Beast Business by Ilona Andrews
Maybe some fans shipped the couple who star in Beast Business, but I missed the boat. Fortunately, the author wasn’t waiting for my go-ahead to bring these two together.
This novella is volume 6.5 in the Hidden Legacy series, and readers who are not familiar with it should not start here because you’ll miss out on the bulk of the world and character building if you don’t begin with book one, Burn for Me.
Augustine Montgomery is surprised when Diana Harrison pulls up beside him, calls him by his name, and offers him a ride. How could she possibly have known the elderly Hispanic woman was actually the tall, handsome president of Montgomery Investigations, the largest private eye firm in Houston? His ability to cast perfect illusions, mimicking the voice, walk, and appearance of anybody, is legendary. It’s disconcerting to find that there is someone who can see past his charade. He sets this mystery aside to be unraveled later, joins her in her BMW, and concentrates on learning just why Diana was looking for him.
She gets straight to her point. As a Prime Animal Mage, Diana often deals with unique and beautiful creatures. The pride of her house is Zeus the Tigrionex. A creature pulled from the arcane world, he is a supposed impossibility in two ways: he should never have been able to bond with an animal mage, and he should not be able to survive in their world. Arcane creatures die within weeks of being brought to another realm, and their minds are completely alien to humans. Yet Zeus managed to bond with Diana’s brother, Cornelius, and has thrived among them for years.
That’s a big enough miracle to make the Harrisons an object of envy to other magical houses, but Diana advises Augustine that there is more. The Harrison family had acquired a second Tigrionex, Celeste, who had bonded with Diana and mated with Zeus to produce an absolutely adorable cub named Kitty – who has been kidnapped and is in imminent danger of death. Typically, Diana would involve House Baylor, whom her brother works for as an investigator, but Diana has her reasons for keeping Kitty and Celeste a secret even from them. She wants to hire Augustine to help her retrieve the cub, with the understanding that their contract will include complete secrecy. Augustine accepts her terms, and off they go on a wild adventure.
Something I really appreciate about this series is that the new books don’t change the characters’ personalities, so the blossoming romance occurs between the Diana and Augustine, we’ve been introduced to in the previous books. Over the course of this saga, we’ve watched Augustine (very slowly) become a kinder, gentler version of himself while remaining a cold, calculating, and cunning businessman; but he has grown into a man capable of genuine moments of compassion. In this story, we gain background information that explains why he was so ruthless at the start and offers some insights into the Montgomery family dynamics.
Diana, as the sister of a secondary character, is a relative unknown to fans. She’s been defined primarily by her magic and how that fits into the world of our primaries, the Baylor Family, and here, we get a more complete view of her personality. She’s a bit more heartless than her brother, Cornelius, which is to be expected since she’s head of her family, but she has a warm, empathetic side that shows through in her interactions with Augustine. Like him, she is (mostly) a cautious, detailed planner, but unlike Augustine, she has a feral side that shines through when she is angry or in danger. I really liked how that plays out within this story.
They work well together as they solve the mystery, respecting each other’s talents and strengths and building the trust needed to form an effective partnership. Diana also lowers her guard around Augustine. As an animal mage, she is more comfortable with mammals that aren’t human, but she makes an exception in his case, dropping her usual cool façade to show the caring, sensual woman beneath.
The plot here is very typical of an Andrews’ book, with brief moments of levity, romance, and connection interspersed with nonstop action. The story ends as the romance begins, with both Diana and Augustine contemplating whether it is worth pursuing a relationship, given the demands of their relatively powerful and opposing positions within their society.
As an added bonus, we get to see a more grown-up side of Arabella and Matilda here, and a few short stories are included that expand their storylines. Some of the Arabella ones have previously been available for free on the author’s website, but at least one is new and well worth reading for the information it provides.
Beast Business is a fun, sweet tale that is sure to delight fans of this series. I am happy to recommend it, and if you are a fan of fantasy romance, I strongly recommend the Hidden Legacy series overall.