Wicked Captor by Zoey Draven

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Going through my Bang in the Night Bingo prompts, I needed to find a book with Wicked in the title. I searched what was on my kindle and surprising only had a few options. One was Wicked Captor by Zoey Draven. Since the Smutathon was also going on at the same time and had an alien prompt, this was a perfect choice. Wicked Captor is the first in Zoey's Warrior of Rozun duology. This is actually a spin-off of her Warriors of Luxiria series (of which I read a couple years ago, but now see there was one more book published last year I have to get to). This also cover the red or purple on cover prompt for the Smutathon. For Bang in the Night Bingo it can also cover the prompt into the woods. Lastly, I used this for the prompt chef or baker main character for the second board of Fall in Love.

Devix is one of the warriors that we learned about in the original series that has been exiled. Now he works as a mercenary in the Quadrants. He has one last job before he's able to get out of the business and settle on Rozun. His last job is transporting his boss's newest slave, Cara. Cara is human that's been abducted and was originally at the Pit (where most of the heroines were found in the previous series). When Devix picks Cara up from her current owner, they are both surprised to find out they are fated mates.

Before we get too into the book, it's weird what I remembered about the previous series while reading this. I ran through the blurbs of the books from the previous series, but they didn't really help jog my memory. The first time Devix spoke, he said "tev" which is yes in his language. I remembered that very specifically, which was odd. I also picked up other parts of the first book, specifically when they do the fated mate ceremonies in the holy places on Luxiria. I also remembered his brother, which is the best friend and right-hand man to the ruler of the Luxirians. I couldn't remember if we saw him get exiled in the previous series or if it was just discussed.

But back to this book. It was so fun getting back into Zoey Draven. I've been working on compiling a list of authors to get caught up on and she's one of the top of my sci-fi list. I really enjoyed how things escalated between Devix and Cara. Even though they both felt the pull of the mating, they both just pushed it away and tried to fight the attraction. Once they both stopped fighting it, woo boy can Devix get it. I forgot how steamy Zoey Draven is and I loved it! I feel like you don't have to read Warriors of Luxiria to read this, but it did give some extra world building. Also, even though this is a duology it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I was slightly nervous about it going in, but I love that it didn't end on a cliffhanger. Devix and Cara were so perfect for each other, I know fated mates, but I loved how they both were able to deal with each other's traumas and really help each other heal.

I really enjoyed this and will definitely pick up the 2nd book. I did see that Cara ends up pregnant and they return to Luxiria for help. I also want to mention that this seems to have ran concurrent to some of the original series. Yes Devrix is exiled, but nobody really knows about the compatibility between humans and Luxirians at this point. I can't wait to pick up more Zoey Draven. If you enjoy sci-fi and alien romances, certainly give her a try. She's one of my favorites!

Have you read Wicked Captor?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Wicked Captor, Zoey Draven, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 194 pages, published in 2018