"exhilarating paranormal romantic police procedural"

At the wedding of Phillipa Elliot's sister Josephine to Marcus Cage, she meets Prime vampire Matt Bridger; the pair almost immediately retires to a hotel room for a night of great sex. When Phillipa awakens Matt is gone. They next meet three years later as both are the godparents of her newly born niece. Once again they give in to passion, but this time Phillipa departs first.

Matt knows he wants to be with Phillipa, but he has made too many enemies so he fears for her life if he acted on his desires. As they avoid one another, the Purists, a splinter group of Hunters, try to kill Jo and the baby. The psychic link between Phillipa and Matt leads to him coming to rescue them. A Purist renegade controlled by a vampire tries to kill Phillipa, but Matt scares him off. At the same time of the house invasion, rogue vampires and a werewolf ally loot Vegas stores and homes leaving vampiric police officer Matt to stop them without exposing his bond mate.

The fun in this exhilarating paranormal romantic police procedural rests with the hero's feeble efforts to stay away from Phillipa in order to prevent the bonding of their already primal heated souls from happening out of a sense of responsibility to keep her from harm. The honorable Matt adheres to the rules governing vampire behavior especially with their treatment of other sentient species. With her latest vampire romantic suspense, Susan Sizemore once more displays that one size does not fit all with this fresh exciting thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 10, 2006

Summary

Can a heroic vampire protect his clan from danger—and save himself from burning desire?

As Prime of his vampire Family, Mathias Bridger is sworn to protect his own kind at any cost—but years of acting as a fierce guardian of his people have left him yearning for more out of life. His chance comes in the form of Phillipa Elliot, the beautiful police officer whose allure hasn't dimmed in the two years since they had a brief, torrid affair. And though she's involved with someone else now, Phillipa can't deny the feeling that Matt is her destiny.

When the Family comes under attack from fanatical vampire hunters, Matt uncovers treachery that shatters his world. So how can he possibly invite Phillipa into it? Fighting to protect his kin, he tries to push Phillipa away to the safety of her mortal life—but he aches for her, and his will is no match for the flames of their all-consuming passion. . . .