Bound by Night by Larissa Ione

This is Book 1 in this author’s “MoonBound Clan Vampires” series. I have been a fan of this author’s books for years, so I was happy that this book didn’t disappoint. In the world the author has created, vampires have been enslaved by humans in much the same way that African Americans were in the United States’ history. In the opening of this book we are taken back to the vampire rebellion when Nicole Martin was 8 yrs. old. It left most of the people she loved dead including her beloved vampire nanny, and left her brutalized by their vampire chef. Twenty years later Dr. Nicole Martin, billionaire heiress and CEO of Daedalus Corporation, finds herself in a scene out of her worst nightmares. She is confronted, on her turf, by two vampires and ends up abducted. Vampires Riker and Myne are not out looking to commit random mischief. They are on a mission. They are trying to avert a war between vampire clans. In order to do that, they must retrieve the vampire midwife Neriya from the evil clutches of Nicole’s company and return her to her clan. Even though Nicole was made CEO recently of the Daedalus Corporation – which was started by her father – it becomes very apparent that she is woefully uninformed about all of the company’s unethical dirty dealings. She has always been extremely focused on research and trying to cure human diseases through vampire testing. Needless to say, her blinders are definitely ripped off in this book. I liked that it was fairly early in the story that Nicole and Riker compared notes about what really happened the night her family and nanny (his mate) were killed. I also liked that, in spite of who she is and who her family was, the MoonBound clan generally treat her pretty decently. Riker, especially, never says or does anything to Nicole that he can’t come back from. The relationship develops nicely, in spite of Riker’s struggle with survivor’s guilt, and the intimate scenes pack a lot of heat. I found the supporting characters very interesting and look forward to reading about them in future books. My favorite supporting characters were Myne, Bastien, Grant, and Aylin. I hope Aylin can somehow leave her father’s clan.