After the untimely death of her parents, Adria Bancroft is about to take the helm as the head of her vampire family. During the induction ritual, she's ambushed and forced across enemy lines into werewolf territory where she will undoubtedly be attacked and killed. When one of them comes to her aid, it's time to question who the real enemy is.

Caleb Conri is on patrol when he finds himself saving the life of the most beautiful vampire he's ever seen. His wolf immediately claims her as his mate and that alone brings on the biggest migraine of his life. But Adria is so unlike anyone he expected. She's sweet, kind, loving and he can't wait to get her out of her clothes. The problem is everyone wants her dead.

When war breaks out between the two factions, Adria must choose between her own people and her mate. How long can she sit by and watch those she loves on both sides kill each other because of her? The only way to end the war is for her to turn herself over to those who want her dead. But Caleb will die before he let's that happen.

Chapter 1: Adria

“Champagne or blood before landing?” Adria’s personal flight attendant gracefully extended two crystal flutes. 

Adria politely shook her head and flipped through another file on a vampiric family that would be in attendance at the banquet the next night. There were hundreds, even her best friend Lara’s extended family had been invited. 

“Both!” Lara blurted from the window seat. “Please, I mean. Both, please. Have you ever had a blood cocktail? No?” 

Lara looked at Adria with a wide, unhinged smile stretched across her face. Her fangs extended with a smooth click.

“They are to die for!” Lara mocked a Dracula accent, but Adria just raised a brow at her. “Oh, come on, it was a little funny. Drink one with me. It’s like I’ve been flying alone for hours.”

The flight attendant looked to Adria on how to proceed. Her bland smile never faltered.

What a strange sensation it was, being in charge. “We’ll have two, please.”

“Of course.” The flight attendant deftly mixed their drinks and handed them the concoctions with the same smile. Adria suspected it was glued to her face. “We’ll be landing in a few minutes.”

The blood cocktail had been a good call. Her arms brightened from a snowish tinge into a livelier ivory. Lara might act like a ditz, but she looked out for Adria, and she was loyal to a fault. Loyal friends were always important, but they would be vital soon.

“Do you refer to the eldest Wainscott as Count Wainscott, or is that old-fashioned? It says here that he doesn’t like to reference his age.” Adria's head spun with all the names and titles. One slip would cause a rift in the family that she might not be able to bridge for some time.

“He got all anti-title during the French Revolution, and he’ll lecture you for hours about it if you slip up.” Lara slapped at her folder. “But you’re being nerdier than me right now. I don’t think you’ve looked up from those folders since we lifted off in New York.”

“I just want to be prepared.” If that was even possible with as much as she had to learn in the past year. Add a broken spirit on top of that made it almost impossible.

“Please. They should be preparing for you. You’re the sole heir to the Bancrofts. All anyone’s going to do is suck up to you so hard, it'll leave hickeys. Honestly, I expect that flight attendant to start licking your boot before arrival. It’s a little disgusting.”

“You’re a little disgusting.” Adria tried to ignore how intently the flight attendant stared at her from her jump seat. “My parents always prepared for these things.”

Well, it had been part preparation, but mostly gossip. She remembered how they’d whisper and laugh over the breakfast table, sipping hot blood as the sun sank into the sky. They’d navigated everything from business deals to vampire politics together, and they’d done it so well that the entire vampire world still reeled from their loss.

Adria drowned a fresh stab of grief with a sip of her cocktail.

It would be a year, tomorrow, since they died. She needed to stop being such a child. She was the heiress to the Bancroft fortune, in charge of all the minor vampiric families in the country. She couldn’t go around sobbing on a plane because she missed her parents. 

“Think we can fit in some trick or treating before the banquet?” Lara waggled her eyebrows. “I packed a slutty werewolf costume.”

“You’re the worst.” What would she do without her bestie doing her best to keep Adria from taking herself too seriously? Probably grow a corn cob up her ass as tight as her aunt and uncle's.

Adria tucked her folders into her carry-on as the landing gear clanged out of the plane. She’d have more time to brush up on everything once she got settled into the estate. Her estate.

Lara chattered on, but Adria just nodded and stared past her to take in the snow-covered Colorado mountain they were landing on. 

It would be fine. She’d been groomed for this moment her entire life. She’d attended the best business schools in the country, trained with the best fighters, and studied at her parents' sides since she could walk. There wasn’t anyone more prepared to take charge.

I just thought I’d have a few more centuries before I had to do it.

Her daze persisted as they exited the plane. Her new assistants surrounded her with dizzying speed, and without any thought at all, she and Lara were planted in the back of a heavily window-tinted limo en route to her ancestral home. 

“This driveway is insane.”

Adria supposed it was rather crazy. She’d associated this place with summer vacations and extravagant events she got to buy special dresses for, but her ancestors had a flair for drama. They drove up a mountainside through a long, twisting path. The statues had been shipped in from the Old World generations ago, and they showed their age. The shadows created an eerie, gothic look to the artwork as they stood among the carefully tended shrubbery. 

The rose bushes still stood outside the house. 

Her mother had planted them herself. 

The limo slowed into a semi-circular driveway, and Adria took a deep breath as it came to a complete stop at the entrance.

She slid out of the limo, and Lara tumbled out behind her. Again, assistants fluttered about, collecting luggage, asking which rooms to prepare. Adria directed them, but she felt like a kid playing house. Playing mansion might be more apt.

The estate seemed to have grown taller since the last time she’d visited with her parents. There had always been few windows which had meant safety for a sleeping vampire in the time before her family developed blood to provide them with UV resistance.

It looked more like a coffin than a home.

The company didn’t help. Her two dour cousins, Elaric and Lazarus, stood shoulder to shoulder like horror movie twins to greet her at the door. 

“It’s nice to see you,” Elaric said. He pulled her into a tepid embrace.

“Finally,” Lazarus added.

She noted the disdain in his voice. They were polite enough. Their side of the family was always polite. Her parents said it was so they could stick the stake in your heart more efficiently. It didn’t seem likely things would change in this generation.

They didn’t address Lara at all. She didn’t seem to notice. She was gaping at the place and tugging at her curly hair. “I can’t believe this is your new crib. Our friends are gonna freak.”

A doorman shut the grand doors behind them, and she looked around the foyer. Their steps echoed on the granite floor, and the huge double staircase stood ahead. 

She’d slid down the banister as a kid back when the place was fun and mysterious to a young mind. Back when her only worries were what she was to wear that night. 

She hadn’t imagined the place would feel so bleak. Standing in that great hall, she felt swallowed by the estate. Had her parents felt the same when they took power? How lucky they’d been to have each other. Her parents had been true loves, Beloveds. They had entered this unforgiving estate with the full knowledge they had a life mate by their side to help them in whatever might come.

Adria had Lara.

Loyal. Trustworthy. 

“Oh, shit, I almost knocked over a vase.” Lara snorted and then covered her nose. “I guess you’ll have to bundle me in bubble wrap while we’re here.”

It wasn’t the same.