Mated in Treason — Christa Paige

Welcome to the world of the Kan Asma Vampires. The Kan Asma are genetically modified humans who've become vampires. For centuries, the Kan Asma lived symbiotically with their human neighbors until the government recognized something had increased their life spans. Scientists and militia stormed their quiet Abkhazian village and betrayal followed. Many vampires experienced brutality and torture. Others died from experimentation. After a perilous journey, the surviving Kan Asma fled their homeland and settled in West Hollywood, California. The refugees cling to their sacred traditions, holding their mating rites above all others because without them, their numbers would diminish. There is no love or emotion in their Council-determined matings. Now, their quiet lives have suddenly been turned upside down. Lines have been drawn between the wealthy aristocrats and an uprising determined to halt the unfair ritual keeping wealth and power out of reach. Those who are lucky to find love in these matches are very few, and they will have to fight with everything they have in order to claim their mates or suffer a broken heart for eternity.

When the kraliyet bodyguard ended up in her hospital bed after an explosion left him in critical condition, Nadia tried to warn herself not to fall in love with him. After all, she's no vampire Cinderella, and happily-ever-afters didn't happen to low-born females of the Kan Asma. But her heart wouldn't listen, and soon she wanted to claim Gunnar as her forever mate, even if it meant taking him the only way possible, as a husband in a disgraceful human ceremony.

Gunnar fell in love with his nurse the moment he saw her smile. He yearned to claim her as his, but the Council would never allow him to mingle his powerful blood with a female from a poor family. The penalty for an unsanctioned mating is a death sentence. He doesn't care about the threats and possible consequences of making her his. Though, due to the high probability of genetic incompatibility, he can't complete their blood-bond without knowing if it might take her life. Losing her would be worse than torture.

Their only hope lies with the treasonous Faction hell-bent on destroying the very people Gunnar calls family. Determined to find a way to be mated, Gunnar seeks out the leader of this hidden uprising. Together, Nadia and Gunnar must break every law and rite of their vampire culture to become bonded for life. Gunnar will play a deadly game of subversion or pay a blood price that would sever him from their people and put a bounty on his head. They must survive a dangerous infiltration of the Faction, because they'll do anything to be together, even if it means being mated in treason.