Lucas. Raphael had told her not long ago that the only time Lucas was truly serious was on the field of battle. And perhaps this qualified, because the lighthearted, teasing Lucas was gone, gone, gone. The Lucas who stepped around Nicholas to stare down at Magda was as cold as ice, terrible in his beauty, his eyes gleaming with a subdued golden light. He raised those eyes to the two vampires still lingering in the doorway, and his lips peeled back to bare his fangs. He didn’t move so much as a muscle that Cyn could see, but suddenly the two vampires collapsed, scattering into dust before their bodies hit the ground.

And then he turned that deadly gaze on Magda.

“My lord,” Aden said, boldly interrupting. “The challenge has begun.”

And the way he said it, it sounded formal, like part of a ritual.

For a moment, Cyn thought Lucas would kill Aden for daring to speak. His golden gaze lifted to stare at Aden, and there was no friendship in that look, no emotion at all. It was the flat look of a predator deciding whether his prey was worth the effort of killing.

But Aden never flinched. His own eyes lit with the deep blue of dusk as he faced down his master, his friend, his body language a complex mix of both submission and challenge. “My lord,” he repeated. “The challenge has begun.”

Lucas blinked lazily, then shifted his predator’s gaze to Magda and said, “The challenge has begun.”

“No!” Magda shrieked. Her eyes were wild, rolling white as they went from Lucas to Aden and back again. “Please, Sire! I beg you!”

To no avail. Lucas turned his back on her as if she represented no threat at all and walked back to the waiting SUV. Nicholas was not so sanguine about his Sire’s safety. He never took his gaze off Magda as he backed after Lucas.

Magda jumped up as if she would run. Aden did no more than glance at her, but he unleashed a slap of power that Cyn felt like a shiver along her bones as it slammed Magda back to the ground, and left her screaming in pain.

Cyn figured it was all over then, but Aden turned slightly, shifting his attention to Raphael, and holding his gaze for a moment before dipping his head in a slow bow. “The challenge has begun, my lord.”

Raphael nodded casually, his body language completely relaxed as he shifted to slip an arm around her waist, his fingers dropping to caress her hip. “The challenge has begun,” he agreed. And then, still holding onto Cyn, he turned and walked away, as if none of it mattered anymore, as if Magda, writhing on the ground in pain, struggling against Aden’s invisible bonds, didn’t matter anymore.

And perhaps she didn’t. It was the way of Vampire. There was no room for pity or squeamishness.

“Are you certain of him?” Raphael asked Lucas when they met up at the vehicles.

“I am. He can be an ass, but he will stand with us, Sire,” Lucas insisted. But despite his confident assurances, there was something in his voice that drew Cyn’s attention, a bleakness in his eyes that told her Magda’s imminent death was going to hurt him. Or maybe it was her betrayal. Or both. But whatever it was, it made Cyn, the least huggy person in the world, want to give him a hug. So, she did.

Lucas sighed softly when her arms came around him.

“Tell Kathryn I’ll call her,” she told him, when she stepped away. “She needs to know what to expect in Chicago. Major frock event.”

A little bit of Lucas’s usual twinkle returned to his eyes. “Sounds intriguing.”

“It is,” she agreed, one brow arched. “But you don’t have the equipment to appreciate it.”

Lucas smiled at that, then turned to Raphael. “See you in Chicago, Sire.”

Raphael nodded. “Until then.”

The two vampire lords clasped hands and slapped backs quickly, then strode away from each other while trying to look like they weren’t in a hurry. Which they so obviously were.

Juro took off as soon as Raphael climbed in and pulled the door closed. Cyn turned around to verify Robbie’s presence in the convoy, then settled next to Raphael for the trip to the airport.

“That was kind of you,” he said quietly.

Cyn shrugged uncomfortably. “He seemed so sad, and Kathryn wasn’t there.”

“Ah, yes. Kathryn. I assume your conversation with her will include this new club of yours?” he asked casually.

Cyn was grateful for the change of subject, but she wasn’t fooled. He was dying to know what was up with the Mates Club.

She snuggled closer with a deep sigh. “I just want to be sure Lucas has warned her about the formal events in Chicago. You know, so she knows how to dress.”

“Hmm,” he said.

“You know what I wonder?” she asked.

“I cannot imagine.”

“Ha, ha. But I was wondering … how much I should charge Aden for coasting on my investigation. I had to take a fucking print off a dead guy’s thumb!”

Raphael laughed. “You’re still upset you didn’t get to bloody anyone tonight.”

“Hell, yeah, I am.”

He tucked his mouth next to her ear and said, “We’ll have to work off that energy some other way.”

She shivered, then turned and met his kiss, closing her teeth over his lower lip. “Promise, my lord?”

“Promise, my Cyn.” His gaze became distant, as if he was seeing something she couldn’t, and he said, “But do not worry. There will be blood enough for everyone before this is finished.”

Epilogue

Chicago, Illinois

Cyn held Raphael’s hand tightly as they strolled down the hallway. The hotel corridor was empty, despite the number of guests already filling the large ballroom beyond the double doors just ahead of them. Raphael’s security had cleared the way for them, just as she knew others had done earlier that evening. All of the sitting vampire lords had walked down this same hallway this evening. Raphael was only the last.

Some might have thought having all of the lords in one place made them vulnerable, an easy target. But vampire lords were scary powerful. Put them all together, and you didn’t have an easy target. You had a bomb waiting to go off in your face. Except the vampire lords would all be alive and well after the so-called bomb went off, and you’d be dead.

Not that there wouldn’t be violence associated with tonight’s gala. But it wouldn’t be coming from any of the current vampire lords. The sole purpose of this gathering was to launch the competition which would determine who would be the next Lord of the Midwest. Everyone’s power was on full display. No one was hiding what they were, from the lowest minion to the prominent contenders, to the lords themselves, and aggression was running high. According to Raphael, the vampire lords’ presence and power were the only things that kept it from becoming a complete free-for-all.

“Are you ready, my Cyn?”

She looked up and found Raphael watching her with infinite patience. Well, that and the heat that was always there when he looked at her, as if what he really wanted to do was drag her back to their private suite and fuck her senseless. Which he’d already done once this evening. Twice if you included the shower. Which she definitely did. She smiled in recollection, and he smiled back, knowing what she was thinking.

“You look beautiful, lubimaya. As always.”

“So do you, fang boy.” And, God, that was true. Some men were born to wear a tux, and Raphael was one of them.

“The others are waiting,” he told her, although his look clearly said they could wait forever if that’s what she wanted.

“I’m ready,” she said. “Let’s go wow the masses.”

“Or at least a few vampires,” he amended.

Cyn was laughing when they opened the doors. There were smiles and greetings all around as she and Raphael joined the others. Air kisses and hugs, and the enthusiastic admiration of designer frocks, and tuxes, too. Improbably enough, these people had become her friends, and she paused a moment to take them all in.

“My lord,” a deep voice said, and she turned to find Aden waiting to pay his respects. “Ms. Leighton,” he added, smiling.

“I e-mailed you my bill earlier,” she informed him, with a shark’s grin. “You’ll want to be sitting down when you open it.”

Aden laughed cheerfully. “It was well worth the price. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“That’s for sure,” she agreed.

“If you’ve finished, my Cyn,” Raphael said smoothly, slipping his arm around her waist. “We do have business to conduct.” He shifted his gaze to Aden. “I wish you luck, Aden. I’m certain we’ll hear from you before it’s over.”

“Thank you, my lord. I look forward to it,” he said, then bowed again and disappeared into the crowd.

“You think he’ll be the next vampire lord?” she asked Raphael.

“I’m quite certain of it.”

“Will he join us when the time comes?”

“If he doesn’t, he dies,” Raphael said without pause. “There is no room for sentimentality or friendship in the coming battle. He’s either with us, or I’ll kill him myself and find someone who is.”

And then, Raphael tightened his arm around her, and together they returned to their friends and allies, the ones who would stand with them until the end.