Inferno

A forbidden union forged in love—and tempered in hellfire.

One last task and Megan will be free of the debt of honor owed by her family. Spying on Dante, a powerful vampire with questionable friends, sounds simple enough. But her mission is complicated by the fact she’s got something every vampire wants - tangy, powerful, werewolf blood.

It’s easy to capture his attention. The hard part will be getting out with her heart - and soul - intact. Not to mention her life, thanks to a crazed bomber.

Dante isn’t the kind to forgive or forget easily, especially the grudge he holds against werewolves. Still, he is instantly drawn to the injured lone wolf in his care. When he and his friend Duncan treat her wounds, they discover something that marks her as much more than she seems.

That mark is a neon sign warning to be careful, but Dante can’t help himself. He wants her and nothing will stand in his way. Not her species. Not his. Not the strange woman who keeps trying to kill him.

“I have one final task for you. Do this, and your family’s blood debt will be repaid.”
Megan knew, whatever the task, it wouldn’t be easy. Nothing about the Altor Custodis had turned out to be easy since they’d come into her life.
She knew better than to ask questions. This man would not be rushed. Igor Poferov was not one to take interruption well. An immigrant to New York from some Baltic country, he took old world charm to the extreme.
“It will not be easy,” he continued in his deliberate way.
Big surprise there. She kept her expression carefully blank and stifled an ironic chuckle.
“But it is a task that needs doing. Strange things have happened among the were and all is not as transparent to us as it should be.”
Megan didn’t like the sound of this, though working among her own folk was no real hardship. True, she didn’t associate with many were, preferring to be a lone wolf. Still it wasn’t so hard to fit in among them for short periods of time.
“Reports have come from the Northern Territories of an unholy alliance between the current Lords of the Were and a certain vampire we’ve been watching for centuries.”
Her ears perked up. Vampires were tricky creatures. Most were had an instinctive distrust of the bloodletters and would have nothing to do with them. If the current leaders of all were in North America were suddenly allying themselves with a vampire, it was big news indeed.
“His name is Dante d’Angleterre. The last report I have on him regarded an agreement to work with a human mage named Patrick Vabian. The mage disappeared. I need to know what happened to Vabian and the exact nature of the alliance between were and vampire—and any others that might be involved.”
When the old man finally wound down, she waited just a few heartbeats to see if he had anything further to add. Then she sprang.
“So you want me to spy on the were?” It wasn’t her favorite thing to do, but she would do it if it meant clearing her family’s debt of honor. Spying on other werefolk wasn’t so bad. They were her kind, after all. She understood them, even if she’d never lived among them. She owed them no loyalty. Not after the way they’d treated her family in the past.
“No.”
She waited, dreading what the old man might say next.
“I want you to spy on the vampire. I want you to infiltrate his inner circle. Get close to him. Bed him if you have to. I want to know what happened to the mage. D’Angleterre’s powers might be greater than we believe, and he may have other allies. I want to know everything there is to know about Dante d’Angleterre. Everything.”
Megan felt the blood drain from her face and knew she was probably white as a sheet. She did not like vampires. Not one bit.
“I won’t whore for you.” Her voice was a cold as a Montana winter.
The old man laughed. It was a brittle, almost evil sound. “It probably won’t come to that. You’ve got something the vampire will want more than sex.”
She waited for him to elaborate, knowing the coy expression on his weathered face meant he had more to disclose.
“Were blood is like a drug to his kind. Offer him your blood and he’ll keep you around. Guaranteed.”