Review: Hard Mated (Shifters Unbound #3.5) by Jennifer Ashley

Summary
A short novel of the Shifters Unbound series. Spike, a wildcat Shifter and the champion fighter of Shiftertown, is stunned when Myka, the best friend of a dying human woman, announces that Spike has fathered a cub. What's more, the mother is giving the boy to Spike to protect and raise.

Myka, who'd been raised by an abusive stepfather, is not sure that a wild fighter named Spike is the best man to bring up the cute little jaguar cub. She goes to Shiftertown to check out Spike, and finds that the man behind the name is a lonely Shifter who's lost most of his family and is a fierce caretaker to those he has left.

Spike is torn between the cub and his duties as tracker to the Shiftertown leader, and begs Myka, the only person who understands, to help him. He starts to like the sassy Myka, a horse trainer who's not afraid of working with animals, even if they're wildcats who turn into humans.

When Spike's job puts his cub and Myka in danger, Spike is forced to choose between those to whom he's pledged his loyalty and his need to protect the woman and cub he's come to love.

Review
This book is the perfect example of why romance readers everywhere would love a shifter mate. They love so fiercely. Spike is the tough fighting jaguar shifter. He finds out he has a cub, and at the same time meets his mate. His protective instincts go haywire. He doesn't want to do as he's told and you don't know until the end if he's going against his alpha or working with him. Myka has been so alone. They are so perfect for each other. I can't wait to read more about them in future books.