Grey Francis

King in Chains, Book Two

Alastair and Cassie searched for their lost Mate for over two centuries. Now Killian was finally back and the passion and the bond between the three of them was stronger than ever. But the past holds dark shadows for Alastair as he struggles to reconcile being abandoned two centuries earlier. Unable to fully trust, Alastair doesn’t believe that Killian will stay with them. The fact that Killian refuses to take his rightful place as King, only confirms Alastair’s fears.

Alastair never wanted any of this. He is warrior to his core and would have been happy remaining the Arm of Power. He never asked to be one of the world’s most feared and powerful Vampire Kings. But it was either step up or watch Vampire Kind be wiped off the face of the earth. Two centuries later, he still carries the fate of their Kind on his shoulders.

Concerned about Alastair’s growing discontent, Cassie sends him to Abby, their resident vampire therapist. This is the last place he wants to be. With a dangerous new Master vampire in London launching attacks on his warrior patrols and Killian and Cassie leaving for France to deal with fall-out from the Sentient wars at the worst possible time, Alastair is no mood to explore his “feelings.”

Abby believes the reassurance Alastair needs lies buried in his and Killian’s long turbulent history– a past that started when Killian found him as a child, half dead on a battlefield. Alastair had been given a new life as Killian’s apprentice and eventually his most accomplished human Protector both in battle and in the bedroom. He would eventually take his place as Killian’s very loved and treasured True Mate.

Visiting his past, Alastair grows closer to mending that injured part of his heart. But the world he rules over is in jeopardy, a benevolent force descending down upon them. The final straw occurs when this new enemy, a Female Master Vampire, tries to brutally murder Alastair’s son and Enforcer, Haven. As a Seer who has visions of death, Haven has an episode during his torture, seeing his father die in flames in a giant explosion. Alastair knows Haven’s visions are never wrong, but this would not be the first time Alastair faced down death. More importantly, this Master has crossed a sacred line and Alastair will have her head for it. Alastair collects his forces and prepares for war, with or without Killian at his side.

On the battlefield, the Arm of Power finally meets his match. Ashen, a necromancer who commands the dead, uses an otherworldly electrical current to paralyze her victims. These spirits are impervious to Alastair’s immense earth-based power. The two Master Vampires battle it out, but the Arm of Power is finally brought down and Alastair is taken prisoner. He wakes up, strapped down to a large titanium wheel, cut off from his own power, and finds himself confronted by a familiar face from his past. His new captor not only wants him because she once loved and was rejected by him centuries earlier, but because they share one of the most rare bonds between vampires: the Animal to Call. For centuries, Alastair has carried the Alpha wolf inside him and has run with his pack, but he has never found a female wolf to call his Natural Mate. He has jealously watched Cassandra and Killian share their Leopard, always feeling he was missing something. Now, this ruthless and insidious female, willing to kill Alastair’s entire family and Clan unless they are mated and she is made his queen, offers him the one thing he has yearned for.

But Alastair will do anything to keep his family safe and his realm intact, even if means walking away from Ashen’s internal wolf – a beautiful, innocent white wolf that awakens his inner beast. If left with no choice, Alastair is prepared to turn his power inward and blow up the entire compound in order to kill Ashen, sacrificing himself.

What Alastair does not know is his Mates, sons, Second in command, and warriors are all planning an attack and rescue operation using special powers of their own. Killian, realizing how much he hurt Alastair by refusing to share the throne with him, is willing to do anything to prove his love and save his Mate from a fiery fate. A fate sealed in Haven’s vision.

Cassandra and Killian beat fate once before, bringing Alastair back from the clutches of death. Will the power of their love be enough to rescue their Mate a second time?

While book one, Bound to a Vampire, explored how an unbreakable love triangle began and how it was ultimately lost, King in Chains shows how even after being reunited, there is still a long road ahead of these three. As Master, Killian still commands his Mates in the bedroom, bringing BDSM to new erotic heights. But scars must still be healed and trust must be earned. What none of them anticipate is they will have to fight the battle of the lives to save what they have waited centuries to find again.

King in Chains is the reawakening of a warrior who has forgotten how to truly love. We once again travel back in history, confronting Alastair’s darkest memories and greatest truths. Action-packed and emotionally charged, Book Two of the Into the Dark Woods Series is both an erotic and passionate journey as well as a brutal, blood drenched battleground where a warrior must accept his fate as King and fight for those he loves.