“He was more than a jerk. He knew who you were.”
She glanced up at him as they left the station and climbed into the SUV Kage had left parked illegally.
“He knew you were a vampire,” she said in sudden understanding.
“Right.”
“How would he know that?”
“I couldn’t guess.”
“You mean you won’t.”
His gaze cut over to her. “Same thing.”
“Not really. How’d you know I was on that train?”
“You should ask Lord Aden.”
Sid rolled her head back against the seat. She could push for answers, but there was no point. The one thing she’d learned about vampires was that they were completely loyal to their Sires. That loyalty could be compromised, according to Dresner, if a vampire was strong enough to break away. But Sid’s impression of Aden and his people was something closer to a brick wall. They were solid.
If Aden didn’t want Kage to talk to her, he wouldn’t talk.
She looked up in surprise when Kage pulled the SUV up in front of her building and stopped, clearly waiting for her to get out. She’d expected him to take her to Aden and had to stifle the surprisingly strong surge of disappointment.
“Thanks,” she said, forcing a smile. “For rescuing me.” Although she still wondered what exactly she’d been rescued from.
“No problem,” he said, giving her a quick sideways smile. “See you around, Sid.”
She made a beeline for the elevator, giving her doorman a wave as she went by. She was beyond tired and imagined she could hear her bed calling to her with its down comforter and soft sheets. Her hallway was empty as she unlocked her door and stepped into the quiet darkness of her condo. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it with a sigh of relief, then pushed away and was already stripping off her jacket when she made her way down the short hall to her sparsely-furnished living room. Her bedroom was on the other side of that open space, and she could see the white of her comforter gleaming in the moonlight from a window she rarely covered. That was her only goal for tonight. Bed.
But then a light clicked on, and her heart nearly stopped.
“Good evening, Sidonie,” Aden’s deep voice purred.
Sid clutched a hand to her heart, feeling it bouncing so hard behind her breastbone that her ribs rattled.
“Aden, damn it,” she swore, hanging on to one of the tall stools lined up at the bar between her kitchen and living room. “You scared me half to death. What are you doing here? And how did you get in?”
Aden stood to his full height. He remained still for a moment, as if inviting her to admire him, and damn it, she did. He looked good. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, just a black long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of black jeans that showed off the length of his legs, the powerful muscles of his thighs, and cupped the rest of him lovingly. Sid blinked, honest enough to admit that she wouldn’t mind cupping him herself. She raised her gaze to his face, and his knowing smile told her he was aware of the effect he had on her.
Sid gave him a narrow look and opened her mouth to tell him to take his beautiful self right out of her home, but then he moved, and she was caught up in the pure, lethal elegance of him. He didn’t so much walk across the room as he prowled—long graceful strides, loose hips rolling like those of a big cat, his dark eyes limned in blue.
She looked up at him, suddenly right on top of her.
“Where have you been, Sidonie? And more to the point, whom have you been with?”
Sid blinked, the spell of his beauty broken by her sudden anger. What right did he have to ask her such things?
“None of your business,” she snapped and tried to push past him. It was like trying to push a ton of brick.
“You’re my business,” he snarled.
“Is that so? Don’t you have better things to do? Winning the challenge, world domination? Don’t let me get in your way. Isn’t that what you said, that you’d never let a woman”—she added a sneer to the word, just as he had the other night—“get in your way? Well, I’m officially taking myself out of your fucking way. So you can leave now.”
She pushed at him again to no avail, but this time he bracketed her arms with his big hands.
“World domination?” he repeated, smirking.
“Whatever.”
“Where have you been, Sidonie?” he repeated implacably. He was like a stone statue, immoveable and unmoved by anything she said.
“Fine. It’s my father’s birthday. We had a party for him. I went. Happy now?”
“And who’s William Englehart?”
Sid’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “How do you know about Will?”
“So it’s true,” he snarled, stepping even closer until she was backed up against the bar.
“What’s true?” she asked in confusion. “And what about Will?”
“What is he to you?”
“He’s a friend.”
“Did you fuck him?”
“What?” Sid glanced around. She didn’t see any of Aden’s vamps, but there was no way he’d come here alone.
“We’re alone,” Aden said, accurately reading her concerns. “Bastien’s in the lobby by now. He started down when you started up.”
“How did you . . . Kage,” she realized. “He must have called you from the car.”
“Must have,” he said. “Did you fuck Englehart?”
Sid glared at him. “You know what? Go to hell. And how did you get in here anyway? I thought you guys needed an invitation, like at Dresner’s house the other day.”
“Your doorman let me in.”
Sid scowled. “Why would he do that?”
“I persuaded him you were missing. He was very concerned and invited me to search your condo.”
“I thought you needed my permission.”
“Not really, just an invitation from someone with the right of entry. Your doorman has that.”
“Not for long. And I’m going to hang garlic over the threshold.”
Aden laughed. “That won’t do anything but smell up your home, and I don’t like the scent. Don’t do it.”
“Stop giving me orders.”
“Then tell me the truth. Did you fuck Will Englehart?”
Sid was on the verge of telling him to go hell again, but she saw something in his eyes, a hint of vulnerability in that otherwise tightly-controlled face. Too many people bought into Aden’s hard-ass exterior and never looked beneath the surface, probably because he didn’t let them. But for some reason, after a long lifetime of protecting himself, he’d let her in. He’d trusted her, and she couldn’t imagine what it must have cost him to do so. She wouldn’t betray that.
“No,” she admitted softly. “Will and I dated, but we haven’t been lovers in years. Our families are close, and he’s a very old friend, but that’s it.” She flattened her palm against his chest, feeling his muscles bunch beneath her fingers. “I haven’t fucked anyone but you lately.”
“Define lately.”
“Jesus, you’re a pain in the ass.”
“Answer the question.”
“No, you answer the question. How long’s it been since you fucked someone?”
“Other than you?”
She gave him an impatient look.
“A couple of weeks,” he admitted. “Not since I came to Chicago for the challenge.”
Sid’s breath ran out in a rush. A couple of weeks?
“They meant nothing, Sidonie,” he murmured, cupping her cheek in his warm hand.
Weren’t vampires supposed to be cold? Aden never was. Wait. They?
“They?” she said out loud.
He shrugged carelessly. “Until you, I never bothered to stick with anyone.”
Well, that was sweet in a man-slutty sort of way. “But you told Bastien—” she started, but couldn’t finish. She didn’t want to sound like a clingy, needy woman.
His eyes lit with understanding. “So that’s what this is all
about. You eavesdropped, and as is often the case when one listens to a conversation that is none of one’s business, you misunderstood.”
“What you said was pretty clear, Aden,” she said, wondering if he enjoyed his little lectures as much as she hated them.
“I’m sure it was, but it had absolutely nothing to do with you.”
“If not me, then who? Who’s the woman who’s getting in the way of your grand plans?”
He gave her a quizzical look, as if there was some obvious truth she was missing. “Silas, of course,” he said.
Sid stared at him. “Silas is a woman?”
“To be accurate, Silas is a female vampire.”
“I just assumed—”
“You assumed she was male,” he tsked. “Not terribly liberated, Sidonie.”
“Hey, most of you guys are . . . well, guys.”
“Silas is most assuredly not a guy. She’s quite beautiful if one cares for the type.”
“What type?” Sid asked, feeling a twinge of jealousy.
“The type who will cut off your balls without remorse if the mood strikes her. And I’m not speaking figuratively.”
Sid stared at him. “You mean she’s actually—”
“I’m told she has a collection.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting. You should definitely kill her.”
“I plan on it, but not in search of some cosmic justice for males everywhere. She’s in my way, so she has to go.”
His hand, which had been stroking her cheek, dropped to her neck and grabbed a handful of hair, tugging her head back so she had to look up at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving town?”
“I didn’t think you’d care. Besides, you knew anyway. Your cover was pretty much blown when Kage rescued me at the train station. Thank you for that, by the way.”
Aden’s hand clenched almost painfully in her hair, and he went preternaturally still, his eyes gleaming as if lit from behind. “Rescued you from what?”
“Some guy,” Sid told him. “He sat near me on the train, but I brushed him off. I thought that was it, but then in the station he got really pushy about giving me a ride. Kage showed up just in time.”
“What did he look like?” he demanded.
But before she could answer, there was a knock on her door. Aden glanced down the hallway, and the next thing she knew her front door lock was gliding open, and Bastien was standing at the entrance to her living room, his dark hair slicked back and shining in the moonlight, his eyes fixed on Aden.
“Kage just reported in,” Bastien said. “Sidonie was approached this evening.”
“I just heard,” Aden agreed. “Did Kage know him?”
“No, my lord. But the assailant most definitely knew Kage.”
Aden drew Sid against him in a protective gesture, even though there was no one in the room except Bastien. He cupped her chin, tilting her head back until she was looking at him.
“What did he look like, Sidonie?”
She took his hand and turned in his embrace, leaning against his side with his arm heavy over her shoulders. “Nothing about him stood out. He was a little bit taller than I am, brown hair, brown eyes, fit, but on the slender side. He said his name was Vasco.”
Aden spoke over her head, addressing Bastien. “Sound familiar?”
“Was he human?” Bastien asked, his eyes eerily intent as his gaze cut to her.
“I think so. It was after dark when I got on the train, but he’d have to be human, wouldn’t he? I mean, I didn’t go to my parents’ place until this morning, so how could he have . . .”
Her voice trailed off, because neither vampire was paying any attention to her.
“Silas, you think, my lord? The description could fit Balderas.”
“Who’s Balderas?” Sid asked.
“Silas’s daylight security chief,” Aden growled. “One of two.”
“She has two security chiefs?”
“Daylight security. And Silas likes to surround herself with men, especially human men. They’re her favorite food source. Unfortunately for them, her idea of post-coital relations all too frequently resembles that of a black widow spider. Balderas must not be her type, because he’s been around long enough to be noticeable. What did he say to you?”
Sid hadn’t paid much attention to what he’d said. Her focus had been on getting rid of him. “If it was Balderas,” she qualified, then paused when Bastien shoved a cell phone under her nose with a picture of . . . “Okay, fine. That’s him. Mostly he talked about himself and commodities trading. What kind of security chief is hung up on commodities trading?”
“One who was a trader before he was convicted of fraud and did a stint in federal prison.”
“Oh. He was a little intense.”
Aden took her by the shoulders and turned her in the direction of her bedroom. “Pack some things. You’re coming home with me.”
She spun back around. “What? Why?”
He gave her a droll look. “You don’t want to go home with me?”
Sid’s heart leapt at the heated look in his eyes. A look that said going home implied a lot more than sleeping in a guest room.
“Fine,” she agreed and, ignoring his confident smirk, went off to pack.
ADEN SPRAWLED lazily on his bed, still fully clothed, his back against the headboard as he watched Sidonie unpack the few things she’d grudgingly brought with her. It wasn’t much. He didn’t know if she didn’t want to intrude, or, more likely, if she was unwilling to surrender her independence enough to stay with him longer than she had to. But whichever it was, she was here, and here she was staying. She just didn’t know it yet.
“You can use all of the drawers in that dresser,” he said, pointing. “It’s empty.”
“You don’t use it?”
“I use the one in the closet. That one’s art.”
She ran her hand over the delicate flower motif and mother-of-pearl inlays on the chest of drawers. “This is beautiful. Is it, um, original?”
“Is that a delicate way of asking if it’s an antique, something from my past? I’m not worried about my age, Sidonie. But, yes, that’s an original fifteenth century Ottoman, and no, I only purchased it a few years ago.”
“All right,” she said, turning to give him a gimlet stare. “So, how old are you?”
He laughed, something he’d done much more frequently since meeting her. “I was born in 1753. This body”—he touched a hand to his T-shirted chest and noted with satisfaction that her gaze followed the gesture appreciatively—“reflects more or less my age when my Mistress acquired me and made me Vampire. I was close to twenty-seven years old at the time, although I could be off by a year or two. I was a bastard and a slave. What records existed were hardly precise.”
Sidonie had crossed the room while he spoke, and she now climbed up onto the bed to straddle his thighs. Her eyes were soft and sad, and he knew it was because of what he’d told her about his early life. She pretended to be tough, but his Sidonie was tender-hearted, the toughness only a thin shell that protected her from the carelessness of others.
Whoa. His Sidonie? He did a mental double take at that thought. When had she become his? And not in the way of previous lovers whom he’d only claimed for a day or two until he was done with them, and even then only because he didn’t like to share. Sidonie was his in a way he’d never considered before, a way that would last a hell of a lot longer than a day or two. A way that said he didn’t plan on sharing her ever.
She leaned forward, gentle hands cupping his cheeks, her full breasts barely touching his chest as she brushed a kiss over his mouth. He wanted more. His arms banded around her back as he rolled her beneath him and took what he needed. His mouth was hard on her soft lips, his tongue plundering as she opened to him, her hungry moan telling him he wasn’t the only one who needed more.
He shoved his hand under her sweater and palmed her breast through the lace of her bra, feelin
g her nipple poke at his fingers. With a growl, he yanked on the delicate fabric, hearing it tear and not caring. He’d buy her a new bra. He’d buy her a hundred. Right now, he needed her naked, and the bra was in the way. Lifting slightly, he pushed her sweater up over her breasts and released the front clasp on the torn bra with a deft twist of his fingers. Her breasts spilled out heavy and full, her nipples flushed a deep rose against her pale skin.
Unable to resist their temptation, Aden took one of the plump morsels in his mouth, sucking until the pink rose became a succulent cherry, so hard and engorged with blood that he could smell it, so rich that it made his fangs elongate with hunger. Beneath him, Sidonie was making eager little noises, her breaths choppy, her fingers tunneling through his hair, holding him against her breast, almost begging him to bite, to taste her blood. But he wasn’t ready to release her to an orgasm just yet. He wanted her hot and begging.
He bit down until he knew she could feel the sting of his teeth, heard her suck in a breath and hold it in anticipation of his bite, but he didn’t let his teeth sink in, he didn’t draw blood. Lifting his mouth from her flesh, he switched to the other breast, smiling against her hot skin at the sound of her groan, her hand fisted against his back, pounding once in frustration.
Stroking his hand down over her hip, he cupped the curve of her ass, then slapped her once, smartly. She jumped, but it only seemed to heighten her arousal, as he’d known it would. Aden would never beat a woman, he’d never beat anyone who was weaker than he was, but he was a master at understanding the sensuous pleasure to be found in the right kind of pain.
Sucking her second breast into his mouth, he lavished it as he had the first, sliding his tongue over her nipple, feeling the blood pulse, sucking harder until the entire tip of her breast was between his teeth. He bit down again, knowing there’d be marks on her delicate flesh tomorrow and taking pleasure in the knowledge. He’d mark every inch of her before he was through.
“Aden,” she gasped, her breath warm and wet against his ear.
“Not yet, habibi. Not for a long time.”
She growled angrily, making him smile. Until she thumped his back again in her anger.
“Not nice, Sidonie love. You’ll pay for that one.”
“Big talk,” she muttered, then cried out in surprise when he whipped her sweater over her head and used it to tie her hands to the headboard. She tugged on the stretchy material, but his binding held fast. Of course.
Aden (Vampires in America) Page 18