ETHAN’S MATE (Book One: The Vampire Coalition) by J. S. Scott

Prologue
    Being a vampire was a lonely existence. Ethan Hale
had walked the earth for the last five hundred years, surviving by
stealth and by hiding his true nature, knowing that humans were not
yet ready to accept and welcome the existence of vampires. The
world had changed over the centuries. But not enough…
    There were others of his kind, but vampires were
solitary creatures, trusting no one, walking alone. While they
might socialize occasionally, and his kind could call upon another
of their brethren for help, they never stayed very long in the
company of others. He had three brothers that he would give his own
life for, however, in the end, they all dwelt alone.
    The only hope of relief from his lonely existence was
to find his soul-bonded mate. That life changing event had never
occurred for Ethan and he had wandered for centuries without a
soul.
    Ethan and his three brothers fought the good fight,
and popular vampire myths were often a topic of jokes among his
brethren. Vampires were not “made,” they were born. Living,
breathing, flesh and blood with extraordinary powers and, yes, a
need for blood to survive. The only thing that they lacked was a
soul. Their soul-bonded mate held that tightly inside of her own,
keeping it safe and protecting it until the day that it would be
transferred to her vampire in a mating ceremony as ancient as the
vampire species.
    Vampires were not the monsters of lore,
however, there were times when self-policing was necessary, which
meant that Ethan, his three brothers and several others of his
brethren had to unite to defeat a fallen that had given in
to bloodlust. Killing aimlessly was against the code of the
vampire. If one of his kind became too frenzied while feeding, and
killed, the lust for a blood kill would become permanent, making
them beyond redemption. They would become a fallen , and
immediate extermination of fallen vampires was the only hope of
survival for his kind. Human detection would mean the destruction
of his entire species. Although the vampires might laugh at the
incorrect lore and the misunderstanding of true vampires, humans
would see them as evil abominations that needed to be hunted and
extinguished.
    Vampires did not kill indiscriminately. They took
blood when they needed it and left the human donor with no memory
of the incident.
    And their one true mate? That was no myth, that was
real, but finding one’s mate could not be rushed, as Ethan and his
brothers had discovered over the last several hundred years of
waiting. All vampires were born male, their female counterpart a
human with a genetic difference. The human female mate was born
with her soul combined with that of her vampire mate, a genetic
mutation that meant that she had to call her mate to her, before he
lost his life force. Female mates did not live beyond their
thirtieth year unless they became bonded with their vampire.
    Ethan was among the oldest of his kind who had yet to
find his mate. Had she already passed, failing to call him to her?
Had he not heard her call? It had been so long for him that he had
stopped waiting. A vampire lost his ability and desire to have sex
after the age of one hundred and it had been over four hundred
years for Ethan. He had stopped believing that she awaited him or
that she was yet to be born. He had accepted it, but it didn’t stop
the yearning and loneliness that were now a part of his
existence.
    His brothers, who were also unmated, had similar
thoughts - it was those thoughts had driven them all to work for
The Vampire Coalition. They were all past the age for mating and
had to accept that, for them, a mate was no longer a possibility.
Perhaps he and his brothers would not have mates, but they could
preserve their species for those that could. Mated vampires were
happy, contented, living a life that was complete and filled with
joy. Ethan and his brothers wanted their breed to continue its
existence on this earth. It was what they lived for, their