But tonight was Aden’s show, and he and his vampires were definitely ready for a fight. Assuming she survived the trip to the house where the slaves were being held, there would be a showdown between Aden and his guys and whoever was in charge at the house. And she doubted they’d go down easily.

Even more than the impending violence, though, she was worried that the slaves had already been moved. That the vamps had somehow gotten word they were coming and spirited the women away. But Aden’s man on the inside, Elias, had reported that tonight was the night.

Despite her trepidation, the inevitable violence, and everything that could go wrong, Sid was jumping with excitement, exhilarated by the prospect of finally doing something real to stop the slavers and avenge Janey’s death.

And if that wasn’t enough to leave her taut as a bowstring, there was the vampire sitting next to her. The vampire who only a few hours ago had been balls-deep inside her. Every time he moved, every time he spoke, she was reminded of what it had felt like to make love to him, to have him murmuring her name as he thrust between her thighs. She was almost embarrassed to find herself sighing dreamily, wondering how long it would be before he did it again.

“Heavy thoughts, Sidonie?” Aden’s midnight voice had chills skating over her skin, his words like warm honey sliding into her ear and down her throat into her belly.

She shook her head sharply. “Just . . . I’ve worked so hard on this and now . . . it might all be over.”

He chuckled and let his arm, which had been stretched across the seat behind her, fall heavily onto her shoulders. His hand dropped to her chest where his fingers began to play idly along the swell of her breast. Sid wanted to roll her eyes at her own pathetic response to him, her heart racing, her skin heating to his touch. Aden leaned close and pressed his lips to the side of her face. She felt the wet touch of his tongue as he tasted her skin. It was a not-so-subtle reminder that he could sense her reactions to him.

She didn’t even have to look to know he’d have a smug expression on his face, and she’d have loved to smack that look away. But, one, she’d already established that she wasn’t exactly qualified to smack anything off of anyone, much less a vampire lord, and, two, he’d stop her before she even got close. And then either there’d be hell to pay, or he’d find the whole thing oh-so-amusing. Neither of which appealed to her.

“What’s the plan?” she asked, trying to think of anything other than sex.

“The plan is simple. We go in two teams, front and back, and kill every vampire present.”

“What about the women?”

“The van will transport them to a safe location,” he said, referring to the second vehicle following behind them. She’d been surprised when they’d started out to see the plain, full-size passenger van in their mini-convoy. “Any injuries among the women will be treated,” Aden continued, “and they will have the option of returning to their homes, or being settled in this country. Either way, they will be well cared for.”

Sid blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected that. In fact, she’d been prepared to put up a fight, to demand something close to those very arrangements.

“You seem surprised,” Aden murmured.

“No, it’s just—”

He licked her face again. Not a delicate taste, but a blatant doglike lick.

“Fine,” she admitted, rubbing her wet cheek. “I’m surprised.”

“I’ve no tolerance for slavery.”

“I see that.” And she did. It was the second time he’d made that point very strongly, and it made her wonder again about his background. She’d assumed he’d been born rich, simply because he was rich. She’d told him as much. But what if he hadn’t been? According to Dresner—assuming anything that bitch had said was true—the powerful vampires were all extraordinarily old by human standards. Not because age equaled power, but because those who gained power as a result of their transition to Vampire won every challenge as they took their time learning to use their newfound power. So, Aden could be old. Old enough that he’d been born in a time when slavery was common.

She remembered the fantastic silk wall hanging in his sitting room. Her mother would have known instantly where and when it was from, but Sid could only guess. Maybe she could get a picture for her mom next time she was in Aden’s room. She smiled ruefully. Might as well call it what it was, the next time they had sex. And please let there be a next time, her body was begging silently.

“This is it, my lord,” Bastien said from the front seat. “White house, fourth one down on the right, broken street light.”

Sid was jerked out of her lust-filled thoughts by his announcement. She looked around and found herself back in the same Woodlawn neighborhood where she’d been skulking around . . . was it only the night before? So much had happened, it seemed longer ago.

“There’s an apartment house in the back,” she told them. “You can sneak in through—”

“There’ll be no sneaking,” Aden said, cutting her off. “Trav, Bastien,” he continued, “we’ll take the front.”

They parked two houses away. Sid climbed out after Aden, listening as he conferred with Freddy and Kage, the final two members of his inner circle who’d traveled in the van, telling them to come in from the back. She watched them slip away into the shadows, thinking about her own clumsy spying and wishing she could move with even a fraction of their stealth. Bastien and Trav had already started up the walk. She pushed away from the truck, intending to follow them, but Aden wrapped his fingers around her arm, pulling her to a stop.

“Sidonie, this will not be civilized by your standards. You may want to wait—”

“I’m going in with you,” she insisted stubbornly.

He eyed her steadily, and she thought she saw a glimmer of approval in his dark eyes before he nodded sharply and said, “As you wish. But you will go in last and remain by the door. I wouldn’t want to kill you by accident.”

Sid scowled, pretty sure he was joking about that last. But she hung back when the vampires climbed the stairs, not wanting to chance it. Her main objective tonight was to be there for the captives afterward.

Bastien reached the door first, and Sid waited to see if they’d knock and then rush the entry, or—

One kick, and the door flew inward.

Okay, well, that worked, too.

ADEN WOULD HAVE entered first, but Bastien shoved his way through the door ahead of him. It went against Aden’s nature to let someone else take a risk for him, but he was gradually coming to terms with the necessity. If he was going to rule a territory, he’d have to surrender to the requirements of security. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of those whose lives he would hold in his hands.

Once inside, however, all bets were off. There were half a dozen vampires in the living room as they came through the door, with more rushing in from other rooms in response to the noise. His inside man had told him to expect ten or more fighters, all vampires. The slavers were moving their captives tonight, and that meant the entire crew would be present. Which was what made this night perfect. Aden could wipe out the entire filthy operation with one blow.

His power lashed out, cutting through vampires like a barbed whip, saturating the air and spraying the walls with blood. Vampires screamed and died, and dust joined the bloody miasma filling the shabby room. Some of the slavers seemed to recognize him then, or at least recognize the brutal nature of his ability and the strength behind it, but even here he didn’t draw on the full depths of his power. He didn’t need it for vermin like these. And like vermin, they scurried for the back of the house, thinking to escape, but Freddy and Kage came roaring in through the kitchen door, and the fight was all but over. The slavers went down with disappointing ease. This wasn’t like the challenge battles that Aden would fight in the coming days, including the inevitable showdown with Silas. Tonight’s encounter was a bloodbath. None of these vampires had the juice to offer him even a semblance of a challenge. They were puffed-up line vamps who wouldn’t be alive if not for Lucas’s willingness to step in and keep their hearts beating after Klemens died.

The last slaver made a dash for the hallway where the captives were being kept, intent either on escape or mayhem. Aden was across the room and on top of the coward before he’d gone five feet down the hallway. Grabbing the vampire by the throat, he lifted him off his feet, watching dispassionately as his face first flushed with blood, then began to purple with a lack of air.

“Mercy, my lord,” he managed to gasp.

Aden bared his fangs. “Shall I show you the same mercy you gave these women? I know masters who will pay to own a gelded vampire. One whose will has been burned out, but who still walks and talks. Is that the mercy you’d have of me?”

The vampire’s eyes went wide in shock and fear, and he struggled to shake his head in denial. “Please,” he ground out.

Aden studied the vampire, not bothering to conceal his disgust. “I think not.” With a quick twist, he broke the vampire’s neck and dropped him to the floor, then, wielding his power with a fine control, he carved into the vamp’s chest and destroyed his heart.

“Aden, what—” Sidonie’s voice cut off mid-sentence. He could feel her behind him, but the violence storming through his veins was so great that he didn’t dare turn to face her.

“I told you to wait,” he growled.

“I did wait,” she retorted, or at least she tried to. Her bluster failed her on the last word, betraying the fear he could sense making her heart pound, a fear that he drew in like the sweetest air. It made his fangs emerge; it made his dick hard. He wanted to take her right there, to put her up against a wall and pound into her with the blood and ash of his enemies still fresh around him.