Thea Harrison – The Wicked

A novella in the Elder Races series, published July 2, 2013.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: I like the owl, not the man



The adventure of a lifetime might just end in turmoil, but when it includes meeting your future mate, who gives a hoot?

For a librarian with a focus on rare magic books, Olivia's new job is a dream come true. She has been hired as part of a team to help manage the safe transportation of the collection of books owned by the Vampyre sorceress Carling Severan. The fact that the library is located on a mysterious island in an Other land only heightens the adventure.
Head of security for the expedition, Sebastian Hale is tired of his rootless life of adventure and finds himself attracted to the calm, beautiful librarian. But he is living a personal nightmare. He has been hit with a curse that is slowly taking away his sight, and he doesn't know if he will survive the results.
But the powerful feelings growing between them, along with Sebastian's inner turmoil, take a backseat when they learn there is a traitor lurking among their expedition team. With Elder Races politics and a priceless library on the line, they'll have to rely on each other to survive the experience.

Warning: When a librarian who likes to nest meets an owl Wyr who has always lived for adventure, their romance won't just be fly-by-night...


Olivia is a human, and a witch. She loves her work at the library, handling all kinds of dangerous magical books. But she thinks her life is a bit boring. She hasn’t had a serious relationship, and she is in her thirties. Although she loves children, raising one on her own is not appealing to her. She loves her best friend Grace’s niece and nephew a lot, even though they are a handful. But Grace, the Oracle, and her lover Khalil manage them fine.

Olivia is about to start a new and exciting job. The Council has allowed the most ancient vampire of them all, Carling, to retrieve her library from her hidden Island. Her progeny and the new vampire King has banished Carling from his lands, and he wanted to get his hands on her library himself. Carling has permission for 8 people to travel through the underwater passage to the Island, and have them pack up her library. Security is entrusted to Sebastian Hale and his company, as he is the best there is. Sebastian is an Owl Wyr, but he does not belong to Dragos in any way. He is independent, and his firm is located on Jamaica. Sebastian is over 200 years old, and Owl shifters average 250 years. He is bored with his life, his existence and has been for some time. This is perhaps the cause of the curse that is laid upon him, a curse without a cure for so far anyone knows.
He is even bored with this exciting new job, until he sees a small woman appear in the meeting room, brought by a Djinn. And she has the temerity to call the Djinn in question a dimwit for forgetting to bring her luggage.

Olivia hates being the center of intention and is certainly not happy that Phaedra just took her up and brought her here. She could have taken a cab. But at the same time, she cannot take her eyes of the big man standing next to Carling. Olivia has no idea what is happening to her, she has never been this interested in a man this quick and this much! She really needs to focus on what Carling is telling them all.

A four man security team will take care of the three librarians / symbologists, and Phaedra will be guarding the underwater entrance to the Other Island. It will take them several weeks to pack up everything in Carling’s library, and they will be living in her house, living on the food still available at the island and what they can bring with them.
Olivia does not really like Steve, the third member of their team, and Dendera, who is their head librarian and symbologist, is kind but aloof and distant.

David does not let them leave without a fight though, and Olivia turns to Sebastian to protect her from David’s seductive vampire ways. She really hates feeling so drawn to this man, when she knows it is totally fake. And Sebastian goes all territorial over her, how dare David use his vampire lures on her? She is his to protect! Luckily, Phaedra comes to the rescue, but David still gets to search the ship, or else he will keep the other crewmembers on shore until Carling’s deadline of retrieving her library has gone. Sebastian has no choice but to give in. But he will keep Olivia safe from harm!

Finally on the Island, Sebastian and Olivia soon give in to their mutual attraction. They open up to each other like old friends, like they have never done to any other person. And Olivia just knows that Grace can help him fight the curse laid upon him. But first, they will have to survive this job …


I am a big fan of Thea Harrison, and I had almost forgotten about this novella. But I am glad I remembered it, as I really liked this one. It is somehow continuing the ongoing story, but also completely new with new characters to like and enjoy. I am intrigued by Sebastian, who is Wyr but does not belong to Dragos. Sebastian is a real alpha male, looking out for his employees and friends, and now for Olivia. He tries to tell her what will happen with them, but Olivia is not a doormat, and does not let him get away with it. She lays down her own rules for him, and what she wants out of their relationship.
I enjoyed how much she loves her job, and how she cares about her friends.

Of course, having this little glimpse into the lives of Khalil and Grace is fun too.

A very nice novella, to tie you over between two full length books. A must read for fans of the series.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian