Alec Ryerson spends his life alone, hiding from his past. He sees shadows everywhere, dangerous shadows that have caused him pain and threatened his sanity. Because of them, he trusts no one and permits himself to love no one. Sex for Alec is a one-shot deal. It's a few minutes of pleasure without strings and without the possibility of a lasting relationship. He works in a library, cloistered among the stacks of books. He allows himself to care only for the children who attend his story hours.  One of those children is Ira, a lonely young boy who touches Alec's heart. It isn't Ira who finally breaks through the walls of Alec's self-imposed prison – it's Ira's brother, the beautiful, golden, Liam.  

Liam is wealthy, handsome and sexy, but he carries a secret that might annihilate the fragile trust that begins to form between himself and Alec. Liam and Ira are werewolves, rogues who have run away from a deadly pack of lycanthropes. When it becomes evident that the pack and its mentally unstable leader, Gabriel, were responsible for the terror that had originally sent Alec into hiding, their relationship becomes strained to the breaking point.  Meanwhile, Gabriel is determined to take back what he sees as his, namely Liam and Ira, and sees Alec as the bait that will draw Liam to him, the leverage that will allow Gabriel to kill Liam.  

From the start, Joely Skye's richly drawn characters in Marked touch the reader's heart and don't let go until the final page. Even then, I found myself wanting more, to follow the characters past the climax into their future. Throughout the book I was pulling for them, aching for them to conquer their individual demons and finally come together. Joely Skye has a unique talent for making the reader truly care about her characters, to walk in their shoes. They touched a spot within me that resonated with compassion for them. I felt their sadness, their loneliness, their joy and love for one another as if I were a member of their family.  Filled with tension and tenderness, drama and hope, Marked brings the reader everything one could hope for in a romance, from the tenuous beginning to the dramatic, satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend it!