The Beloved

Spoiler Disclaimer

Synopsis

As the daughter of the Black Dagger Brother, Zsadist, Nalla has had a pretty sheltered upbringing, closely protected, not only by her father, but the entire Brotherhood. Her father has been so over-protective, she fears that no male will ever live up to his standards and he's even threatened a few suitors in the past. Chaffing against what she views as unfair restrictions, Nalla just wants to live a little and date whomever she pleases. When she rebels against her father's rules to go out one night with friends, she sees the warrior Nate eyeing her. Although she's know him most of her life, she's always thought he was kind of a jerk, but when she's unexpectedly attacked by lessers and he's there to help keep her safe, her view of him starts to change. Nalla quickly finds herself attracted to Nate and wanting whatever he's willing to give her. But Nate has a dark side that he doesn't want to acknowledge that could put them both in danger.

Nate grew up in a lab, where he had cruel experiments conducted on him daily and watched his mother die at the scientists' hands. After being rescued, he became the adopted son of the Black Dagger Brother, Murhder, but not long after, he was cursed with immortality, which has left him reckless in his endeavors to exact vengeance on their enemies. He's also taken a job moonlighting as a human mafia enforcer to maintain his independence. After Nate breaks a rule of engagement and the Brotherhood must clean up his mess, they expel him from their ranks, leaving him floundering and trying to find purpose. Feeling that there's not really anything to live for, he makes a bargain to end his immortality, but before he can hold up his end of it, he sees Nalla at the club and ends up fighting alongside her against the lessers. When she sheds tears over him, thinking he's been killed, Nate is touched to his core and finds himself wanting everything she has to offer. But not only does his extracurricular activities put them both at great risk, he knows he'll never measure up to Zsadist's expectations for his daughter's future mate and fears what she might do if forced to choose between him and her father.

Review

The Beloved is the twenty-second book in J. R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series and it's also the beginning of the next-gen part of the series, which features the children of our beloved original Brothers and their mates all grown up. In the epilogue of the previous book, Lassiter, readers were catapulted thirty-three years into the future. In this installment, things pick up pretty much where that epilogue left us. Wrath has returned and reconnects with everyone, while catching up on all the things he's missed over the past three decades. However, the main focus couple is Nate, adopted son of Murhder and Sarah, and Nalla, blooded daughter of Zsadist and Bella. Zsadist has been way over-protective of Nalla to the point that they've basically had a falling out over her never being allowed to do anything. She goes against his dictates to have a night out at a club with the others of her generation, where she sees Nate, a male that she's peripherally known all her life, but always thought was a bit of a jerk. Ever since the events in Lassiter, Nate has had a hard time adjusting. He's only been going through the motions of life and is a bit of a loose cannon. He admires Nalla from afar, but sensing that she's the kind of female who could really rip his heart if he got too close, he maintains his distance. However, when lessers attack the pair outside the club and Nalla thinks they've killed Nate, it's the beginning of something wild and beautiful between them. Nate has resisted revisiting his past in any way, but he knows he'll have to rip that old wound open if he and Nalla are to have a future together. However, despite things going well between them, Nalla knows that her father has a beef with Nate that could mean her having to make a heartbreaking choice between the male she's fallen in love with and her sire. Not to mention, Nate's involvement with a human organized crime ring may inadvertently bring the war right to their doorstep, which could spell disaster in more ways than one.

Nate has been through hell in his relatively short (in vampire years) life. He first appeared in The Savior as a pre-trans who'd spent most of his young life in a human lab, having cruel, torturous experiments conducted on him, and he watched his mother die there. I thought he might get a new lease on life when Murhder and Sarah took him in, but not long after his transition, Nate fell for the lovely Rahvyn, who broke his heart when she chose Lassiter instead. When he was fatally wounded, Rahvyn used her powers to bring him back, but now he's immortal, a state he's had trouble adjusting to. For the last three decades, he's been fighting with the Brotherhood in the war, while basically giving life the middle finger and alienating nearly everyone around him. He's also taken up a job as an enforcer with a human organized crime ring in order to financially maintain his lone wolf routine. Early in the story, he does something that becomes the last straw for the Brotherhood who kick him out of their ranks. Nate didn't really want to go to the club that night, but he spends his time there admiring Nalla from the shadows while telling himself all the reasons he shouldn't want her. When she leaves, he follows to ensure her safety and finds her fending off a pair of lessers. Her fierceness in battle makes Nate fall for her almost instantly and his feelings are all but solidified when she cries over him, thinking he's been mortally wounded. It's the beginning of a fast-moving relationship between them that becomes everything he's been missing in life. But if he can't get back into the Brotherhood's good graces, Zsadist may never accept him as a mate for his daughter, and when the lessers come looking for him, it could put many lives in danger, not the least of which is the female he's come to love.

I've adored Nate since he first appeared in the series. He was such a sweet kid in spite of all he'd been through. I honestly thought he and Rahvyn would become an item, but she was meant for Lassiter. Between that heartbreak and his newfound immortality, he was not in a good place at the end of the last book, which kind of broke my heart, but all that made where he is at the beginning of this book make sense. He's just depressed and mad at the world and doesn't really care about anything, least of all himself, until Nalla bursts into his life, giving him something to live for. I love how he slowly comes back to life under her tender care and wants to be a better male for her. He may be a hardened fighter now, but we get to see that sweet, gentle guy he used to be in his interactions with her. The way the story wrap ups with him fighting with every beat of his heart for what's his, making amends to everyone he'd hurt with his actions, and acknowledging that the things that happened to him won't go away overnight but he's ready to put in the work to get better was a superb character arc for him. It left me with no doubt that he has a bright future ahead of him and is the perfect mate for Nalla.

Nalla grew up with loving parents and she's become a social worker at Luchas House. However, Zsadist's emotional problems from his own trauma often interfered with her life growing up, leaving her with some resentment toward her mother for spending more time dealing with her hellren's issues than her daughter. It doesn't help that Zsadist has basically threatened every male who's ever come close to Nalla, because he doesn't trust anyone with his baby girl. So she and her dad are not on good terms either when the story opens. Nalla only went to the club because her best friend, Bitty, guilted her into it, and she's not having a good time. Having Nate glaring at her from the corner just irritates her more. Then they end up fighting the lessers together in the alley behind the club, during which Nate appears to have been mortally wounded because of a wrong move Nalla made. She thinks he's just died in her arms and can't stop crying over him, so him waking up, stuns her. Then her father shows up, and he's less than pleased, thinking that they're dating. When Nalla and Nate randomly meet up again the next night, I think that she's attracted to Nate in part because his personality isn't all that different from her father's, which feels familiar to her, and also because she kind of wants to rebel against her father's dictates. But it quickly becomes so much more than that for her. It turns into a whirlwind affair that rapidly becomes a love to rival that of her parents. But if her father can't accept Nate, Nalla will be heartbroken.

Nalla is the perfect mix of Zsadist and Bella. She has her mother's kindness and compassion intertwined with her father's warrior heart. The way she handled the aristocratic f-boys at the club made me want to stand up and cheer, as did the way she dealt death to the lessers, which I immediately knew was Zsadist's training. It was hard watching her arguing with not only her parents but also sweet Bitty. Much like with Nate, though, she gains insights throughout the story that help her to see the error of her thinking and she makes amends, which was a great arc for her as well. I especially loved her for her easy acceptance of Nate, warts and all, and for giving him all the love he's so richly deserved but thought he would never find. Nalla was simply a well-rounded heroine who has definitely become a fan favorite for me.

As is typical for this series, we get many other character POVs throughout. Wrath gets a number of scenes as he reconnects with his shellan, Beth, his loyal butler, Fritz, and all of the Brothers in turn. He also struggles with coming to terms with basically losing over three decades of his life and with wanting to go back out in the field and fight with his warriors instead of simply sitting on his throne. Zsadist has been mostly seen and not heard from since his own book, so it was nice to get his POV for a change. He wants to see his daughter live her life, but he also can't help but be protective of her. He's intently focused on fighting Lash and his new crop of lessers, as well. Nate's old friend, Shuli, gets a number of his own scenes. He's been fighting alongside the Brothers, too, but finds himself sidelined after his misadventures with Nate. However, his surprisingly heroic actions later on earn him a high honor. On the enemy's side, we get the POV of Evan, a low-level mobster in the crime family Nate works for who can't seem to do anything right and ends up a lesser. It was kind of interesting getting the perspective of someone who was basically turned against his will, which is something I don't believe we've seen before. The very last scene of the book was from Fritz's POV--something I'm pretty sure we've not had before either--as he pines for the mansion, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was foreshadowing a return to the mountain for our heroes. Last but not least, we get several scenes for Bitty who is sweet on L.W., a sentiment that's definitely returned, and let me say that I'm totally here for this pairing. She also gains an interesting new power, which gives her insights into what the future might hold for L.W. and it's very concerning.

Ever since I heard that this first next-gen book was going to be Nate and Nalla's, I've been excited, and overall, The Beloved didn't disappoint. I admit I had a few doubts early on, because they didn't seem to be getting enough scenes together. While more scenes with Nate and Nalla certainly wouldn't have gone amiss, every one they shared was on fire with the perfect alchemy of heart and heat. Ms. Ward didn't waste a single one, with each of them propelling this couple's story forward and revealing something new. Insta-love isn't usually a favorite trope of mine either, but all the feels were there in every interaction between these two characters. By the end, I was absolutely convinced of their rightness for one another. Nate and Nalla both grew a great deal during the story, which made their characterizations very well-written. I got teary-eyed over Wrath's reunions with all the important people in his life and I loved seeing more of Zsadist and Bella. I enjoyed all the sightings of the grown young that we already know about and can't wait for them to get their own stories. There was also a healthy dose of humor as only the BDB can do it. I cracked up over Zsadist and Vishous's talk about parenting. Who knew Vishous would get attached to a kid even though he won't quite admit it? I'm looking forward to seeing where that goes. And L.W. and Shuli arguing like an old married couple was pretty funny, too. After the developments in their part of the story, it looks like they're going to be getting on each other's nerves for the foreseeable future. Then there's L.W. and Bitty's rapidly developing romance that's equally as infused with emotion and desire as Nate and Nalla's, and it's left me super eager for their story, which I hope is going to be the next book. But first it looks like we'll be getting a Christmas/winter novel for Callum and Apex, whose story was left hanging at the end of the BDB: Prison Camp series, so I'm looking forward to them crossing into the main BDB series and finally getting some resolution to that. Everything, once again, has me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next releases.

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J. R. Ward

Themes

Psychology 101
Tortured Heroes