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The Warlord Wants Forever
(Immortals After Dark Book 1)
Kresley Cole

Vampire finds his Bride, but she wants nothing to do with him, in this series opening novella

Blurb:

The Warlord
Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless Vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.

The Seductress
Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires. Wroth provides her with the perfect opportunity to torment her sworn enemy—for with his new heartbeat comes a consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her. Denying him, she flees, struggling to forget his searing, possessive kiss.

The Hunt is on…
She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen her enchanted jewel, giving him absolute power over her. Now that she’s his for the taking, he intends to make her experience first-hand the agonizing, unending lust she subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Nikolai realizes he wants far more than vengeance from Myst and frees her, will she come back to him?

Vampires in Kresley Cole’s world, called the “Lore”, drink blood, are immortal, and can be killed by the sun. But they also have some unique traits.

He was the walking dead. No respiration, no heartbeat, no sexual need—or ability. Not until he found his predestined Bride and she “blooded” him fully. With his blooding, something inside him, some essence—maybe even his soul—would recognize her as his. He would see her as the one he was meant to spend eternity with, the woman he could love without measure, if one believed in that, and his body would wake for her.

Myst is a Valkyrie, the immortal child of Norse gods and a female warrior who showed extreme bravery in battle. That warrior could be human or another creature from the Lore. Each Valkyrie has her own unique traits, but they are all badasses – “creatures with which one does not fuck”.

Before he’d come, Myst had been powerless here. She could handle weapons as well as most in the coven, though a sword and bow were not her strengths. Her preferred weapon was men. She manipulated them, played them, made them believe she lived for them alone in order to have them do her bidding. That was her m.o.

Myst is Nikolai’s Bride. She brings his body to life but wants nothing to do with him. A vampire must at least be touching his Bride to “finish” after he becomes sexually excited for the first time by her. If he can’t do this, he is stuck “excited” until he can. Poor Nikolai doesn’t get to finish and is stuck in this state for years!

For just the merest second he imagined he saw compassion in her eyes, but when she shrugged, his hazy mind finally grasped that she was going to leave him here with nothing but a body knotted with lust for her and a taste of blood that he would go to his knees for. “You’re the most malicious bitch I’ve ever known.”

“I will find you,” he bit out. “I will find you and make you pay for this a thousand times.”

I love how funny the Valkyrie are! So snarky, witty, and just damn cool.

“But Vampire Bride just sounds so B-movie. He just dragged you down to B-moviedom.”

Nikolai is definitely a dominate alpha male. And Myst likes it. If you don’t like that, these books aren’t for you. There is a scene that can definitely be read as rape. Because we are in Myst’s head, we know she wants it. She wants to be overpowered. But he doesn’t know that. After Myst has been “defeated” she becomes a willing participant. If you are bothered by non-consent in your fiction, then steer clear.

I love that Cole’s characters aren’t promiscuous before meeting. Either because of lore, like un-blooded vampires can’t physically have sex, or by choice, this is lovely to read.

I absolutely love the intricate world-building and lore that Kresley Cole has written in the Immortals After Dark series. They have dominant alpha males and sassy strong women to meet them toe to toe. The Valkyrie are equally funny and kickass. There are monsters and darkness. But there is hot sex and humor to combat it. The writing is wonderful, so fast paced that I’m kept up way too late because I can’t put the book down.

The Warlord Wants Forever is a novella. It’s a nice introduction to the Lore and the type of dark romance this series abounds in. These aren’t for people with triggers. It’s fantasy, fiction, and we can enjoy things in our minds that we would never abide in reality. So if you’re with me on that, then delve into the world and see if you aren’t one-clicking the next book a few hours later. Once this vampire turns you, there is no going back 😂

Contains graphic sex scenes.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Myst and Nikolai.

Errors: 4

This is only 112 Kindle pages long. It contains previews of other books at the end.

$2.99 at Amazon.