PROLOGUE
VALEN
Hard,unforgiving stone presses against my face. Arms I could normally break free of hold me down with infuriating ease. I struggle against them, but they have witchcraft at play, keeping me immobile. Someone shoves my face down harder, and I spit at the dirt that touches my lips.
In all my years, I have never felt fear as acutely as I do now.
“I’d tell you to stop, but watching you struggle is entertaining,” a deep voice croons in amusement. A second later boots stop in my line of vision, and I assume it is the man who spoke. I fight to get a glimpse of his face but cannot.
“I will kill you,” I spit out, knowing the words fall flat in my current predicament. I am at their mercy.
“I don’t think so,” he laughs, and I continue to fight with everything I have.
I must escape to keep looking for her. My sister … I need to know if she is truly gone.
“Please, tell me what you want me to do so I can leave,” afeminine voice says from somewhere behind me. Her tone sounds as desperate as mine. She clearly does not want to be here. “You promised you’d let me go and leave my children alone.”
The witch.
The shoes leave my sight, and I squirm helplessly like a caught fish as I try to see him or my surroundings once more.
“Chain this vampire to me,” he answers with glee. “Use your magic to make him belong to me and only me.”
“Why?” she asks with a shocking amount of bravery steeling her voice.
“Because,” the male voice drawls slowly, “I need him. A creature like him … no illness, no death? There’s so much that can be done with that. Power to be had.”
I heave as much as I can, knowing that now is my final chance to break free, but my strength is no match for the numerous hands holding me down.
“No,” I breathe out and use the last of my waning strength to fight back to no avail. “Please. Do not do this.”
Delicate footsteps echo through the room, and I feel a tear slip out as blackness creeps into my vision. Soft, cool fingertips grasp both sides of my head with unexpected gentleness, and I spy a cloud of purple around the wrists.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “He’ll kill my family—our entire line, if I do not do this. Forgive me, I beg of you.” Her fingers shake against the sides of my skull. “Find your true love and you will be free.”
Before I can process what is happening, I say a silent prayer to the powers that be and slip away as pain contorts my body.
CHAPTER 1
AVA
The dark-haired Adonisnow stationed on my couch is hard to ignore. Even through my closed bedroom door, it’s like an invisible thread is pulling me to him. It’s a tugging sensation in my chest.
Valen.
Does he feel that same tugging feeling?
After the big mate reveal, I panicked and used tiredness as an excuse to shelve the discussion for another day. I know it’s shitty of me when the man has been held captive and just found his mate, but I’m spiraling a little, if I’m honest.
Zavier and I spent weeks trying to find Celine after she’d been taken. I was still reeling from my break-up with Spencer when she was kidnapped. Finding out my bestie’s boyfriend is a vampire was the what-the-fuck icing on top of that three-tiered shitshow cake. Thank God she’s home safe and in one piece, but Valen popping up made me realize how much I internalized while all that was going on.
I was so focused on locating Celine that I pushed my emotions to the side, and now they’re starting to bubble to the surface. Valen’s hot as fuck, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’m curious about him, but the wounds from my relationship with Spencer are still fresh. Our mutual break-up was the best decision for both of us, but it still hurts. He was someone I pictured spending the rest of my life with. I can’t just suddenly turn those feelings off because I apparently have a mate. I know from Celine that this means Valen is my one, true purest kind of love, but I don’tknowhim, so it’s hard to see him that way yet.
It was her suggestion that had him moving in with me. I know she’s thrilled that I have a mate and now I’m even more intertwined in the supernatural world like she is. I wanted to say no, but when Valen seemed so grateful for a place to stay and explained that he’d been sleeping wherever he could, including the roofs of buildings, I couldn’t do it.
So now there’s a vampire sleeping on my couch.
“Ugh,” I mutter out loud and shove my blankets over my head in exasperation.
