Some rules are destined to be broken. Loneliness. A concept with which Raphael Laurent is very familiar. He s lived a solitary life for thirty-six years, shunning the excesses of the local vampire clan until he spots Lord Aleric Vane, the handsome and dissolute third son of a duke. For three years Raphael has watched from a distance, for only when he is near Aleric does the hollow, empty ache in his chest ease. Cut off from his family for refusing to follow his father s dictates, Aleric s nights are filled with vice. But after three years in London, the city has lost all appeal. Desolate and penniless, his future appears bleak. Until a mysterious man drops from the shadows to drive off a trio of murderous thieves. When Aleric awakens, he finds himself forever changed. The itch for more that drove him to London is gone. In its place is the feeling that he s known the beautiful Raphael all his life. But to save Aleric, Raphael had to break the rules, giving him a chance to love the one man he never thought he could have a chance that could be ripped away by Aleric himself "