Once Bitten, Forever Burned
Once Bitten, Forever Burned was a very sensual and romantic anthology that made a quick little read by two great authors.
In Devon’s Redemption by Eve Langlais we meet Devon, a former soldier who died overseas leaving the only woman he’s ever loved behind. Miraculously he doesn’t perish there though; instead he is reborn into a vampire. Fearing he may put her in danger, Devon stays away from his love for ten long years until he can stand it no more and goes to visit her. The woman he finds though is a drastically different one then the one he left.
Forced into being a lycan and the mate of an alpha, Bethany has been beaten and abused for the last six years. When her one true love shows up, back from the dead, Beth thinks that she can finally have the revenge she has been seeking on her mate and a new start in life; but if he can’t have her, no one can.
The second story, Cruz’s Salvation by Stacey Kennedy, feature’s Devon’s best friend and brother-in-arms, Cruz. Roaming the world alone Cruz has never experienced love until he meets Kiara. But a relationship between a wolf and a vampire is forbidden so they meet secretly for months. When Kiara begs for him to finally take her though Cruz realizes that he must make a decision, either take Kiara away from everything she knows to be with him or leave her all together so that she may go on with her life.
Being the alpha’s daughter, Kiara knows that falling for a vampire would be considered treason but she can’t help how her heart feels. Having to sneak around and hide her feelings for Cruz begins to take their toll on her however and thinking Kiara’s sadness comes from the lack of a mate, her father arranges her to bond with another alpha. Unable to even contemplate being with any other male besides Cruz, Kiara runs to him begging him to take her away. When they’re found together though things turn deadly and Kiara must choose between the two men she loves most in this world.
I went back and forth between a 3.5 and 4 with this one but I’m sticking with the 4 because both stories flowed so well together. Each was full of romance, action and desire with plenty of smexy scenes heating up the pages. They were both great reads but I really loved Cruz’s, it was much more amorous while most of Devon’s story was heart breaking, I liked how they both tied into each other so well though. The characters and relationship were well developed and the suspense had me eagerly turning the pages.
A great bite of erotic paranormal romance!
