Written by Christine Feehan
Format: M4B

Deep in the Carpathian Mountains a hidden race of people are slowly dying out. The Carpathians are not human but are gifted with incredible powers such as an increased ability to see at night and an acute sense of smell and sharp hearing. They also are immensely strong and have the ability to shapeshift at will, talk to animals, are telepathic and can control the minds of humans. As well as this they can live for just about forever.
Along with these gifts the Carpathians can do magic and command the earth and weather. While they need to feed on human blood for their strength and powers, a true Carpathian would never harm a human by doing so. They rest by day (because the sun burns them) and hunt by night so it is easy to see why ignorant humans could mistake them for vampires!
The Carpathians are cursed with falling birth rates amongst their kind and a shortage of females means that most males never find a mate. Males who don’t find a life mate are condemned to lose their emotions, eventually the absence of feeling become too much for them to bear and they can either face the sun or turn into a vampire for real. once a male turns vampire he starts to kill humans and Carpathians alike and must be destroyed before he kills too many people or calls too much attention to himself.
There is only one life mate for any Carpathian male and if he is lucky enough to find her, their souls join as one. They recognize their mates by having their emotions return, feeling overwhelming desire for that person and an overriding compulsion to bond with them. Every Carpathian male has a desperate need to find his mate.