Technically, this isn't a 5 star work - it needed to be full-length and it would have been much better if it were full-length - but I rounded up to counter the 1-star reviews and comments left *solely* due to the same-sex relationship. Look, I don't read books containing certain themes or tropes. If an author that I follow writes such a book, I would avoid it. I wouldn't leave a sanctimonious 1-star review BEFORE THE BOOK CAME OUT. I wouldn't attack the author or the readers. If you don't like m/m, that's fine. But going out of your way to belittle those who read it ("creepy women objectifying men!") and write it ("they just want to capitalize on a trend and get $!") is a bit disturbing, no? It's totally fine to say, "I'll pass", but the tone underlying some of these comments...GROSS. 
 I read romance in high school, stopped in college, and started again when I graduated. KC is one of the authors who got me back into the genre. Her books are ridiculous, fun, and ridiculously fun. She writes protective possessive alpha heroes and strong heroines without making them annoying. You enjoy reading her books because you can tell that she enjoys writing them. She has kept the IAD series entertaining. 
 This works fine as a novella, but additional pages to develop Caspion and Mirceo (both individually and as a couple) would have injected additional breadth and depth of emotion. For example, (view spoiler)[we learned that Caspion doesn't know how to read and Mirceo spent hours reading aloud to him (hide spoiler)]. I probably would have melted into a puddle if we actually saw those scenes. There was so much potential. Other than extending Mirceo's "chase" of Caspion, the differences in their respective upbringings and backgrounds as well as their bounty-hunting adventures would have made for great reading. So in that respect, I missed what could have been. 
 The fated mates trope isn't easy to pull-off. Even though the mating bond intensifies the feelings, it wasn't as simple as "coming together" (although they do a lot of that, heh). KC often writes one character as more resistant and throws internal and external obstacles at the pair. You see that here but, again, to a lesser degree because of the length. Caspion fights against and Mirceo encourages the bond. As I mentioned, KC does protective/possessive well. Caspion's efforts to shield Mirceo during the fight scenes (even though he didn't need shielding) were adorable. And when Mirceo dreamt about little Beggar, my heart broke. But then I laughed at the tenderness mixed with crazy vampireness - "I'm in agony because demons hurt my mate when he was a child...I'll feel better when I behead them!" 
 KC has always excelled at writing sex scenes, and this was no different. Caspion and Mirceo were hot together. There was only one penetrative sex scene, but there were other sexual scenes (frotting, hand jobs, oral) leading up to it. I think that these deliciously built the sexual tension. I would obviously have preferred multiple sex scenes but I'm a perv, heh. 
 Lothaire is one of my all-time favorite book boyfriends and Ellie is one of my favorite IAD heroines. It was good to see them again. It was exciting to establish plots for future books, but it's also sad because the IAD books aren't released as often anymore. 
 All in all, I would love it if KC wrote a full-length m/m novel. Even if this is her only venture into same-sex romance, I'm glad that she added diversity to the IAD series.