~~~@ This review is SPOILER-FREE! Read on with confidence! @~~~

Holy hotness! This story is a voyeur’s paradise. More than the usual explicit talk and sexy insinuations that make the O’Kanes so damn irresistible, Beyond Pain features a straight-up threesome with spectators, and it is *yummy*. We’re treated to several alternate points of view to help keep the storyline moving and fresh, and my favorite is Maddox. Under his easy-going persona, Mad is intense and I’d bet a case of O’Kane liquor he’s got a painful past. There are no cookie-cutter characters in this series, even amongst the big burly alpha heroes and that, along with the open, accepting, edgy sexuality embraced by the O’Kanes, is what makes the series so appealing. Seriously, these stories make me crave ink and I’m a tattoo virgin!

Bren is a mouthwatering combination of quiet reserve, dominant protector, ruthless master, and lethal warrior. He likes pain but is always in control. With the crazy debauchery the gang usually gets up to on page, I expected Bren’s sessions to be harsher and amped up fairly high, but the pain-play shown in the story was surprisingly tame. Hot, mind you, but mild enough that readers who flinch at hard floggings shouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

Six is hesitant, still healing from a lifetime of emotional and sexual abuse, and she covers it up with crass language and a macho attitude. I’ll say that she isn’t my favorite heroine so far but I do like that the authors didn’t try to smooth away all her edges; she’s rough and that’s the way Bren likes her.  Six is not like the other O’Kane women; she submissive but determined to make a difference and is still finding her feet in the steamy sexual revelry of Sector Four’s ruling gang.  Watching her transformation from abused and jaded to confident and capable is a joy.

Memorable Quotes

O’Kane men are as demanding as their women…

“Everyone in here is into something different. Mad likes to have as many people around as possible. Flash used to dig the groupies before he hooked up with Amira. Jas and Noelle are together, but they like to play a little, too. Dallas and Lex are… Well, they’re them. But no one in here gets off on forcing anyone.”
“But it’s not just that. I’ve met plenty of guys who aren’t into force but are just fine with a woman who’ll close her eyes and put up with it.” She’d expected Dallas to be one of them, but maybe she’d been selling the arrogance of the O’Kanes too short. None of these men would tolerate being tolerated.

Hello whiplash!

“You’re my favorite of all the people who’ve ever kidnapped me.”
It was sweet, in a sad, twisted sort of way–which pretty much described both of them perfectly. “You’re absolutely my favorite person I’ve ever kidnapped.”
Six eased her hand from his, only to slide it up his arm and over his shoulder. Her nails pricked his skin. “You’re good at fucking, aren’t you?”
Bren had never been one for conversational niceties like graceful segues, but her subject change was so abrupt he blinked. “I don’t suck at it. People come.”

*fans self* Is it hot in here?

Bren had his cock pierced. Twice.
He laid his hand over hers and squeezed her fingers even tighter around his shaft. “Watch your teeth,” he whispered. “Some people don’t like how the metal feels on them.”
She couldn’t help herself. She touched the smooth, curved surface of one barbell and glanced up at him. “Do they like how it feels other places?”
His chest rumbled. “You mean will it make you come harder when I fuck you?”
The jewelry was warm from his skin, but it still felt cool on her tongue as she traced the shape of it, teasing them both. “Will it? Dicks aren’t the part of fucking that makes me come.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?”

You might also like…

If this is your first foray into O’Kane territory, check out Beyond Shame, the tantalizing story of Jasper and Noelle that starts out the Beyond series.  If more hard-hitting military badass is what you crave, give Rebecca Zanetti’s Sins Brothers a try, starting with Forgotten Sins.  If you want more voyeuristic, hedonistic goodness, you may also like several of Joey W. Hill’s series, including Vampire Queen (starting with The Vampire Queen’s Servant) and Knights of the Boardroom (starting with Board Resolution).

Beyond Pain is…