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

“You’re taking a chance, aren’t you?” A vaguely familiar voice asked.


“Not really. I just tell Hades’ minions that I want to make certain everything is perfect for Hades and no one questions anything I do or anywhere I go. He’s grown complacent, as have they.”


There was no mistaking Mandrake’s voice or his arrogance, but Valentine frowned, wondering who the second voice belonged to and why it seemed familiar to him.


“You presume much, Mandrake.” There was an edge to the unknown voice, but Mandrake only laughed.


“Hades is busy settling an issue and is miles away from here. I don’t know where his whore is, but while he’s also absent from here who is there to watch me?”


“You’d better watch your mouth. Hades’ mate is well-respected. There won’t be many who’d accept hearing you speak of him in that way.”


“Concerned?” Mandrake’s tone dripped with such cold contempt that Valentine almost shivered


Chapter 16