Until Forever Comes by Cardeno C. – Mates Blog Tour

A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.

Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can’t shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his pack mates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead learns two things: draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate—a vampire named Miguel.

Over four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they're true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent and being with him comes so naturally that Miguel can't resist for long. Their challenge is staying alive so they can be together until forever comes.

Book 2
Buy Links

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Smashwords  ~  Coupon Code: GT46E

Chapter 1

I’m going to confess that this here was not how I had seen the night going. Trapped in a dark—and, might I add, stinky—alley. Surrounded by bloodsuckers. Two pack mates in wolf form passed out against the wheel of a truck, not clear whether they were living or dead. The rest of our ragtag crew had already skedaddled, frantic to make it home so they could lick their wounds before they passed out. And the tall, fierce vampire responsible for fully half of the pummeling we’d taken still looked fit as a fiddle as he stalked toward me. His long black hair blew behind him while he swiped his hands on his shirt to remove shifter entrails, spit on the ground to ensure that the blood in his mouth wouldn’t get absorbed into his system, and glared at me furiously.

“Ralph, don’t,” Scariest-of-Them-All growled at the bloodsucker that had me pinned against the rough brick. Blood oozed out the sides of my neck and both wrists in a steady flow, a puddle already forming around my feet, my heart finally, blessedly slowing.

Pinning-Me-To-The-Wall vampire, the one he called Ralph, held both of my wrists above my head with one hand and had just moved his free hand to my belly, claws at the ready, when the order to stop registered. He looked back over his shoulder, but didn’t release me. Not that I could have gotten away even if he had loosened his grip. There were seven of them and one of me. Plus, they were bigger, stronger, older. I chuckled at the last thought. They were immortal; of course they were older.

Ralph jerked his head back and scowled as he shook me. “You think this is funny? Are you laughing, dog?” He spat the last word.

My head flopped from side to side, my neck feeling limp as a cooked noodle. Huh, I felt almost…almost good. I mean, I was bleeding like a stuck pig and dying and all, but dang. Everything inside was looser, easier, like I’d been suffocating all my life and I finally had room to breathe.

“You are,” he said incredulously. “He is,” he repeated for the benefit of the other vampires. He was using the same volume level, so I wasn’t sure why it was necessary, but whatever. I shrugged, or at least I tried to shrug. I definitely shrugged in my mind. Could shrugs be mental? “Glad you think it’s funny, because it’s the last thing you’re ever going to feel.” He pressed his claws against my belly, cutting through my shirt and just piercing my skin. “Say goodbye, doggy.”

“Ralph!” the vampire with the long black hair shouted. I wondered if his eyes were the same color as his hair. Mine were. The same color as his hair, I mean. Not the same color as mine. My hair was brown but my eyes were black. Black as night. Black as coal. Black as—“One more inch and I’ll rip your head off myself!” Fiercer-Than-Them-All bloodsucker yelled at Ralph. “Step away from him.”

Ralph shook me one last time and then let go. I slumped against the wall, barely able to stay on my feet. I wondered whether that was what being drunk felt like. I’d never been drunk. Maybe I should have tried it. Oh, well. Pretty soon, it wouldn’t matter none anyhow. Nothing would matter ever again.

“Fine. You want the kill, Miguel, he’s yours,” Ralph said, and then he spit at me. It landed on my leg, I think, but there was so much blood it was nigh on impossible to tell. “I don’t need any more of their poison on me anyway.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see my previously prone pack mates moving. They were alive. With the bloodsuckers staring at their comrade approaching his next victim (uh, that was me, in case it wasn’t clear), Harold and George were able to drag themselves away. Good.

I turned my attention back to the threat slash salvation at hand. Coming at me in slow, steady footsteps was Miguel, the scary vampire who had maimed most of my pack mates and was apparently gunning to add me to his accomplishment tally, the one with the gorgeous long black hair and the— Wait, gorgeous? How much blood had I lost? Enough that death was imminent. Not that I minded.

That was, after all, the whole reason I had agreed to go on the vampire-eradication mission with the other males my age. Hell, it was the reason they had, for the first time since we were toddlers, let me join them for anything.

An unarmed shifter who couldn’t shift wouldn’t survive a confrontation with a coven of bloodsuckers. We all knew that going in. The others were there to defend the pack from our most detested enemy and gain notoriety for years to come. Me? I was there to die in the only honorable way my twenty-year-old brain could think of.

But like I said, things didn’t turn out like I’d expected. Because the closer that bloodsucker named Miguel got to me, the more I felt blood pooling somewhere other than around my shoes. My pants weren’t tight, but, unlike the rest of my body, my prick wasn’t small, and in its erect state, it didn’t have enough room to hide. I wondered if their kind could see well at night. Probably. They were nocturnal, like our wolves, so if they couldn’t see well in the dark, they wouldn’t be able to hunt, wouldn’t be able to feed. Oh, Lord, feed.

What would that feel like? I stared at Tall, Dark, and Deadly and wondered how it would feel to have those sharp fangs pierce my vein and suck the blood from my body. My knees buckled at the thought. The vampire’s gaze met mine. He licked his lips and that was it. Endgame. I was done, twitching and gasping as I coated the inside of my drawers with my release.

His eyes widened in surprise and his graceful steps faltered. Sure enough, they could see in the dark. Or maybe they had a heightened sense of smell.

Miguel got even closer, and I was finally able to track his scent over the millions of other foreign odors in the filthy half-soul street. I trembled with renewed desire.

No. Couldn’t be. Not possible.

He took another step. And then another one. His gaze never broke its lock on mine.

My eyes rolled back in my head, the tightness in my skin completely loosened. The pressure in my chest slowed to nonexistent. And then I was on all fours, peace finally overtaking me, before everything went black.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angie – ☆☆☆☆☆
I am not usually a big paranormal fan but I love Cardeno C, this book was awesome. I have read several other books by this author but I think this series might be my favorite. A shifter and a vampire, odd combination but it works and it works well in this book. Ethan is a shifter who can’t shift, and because of that he tries to find a way out honorably. Miguel is a vampire who is over 400 years old. The pull between these two is powerful and it was another amazing love story. I love going through the journey of these two completely different men, I mean a vampire and a shifter romance, how cool! The only thing that threw me off a little was the slang or jargon used at times, it seemed off to me but it didn’t take anything away from the story.

Characters: Well written and believable
Sex: Yes
Religious: No
Would I recommend to others: Yes
More than one book in the series: Yes
Genre: M/M /shifter/vampire Romance
Would I read more by this author: Yes


Jacki – ☆☆☆☆
This was a deliciously unique read! I devoured it.

Ethan was raised sheltered and protected in his backwoods shifter pack, but he was different from those around him. He's always felt wrong. He can't keep up with his pack mates, and as he ages, everything keeps getting worse.

Miguel is over 400 years old. He knows he's a strong vampire and he won't take disrespect from anyone. He's been around shifter packs long enough to know that their ignorance leads to their own destruction time and time again. He's used to ignoring them. His way of life has no use for deep feelings or ignorance.

When Ethan decides he'll go along with some of his mates to hunt vampires, he expects a quick death to end his suffering, but as soon as he is near Miguel, he knows his life has just changed. Now, all he has to do is convince Miguel.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't think I put it down until I had finished it. I loved the unique storyline, interesting characters, and sexy romance. I would indeed recommend it to fans of CC, M/M romance, and paranormal romance. It was out of the ordinary and I look forward to the next one in the series.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This starts many, many years before the previous book, but the reader of Wake Me Up Inside will know these characters from their input into Jonah's past. It is a really heartwarming and romantic story, of a more unusual kind. A meeting between a weak shifter and a very powerful vampire isn't expected to last long, yet these two men have a bond which is undeniable. The story of their realisation and acceptance of each other, combined with the displeasure and disbelief of their kind, plays out so smoothly and yet steamily! In spite of convention which says vampires are cold – this will definitely heat you to the core.

Also Available in the Mates Series

Book 1
Buy Links

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ARe  ~  B&N  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo  ~  Oyster
Smashwords  ~  Coupon Code: WE54F

Book 3
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
ARe  ~  B&N  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo  ~  Oyster
Smashwords  ~  Coupon Code: JE52B

Cardeno C. – CC to friends – is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few "awwws" into a reader's day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno's stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever-after sunset.

Cardeno's Home, Family, and Mates series have received awards from Love Romances and More Golden Roses, Rainbow Awards, the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, and various reviewers. But even more special to CC are heartfelt reactions from readers, like, "You bring joy and love and make it part of the every day."

Connect with CC

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FB Fan Group  ~  Pinterest  ~  YouTube  ~  Google+

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Until Forever Comes (Mates #2) by Cardeno C. to read and review for this tour.