Bound by Night
Larissa Ione
MoonBound Clan Vampires, book one
ebook, 400 pages
Published September 24th 2013 by Pocket Books
ISBN 9781476700199
A WOMAN OUT FOR BLOOD
Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most...
A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE
A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance. But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch... or bury him forever.
Eighty years ago, the existence of vampires was revealed.
Sixty years ago, the enslavement of the vampire race began.
Twenty years ago, the rebellion started.
When the midwife of the ShadowSpawn clan gets herself captured by humans while returning from the MoonBound clan's land, the ShadowSpawn hold MoonBound responsible, promising all out war if she is not returned to them. Riker, second in command to Hunter, knows they haven't the numbers to win. He offers up a plan: Capture and force Nicole Martin, CEO of Daedalus (the very company responsible for the continued enslavement of vampires) to release her.
But Nicole and Riker have a shared past of their own. One obscured by illusions and lies. Twenty years ago, Nicole watched as Riker held a knife to the throat of his mate, Terese, who served as a nanny to Nicole's family. Watched as Terese's life ended and everything Riker had was torn away from him. Riker blames Nicole and her entire family for the enslavement of his people and the death of his mate and their unborn son while Nicole lives in hatred towards Riker for taking away the only person that ever truly loved her.
It is only when the two become one another's sole chance of survival that the truth of that night is revealed and both begin to realize that neither of them are the monsters they once believed each other to be. Nicole sets out to make things right, confronted by the horrible actions of the company she is responsible for, and earns the trust of many of the MoonBound clan members. Such includes Grant, their clan scientist and necessary doctor who's not all there in the head; Lucy, a childlike female vampire with a love of chocolate; and Myne, Riker's closest friend save for Hunter, the clan's fearless, video game addicted leader. (Fuck you, Spyro!)
Hunter and Myne are all that's left of the true born vampires.
Riker was turned by his own military as an experiment to produce the perfect soldier. He was mated to Terese, a mild mannered, fragile female vamp as a strategic move among the clans by Hunter. He grew to love her and blames himself terribly for failing her. Since her death, he has never taken another female to his bed.
Cat-like vampires do nothing for me. Thankfully, these sexy bitches are nothing but wolf! There's no bat references. No hissing like crack addicted cats. They don't fly. They don't leap buildings. But what they do... is kick some serious ass, rip out fuck tons of throats, and spill enemy blood like nobody's business.
They also don't feed like newborn babes.
They can mate without feeding. That alone has some serious anti-stereotype factor. And I ate up every single bit of it! I can't remember the last time I had to have my husband physically take a book out of my hand to enable me to stop reading but at two a.m. it had to happen with this one. Oh yes, Ione's worlds have a gravitational pull all their own.
::SPOILERS BELOW::
When failure once more falls upon Riker, he surrenders himself to the -- clan, leaving behind his newly discovered, very much alive son (though not his by blood) and also Nicole, who is finally succumbing to the vampire virus.
Nicole survived a vampire attack when the slave's rebelled, and although she was injected with what should have been a vaccine to vampirism, she was forced to let Riker attempt to turn her when her half-brother, Chuck, held them both hostage and demanded Riker turn her as what amounted to a science experiment.
During Riker's imprisonment, he is shown mercy only by Ailyn, the youngest of the twin daughters of the ShadowSpawn's chief, Kars. She's been deemed unfit for mating, and fighting, while her vicious elder sister, Rasha, is considered a prize of a female. In the end, to save Nicole, Riker, and their unborn child, Hunter vows to give Kars what he's wanted for years-Hunter agrees to mate his daughter. Obviously, Rasha.
But Hunter is cursed. And so, he summons the demon whom his grandfather bargained with to be released from the curse of having to give over the firstborn child of he and his mate. The Demon, Sam -yes, Sam- gives him an out although warns him that he'll die in the end. Hunter must take one of the twins with him on a quest. Obviously, he should, and will, choose Ailyn.
Loved it! Loved every damn minute of it... even though I have to wait nine freaking months to continue it!! 5 out of 5 stars.
Chained by Night, book two, is due out August 2014.
Chained by Night, book two, is due out August 2014.
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