Originally Published: 06-27-2018
Book Summary
Dark Secret is the 15th book in the Dark Series by Christine Feehan.
This story brings us another one of the De La Cruz brothers. This time it’s Rafael’s story.
Because this family of brothers was sent out by Vlad way back when, these men are close to turning. And Rafael is no different. Him, along with his brother Nicolas, have really banded together to survive.
But this story is a bit different.
This story takes us back to the states and to a small family that is struggling to survive.
The De La Cruz brothers were all sent to Brazil and while there they banded with the Chevez family who protected them while they slept.
This story brings us the children of the one of the Chevez brothers who left Brazil and found love elsewhere. Now with their father’s passing, Colby, Paul and Ginny are barely managing on their own.
The Chevez brothers enlist the help of Nicolas and Rafael to help bring these kids to their home in Brazil.
But they are met with a ton of resistance by Colby, Paul and Ginny. Colby has been taking care of her brother and sister since their father’s passing, even though she was not biologically Armando’s daughter. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with his brothers when they offered no help when Armando died.
So this story is actualy filled with a lot of misunderstandings on several fronts.
It took years for the knowledge of Armando’s passing to reach Juan and Julio Chevez. But when it did, they came.
And at first the De La Cruz brothers were only there to make sure that things ran smoothly and then headed back home. But when Rafael hears Colby’s voice he knows that she’s his lifemate.
And that’s when this story is different.
Because Rafael is so close to turning, he “takes” Colby without her consent and almost converts her to his world without bothering to tell her anything.
But because she’s psychic, she’s not as easily manipulated than he would’ve liked and starts to figure things out. This causes for quite a few scenes that are heart-wrenching and hard to read even.
Rafael does realize that he shouldn’t force her. And when they encounter a vampire, Colby sees that things are going to have to change.
Now this is the part where they realize that the Malinov brothers have turned vampire and are waging a war against them. You will find, also, that the Malinov brothers are intelligent even as vampires as the Carpathians need to adapt and change in order to face this formidable enemy.
Throughout the storyline you will find that Rafael forces Colby to be a part of his world even to the point of forcing her to become converted without her consent. And that adds to the storyline with feelings of guilt and shame in Rafael.
In the end, though, Rafael almost dies and that makes Colby really look at and analyze things. And then she comes to the realization that she does love him and will do anything to save him.
During this story, another character has shown up that adds to the background plot. Natalya Shonski is running from Carpathian hunters and vampires alike. She has a birthmark that burns when one is near.
Colby has one too. And they figure that Natalya is related to Colby in the Dragonseeker bloodline.
Understanding more of the background plot helps to understand that there was a powerful mage named Xavier that had three children, triplets, from their mutual ancestor, Rhiannon. And that he seems to be the reason for alot of the Carpathians hardships that they now have.
This also helps to tie in all the characters that are coming up in the book series.
But back to this book….
Colby and Rafael do figure things out and she then relishes being Carpathian as this enables her to be her true self instead of hiding among them.
I did find that this book a bit harder to read with Rafael manipulating Colby to do what he wanted, even if he needed her to.
But it’s a great addition into the book series.
