Aria Valderi is a day walker, a vampire that can walk in the sun. Being a descendant of the original queen of the vampires has its perks, but finding out her mate is a wolf shifter isn't one of them. He's insufferable, bossy, and too damn sexy for his own good.

Trevan Stone knows Aria is his. Unfortunately, his tough little vamp has been wreaking all kinds of havoc and now too many people want her dead. It's going to take more than Trevan can do as a shifter to protect his woman.

Trevan has a secret. One that could put an end to their future together, but it’s not nearly as big as the one her people have, which could end the future of the entire clan. If he can save her from the vampire council that wants her destroyed, there might be a chance for them to work through their issues. But saving her means giving up the reason for his existence, the drive that has pushed him for the last eighty years.

Reader Note: This book is all about a sassy plus-sized vampire who knows what she wants and a hot, smooth talking alpha wolf who can't fight his need for her. There is massive use of dirty words, so if you're a prude this is not the book for you. If you like sarcasm and hot sex with no filter, this is just your thing. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Aria stomped her leather spiked-heel boot on the marble floor in her study. “I didn’t kill Filip for the fun of it.” She grinned. It really was enjoyable, though. Ripping his disgusting head from his body. 

She couldn’t believe Zane, one of her powerhouse trio of elders, wanted to keep the damn thing, eyeballs and all. Aria shivered from the total ick factor. She was never into anatomy or body parts. Leaving the mad scientist role to Zane suited her fine.

Penelope’s voice sounded scratchy on the long distance call from Spain. “Aria, we know you had a purpose for killing Filip. But the Spanish High Council are a bunch of old asses who don’t have a clue about the modern age.”

Aria growled. “Did you explain that he broke the rules?”

“Of course, we did, sweetie. That’s what your entire defense is based on: his wrong doing. It’s just…” The line went silent. Aria leaned her head back on the leather executive chair behind the study’s desk.

Her actions should’ve never been in question. She shouldn’t need a “defense” for enforcing the rules. This was fucking ignorant. Hell, she lost more than everyone else. Her nightclub burned to ashes. The fact it took out most of the bad vamps with it was beside the point.

Aria wiped a hand over her brow when her good friend and person trying to keep her from the fucking inquisition paused. “Just what, Penelope?”

The elder sighed. “Don’t worry, my dear. Julian, Zane, and I will clear your name and stop the harassment from this three-ring circus they call an investigation.”

“Thank you, Penelope. Tell the guys I really appreciate how much time they’re putting into this.” She frowned, wishing the whole damn thing would just disappear.

“Of course, dear child. It’s what family does for each other,” Penelope said in that soothing voice she had.

A thought occurred and Aria sat up straight again. “Speaking of family, have you seen or heard from Claude?”

“No.” Aria imagined her elder mentor with her brows pinched together. That was Penelope’s trademark expression when it came to thinking about something. For a while, she mimicked the facial squint, until when looking in a mirror, she noticed the nasty wrinkles it created. That ended that quickly.

Even though her body looked equivalent to a twenty-five-year-old, she didn’t want to get into a bad habit. Her skin, after all, was still skin. She had a long wait before nature took its path to change her flesh into highly resistant leather-like material like her three mentors. 

Fortunately, being a born blood, she could walk in the sunlight without any problems. Her powerhouse trio achieved that privilege only after their skin transformation was complete, which took about a thousand years, with no sucking of human blood.

Fucking human blood. This whole mess was due to that. If the others would just follow the rules of no human blood consumption then life would be peachy. But what would she do with all her time then?

A gorgeous, tall, buff, scruffy-faced wolf came to mind. She shouldn’t even think about him. Nor the fact she’d love to spend her time doing him all day. Over and over, she played in her mind that night behind the nightclub. She’d lost her balance on a narrow ledge, and he took special effort to catch her. She would’ve landed fine on her feet, but being in his powerful arms felt so good. And she wasn’t a petite bag-of-bones thing, either.

But then the fact he was a dog intruded, as always. She hated that. What was special about him to call to her? Something deep and strong linked her to a wolf. A fucking hot and delicious wolf she couldn’t have. Her life sucked sometimes.

“Claude isn’t at the house with you?” Penelope asked, reminding her she was still on the phone call.

“No. I haven’t seen him since the night I killed Chantal. That was months ago. Marxius put a tail on him but Claude was able to lose them. Penelope, I don’t want Claude to be in on the human trafficking scheme Filip had going. He’s my cousin. I don’t want to kill family.” She hated that shit had hit the fan so epically lately. 

A sigh came across the line. “I’m sorry, child. I know how important family is to you since you have so little remaining. But I have to say, his extended absence doesn’t do any favors toward his innocence.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She pinched the upper bridge of her nose—didn’t cause wrinkles. “But I don’t have proof he’s guilty, either. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, until he shows me differently.”

“Good decision, Aria,” Penelope praised her. “You’re a born leader…whose blood line ends with you.” Oh god, not this again. “You need to find a bloodmate and have children.”

“I know, I know.” Boy did she. With Karla Wolfe’s triplets doing some crazy adorable things every time they had a girls’ night, Aria could do nothing more than listen to her biological clock remind her she wanted children. His babies. Ah, fuck.  

“You keep reminding me. Right now, there’s too much going on to even think about mating. With Filip out of the picture, I have no inkling where to start looking for a mate.” That was a lie, but Penelope wasn’t there to smell it, so she could get away with it.

“I agree.” Thank goodness! “Right now is not the time. There’s too much dissention in the clans. Have you spoken to the South clan yet?”

Shit. One more thing on her didn’t-want-to-do list. “No, but I need to. I’ll call Damon next and set up to get started tomorrow. Get it over with.”

“Good, girl,” Penelope said. “I’ll keep you updated with the goings-on here. Bye, darling.” With that, the line went dead. She pushed the red end call icon then set her phone on the desk. 

Pushing off with her black leather, knee-high boots, she rotated the chair to face the large picture window behind her. The view was absolutely stunning. She understood why her father chose to have a window facing this direction when he built the house so long ago. The sun rising was breathtaking with blood reds and oranges. The beauty alone calmed her agitated nerves.

What she would do to not be clan leader. She enjoyed the leading, teaching, and community aspects of being top dog, but shit like breaking the rules drove her crazy. It wasn’t like she was a vicious dictator, ordering executions whenever it struck her fancy or ruling with an iron fist. They had a handful of rules. That was it. 

And they fucking couldn’t follow them!

She rose from her chair and paced in front of the desk. Everyone who joined the clan knew taking blood directly from humans was forbidden. Fuck, she was enforcing this for their own good. Thousands of years ago, Julian, one of her three mentors, discovered human blood aged a vampire quicker and kept their skin from becoming sun resistant.

If the damn vamps didn’t consume blood from the source, they could live forever. She wondered why that fact wasn’t told to all the clan members. Why was it a secret “secret”? If everyone knew what could happen to their bodies if they didn’t take human blood, maybe there would be less problems. Sounded logical as hell to her.

She sighed and reached across the desk for her phone. Finding the South clan’s second-in-charge’s number, she pushed the green button to dial. Tonight was as good a time as any to meet with them and get things back on track. There were nine hours before the sun set. Plenty of time to get everyone together. 

She hoped the group wasn’t in cahoots with Filip. She’d hate to kill an entire clan.