When Valentine’s sire is forced to take a mate by his Clan leader, Valentine is reduced to stoking the castle’s furnaces as nothing more than a cindered servant to the new matriarch. With his sire Libertine incarcerated and Valentine forced to wear a cursed collar, there seems no way to escape Belladonna’s hold on them. When a stranger appears, Valentine is surprised by how quickly he trusts the other vampire. He accepts the request to go to the castle of his Clan Lord, the ancient and powerful Hades, to uncover who is working to overthrow him. His reward is freedom for both him and his sire. No one is meant to know who he really is, and Valentine pretends he’s one of Hades’ favorites while in the castle, adopting the name Cinder and playing his Seductive nature to its full. But his world is shaken to its core when Valentine finds himself falling for the enigmatic Cole. As a Seductive, Valentine never imagined he’d want an Alpha Predator as a mate. Worse yet, it may be that Cole could be the very one he’s been sent to uncover. When the battle for dominance begins, where will Valentine’s loyalty lie?

Cinis

“Anyway, how do you know this?” Valentine shimmied a little to stare directly at his friend, who shrugged.


“Hades doesn’t announce it publicly, but a lot of his personal guard are lycans. I could have worked there, but I prefer to remain a little more…free.”


“You mean, you lacked the discipline to be a soldier.” Valentine cocked his head, and Arsen chuckled.


“That too.” Arsen winked then laughed aloud, and Valentine joined in.


“I’m glad. I love my father, but he prefers such solitude. It’s nice to have a friend.” Valentine smiled at Arsen who grinned.


“Yes. Especially one like you. Have you heard anything else?” Valentine pecked a kiss to Arsen’s cheek.


Chapter 4