A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.
Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can’t shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his pack mates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead learns two things: draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate - a vampire named Miguel.
Over four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they’re true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent and being together comes so naturally that Miguel can’t resist for long. The challenge is keeping themselves alive so they can stay by each other’s side until forever comes.
Word count: 60,702
Chapter 1
I’m going to confess that this here was not how I had seen the night going. Trapped in a dark—and, might I add, stinky—alley. Surrounded by bloodsuckers. Two pack mates in wolf form passed out against the wheel of a truck, not clear whether they were living or dead. The rest of our ragtag crew had already skedaddled, frantic to make it home so they could lick their wounds before they passed out. And the tall, fierce vampire responsible for fully half of the pummeling we’d taken still looked fit as a fiddle as he stalked toward me. His long black hair blew behind him while he swiped his hands on his shirt to remove shifter entrails, spit on the ground to ensure that the blood in his mouth wouldn’t get absorbed into his system, and glared at me furiously.
“Ralph, don’t,” Scariest-of-Them-All growled at the bloodsucker that…
Stubborn has a name and it is Ethan Abbatt. Once he figured out that Miguel was his true mate he wasn't going away no matter what anyone else said....even Miguel. Miguel was savage and ruthless with everyone but Ethan and that dichotomy made me fall for his character. ... while the main theme may be forbidden but true love the more important lesson is acceptance and adaptability. ...Lots of sexy, sweet scenes and I have to say a nice change in that the older more experienced very alpha male didn't necessarily take the lead in the bedroom. ... I hope there are more stories planned in the future and that the shifters learn to tolerate difference.
Ethan Abbatt is one of my very favourite characters ever!
Cardeno C. lived up to the challenge and came up with a truly remarkable back story to the Mate series.
The depth of feelings the reader will feel in this book is nothing less than you would expect from a Cardeno C story.