Xhex is physically broken after all that she has endured, and John is just freaking phenomenal! His protectiveness, care and love for Xhex is just beautiful.

While the two of them have been fairly secretive about the state of things between them, it all comes flooding out as John goes full on bonded male to get his female back, and when they are finally reunited, my heart broke. Their first encounter sent John off on a man-whoring mission to forget Xhex, and the second encounter was a ‘fuck you and goodbye’ from John that left Xhex broken hearted, but determined to steel herself and move on from her infatuation with him. With all of the eye fucking, head games and sexual tension between them, we knew that when they finally got together, it would be explosive, and hell yeah, it is! They caved into the chemistry in the last book, and while it was hot, it was far from romantic. John and Xhex have been dancing around each other ever since they met in book 4. And, having become a bit of a hardass in order to deal with the devastation in his life, John is a male on a mission to find and / or avenge his missing female. Xhex was taken by uber-bad guy, Lash, at the end of the last book, and is held captive by the sicko, subjected to his abuse over and over. Dear God, can the poor guy please catch a break!!! He has, at last, found close friendship with his boys, Qhuinn and Blay, and has found his place with the Brothers, but the beginning of this book finds him utterly desolate without the woman that he loves.

His background is incredibly sad, and he finally found a family who loved him, only to lose them in horrific circumstances (essentially twice). Since his appearance in the second book of the series, we have watched poor John suffer through so much.

Lover Mine by J.R. Ward