Book excerpt: Chevalier has never been told no. For thousands of years he's sat on the Equites Council, ruling body of his heku faction, and for thousands of years his every order has been followed immediately and without question. One of the most important rules of the heku, is that no one is to feed from unwilling donors. Following a tip that a young mortal woman is being brutally attacked by his own kind, he seeks her out and immediately begins to experience unnatural feelings for the woman. Emily, a beautiful rancher from Montana, has spent her entire life being violently attacked by beings she assumed were vampires. It isn't until she meets Chevalier that she learns of her startling family history, a history that immediately throws her into the volatile world of the heku.