Her eyes flashed open, unseeing as she gave a wordless cry. Her movements became frantic, her fingers coming down to cover his as if to prevent him from lifting his hand, the swell of her breasts so enticingly erotic that Aden flexed his abs and sat up enough to take one tender globe into his mouth. Sucking until her nipple plumped like a ripe cherry, he bit down and drank in the honeyed taste of her blood, while her pussy spasmed around him, grabbing his cock like a hard fist.
Sidonie screamed as she came, leaning forward to dig her nails into his chest, her twisting hips grinding her sex against him until he could feel every convulsion of her pussy as her climax rippled along his cock. He rode out her orgasm, gritting his teeth, holding her as she shuddered in the aftermath, as she collapsed on top of him, her breasts crushed against his chest, her nipples rigid points that scraped his skin with every breath. And then he stroked a hand down her back and his fingers dipped into her tight, little asshole. He began thrusting up against her, fucking her with his cock as his fingers filled her ass, hearing her exhausted moans turn into blissful shouts as he slammed into her still-trembling pussy. Aden groaned as her sheath tightened around him yet again, as his own orgasm seized his body, his release roaring down his cock in a rush of heat, filling Sidonie as she writhed beneath him, her screams of climax meeting his roar of satisfaction as they fell together into ecstasy.
Aden wrapped his arms around Sidonie’s trembling body as he fell back onto the bed. His heart was slamming against his ribs, or maybe the pounding heart was hers. She was plastered against him so tightly, their sweaty bodies so close that even he couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. Her breath was hot on his skin, her fingers stroking his chest lightly where they were trapped between them.
She sighed as he rolled her slightly to the side, permitting her to stretch her legs out from where they’d been wrapped around his hips. Aden glided a calming hand over her neck and shoulder, then pulled the sheet up to cover her before she could get chilled.
Sidonie made a soft noise and burrowed closer. And Aden felt . . . content. It was such a foreign emotion that he stopped to examine it. Sidonie had done this. Aden had believed himself free of the bonds of slavery long ago, but he’d been wrong. One last chain had remained, dug in so deeply that he hadn’t known it was there, warping him, keeping him a slave to their twisted desires.
He hugged her close, touching his lips to her tousled hair. Sidonie’s mouth curved into a smile that he felt against the bare skin of his chest, her body limp as she drifted half asleep.
He was wishing she could stay that way when his cell phone rang, vibrating across the side table like some over-caffeinated alien.
He reached out a long arm and snagged it. “Bastien? Give us an hour.”
Sidonie stirred enough to mumble, “What’s in an hour?”
“Sorry, habibi. That’s how long we have to shower and join the others. Come on.” He put his arms around her and climbed out of bed, setting her in front of him and making sure she was steady on her feet, before propelling her toward the bathroom with a possessive hand on her ass.
She wiggled her butt away from his hand and frowned over her shoulder, her eyes still cloudy with sleep. “Where are we going?” she asked grumpily.
“South Dakota. I’m about to become an official vampire lord.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
South Dakota
SIDONIE FELT LIKE she was in a movie. One of those shadowy, film noir kind of movies, where all of the action takes place in the middle of the night, usually when it’s raining. So far, her night had all the hallmarks. They’d flown out of a dark, private airport outside Chicago, with no one around except for them and their flight crew. They’d landed in Rapid City and rolled away from the brightly-lit main concourse to a small, dark hangar on the side, where two SUVs had been waiting for them. The SUVs had drivers, but consistent with the night’s air of secrecy, they’d both gone in one of the vehicles with Kage and Freddy, while Travis took the wheel of the other and drove her and Aden, with Bastien riding shotgun.
There was no rain here in South Dakota, but there was snow. After a fairly mild early winter of nothing but snow showers, the real season was finally upon them. The snow was coming down heavy and hard, but the weather didn’t seem to bother anyone but her. Maybe because everyone else was an indestructible vampire who didn’t have to worry about car crashes. She leaned forward to peer between the front seats and out through the windshield of the SUV. Apparently, indestructible wasn’t the only thing vampires were. They could also see in the dark, because she didn’t see any gleam of headlights out there.
She sat back, her fingers finding Aden’s hand and squeezing—for her own reassurance rather than his. One would have thought becoming a vampire lord was a big enough deal to warrant some nerves, but Aden was completely relaxed. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head but didn’t say anything.
Sid didn’t know where they were going. Oh, Aden had told her they were going to visit Lucas Donlon, who was a vampire lord himself and currently ruling what was called the Plains Territory. It seemed Aden had worked for Lucas for, oh, about a century. A century! She felt like a toddler. Hell, her grandparents hadn’t even been born yet when the two vampires met. This was going to take some getting used to.
She stole a furtive glance at Aden, his profile clear in the glow of the dash lights. Yeah, that would take some getting used to, but he was worth it.
Anyway, Lucas had taken over all the vampires when Klemens, the bastard, was killed. In fact, she’d overheard a conversation between Kage and Travis that made her think Lucas had been the one to kill him. But whether that was true or not—and this part was difficult to understand—he held the lives of the Midwestern vamps as well as his own. Sid was still learning how vampire lords did their thing, but one thing she did know was that the connection between the lords and their vampires was very direct and very personal.
“Is it dangerous?” she whispered to Aden.
“What?”
“What Lucas is going to do to you tonight. Is it dangerous?”
He freed his hand from hers and put his arm around her instead, pulling her against his side. “Not at all. Tonight’s mostly a formality. You already saw the hard part.”
“You mean when you caused the earthquake,” she said confidently.
Aden huffed a laugh. “I told you, that wasn’t an earthquake. It was more of a concussive wave, like what happens with a pile driver.”
“Still made the earth move.”
“But, habibi,” he murmured in her ear, “I do that every night.”
Sid gave a surprised laugh, then covered her mouth with a guilty glance at the two vampires in the front seat. She didn’t argue the point, though. He certainly made her earth move.
The SUV made a wide, curving turn, and there was finally something other than darkness outside the windows. There were lights and . . . a barn? With horses?
Aden caught her puzzled frown and said, “Lucas likes horses. He breeds them.”
“Huh.”
“Here we are.”
The SUV slowed in front of a lovely and expansive house, all lit up with landscape lights that gave off a soft golden glow. Pretty. The front door of the house opened to reveal yet another incredibly handsome vampire.
Aden turned to Sid and hugged her close. “Remember, Sidonie, Lucas is a friend. No matter what you see tonight, no matter how bad it looks, I’m in no danger.”