

There is plenty of action as these two have to figure out where Trey is, why there is a hit out on Hugh, and whether to trust other people close to them. There are a couple of pretty hot sex scenes too.

Besides a rough start, I wish we had been immersed a little more into the wolfen culture and pack. We miss out on where Hugh comes from and seeing him lead his pack. I think that would have added to this paranormal story. Otherwise, I had fun reading it.

Rating: B-

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