I was supposed to die in that alley...Eight months as a vampire. No maker. No guidance. Just me, slowly starving in a city where the blood supply will kill you faster than the hunger.Then he found me.Maximus. The gatekeeper. The ancient vampire everyone either worships or fears. Usually both. He's cold, controlled, and looking at me like I'm a puzzle he can't solve.He says he saved me because I'm "interesting."He says he's training me because I'm "useful."He says he's keeping me in his compound because it's "strategic."But I've seen the way his jaw tightens when another vampire stands too close. Heard the growl he doesn't think I noticed. Felt the almost-touch he pulled back from like I'd burn him.Six hundred years of walls, and I'm somehow on the other side of them.The problem? His enemies have noticed too. They're coming for me to destroy him. And the vampire who made me and abandoned me? She's not done with me yet.I should run. I should protect myself. I should stop looking at him like he's something worth staying for.But he's looking at me the same way.And neither of us is strong enough to stop.Tropes: Enemies to Lovers - He Falls First - Forced Proximity - Touch Her and Die - Found Family - Badass FMC - Possessive MMC - Slow Burn to Inferno = Spicy