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

“Cunning. Clever.” Seth nodded as if approving, then grinned. His teeth glinted crimson in the lamplight. “But it’s not going to stop us.”


“Why would you care?” Valentine shook his head.


“Something is happening within the clan, but my visions aren’t clear enough for me to see precisely what.” Seth paced back and forth. “I was led here. But I detect no duplicity, nothing hidden. You are exactly what you seem.” He stopped pacing and smiled, this time it seemed more genuine. “A Seductive who’s in need of a friend.”


“Are you offering me your friendship?” Valentine asked, unsure whether to trust the flamboyant seer.


“I do. And I offer something else, too. But it’s dangerous.”


“What?” Valentine was curious despite his misgivings.


Chapter 10