One witch, one cat shifter. Add one wolf. Blend. Safety glasses recommended.

Renee Parcell loves her life. Her smoothie/coffee cart business is successful, and she’s deeply in love with her boyfriend, Galen. He makes her laugh, he’s gainfully employed, and he satisfies her as only a sexy cat shifter can. He even puts the toilet seat down.

Yet they both sense something in the air. An anticipation that leaves them both unsettled.

Tall, blond and gorgeous Jack Meyers, Enforcer of National Pack and one of the most beautiful men Renee and Galen have ever seen, stumbles into Renee’s life and the riddle of their expectation is solved—Renee is Jack’s mate. What surprises them all is when the three of them touch, magick creates an unexpected triple bond of witch, cat and wolf.

Even as they learn to navigate the steamy intricacies of their bond, a threat looms over Renee. First in the form of resurrected memories, then in the shape of darker magicks someone is aiming at her. Set on stealing her inherent powers—even her life.

Renee can stand to lose almost anything, except her mates. But there seems to be no talking them out of laying everything on the line for her…

Warning:
All kinds of alpha maleness going on up in here and the woman responsible for keeping them in line. Sexin in many varied settings and positions, including sexy times between dudes. Bad words. Tight butts in worn denim. Some violence here and there.

I was enthralled even before starting reading this book. The intriguing premise of a witch, a cat shifter and a wolf shifter combined with the exhilarating Samhain warning were enough to reel me in and Lauren Dane definitely delivered on their promise. This is my very first taste of Lauren Dane's shifter books. I've had her Cascadia Wolves series on my TBR for quite a while but never got around to them. Trinity is a spin-off of that series and though it can be read as a stand-alone perfectly, it definitely triggered me to pick up the Cascadia books very soon. Subtly, effortlessly and seemingly unnoticed Lauren Dane weaves in the intriguing Cascadia back-story through Jack's POV and some secondary characters.

Renee Parcell owns a juice and coffee cart in the metaphysical bookstore/magick shop her stepmother runs. Renee speaks her mind; she’s saucy and independent, strong-willed, tough and very caring of the people she loves. She’s a powerful witch with a strong magic force surrounding her but knows little of her magical background and her father and stepmother's disapproval and denial of magic prevents her from acknowledging it. Later on in the story things come to light that put this in a very different and surprising light and that turn Renee’s world upside down.

Galen de La Vega is Renee's fiancé (in human terms) and imprinted husband (in cat shifter terms). Galen is a Spanish/Jamaican shifter and lawyer. His parents are the alpha couple of the jamboree (jaguar equivalent of a pack). Since Galen first brought Renee home it’s been a struggle to get her accepted by everyone in the jamboree but Galen doesn’t accept their disapproval and sticks with Renee all the way.

Quote: "The sound of his voice was like caramel, thick and sweet."

Jack Anderson Meyers is Renee's other mate, a wolf shifter, Enforcer of his pack, who accidentally bumps into Renee and recognizes his life mate in her. His stumbling into Renee’s world triggers stuff that not only rocks the worlds of both Galen and Renee, but also his own.

Quote: "What a voice. Lazy, redolent with sex, deep."

Both Galen and Jack are fearsome, protective and confident alpha males. I loved how Renee stood her ground and told them off when they did stupid things or were too bossy and overbearing. The set-up of the tri-mate bond between Galen, Renee and Jack was excellently written and I was smoothly eased into the ménage.
I was utterly intrigued by the complexity of the mating/bonding triangle between Galen, Renee and Jack and I was curious how it all was going to work out. And I’m not disappointed at all. That first sex scene was off the charts hot and I could almost feel the emotional intensity. And once again (as in LAID BARE and UNDERCOVER) Lauren Dane made the m/m sexy times work for me because it wasn’t too explicit and the focus point remained on Renee. For any m/m/f ménage to work for me I need the focus to stay on the female and not too much m/m sexy times and Lauren is an author of erotic romance who has never let me down in that.

After the halfway mark there was so much going on, so many questions popping up, my head was spinning! In a very good way. I couldn't read fast enough to find out what the heck was going on! One small thing bothered me. There's a scene with a (verbal) fight between Renee and Jack over something Jack says and I didn't understand Renee's anger and therefore didn't understand the fight or the need for this scene. The scene that followed, offered ample explanation though and was pivotal tot he plot and Renee's character and back-story so I was quickly back on track and even more intrigued then before. At first I couldn't understand the ambiguity in Renee's character: feisty, vibrant, saucy on one side and insecure, low-self-esteem and defending people who are bad for her, abusive even on the other hand. However, this is all explained little by little throughout her characterization and at the end of the book I understood it a little bit better.

I developed an instant dislike for Renee’s stepmother Susan. It had been a while since I had such a violent reaction to a secondary character but I wanted to climb into the pages and kick her toxic ass. And this only got worse and worse the more I read about her. When I came to the end of the book all I wanted to do was punch her in the face. Hard! (I am NOT a violent person, I swear…)

When I started reading TRINITY someone on Twitter expressed that I was so lucky to be reading it so close to the release of REVELATION, its sequel. To be honest I didn't understand the fuss until I reached the last page and was treated to one heck of a cliffhanger. Seriously people, I’m talking the mother of all cliffhangers here! Saying I need to read REVELATION immediately isn't even an understatement. What's bigger than an understatement? Well, that's the word I'm looking for!

TRINITY is comprised of easy dialogues, witty banter, great characterization, clear world building without info-dumps, emotional development and off-the-charts sex scenes. For these things alone lovers of shifter paranormal romance should read Lauren Dane's De La Vega Cats!

Quotes:

She looked up, into his face, met his eyes and smiled. “Did you have a request?”
“My c#ck does and I’m its spokesperson.”

“You’re tense. Not so much now that you think you’re getting some morning sex, but earlier. Your muscles were bunched up.”
“Am I?”
"Bunched up?"
Leaning in, he drew a deep breath, his lips just touching her throat. His system went into overdrive. “Getting morning sex.”
"You’re going to get your junk punched if you don’t tell me what had you all stressed out.”

Their early morning coupling wasn’t about sensuality. It wasn’t a slow seduction. It was hard and fast, bodies meeting, sliding in a slick of sweat, the ache of desire, the spice of their attraction hanging around them. Her nails dug into his sides as she came, her body clasping his with such heated ferocity he had no choice but to give in and climax.

What she felt when he marked her that way wasn’t something she could easily put into words. It was a wedding ring, a declaration of his connection and commitment, it was sexy and caveman all at once, wrapped up in caring. It made her feel cherished and cosseted. Possessed but not owned.

Galen and his mom:
“You’re bloodthirsty.” He smiled, for real this time. (...) “I am. Where do you think you get it? Your papi is mellow. He’s a poet who practices law. Me? I’ll rip throats out and then read poetry."

“Don’t think I can’t feel you two scheming through the bond. And all that hot gay stuff too. That part I like.”

8.5 out of 10