Snatching werewolf assassin Jonathon Decker from the maximum security prison on Trakis One naturally has the Collective hot on the El Cazador's ion trail, but Holy Everlasting Life! Why is the Church gunning for the El Cazador too?

As cabin boy, Al keeps pretty much to himself, and for good reason. He's not a boy at all. After twenty-four agonizingly dull years of putting duty before need as High Priestess of the Church of Everlasting Life, Lady Alexia is finally out from under the heavy hand of the Church and having some fun. She never really intended to run away — all she did was sneak aboard a space ship to check it out and it took off with her — and she really does mean to return to do her god-fearing duty — someday. But until that time rolls around, she’s going to eek every bit of excitement she can out of flying with Rico and his “motley crew of space pirates” to last her a lifetime. And what could be more exciting than linking up with the sexiest hunk of werewolf she's ever seen? Of course, as far as she knows, Jon is the ONLY werewolf she's EVER laid eyes on.

Jon is a loner, an alpha without a pack, and that means he doesn’t care whether he lives or dies…that is until he lays eyes on Al. It doesn’t take him long to figure out that she’s no boy. Under those baggy shirts and pants she wears are hidden some small but definitely feminine curves she decides to flaunt in his face when she outs herself and starts wearing high-heeled boots with hot pink jumpsuits. Skintight jumpsuits! He can’t walk by her without his own pants getting tight. He knows he should get the hell off El Cazador, the sooner the better. Unfortunately, Jon’s werewolf has found his mate, not to mention a new pack to protect. What more can a respectable alpha do but to jump into the melee with all four feet?

Deadly Pursuit is the second book in Nina Croft's Blood Hunter series, a highly entertaining blend of science fiction and paranormal that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat one moment and chuckling the next. The El Cazador's crew is an unlikely mix of a werewolf-hating vampire, a vampire-hating werewolf, a high priestess in drag, a renegade Collective operative, and two genetically modified GMs, not to mention the Trog, whom we still know very little about at the end of book two.

At the end of book one, Break Out, we learned about Al's masquerade, but we don't learn her true identity until early in book two. As the crew mulls over what to do with a High Priestess, Jon comes out of cryo feeling like crap but amazed he's still alive, only to learn that his future isn't trouble-free and rosy. With both the Church and the Collective after them, the El Cazador planet-hops across deep space, staring death in the face more than once as the crew engages their enemies in hit and run tactics.

Rico and Jon turn male-bonding into a sport, and Alex discovers what it's really like to live outside the Church. Rico and Skylar's relationship from book one is further developed but only as a sub-plot to the romance that evolves between Alex and Jon. The quintessential tortured hero and reckless heroine, Jon and Alex make a perfect couple. Ms. Croft expertly weaves Alex's desire to experience sex before returning to the Church with Jon's honorable reluctance to oblige her. When they finally come to the end of their merry chase, they're absolutely explosive together.

All the intrigue, plot twists, breath-taking action, and scrumptious sexual tension assured that I couldn't put this book down. As book one leads directly into book two, get both Break Out and Deadly Pursuit and read them in sequence. You'll be glad you did!