Dark Secret Number 15 in series

This is the 15th book in Christine Feehan's successful vampire romance-series about the 'Carpathians'. The Carpathians are a species of people who live on blood (usually without killing anyone), react badly to sunlight and have supernatural powers, like shapeshifting or speaking mind to mind. Their problem is that only few woman are left and the men get more and more aggresssive over time unless they find their lifemate. If they lose control and start killing people, they turn into ruthless and brutal vampires who are hunted down by their own people. Colby is a young woman who not only takes care of the family ranch after her parents' death, but also of her younger brother Paul and sister Ginny. The ranch is in debt and it seems that someone tries to force her into giving it up by sabotaging her. As if that weren't enough, the (South American) family who refused any contact with her stepfather because he married her US-mother and took her illegitimate daughter Colby in, now want to take away Paul and Ginny. Understandably, Colby wants to prevent that her siblings have to go to South America to join a family who didn't want anything to do with them before. But her stepfather's brothers have help in two Carpathians, Rafael and Nicolas De La Cruz. To Rafael's surprise, he finds that Colby is his lifemate. The dominant and rather traditional man and the independent, headstrong woman feel very attracted physically, but will they really be able to make a happy life together when they are so different? And what about the vampire that's after Rafael and, as a result, after Colby and her family? This book is so far the best of the series, at least in my opinion. The plot is very good, the vampire really powerful and dangerous so that the fights are interesting, the characters were great and very convincing. In some of Feehan's books, the conflict between the hero and heroine is a bit artificial or the humourous banter doesn't fit to the situation, but that's not the case here. I enjoyed this a lot, especially since Rafael is a total alpha male like those in the early books of the series, but without getting either abusive or unconvincing because he quickly gives up his nature and traditions to please his lifemate. The result is a very intense relationship and a believable conflict. 'Dark Secret' continues the story of the De La Cruz brothers that were introduced in the novella 'Dark Hunger' (in the anthology Hot Blooded'), it's connected to 'Dark Destiny' and 'Dark Demon' since Vikirnoff plays a role, and it is also an important part of the series since we get more information about the vampire conspiracy and the Dragonseeker Clan. So the book is great fun in itself and an integral part of the series.