The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole

Following the Fated Mates Podcast reading order, we are taking things back to the beginning with the first novella, The Warlord Wants Forever. Finally getting a glimpse of Myst and Nikolai’s story, prepare to swoon and fall for vampires once again.

Genres: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: February 7th 2006
Source: Owned
Format: Scribd – Audiobook / e-book

The Warlord

Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless Vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.

The Seductress

Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires. Wroth provides her with the perfect opportunity to torment her sworn enemy—for with his new heartbeat comes a consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her. Denying him, she flees, struggling to forget his searing, possessive kiss.

The Hunt is on…

She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen her enchanted jewel, giving him absolute power over her. Now that she’s his for the taking, he intends to make her experience first-hand the agonizing, unending lust she subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Nikolai realizes he wants far more than vengeance from Myst and frees her, will she come back to him?

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“Furie had once asked her, “Why would you ever send a man to do a woman’s job?”
Confused, Myst had answered, “Because I can.”

We are going back to the beginning with the first novella of the series! I’ve been following the Fated Mates’ Podcast reading order and we are finally onto the first novella of the series and what Kresley Cole deemed the very beginning of the series. The 184 page novella (honestly can we call 184 pages a novella? Asking for a friend) recounts the story of Myst, our beloved Valkyrie who is the best Archer in the entire world and Lore, and Nikolai Wroth, our resident vampire who has intrigued me from the moment we got Sebastian’s story (No Rest For The Wicked).

Like I’ve said I have been following along with the Fated Mates Podcast in preparation for the release of Munro, and went into this story knowing that some things I know about the Lore and the world that Cole has created in later books, isn’t really a thing here in this story. Which this was all fine! Any and all world building confusion and questions I had I through to the wayside and trudged along, by getting sucked into Myst and Nikolai’s story. I really loved watching these two interact with each other and watching Nikolai basically fight for Myst both physically and emotionally.

“I will be good to you, Myst. I will protect you. You are mine.”

What I didn’t care for, and this could be because I’m reading this series at such a fast pace (1 book a week)– is all the rehash of what has gone down in previous books and who and what everything is/was. I got annoyed at some of the internal dialogue and found myself putting this bad boy’s audiobook in sports mode (3x speed) and pushing through the rehash moments while working and cleaning. Kind of like the first book in the series (A Hunger Like No Other), I genuinely think this one is skippable if you are thinking of starting the series! Myst and Nikolai’s story was a fun ride that I enjoyed immensely, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough oomph to captivate me like the other books have.