Even cursed blood can fall prey to love’s bite. Lawrence Derrickson never wanted to be a chief, let alone a vampire, but fate has always been a fickle beast…callous to the inner-workings of a man’s heart. Seven hundred years after he was turned, he’s still chief of Clan Karyn, although his clan now consists of only his three siblings. With no more castle to protect and defend, they are dedicated to only one cause—protecting the Cheld—their superhuman descendants. Lawrence longs for a different life—a life of his own passions, desires, and dreams—but duty drives him further from that with each passing century of protecting the Cheld. Until their mission brings him to Stone Haven. In saving a fledgling Cheld, Alessandra Fiore, he meets her best friend, Toni O’Neill, a human woman who seems to understand him better than anyone has in over ten lifetimes. Too bad she’s already taken. Lawrence Derrickson is off limits. Or so Toni has been telling herself ever since the first time she saw him. Sure, Lawrence is a devastatingly handsome vampire, but she has a boyfriend—one who’s safe and comfortable, if not exciting or reliable or trustworthy. Besides, what would someone like Lawrence want with her? Toni’s fast approaching thirty, and she still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. But her heart urges her to take a chance and leave her predicable life behind her to explore the inner-workings of Lawrence’s heart. Lawrence feels he’s finally found a home, and the love of his long life in Toni, but trouble soon finds him in Stone Haven, forcing him to decide what matters most—desire or duty. Family or his own heart. Fate can be a fickle, callous, evil tormentor…