I have to confess, as soon as I finished reading Kiss of Midnight, I picked up the second book in the series, Kiss of Crimson. In the second book of the series, we learn more about the Breed warrior Dante. Like all of the other warriors, Dante is well over six feet tall and made of pure muscle. He’s pure sex with full lips, wavy, black hair, and a face that would put most Greek gods to shame. And, he has a penchant for dressing in black leather. In short, he is walking sex. But, because he has been plagued with visions of his death for most of his life, he lives recklessly, fighting without regard for his personal safety. Dante has done his best to block anything but temporary pleasure out of his mind, knowing that his life will end amid fire and smoke.

Tess is a veterinarian, operating her own clinic in a run-down part of Boston. She is cursed with an ability that has forced her to run from a past she would do anything to forget. But, besides an ex-boyfriend who can’t quite reconcile that they’re over, she doesn’t have anyone in her life. Her practice is swimming in debt, so she fears she won’t have that much longer either. Tess knows there is something missing in her life, but she can’t bring herself to seek it out.

One night, wounded and in desperate need of blood, Dante finds himself in Tess’s clinic. After he takes her blood, Dante notices a small birthmark between her thumb and forefinger. Tess is a Breedmate, and Dante had just bound himself to her. The trouble is, Tess has no idea that she is a Breedmate. Since Dante doesn’t want any permanent connections, his solution is to wipe her memory and try to act as if the whole situation didn’t happen. Yeah, right. His bond to her is permanent and real, so there is no way Dante is going to escape Tess that easily.

To top it off, someone is selling a drug called Crimson in local clubs, which is causing youth from the local Darkhaven to turn into Rouges. Sterling Chase, from the local Darkhaven, visits the The Order to fill them in on the Crimson problem, and ask The Order for their help. What Chase fails to tell them is that he is no longer a Special Investigative Agent with the Darkhaven, and has undertake this crusade to find his nephew. Chase has been in love with his sister-in-law Elise for years, and when her son goes missing, he grabs onto the Crimson problem as a way to approach the Order.

So, Dante gets stuck with Chase as a partner. Each night, they scout the clubs, trying to find the source of the drug. Unfortunately, the source turns out to be Tess’s ex-boyfriend, Ben. As you can imagine, Tess gets pulled into the vortex of all this craziness and her life changes in the blink of an eye. Even as she fights against the attraction she has for him, Tess knows that what she feels for Dante is deeper than just lust. It takes finding out her true nature for her to finally let go of her past and embrace the future, and Dante.

Like Kiss of Midnight, Kiss of Crimson is a fast paced. It has plenty of action and the incredible bedroom action we all love to read. The sensuality in the sex scenes is hot and in just the right proportion for the story. The characters are also well written, both multi-dimensional and complex - with additional new characters Elise and Chase providing an interesting sub-plot line.

I’m enjoying this series so far, probably because it has a similar feel to the BDB books. I had to take a break from reading the third book when Lover Mine hit my mailbox, but I’m back to the series and will bring you my review of the third book, Midnight Awakening